Dr. Oz: Vietnam Vet with Blocked Arteries
Dr. Oz showed video from a recent patient he had helped, a Vietnam vet with four major blocked arteries. Ken is 58, with a long history of coronary heart disease, an ex-cocaine and heroin addict, and a current smoker. He already had a number of stents in his heart, which are little tubes that keep the blood vessels open.
Dr. Oz showed video from a heart surgery he performed on a Vietnam vet named Ken, who need a quadruple bypass surgery. Can Dr. Oz save his life? ([email protected] / flickr)
Ken explained that he drove a truck for years and had an accident. He needed painkillers, which led to him abusing harder drugs like cocaine and heroin. He lived under a bridge for six months. But finally, his oldest daughter got through to him and helped him stop it.
Dr. Oz: Quadruple Bypass Surgery
Ken needed a quadruple bypass surgery. His daughters came to support him and said it was really nerve-wracking. Before the surgery, Dr. Oz had convinced him to stop smoking cigarettes and his daughters said that was really hard for him.
Dr. Oz’s plan was to transfer some veins from his leg into his heart to overcome the four blocked arteries. After opening him up, Dr. Oz saw the blackened spots from cigarettes on his lungs, typical among smokers. But they were able to provide four bypass graphs to the heart to keep his heart pumping strong. Dr. Oz said he was really happy with the operation went.
Dr. Oz explained to Ken’s wife that he needs to stop smoking right now. She said she was going to help him do that and that he’s a very lucky person.
Dr. Oz: Overcoming Heart Disease & Quitting Smoking
Dr. Oz asked his audience if they thought Ken made changes in his life to quit smoking. The audience seemed to lean toward him continuing smoking, despite the extreme circumstance of his heart disease.
In a pretaped video, Ken explained he had quit smoking for seven or eight months and was completely smoke-free, although he did have a recent knee replacement surgery that prevented him from coming on Dr. Oz.
Dr. Oz said that it took Ken a few tries to stick with it, but it takes the average smoker six tries to quit smoking.
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