Is Arnold Schwarzenegger OK? The Actor Reportedly Underwent Emergency Open-Heart Surgery

Some alarming news has come out about Arnold Schwarzenegger pertaining to a serious medical issue. But, is Arnold Schwarzenegger OK? According to TMZ, the actor and former governor of California had emergency open-heart surgery on March 29 following a catheter valve replacement procedure. TMZ’s source went on to say that as of right now, Schwarzenegger is in stable condition. Bustle reached out to an agent for Schwarzenegger for comment, but did not receive a response at the time of publication.

TMZ reported that the surgery occurred at Cedars-Sinai hospital in Los Angeles. Due to the experimental nature of the valve replacement procedure, as TMZ reported, doctors were on hand in case the surgery did not go as planned. When the procedure did fail, doctors decided that Schwarzenegger would need open-heart surgery.

As TMZ went on to note in their report, this wasn’t the first time that the actor has had surgery on his heart. In 1997, Schwarzenegger had an aortic valve replaced. While the surgery wasn’t critical at the time, the former governor apparently wanted to go through with the procedure while he was young. At the time of his 1997 surgery, he was dealing with a congenial heart condition, as TMZ also noted.

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Schwarzenegger previously discussed his 1997 procedure in an interview with Graham Bensinger, and his experience then seemingly mirrors this most recent one. In the interview, the actor first noted that heart problems do run in his family, as his mother experienced complications with her heart valves. He explained that because the issue runs in his family, he’s gotten his heart checked every year. When his doctor saw that his heart performance was declining, they suggested that he go through with a valve replacement surgery.

The actor went on to note that his situation soon turned dire after the procedure. The surgery was initially unsuccessful due to the pressure placed on the new valve, and, as he said, “his body was too big and too strong” to accept the replacement. His doctors then immediately had to perform another surgery on his heart valves, where the odds of failure (i.e. complications that could lead to death) jumped from 6 percent to 12 percent. Schwarzenegger told Bensinger that it’s extremely dangerous to experience two major surgeries of that nature within a 24-hour period. So, it’s clear to see why this more recent surgery news would be alarming, as it sounds as though a similar situation occurred.

In an interview on 60 Minutes from 2012, Schwarzenegger gave even more insight into his 1997 surgery. Particularly, there was one big decision that the actor didn’t make in relation to the procedure: He didn’t tell his wife at the time, Maria Shriver, about the surgery. That was… probably not the best move. Even his doctor told him that he was “crazy” for not telling Shriver, who was pregnant at the time, about having the procedure.

Apparently, the actor had it all figured out. He explained, “I told him: ‘Here is the plan, I am going to have the heart surgery, you do it quietly, no one knows about it, we do it at six in the morning. Four days later I am out of here and I go to Mexico and I will tell Maria I am down here, a little busy and I am on vacation, when I come back I’ll be tanned and no one will know’.” Thankfully, things did turn out OK and his surgery ultimately went alright after it initially failed.

There haven’t been any reports recently that stated that Schwarzenegger was in poor health, so this news is likely to come as a surprise to many. Luckily, though, it seems like the actor is doing alright and is in stable condition following his emergency surgery.

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