Posted on 09/04/2004 4:20:43 AM PDT by JesseHousman
NEW YORK - Bill Clinton said he was "a little scared, but not much" of undergoing heart bypass surgery, but was looking forward to a swift recovery and resuming normal activities such as jogging.
The former president was hospitalized Friday with chest pains and shortness of breath. The upcoming operation could limit his role in campaigning for fellow Democrat John Kerry, who is making a run for the White House.
"Let me just say this, Republicans aren't the only people who want four more years here," Clinton said in a live interview Friday evening on CNN's "Larry King Live."
An angiogram showed that Clinton, who turned 58 two weeks ago, had significant blockage in his heart arteries but did not suffer a heart attack, a doctor who performed the test told The Associated Press.
Clinton blamed the blockage in part on genetics but also said he "may have done some damage in those years when I was too careless about what I ate."
"I guess I'm a little scared, but not much," he said. "I'm looking forward to it. I want to get back. I want to see what it's like to run five miles again."
His wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, said the former president would have surgery early next week and no further information about his condition would be released until the operation is finished.
"I wanted to report to you that my husband is doing very well," she said outside New York Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia, where the former president is being treated. "He's in great humor. He's beating all of us at cards and the rest of the games we're playing."
In bypass surgery, a new piece of blood vessel, usually taken from the patient's leg, is sewn into place to create a detour around a blockage. Patients typically spend three to five days in the hospital and are encouraged to be fairly active right away.
Clinton had agreed to campaign for Kerry in the two months before the Nov. 2 general election and had already appeared at some Democratic Party events.
Both President Bush and Kerry, the junior senator from Massachusetts, sent best wishes to Clinton.
During his two terms as president, Clinton was an avid jogger also known for his love of fast food. But in January, Clinton said he had cut out junk food after going on the popular "The South Beach Diet," which limits carbohydrates and fats, and started a workout regimen. He has appeared much thinner since early in the year.
The 6-foot-2 president has remained an active political presence since he left the White House in 2001, whether quietly stopping by his Harlem office or drawing a standing ovation for a rousing speech to Democrats at their July convention in Boston. Most recently, he was on the road plugging his memoirs, "My Life."
Before he suffered chest pains, Clinton had been scheduled to accompany his wife on a two-day tour of upstate New York. Instead, the senator and the couple's daughter, Chelsea, joined Clinton in New York City.
Sen. Clinton said her husband would "be back in fighting form before ... very long after the surgery and the period of necessary recovery passes."
She praised the hospital's medical staff and said: "We're delighted we have good health insurance. That makes a big difference. And I hope someday everybody will be able to say the same thing."
Clinton had a cancerous growth removed from his back shortly after leaving office. In 1996, he had a precancerous lesion removed from his nose and a year before that had a benign cyst taken off his chest.
But otherwise, Clinton suffered only the usual problems that often accompany normal aging and a taste for junk food _ periods of slightly elevated cholesterol and hearing loss. In 1997, he was fitted with hearing aids, and he also battled allergies.
Clinton first went to a hospital Thursday after suffering the chest pains and shortness of breath, his office said in a statement. He spent the night at his Chappaqua home.
On Friday, at the Westchester Medical Center, near his home, he was given an angiogram, in which dye is used to detect blockages or narrowing of coronary arteries. The test revealed "multivessel coronary artery disease, normal heart function and no heart attack," said Dr. Anthony Pucillo, who performed the procedure.
Pucillo said the blockage was significant enough to warrant an operation.
He said a mouthful!
He's probably wondering which of the doctors was bought off by his wife... ;-)
This is from militants at AP who define terrorists as "freedom fighters".
At least he'll be spared the car ride into Marcy Park.
He should not worry! Only the good die young!
my husband is convinced that he is in that hospital to participate in the filming of a porn flick with naughty nurses, not for heart surgery.
No one has as yet comented on the remarkable fact that last week, Bubba went inside a church, for the first time in years, lugging the old family Bibile, and delivered a horrendous political speech, inside a church, excoritating right wing Christain fundamentalist Republicans...a week later, this..hmm....maybe a warnign from the MAN upstairs?
"Clinton had agreed to campaign for Kerry in the two months before the Nov. 2 general election and had already appeared at some Democratic Party events."
IT'S OFFICIAL: THE ELECTION IS OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!
>>Grow up. It's a serious operation with a lot of serious risks. I don't like Clinton but I don't wish him ill, either.<<
Please understand that people here are not wishing ill. We just know the Clinton body count. I personally am praying hard that Bill makes it through just fine. If something happens to him, Hillary becomes the greveing widow. It worked for Voniovich when one of his children was killed in a car accident. Hillary will soar.
I hope God is with him and his family. I despised the comments made about Reagan when he passed away. Hopefully this bypass surgery will not be a replay on the other side of the political coin. Prayers sent.
I wish Bill Clinton well and I thank him for his service with respect to the present political situation. I expect Bill Clinton's health and recovery will be a lot more interesting to most Democrats than that other guy and whatever it is he's grumbling about now... what's his name? Oh yeah, John Kerry. Is he still talking about Vietnam?
Thank you. If President Bush can wish Clinton a speedy recovery, so can we. This is not a time for the gloves to come off. He was a former president of the United States, no matter what his actions in office were, and should be respected as such.
Ditto! :)
Ditto. Beat him senseless on the playing field, not in a hospital bed.
Ditto. Beat him senseless on the playing field, not in a hospital bed.
I'll add my "dittos" to these sentiments.
Remember Reagan's line after he got shot. He said something to the doctors like, "I hope you guys are Republicans."
I've I'd committed all the evil, anti-God treason he'd committed,
I'd be afraid to cross the street.
I'm not surprised that he is "a little scared". He is and always has been a coward and a bully.
He lied his way into office, and wouldn't have won if not for Perot (thank you, little Big Ears), lied and grafted his way though eight years in office, covered up acts of Muslim terrorism against us, made his moral perversion a national joke, and pardoned criminals on his way out the door. I don't pray for his death, but do not ask decent people to respect this blight on our history.
"Sorry sir, you took care of that 12 years ago, but don't worry, we are proffessionals and we really care about people .... we'll have the form for you to sign to switch parties when you come out in recovery ...
OK people, let's go in .... "
Yeah, right.
DALLAS, June 1 1999 Cocaine Triggers Heart Attacks
Within One Hour" During the first hour after using cocaine, the user's risk of heart attack increases nearly 24 times, according to the first large study of the long-suspected relationship between cocaine and heart disease. The research is reported in today's Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. "Cocaine significantly increases the risk of heart attack in individuals who are otherwise at low risk," says Murray A. Mittleman, M.D., Dr. P.H., of the Institute for Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, who headed the research project.
"The average age of people in the study who suffered heart attacks soon after using cocaine was only 44," Mittleman notes. "That's about 17 years younger than the average heart attack patient. Of the 38 cocaine users who had heart attacks, 29 had no prior symptoms of heart disease."
Research over the past decade has suggested a strong cause-and-effect relationship between cocaine use and heart attacks and strokes. But this is the first study to examine the direct and devastating short-term effects of cocaine on the heart.
Known as the Determinants of Myocardial Infarction Onset Study, the research was carried out between 1989 and 1996 at 64 medical centers across the United States and included interviews with 2,664 men and 1,282 women who had suffered a non-fatal heart attack. The individuals ranged in age from 20 to 92. Thirty-eight individuals reported cocaine use in the prior year, and nine reported use of the drug within 60 minutes before their heart attacks.
Mittleman notes that cocaine users are more likely to be male and to smoke cigarettes. Smoking is a major risk factor for heart attack. These two variables were accounted for in assessing whether cocaine use increases the risk for heart attack.
"More research is definitely needed," Mittleman says. "We'd like to learn more about the difference that gender and frequency of use may make in cocaine-associated risk."
The researchers plan a similar study to examine the relationship between stroke and cocaine.
"Studying the mechanisms by which cocaine triggers heart attack may provide insights into how other factors, such as stress, or sudden exertion, may also trigger heart attacks and strokes," says Mittleman.
Researchers suggest several ways that cocaine may trigger a heart attack. Cocaine can cause a sudden rise in blood pressure, heart rate and contractions of the left ventricle (or pumping chamber) of the heart. These effects can increase the risk of a heart attack. Cocaine also tightly squeezes, or constricts, the coronary arteries that feed blood to the heart. If the artery constricts, blood flow to the heart and brain can be obstructed, causing a heart attack or stroke.
More than 30 million Americans are believed to have tried cocaine, and an estimated 5 million are regular users, so an understanding of the drug's associated heart-disease risk is an important public health issue, says Mittleman.
"As the public learns more about the huge risk involved in using cocaine, we hope fewer people will want to experiment with this truly dangerous drug," says Mittleman. "In addition, we hope that drug education campaigns may use this information about the magnitude of the heart-disease risk associated with cocaine use to prevent individuals from becoming first-time users." Co-authors are David Mintzer; Malcolm Maclure, Sc.D.; Goeffrey Tofler, M.B.; Jane Sherwood, R. N.; and James Muller, M.D. "
I wonder if this life threatening event will make him do some soul searching and begin his life anew ... without Hillary.
Writing this sentence had to be like swallowing a very large pill!
This criminal, along with his phony wife, eclipsed even the corruption generated by the Karter and Johnson presidencies.
Klinton's actions in office were not merely repugnant; they were the catalyst for like behavior on the part of this nation's children.
His legacy is evil and scandal tothe nth degree.
Leave it to Hillary to turn her husband's illness into a political opportunity.
I give him credit for not blaming Starr. He's exhibiting just the smallest shred of maturity. Of course, he may be shewd enough to realize how idiotic that would appear.
Of course he's scared. Unlike the draft, rape charges, Monicagate, infidelity charges, et cetera, et cetera, this is the first time in his life he's facing something that he cannot B.S. his way out of.
The Dynamic Duo were welded together by their soviet masters for the purpose of the destruction of this country. When the USSR folded, the contract was picked up the Chinese Communists.
They have had a relationship that was purely business: the business of the world communist conspiracy.
Gee...now why would you post an article about cocaine and heart attacks on a Clinton thread?
I agree with all you say. I am declaring a ceasefire, however, while the man is in hospital -- out of respect to him as a human being, and because I revere the office of the president of the United States, even if I do not always revere the holder of that office. When a man like that is in mortal danger, I think of him simply as former president. I will happily go back to being rude about him if and when he makes a full recovery.
I think they should get a copy of the Hillary Care Documents and force him to go to the hospital and staff under the HMO he would have been assigned to based on his residence
See how he likes that choice
I think Madame Hitlery, along with the DNC, has other plans for Billy.
A state funeral just before the election would be a DemocRAT pollsters dream.
Visions of the casket on a horse-drawn caisson, while behind a riderless horse is being led by the heroine.
They thought of Jimmie Karter at first, but then felt they couldn't cover-up the homocide.
Well said, and I believe right on the mark!
I hope Slick Willy finally realizes he's not invincible, nor immortal.
We can wish him a speedy recovery and not because the dems wouldn't if the table was turned. It's simply the right thing to do.
Let's all chip in and buy him something nice to help while away the time.
Some cigars, perhaps?
22nd Amendment bump
I was thinking in terms of 20 or 30 Big Macs with cheese.
So how did the reported lesions on his heart show up then? Aren't they usually only found on people who have had (some kind of) heart attack before?
EXACTLY. I'm TRYING to keep Christian thoughts -- but remembering all the dirty deals those 2 have done is making it very hard.
Klinton had chest pains.
Her heinous' exploitive comments outside the hospital with regard to health care wiped out the shred of sympathy I felt for the man.
Now, I'm not a fan of the man but honestly, I would be extremely apprehensive about this surgery. He has good reason to be scared - it's a pretty big deal!
Genes have a lot more to do with arteriosclerosis than diet does although both are factors. Bill Clinton has always been a self indulgent person whose many personal negatives have come home to roost. While no booster of his, lets hope he comes through the operation so he can continue to entertain us for many more years with his personal picadilloes.
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