Schizo America

HOUSTON — Former first lady Barbara Bush was resting comfortably after undergoing successful open heart surgery Wednesday to replace her aortic valve, a family spokesman and hospital officials said.

The surgery at The Methodist Hospital lasted about 2 1/2 hours and was scheduled last week after Bush, 83, experienced a shortness of breath, family spokesman Jim McGrath said.

He said doctors determined the aortic valve had started to harden.

Dr. Gerald Lawrie, a heart surgeon at the Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center, replaced the valve with a biologic valve, the hospital said in a statement. He said the surgery went “extremely well.”

“I expect her to recover fully and soon resume her normal activities,” Lawrie said.

When left untreated, a hardened aortic valve can result in heart failure or sudden cardiac death, the hospital said. The valve, on the left side of the heart, can harden with age and become less effective. Symptoms of aortic valve disease include shortness of breath, chest pains and dizziness.

Former President George H.W. Bush was at the hospital with his wife, who McGrath said was resting comfortably in the intensive care unit. The hospital said the former first lady was expected to be released in seven to 10 days.

“I am very impressed with and grateful to the wonderful team of doctors and nurses at The Methodist Hospital who have helped Barbara,” the former president said. “We have every confidence she is in the best hands.”

McGrath said Bush was already up and talking Wednesday night.

Houston television station KRTK reported that Bush almost didn’t want her children to know about the surgery because she didn’t think it was a big deal.

Barbara Bush is lucky to have lifetime free medical care, because her husband was President and she was his dependent.

Barbara Bush did not have to call her bank and borrow $100,000 from the equity in her home (if the equity was still there, in this crushed real estate market).  Barbara Bush did not have to go to relatives to ask for money.  She did not have to check at the hospital Admitting Desk to see if she could use credit cards for her hospital bills.

Barbara Bush might have HAD to tell her children that she was going to have heart surgery, because she might have HAD to impose on them financially, as many Americans do these days.  Personal bankruptcy filings are littered with ill people who cannot pay their health care bills.

Every elder deserves to have health care, especially when they are most physically vulnerable, in illness.

I know Barbara Bush is surrounded by loving family and friends as she recovers and I wish her well.

I hope that she speaks out about all elders deserving the care that she received because of her husband’s employment.

Health care is a right, not a privilege.