He resumed his normal schedule: Vice President Cheney’s defibrillator/pacemaker and side effects

Vice President Dick Cheney, who has a long history of heart disease, had minor surgery on July 28 to replace the implanted heart device that monitors and adjusts his heart rhythm (an “implantable cardioverter-defibrillator”). An annual physical the month before had showed the battery had reached the level at which replacement is recommended.

Mr. Cheney was sedated for the procedure, which was performed Saturday morning. He walked out of the clinic at mid-day, returned home, and “resumed his normal schedule,’ his spokesperson said.

Mr. Cheney has had four attacks, the first at age 37. He has had a quadruple bypass surgery and two angioplasties to clear blockages in the heart arteries.

Men of the age of Pres. Bush and VP Cheney may be too stoic to admit they are experiencing even temporary periods of disability or physical weakness. This stoicism or denial may lead them to make poor decisions. It seems that these men ignored the subtle but powerful temporary after-effects of conscious sedation, when their judgment may well have been impaired, at our peril. In both cases in the last month, their judgment before surgery that they would be just fine, thank you, right afterwards, was also mistakenly self-confident.

Advice for those recovering from same-day surgery: Admit you are not fully yourself and give yourself the day off.

You can read more from the source article in the New York Times of July 29.