well, i am relieved to learn that they are more routine than i thought. my
sister never called, but, my job did and i am in on less than 5 hours sleep
again today. i think i need a new job or something. who's going to hire a 52
year old though.

-----Original Message-----
From: Betty B [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, March 06, 2001 12:52 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: my dear old dads health


Ken wrote:

"My dad has been in ICU since friday night with heart pain. they had already
said no more on bypasses. today they put in a couple of stents. my
understanding of a stent is that it is some tubing from one place to another
to go around bad parts of the arteries to get blood to where it needs to be.
has anyone herad of this. it does appear that dad's doing okay, but, this is
pretty serious stuff, i perceive.  i am not a medical type."

Betty's reply: Ken, I just read the following article about Dick Cheney,
which included a reference to stents.  Since you posted this question, I
decided to send you the whole thing.  What the heck, I'm sending it to
everybody.  We can all learn about stents.

The following three paragraphs comprise all of the comments about stents in
case you don't want to read the entire article.

"In Monday's angioplasty, doctors inserted a flexible tube into the narrowed
artery carrying a collapsed balloon. Once the balloon was in place, it was
inflated, reopening the artery.

During the procedure last November, one of Cheney's heart arteries was 90
percent blocked, so doctors implanted a wire scaffolding-like device called
a
stent to push away the blockage and prop open the artery walls.

Reiner said that following such stent procedures, there always is a chance
of
renarrowing - and this is apparently what happened to Cheney. The doctor
said
scar tissue within the stent caused the renarrowing."

Ken, I'll keep your Dad in prayer, and I'm sorry to hear that he's ill.

Betty
________________________________________
Vice President Cheney Undergoes Angioplasty
Doctors Insert Balloon To Open Artery

By RON FOURNIER
.c The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (March 5) - Vice President Dick Cheney underwent surgery Monday
to
reopen a partially blocked artery after checking into a hospital with chest
pains. It was the same artery that had been cleared last November after his
fourth heart attack.

There was no evidence that Cheney had suffered another heart attack, said
his
cardiologist, Dr. Jonathan Reiner. The doctor also said he did not believe
Cheney had suffered more heart damage, though the vice president was
spending
the night at the hospital for observation.

Cheney, 60, had quickly resumed a full schedule after a heart attack and
follow up surgery last November.

''There is a very high likelihood he can finish out his term in his fully
vigorous capacity,'' the doctor said after Monday's procedure - an
angioplasty. But he added, ''He has chronic heart and artery disease.''

Reiner said there was a 40 percent risk the artery would narrow again. He
said Cheney could be released from the hospital as early as Tuesday and be
back to work this week.

President Bush, playing down his top adviser's latest health scare, called
the surgery ''a precautionary measure.'' Bush spoke by telephone to Cheney,
who reported from the hospital that he was feeling fine and looking forward
to returning to work, the White House said.

Cheney is an unusually active and influential vice president. He headed
Bush's transition team, played a major role in Cabinet and top personnel
selections and has helped Bush forge foreign policy as well as a national
energy policy. White House officials say Cheney is the adviser Bush most
relies upon to make sure his agenda is carried out.

His hospitalization came less than a week after the predident's first
address
to Congress, just as Bush is trying to generate attention and support for
his
tax-cut plan.

White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said there was no word on when
Cheney will return to work. ''That'll be a judgment the vice president will
make (Tuesday) with his doctors,'' he said.

Cheney checked himself into George Washington University Hospital, about six
blocks west of the White House, after feeling chest pain on Saturday and
Sunday and then again, twice, on Monday, Reiner said.

He said the episodes were ''much milder and very brief'' when compared with
the chest pains that Cheney suffered in November. ''The symptoms were
subtle'' this time, Reiner said.

Cheney attended a birthday party for Federal reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan
on Sunday night, capping a weekend in which he and his wife moved into the
vice president's residence on the grounds of the U.S. Naval Observatory.
They
also sold their townhouse in McLean, Va.

In Monday's angioplasty, doctors inserted a flexible tube into the narrowed
artery carrying a collapsed balloon. Once the balloon was in place, it was
inflated, reopening the artery.

During the procedure last November, one of Cheney's heart arteries was 90
percent blocked, so doctors implanted a wire scaffolding-like device called
a
stent to push away the blockage and prop open the artery walls.

Reiner said that following such stent procedures, there always is a chance
of
renarrowing - and this is apparently what happened to Cheney. The doctor
said
scar tissue within the stent caused the renarrowing.

Aides said Cheney, who was working at the White House on Monday, had told
Bush in the morning that he was experiencing discomfort in his chest and
planned to be examined by a doctor.

Cheney has had four heart attacks, the first when he was 37. In 1988, he had
quadruple bypass surgery to clear clogged arteries.

Reiner said Cheney probably could fully return to his work ''later in the
week.''

Reiner said the vice president had been ''exceedingly diligent'' in
following
both dietary and exercise recommendations, including essentially eliminating
red meat from his diet.

''He has very nicely adhered to what we wanted him to do,'' Reiner said.

After Cheney arrived at the hospital on Monday, he underwent a cardiac
catheterization to determine what was causing the chest pains.

In that procedure, doctors insert a flexible tube into a leg vessel, and it
is run from there up to the target artery supplying blood to the heart. At
that point, dye is injected. The dye shows up on an X-ray or fluoroscope,
enabling doctors to see the flow of blood through the artery.

When the blockage was noted, the angioplasty was performed. Reiner said
Cheney dozed off several times during the procedure, which took about an
hour.

In a television interview Sunday, Cheney said he felt great. ''I am
well-behaved. They've taken control of my food supply. So I'm trying to do
all those things you need do to be a responsible individual with a history
of
coronary artery disease and somebody who's 60,'' he told CNN.

After his last heart attack, Cheney's doctors said his heart was moderately
damaged. Other heart experts said Cheney was at higher risk for further
heart
attacks than the average person his age and he needed to take such
protective
steps as losing weight.

Cheney late in November said his blood pressure was an excellent 106 over
80.
He was taking cholesterol-lowering medicine that had kept his total
cholesterol level around a good 170, he said. However, he didn't reveal
levels of so-called bad cholesterol and triglycerides, more important than
total cholesterol counts.

Asked if he feared another heart attack, Cheney said: ''I don't operate that
way. ... I look forward to several more years.''

A few days after his November heart attack, Cheney demonstrated his
back-to-business mindset when he responded to questions about his health by
jumping up and down and pumping his arms.

Cheney, who has declined to release his full medical records, seemingly has
lost some weight since then, but aides won't say how much - or how much he
now weighs. He exercises regularly on a treadmill and has been skipping
sweets, aides said.

If the vice presidency becomes vacant, the president picks a successor, who
must be confirmed by Congress. The 25th Amendment, ratified in 1967, has
been
invoked twice, when Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned in 1973 and again
after President Nixon resigned in 1974, elevating Vice President Gerald Ford
to the presidency.

When Agnew resigned in 1973, Nixon nominated Ford to be his vice president.
Less than a year later, Nixon resigned, Ford succeeded him and designated
Nelson Rockefeller as vice president.

 AP-NY-03-05-01 2035EST

Copyright 2001 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP
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