Surgery for John Feinstein

Thanks for the update, Dave. Classic stuff.

 

Is he 50? I don't think he is...

 

7 bypasses? Good grief, I've never heard of that many. Glad you're doing better, former USBWA El Presidente.

 

He's 53 the end of this month. Besides the sportswriter life, he has a family history of heart disease -- which is why he has done annual stress tests. Saved his life this time. Doc said, "Could've been a Russert situation."

Insurance will pay for a test if you have a family history. (I think.)

 

For some reason I thought he was in his 20s when Season on the Brink came out.

I hope everything goes well.

 

Glad to hear John's doing OK. Joe Williams is right. We ARE all getting older.

 

From what I heard, he aced the stress test. It wasn't until they did an angiogram that they caught the blockages.

The guy was very fortunate. He could've easily dropped dead next week.

 

Very lucky, yes. But didn't ace the test. Aced the treadmill section, but the heart-diffusion pictures -- done after the treadmill, with the patient at rest, showing how blood then moves through the heart's vessels -- showed a "spot" in an artery. That called for the angiogram that identified the spot as a blockage and found the others.

 

Best wishes to John. A plethora of his books fill my "library." One of the best basketball writers out there.

 

A dozen of his books on my shelf. Looking forward to buying more.

In other words, get well quickly, Mr. Feinstein.

 

I just came upon this today.

I've met John a couple of times and hope he's recovering nicely -- I know it's not easy.

But I'm posting to say that my dad also had 7-bypass surgery. His was at age 51. Same deal - no heart attack, just went in for tests due to family history - did the angio - they said, "You're not going anywhere, sir..." - was told he was a ticking time bomb and that his chest would have exploded anyday - there was only a trickle of blood getting through - did the surgery the next day - same surgeon who did Dan Reeves.

Anyhoo....... That was 12 years ago, and dad's doing great. My only beef with him is that he occasionally still eats bacon and occasionally smokes a cigar.

But my point is that medicine and science are really starting to get a handle on perfecting the bypass surgery and managing artery disease.

Also met a 70 year old man recently who's had 2 major bypass surgeries in his life and is still in great health.