Clinton to Undergo Bypass Surgery (PEOPLE, THE AP BOOING LIE IS SPREADING!!)

http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/politics/9577031.htm ^

[MaineRepublic]

WASHINGTON - (KRT) - Former President Bill Clinton, whose appetite for fast food and fluctuating waistline cemented his pudgy persona with the public, will undergo heart bypass surgery as early as Saturday in a New York hospital because of heavy blockages of his arteries.

Clinton's prospects are good for a full recovery from a surgery that's performed on more than 300,000 people each year with a 97.6 percent survival rate. The several hours of surgery will involve taking other arteries or veins and rerouting blood away from blocked areas and into the heart.

Clinton, 58, who suffered "mild chest pain and shortness of breath" Thursday afternoon, went to Northern Westchester Hospital and, after tests, was sent home later that night, according to a statement from the former president's office in Harlem. After more tests at Westchester on Friday morning, Clinton was transferred to New York Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan for upcoming surgery.

"He's in excellent hands and he's at one of the great hospitals in the world," his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., said Friday at the New York State Fair in Syracuse as she left to be with the former president and their daughter Chelsea at the hospital.

The hospital and the former president's office aren't releasing details of the surgery, which reportedly is being planned as a quadruple bypass.

The former president is relatively young for the surgery, experts said, which means he has a better than average chance of undergoing surgery without complications and resuming a normal life. More than half of the nation's bypass surgeries are performed on people 65 and older.

"Once you get the grafts on you, you're good to go. Essentially you've got a re-load on the shotgun," said Dr. Randolph Chitwood, the chief of cardiothoracic surgery at East Carolina University's School of Medicine, who underwent bypass surgery when he was 47. "I consider I was recharged and ready to go again."

The surgery is much like installing new plumbing, Chitwood said. It involves putting inch-long patches of arteries or veins from elsewhere - legs, arms or elsewhere in the chest - around the blockages. Most of the time, the patient's heart is stopped during the operation, but for patients older than Clinton is, doctors sometimes do the surgery while the heart continues to beat, Chitwood said.

The procedure is relatively rare for men Clinton's age. Only 5 of 1,000 men aged 45 to 64 had bypass surgery in 2001, according to statistics kept by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On average, the surgery cost about $61,000 in 2001. The government pays ex-presidents' medical bills.

Bypass surgery generally isn't done unless 75 percent of an artery is blocked, said Dr. George Sopko, a cardiologist at the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute in Bethesda, Md.

The fact that the surgery is scheduled and not done on an emergency basis is a good sign, said Dr. Luca Vricella, a cardiac surgeon and professor at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

However, Vricella said the fact that Clinton is getting bypass surgery instead of less invasive procedures - angioplasty or stents such as Vice President Dick Cheney - means the blockage is too extensive or too complicated to be fixed with stents or a balloon inserted through arteries.

"Quadruple bypass means you have a multiple vessel disease, a pretty advanced disease," Sopko told Knight Ridder.

A number of factors, including weight, blood pressure, cholesterol and genetics, cause arterial blockages, the doctors said.

Clinton in January 2001 was put on a cholesterol-lowering prescription because of elevated "bad" cholesterol of 177, up from 134, Dr. Connie Mariano, the president's personal physician, told reporters in a briefing three-and-a-half years ago. Recent studies indicate ideally that number should be in the 60-to-70 range, Sopko said Friday.

Mariano said she talked to Clinton about his cholesterol levels and said the president "acknowledges that it's a combination of not the right type of diet, food that's on the road and long hours, and also not enough exercise."

Clinton, who's lost weight since he left the White House, often talked about being on the trendy South Beach Diet. But on Wednesday, the former president was seen in New Orleans eating gumbo, catfish, black-eyed peas and fried beignets - fried sugared donuts - during his book tour.

Chitwood said he doubted that weight was an issue for Clinton's artery disease.

"I don't think the president is really obese, he's kind of chunky," Chitwood said.

Clinton left office weighing 214 pounds, which is considered overweight for someone 6-foot, 2-inches tall, according to the federal government.

Both President Bush and his Democratic opponent, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, wished the former president well during campaign appearances. Some in Bush's audience booed when he wished Clinton well, while those in Kerry's cheered.

[mrsmel]

Now that you mention it, I remember that too,seeing the picture right as the camera caught him changing faces.

No, I wouldn't say I'd cry a tear, but I also wouldn't use the occasion to mock or make political hay. I hope I try to be more decent than that.

I'd feel sorry for his daughter and anyone who truly loved him(who else that might be,I can't think of),and have empathy in that sense.

[Maria S]

Please e-mail newsmax.com RIGHT NOW...they are running the original "booing" story. Shame on them.

[Tuscaloosa Goldfinch]

In Feb I made Mr. Goldfinch get on the scales. He is 5'11, and weighed 240! Yikes! "That's it," I said. "We're both going on a diet."

You see, Mr. Goldfinch has been around since I was 15 years old in 1972, and my husband since I was 18. I sure don't want to go breaking in a new model at this stage of the game. We both chose low-fat, and he's down to 190-193. I cook more now than I did, I just have to put more thought and creativity in my menus.

So he's lost 50 lbs.

[FITZ]

Like I said --- I don't want him to die because that would be very helpful to Hillary -- and she seems very aware of that --- just a little too happy.

[mrsmel]

I saw that. If my husband was about to have bypass surgery,I wouldn't be before the cameras(if I were her)laughing and smiling and using the occasion to make a political jab about healthcare. I've always thought from what my eyes have seen,that that marriage is a political pact,not a union in love. And Shillery's had the whip hand for some years now.

[afraidfortherepublic]

I don't like Bill Clinton. I never have. I never will. And if I had been at Bush's rally I would have made the AP's story true.

We didn't say that we didn't THINK about it, but the time was just not appropriate. President Bush is so gracious and looked sincerely concerned. We offered polite applause for Clinton and rousing cheers for the people of Florida and the poor parents and children of Russi facing their ordeals. :) We saved all our boos for Kerry-Edwards.

[FITZ]

I think I would not boo --- for one I don't want him to die right now because it would be too perfect for Hillary -- and she's probably already bought a nice new black pantsuit for the cameras and the timing would be right for her 2008 campaign. In fact as long as Hillary is in politics, I hope he doesn't die but hangs around making a fool of himself --- just for her benefit.

I would do nothing -- I would not cheer for him or give him any applause. You're right -- Bush is in a position to have to be polite --- but after the democrats mocked and laughed over Reagan's illness, I don't think they deserve any politeness.