Posted on 09/03/2004 5:31:21 PM PDT by 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.
Damn! I was certain no one heard me...
I emailed both AP and Knight Ridder(I hope I had the correct email addresses),but the damage has been done,and they damn well knew it would be when they ran this lie. I swear,the MSM makes me so sick,I have to remind myself that I still believe in the First Amendment. They lie about the President and the right with impunity,and when they once in a blue moon make a token weak apology or retraction,they don't do it until the lie has seeped into the broader public "knowledge",and the "apology" or "retraction" doesn't matter.
We have to rely on a less biassed,more friendly,however you see it,source like Fox to fix it,and even as big as they're getting,they can't put out all the fires. They want to get ratings and ad money just like the others,plus they can't abuse their credibility by pouncing on every little thing.So,many of the lies just slide under the radar,and coming from traditionally respected sources like AP and Knight Ridder,the public at large may tend to believe them.
I wish they'd tell such a whopper just one time,that it would blow their credibility sky-high when they got called on it. I would celebrate. I'm SO sick and disgusted with these people and their lies and distortions,and their idea that they have the right to makae the news instead of just report it. In case you couldn't tell yet, I HATE and DESPISE them,and would love NOTHING better than to see them BROUGHT TO THEIR KNEES in humility and shame.
An out-of-the-blue generality and obvious lie.
It was funny and sad to see how this progressed on DU. They were so full of self-righteous anger claiming that Republicans have no heart, honor or compassion. The funny thing is that many of those same people held parties when Ronald Reagan died and some even said that Nancy Reagan deserved to see her husband go this way. I suppose the reason they were so inclined to believe this story about Bush supporters booing Clinton was because in fact that darkness, i.e. taking pleasure in anothers pain and misfortune, actually lives in their hearts and so they project this attribute upon others. I wonder if any of them asked themselves how they or their friends on DU would have reacted if they were at a Kerry rally and received the same message about President Bush's health condition? Would they have acted as graciously as the Bush supporters did toward Bill Clinton? I doubt seriously doubt it.
Drugde has the transcript up on his site and they applauded for Clinton when the President brought it up. Everyone should go to Druge and read it.
This needs to be taken care of.
Even if the reporter made up the booing,
it's not such a big thing.
I'm glad to know people think he was booed
and we don't need to apologize one way or the other.
The Right is always on the defensive and the
Left knows how to make us jump.
President Bush was gracious but the people still
have the right to speak out and stand up against
the Clintons.
I talked to several of the people at the hospital and everyone I know that has either had this surgery or knows someone that has, all say the same thing.
doesn't hurt all the time, but if you move a certain way, if you are not careful, you will definitely have a "depends" moment!!!
For me, it's not just that it's this one thing,it's the pattern they have of doing this.People tend to start taking notice and thinking when they see a pattern of reporting that they may not be aware is totally false,and that's not good.
A couple of isolated articles,or a few obviously biassed loonies doing this,I could shrug my shoulders. But it's too often,there's too many of them doing it,and enough of them are historically respected,that it matters.
I have nothing but the highest contempt and derision for the MSM,and no faith whatsoever in them. If they reported the Second Coming,I'd have to hear the trumpets with my own ears and see the angels in descending from Heaven with my own eyes before I'd believe them.I wouldn't believe a thing that they said or a picture that they showed,and I can just hear them trying to trip up my Lord Jesus Christ in an interview before their master the devil carries them off into the eternal flames of hell. I despise them that much.
That depends, billy. What would, in your estimation, be the quantitative likelihood that a sizeable enough contingent subset of the crowd suffered from aural impediment? We need a study, darn it! :-)
I had my triple bypass 21 years ago, at age 40. I was 90%, 85% and 95% blocked in the three major arteries, due to a bad diet, smoking and a lack of exercise. They released me from the Washington Hospital Center after six days, and I could walk a mile in the hallways. The doctor told me that I'd better get my ass out on the street, or I'd be right back. I lost 50 pounds and took up running. I've run on the streets of Baghdad, Lagos, Havana, Harare, N'Djamena, inter alia. I'd be running today except my feet gave out. Bill Clinton will have the finest health care available in the U.S. We can count on having him to kick around for another couple of decades. I wish him a successful procedure and a speedy recovery.
From Newsday, NY - 9 hours ago :
Bush's audience of thousands in West Allis, Wis., booed. Bush did nothing to stop them.From WSTM-TV, NY - 4 hours ago:
Many in Bush's audience booed when Clinton's name was mentioned. The president made no comment on that and continued with his rally speech.From Macon Telegraph, GA - 3 hours ago:
Some in Bush's audience booed when he wished Clinton well, while those in Kerry's cheered.
The AP Changes "Boos" to "Ooohs" in Report on Bush and Clinton
By E & P Staff
Published: September 03, 2004 10:00 PM EST
NEW YORK The Associated Press changed "boos" to "ooohhs" Friday afternoon in reporting on President George Bush's first statement to supporters on the heart ailment that has befallen former President Bill Clinton.
In a dispatch sent to subscribers in early afternoon, the AP reported that when Bush, at a campaign rally in West Allis, Wisconsin, told the crowd that he wished to send Clinton his "best wishes for a swift and speedy recovery," the audience "of thousands booed. Bush did nothing to stop them."
Pretty damning, except that AP soon changed its story, only after the original appeared on many Web sites.
Several Web sites revealed that AP "retracted" the report "citing uncertainties about how to characterize the crowd's reaction."
The new version moved on the wire Friday described the same incident this way, after relating Bush's remarks: "The crowd reacted with applause and with some 'ooohs,' apparently surprised by the news that Clinton was ill."
A Knight Ridder/Tribune (KRT) report put it this way: "Some in Bush's audience booed when he wished Clinton well...." The AFP wire report declared that after Bush's statement "thousands of boisterous supporters clapped respectfully."
What's with AP? Having open heart surgery must be painful. Anyways, why do we care about it? There are other big news events like 200 Russians killed by Muslim terrorists and Hurricane Frances.
That's why you and I are here at
Free Republic, scanning the internet.
The people will seek out the Truth.
Even if the Media spouts lies.
So much for my theory that the Clinton's want Kerry to lose. With Clinton off the campaign trail, Bush really has his work cut out for him! The timing of this bypass is suspicious.
But, in all seriousness, a quick and speedy recovery to Bill Clinton. May God bless you and your family, Mr. President.
I was there. There may have been some 'whew' s because of the surprise of the malady. He does seem like a young man.
By a blue ribbon committee chaired by the honorable J. McCain?
No, we keep saying that politics have become to uncivil. Here was a large partisan crowd -- that booed lustily about Kerry's recorded votes against supporting the troops -- that recognized that there are moments when we treat each other with respect. We can get back to roasting him on a spit when he's on his feet.
The Wellstone Funeral was chilling because one of those moments was violated.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.