Newspaper Page Text
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Ur. hawrence E. Lamb
Surgery may help
Leaking heart works harder
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fy Lawrence E. Lamb, M.D.
Dear Dr. Lamb — I am
octoring for an ailment and I
ould like to know exactly
ow serious it is and what
auses it. I am told I have
leumatic heart leakage and
n enlarged heart. I went on a
let and started counting my
alories. In a year’s time I
>st 70 pounds. That alone
>ade breathing easier as
lost of my weight was
•ound my stomach and hips.
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Commercial Bank 8 Trust Company
Griffin, Georgia
While in the hospital for a
gall bladder operation. I went
into heart failure on the table
and spent one week in inten
sive care coming back. Yes, I
was dead for three minutes,
so I was told. My lungs filled
up with fluid and I couldn't
breathe.
The night before my opera
tion an anesthetist came to
my room to fill out a form
and ask me if I ever had any
heart trouble, even though my
chart gave all the details. I
had a spinal and sodium pen
tothal for my operation.
Should that have been given to
me with my heart defects? Is
that what caused my heart
failure?
Dear Reader— When one
or more valves in the heart is
damaged from rheumatic
heart disease it will leak or
else the valve can become
scarred in such away as to
obstruct circulation. The
valve defect often means that
the heart has to work harder
than it would under normal
circumstances. The increased
work, and other changes in
the mechanics of the pumping
action, lead to the enlarged
heart. How serious the prob
lem is depends on how exten
sive the damage to the valve
is.
It’s true that one’s ability to
breathe, and the amount of
activity they can do with al
most any form of heart dis
ease, is significantly improved
if they can eliminate any ex-
cess fat they have. The reason
is very simple, it takes a lot
less work to move 120 pounds
across the room than it does
to move 200 pounds. The more
work you have to do, the more
oxygen has to be delivered to
the body, and that means
more work for the heart. If
the heart is already having
trouble because of disease,
the increased work associated
with 80 pounds more of body
weight just makes matters
worse.
I can’t emphasize too
strongly the importance of
getting rid of excess fat, if the
person has any type of heart
problem.
It is impossible to say just
why you developed heart fail
ure in the operating room.
The heart failure, of course,
results in the accumulation of
fluids in the lungs. This hap
pens when blood backs up in
the lungs because the heart
ceases to pump effectively.
This mav well mean lhat vou
have a fairly severe amount
of heart damage. It probably
does not mean that it has any
specific relationship to your
choice of anesthetic. Some
times it’s not possible to tell
how well a person with heart
disease is going to do during
surgery. I am constantly
amazed, though, at how well
individuals do during major
surgery, even when they have
relatively severe heart dis
ease.
(NEWSPAPER ENTERPRISE ASSN.)
Send your questions to Dr.
Lamb, in care of this newspaper,
P.O. Box 1551, Radio City Sta
tion, New York, N.Y. 10019.
4
4
-—Griffin Daily News Monday, August 20, 1973
Page 3
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