Cheney Hospital Tests Find No Abnormality
2 minutes ago
By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites), who has a history of heart trouble, went to a hospital Saturday after experiencing shortness of breath. Two tests found no abnormalities, an aide said.
A pacemaker implanted in the 63-year-old Cheney's chest three years ago indicated no irregularities during the past 90 days, Mary Matalin, a spokeswoman for the vice president, said. The device gives doctors a three-month readout. She said an electrocardiogram, which measures the heart's electrical activity, showed no change.
Cheney, who has had four heart attacks, although none as vice president, returned Thursday night from a pheasant hunting trip in South Dakota with a cold that left him short of breath, she said.
The vice president, who joined President Bush (news - web sites) on Friday for meetings with British Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites), felt fine otherwise, but that as a precaution his cardiologist, Dr. Jonathan Reiner, recommended he go to George Washington University Hospital for tests.
"Everything looks great, Matalin said. "He's walking around from room to room in his street clothes just waiting for the blood work."
She said Cheney was driven in a motorcade from his residence a few miles from the hospital and walked in under his own power.
"He was doing this just as a precaution," Matalin said, adding that Cheney did not need an ambulance.
The president was notified by his chief of staff, Andy Card, shortly after Bush returned from a bike ride Saturday at a Secret Service training facility outside Washington, White House spokesman Ken Lisaius said.
In June 2001, Cheney had a pacemaker implanted in his chest. At his annual heart checkup on May 11, doctors determined that the pacemaker, called an implantable cardioverter defibrillator, was working fine and never had had to assist his heart.
The device is designed to activate automatically if needed to regulate the patient's heartbeat.
Ahead of the fall presidential campaign, Cheney dismissed speculation that his health might keep him from running again with Bush. He said his health had been good and that he could not think of any circumstances that would prompt to decline the role. He kept up a heavy travel schedule during Bush's re-election campaign, often traveling with his wife, Lynne Cheney.
His first heart attack occurred in 1978, when he was 37. He had a second in 1984, and after suffering his third heart attack, in 1988, Cheney had quadruple bypass surgery to clear clogged arteries.
On Nov. 22, 2000, Cheney suffered what doctors called a "very slight" heart attack and had an angioplasty to open a clogged artery.
Cheney was back in the hospital on March 5, 2001, after complaining of chest pains. Doctors performed another angioplasty to reopen the same artery.
After his fourth heart attack, Cheney quit smoking, began regular daily exercises for 30 minutes on a treadmill and said he began watching his diet.
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Associated Press writers Ron Fournier and Terence Hunt contributed to this report.
Cheney was back in the hospital on March 5, 2001, after complaining of chest pains. Doctors performed another angioplasty to reopen the same artery.
The same one? Isn't that unusual?
Dick Cheney SMOKED? Holy cow, I didn't know that. I haven't been this surprised since I found out that Laura Bush smoked. Somehow doesn't seem to fit for either one of them.
I don't ever recall seeing a smoking history mentioned in any articles on Cheney's health. Not disputing it, probably contributed to his coronary artery disease, but I just don't recall reading about it before.
Prairie
He didn't walk in under Halliburton's power?