If not properly taken care of, the heart can cause discomfort for many patients.

For those with heart failure and other heart conditions, one side effect, is fluid backing up, causing shortness of breath, and swelling in many places within the body.

Through a new treatment called Aquapherisis, patients are able to take away most of the discomfort.

Double bypass surgery, a pacemaker, a second pacemaker...the list goes on and on for Richard Stehlik of Crete.

Stehlik is one of thousands of Americans suffering from heart problems.

For many patients like Stehlik, swelling, and backed-up fluid is a common discomfort with heart disease.

"When I came in, I couldn't even get my shoes on. I could barely get my pant legs over my feet, how full of water they were. I had a big stomach. The same pair of pants were 6 inches short of reaching around my waist," said Stehlik.

Stehlik first tried diuretics, attempting to get rid of the extra fluid. He soon got to a point where he no longer responded very well to that kind of treatment.

"That's when we turn to Aquapherisis. It's a way of removing fluid quickly, while not taxing the kidneys to speak of," said Dr. Steven Krueger, BryanLGH Heart Institute.

Dr. Krueger has been offering this new treatment option for a mere six months, and already, it has proven to be very successful with patients like Stehlik.

"Aquapherisis is a technology where, it's sort of a kin to dialysis, in some ways. We take blood out of the body, run it through a machine, which sucks the water out of the blood, and then we put the red blood cells and the protein back into the patient. It's just the way of moving water and salt from the blood stream, that is a little friendlier on the kidneys than large doses of water pills like diuretics and lasiks," said Dr. Krueger.

"I've had two sessions of it. The first one, they took off 25 liters of water and 31 pounds of weight," said Stehlik.

The second time Stehlik was in, just a few months later, 15 more liters were taken off. Dr. Krueger, who was a bit skeptical at first, had then seen how the treatment was able to result in greater fluid loss than diuretics for some patients.

"These are people that would spend a significant portion of their life in the hospital, if we couldn't do this," said Dr. Krueger.

Stehlik is one of those people.

Now, thanks to Aquapherisis, he can again do what he loves to do.

"As far as getting up and going, I do whatever I want. Be it drive a tractor, or drive up town with the pick-up. It just makes a difference," said Stehlik.

In the past, when Stehlik has gone to have the Aquapherisis treatment, he spent one week in the hospital, "draining" excess fluids from his body.

Partly because of Stehlik's push toward an outpatient program, BryanLGH hopes to soon open up a new center, where patients can come in for the day, a few days a week, and continue on with their lives throughout their treatment.

Stehlik says he will be first in line when it opens.