Clinton to have heart surgery

[estranged4life]

NEW YORK - NBC News has been told that former President Clinton on Friday checked himself into a New York City hospital for quadruple bypass surgery.

Clinton, 58, was at the Milstein Pavillion of New York-Presbyterian Hospital.

Democratic Party sources confirmed the development. Clinton talked by phone to Democratic National Committee chief Terry McAuliffe, one source said. Clinton told McAuliffe he was "fine," but was going to have bypass surgery.

A source close to Clinton told NBC News that he went to a hospital Thursday complaining of chest pains and discovered that he needed quadruple bypass surgery. One source said that the surgery is scheduled for Tuesday.

Clinton also canceled a two-day joint trip with his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, across upstate New York because of medical issues, a source familiar with the situation said Friday.

Spokesmen for the former president and for the senator couldn't be immediately reached for comment.

A coronary artery bypass graft operation is a type of heart surgery that is sometimes referred to as CABG or "cabbage."

The surgery is done to reroute, or "bypass," blood around clogged arteries that can lead to a heart attack and improve the supply of blood and oxygen to the heart.

A quintuple bypass surgery, such that undergone by David Letterman, means that five clogged arteries had to be bypassed.

During bypass surgery, your doctor may "borrow" blood vessels from other places in your body:

A piece from a long vein in your leg may be removed; one end is sewn onto the large artery leaving your heart - the aorta. The other end of the vein is attached or "grafted" to the coronary artery below the blocked area.

An artery may be detached from your chest wall and the open end attached to the coronary artery below the blocked area.

Either way, blood can then use this new path to once again flow freely to the heart muscle. During the operation, the patient is placed on a heart-lung machine.

Patients are often advised to modify their diets to reduce their consumption of fat and cholesterol. They may also be advised to walk or perform other physical activity to help them regain their strength. A home routine of increasing activity - doing light housework, going out, visiting friends, climbing stairs - is also advised.

Most people who have sedentary office jobs can return to work in four to six weeks.

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Man, Seems to be alotta that goin' around at this time...

Brian "Heart still a beatin', So I aint dead yet" j.

[Livia]

Wow - hope his surgery goes smoothly and he has a swift recovery - maybe he can go on Letterman and they can compare notes.

[gldstwmn]

Originally Posted by Livia

Wow - hope his surgery goes smoothly and he has a swift recovery - maybe he can go on Letterman and they can compare notes.

I hope so too. Somehow, from his last interview on Letterman, I don't think he liked Dave all that much.