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Cheney's heart transplant

I read in Cheney's autobiography that he had several heart scares over the years. Now as we all know he's gone on to have a heart transplant. This is usually a successful procedure. However there is a hidden danger. A patient who has had this procedure will be placed on anti-rejection meds, and they have to cope with the side-effects. Because the patient's immune system is suppressed, all sorts of strange cancers can some screaming out of nowhere. That's not to say this will happen in Cheney's case, of course, but it can happen to transplant patients. And should this unfortunate scenario ever occur, problems arise when deciding how to treat such patients. Let us take the example of oesophageal cancer. Normally a patient of Cheney's age would have a poor chance, statistically speaking, of surviving that. Add to the equation a heart transplant, and life becomes infinitely more complicated for both patient and doctors. Coming off the anti-rejection meds in order to get chemo brings its own dangers - after all the patient is on those meds for a reason. Should chemo or radiotherapy be successful, and it eventually become possible to operate, the mission is then complicated by the heart transplant, because the transplanted organ can be in the way, and the normal procedure may not be possible. If the heart's in the way, then a different route to the tumour would have to be sought - which means it's time for highly experimental, one-off surgery, with all its attendant risks. Even if this is possible, & is done successfully, the patient would face an extremely lengthy recuperation period. It is far more likely that the patient just will not survive the cancer. So anyway, good luck to Dick Cheney, I'm sure he had some top surgeons and they did excellent work. But I can't help thinking that Cheney's troubles may not be over ...

Tags: Dick Cheney, heart transplant, stents To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the Patriot's Corner. Thanks!

1 Comments - Share Yours!:

PatriotUSA said...

Thanks for your thoughts on this, Nick. You are well qualified to comment on such affairs and I like Dick Cheney and always have.

He waited 20 months for his heart transplant and I agree with you that he is far from out of the woods. I hope he comes out of this well and at the very least is around and well for a few more years to bring grief to the far left liberal morons. There have actually been comments and posts on some far left rags that wished he would not survive and that he is stealing life from others who deserve life more. Such thoughts are disgusting and are from the same flock of left sided sheeple who hated and vilified Cheney and Bush every chance they got.

Just think, if some Conservative posted or stated aloud the same thoughts about obama, they would be branded as racists and hatemongers and the LSM would have this on page one for days.

Recover well Mr. Cheney. You are still needed more than you know.