Thread: Former VP Cheney hospitalized, resting comfortably

Former VP Cheney hospitalized, resting comfortably
2 hrs 33 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Former vice president Dick Cheney was hospitalized after experiencing chest pains Monday, an aide said.

Cheney assistant Peter Long issued a statement that the 69-year-old Cheney was resting comfortably and his doctors were evaluating the situation.

Cheney has a history of heart problems and has a pacemaker.

In 2008, doctors restored a normal rhythm to his heart with an electric shock. It was the second time in less than a year that Cheney had experienced and been treated for an atrial fibrillation, an abnormal rhythm involving the upper chambers of the heart.

Cheney has had four heart attacks, starting when he was 37. He has had quadruple bypass surgery and two artery-clearing angioplasties. In 2001, he had a special pacemaker implanted in his chest. The pacemaker's battery was replaced last year, and then the entire device was replaced.

The former vice president has kept a high profile since leaving the White House. He has sparred with the Obama administration over plans to close the U.S. detention facility for terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and hold the trials of several high-profile detainees in civilian courts rather than military tribunals.

He made a surprise appearance last week at the Conservative Political Action Conference, where he accompanied his daughter Liz. He was greeted with chants of "Run, Dick, Run," but said "I am not going to do it."

Among his extensive government service, Cheney served as defense secretary under President George H.W. Bush.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100223/...1lcnZwY2hlbg--

Cheney tests showed evidence of mild heart attack[i]
Ben Feller, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 33 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Former Vice President Dick Cheney is recovering from a "mild heart attack" — his latest bout in a long battle against heart disease.

Cheney was feeling fine on Tuesday and likely to be sent home from a Washington hospital within a day or two, aides aid. He experienced chest pain on Monday, and lab results revealed evidence of the heart attack, spokesman Peter Long said.

"The whole family has been working with heart disease for decades, and they are vigilant and attuned to treatment," said political consultant Mary Matalin, a friend and former counselor to Cheney.

She added that Cheney, now 69, "knows how to live with this disease" and is fortunate to have great doctors.

The news came just more than a week after Cheney and Vice President Joe Biden essentially dueled each across different Sunday television talk shows, bickering over national security, credit for success in Iraq and Iran's nuclear program. Even more recently, Cheney made a surprise appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference, delighting the partisan crowd with statements like, "I think Barack Obama is a one-term president."

Biden called Cheney on Tuesday to wish him well, as did Cheney's old boss, former President George W. Bush.

The heart attack is Cheney's fifth since age 37. A heart attack occurs when blood flow to the heart muscle is blocked.

After being admitted to George Washington University Hospital, Cheney underwent a stress test and a heart catheterization, according to a statement from his office. The statement did not say whether an angioplasty — a procedure to clear a blockage — was performed.

It is possible to have blockages in blood vessels too small to warrant that procedure.

Regardless, while a mild heart attack doesn't by definition do much damage to the heart muscle, cumulative ones add up.

"We know he's got bad heart function to start. Any degree of loss of heart tissue is going to impair his heart function more," said interventional cardiologist Dr. William O'Neill, executive dean for clinical affairs at the University of Miami School of Medicine.

Matalin said Cheney was feeling fine. She said Cheney watched the Olympics on Monday night, had lunch with his family on Tuesday, has kept up good humor and has deeply enjoyed writing his book.

While Bush kept his promise and got off the national political stage, Cheney has remained ever prominent as a voice of opposition to the Obama administration. Under Bush, he was regarded as the most powerful vice president in history. Cheney's public career spanned decades, including service as a lawmaker, a defense secretary and a White House chief of staff.

Cheney had bypass surgery in 1988, as well as two later angioplasties to clear narrowed coronary arteries, and bypasses tend to last about a decade before the rerouted blood vessels start to clog.

In 2001, he had a special pacemaker implanted in his chest. In addition, doctors in 2008 restored a normal rhythm to his heart with an electric shock. It was the second time in less than a year that Cheney had experienced and been treated for an atrial fibrillation, an abnormal rhythm involving the upper chambers of the heart.

Cheney has sparred with the Obama administration over plans to close the U.S. detention facility for terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and hold the trials of several detainees in civilian courts rather than military tribunals. Yet when Biden and Cheney spoke for roughly five minutes on Tuesday, it was all friendly and personal, Biden's office said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100224/...VuZXl0ZXN0c3M-

Cheney's 5 heart attacks unusual, shows good care
Lauran Neergaard, Ap Medical Writer – Thu Feb 25, 7:56 am ET

WASHINGTON – Surviving five heart attacks makes former Vice President Dick Cheney pretty unusual — showing that he has good medical care as well as a particularly aggressive form of heart disease.

But the number, attention-grabbing as it is, isn't the real issue: It's how much damage a heart attack does to the muscle of your heart that determines how well you recover, and the quality of remaining years.

"One really significant heart attack can be much more worrisome, in fact life-threatening, than several heart attacks that have not resulted in significant injury," explained Dr. Clyde Yancy, a cardiologist at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas and president of the American Heart Association.

Still, "even one mild heart attack proves you have blocked blood vessels around your heart and establishes a higher risk for a next heart attack."

Cheney was fortunate; Monday's heart attack was described as mild. But at 69, he's now lived almost as long with heart disease as he has without. His first heart attack came at the early age of 37.

A heart attack occurs when blood flow to the heart is blocked, and how long that happens, in how big a blood vessel, determines the resulting degree of cardiac muscle damage.

Cheney was admitted to George Washington University Hospital on Monday experiencing chest pains, and officials revealed Tuesday that lab tests uncovered the heart attack. Blood tests look for enzymes the heart releases when it has been damaged, and the degree of enzymes helps assess the severity.

Cheney aide Peter Long said the former vice president was "feeling good" Tuesday after undergoing a stress test plus a heart catheterization to examine blood flow to the heart. He didn't say whether an angioplasty — a procedure to clear a blockage — was performed during the catheterization. It's possible to have blockages in blood vessels too small to warrant that procedure.

Deaths from heart disease have dropped nearly 40 percent in the past decade, thanks to cholesterol-lowering medications and the kinds of surgical treatments Cheney has received: bypass surgery, two angioplasties to clear clogged arteries, a special pacemaker implanted to help a weakened heart beat properly. He also has undergone electric shock to treat an abnormal heart rhythm called atrial fibrillation, also more common in heart attack-weakened hearts.

Still, the heart attacks keep coming.

"It unfortunately tells us he's got bad luck in the gene pool. His genetics have given him an aggressive" form of heart disease, said Dr. William O'Neill, an interventional cardiologist and executive dean for clinical affairs at the University of Miami School of Medicine.

Even mild heart attacks cause cumulative damage. While his doctors haven't revealed the extent of Cheney's damage, O'Neill said it's likely he "doesn't have much reserve."

The average person who survives a first heart attack may survive a second, sometimes a third, but very few survive more, said Dr. Edward I. Morris, a cardiologist at Washington Hospital Center, across town from Cheney's hospital.

Heart disease is progressive. Cheney's bypass was in 1988, and they typically last about a decade before the grafts begin to narrow. Arteries cleared by angioplasty re-clog, too.

And that first survived heart attack is a crucial teachable moment, when suddenly doctors' warnings — about diet and exercise, and to quit smoking, and to treat high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol — take on new meaning. The right care can indeed prevent a second heart attack and provide years of quality life, Yancy said.

Attention to Cheney offers a different teachable moment: How to avoid even that first heart attack. Yancy points people to the heart association's "seven simple steps" Internet program, at http://www.heart.org/mylifecheck. Get three easy measurements from your doctor — blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol level — and answer four lifestyle questions, and the program will tell where you need to improve.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100225/...VuZXlzNWhlYXI-

With so much anger/hate/negativity in his heart it's a wonder that he isn't dead yet tbh. I mean if having 5 heart attacks is unusual then maybe that's a sign to lighten up and stop being such a nasty curmudgeon of a person.

Originally Posted by ElleGee

With so much anger/hate/negativity in his heart it's a wonder that he isn't dead yet tbh. I mean if having 5 heart attacks is unusual then maybe that's a sign to lighten up and stop being such a nasty curmudgeon of a person.

It was only a matter of time, I really expected this type of response sooner. Can we all sing kumbiya now. LOL