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Cheney heads to the hospital, again
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| quote: | Cheney heads to hospital after noticing shortness of breath
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Dick Cheney, who has a history of heart trouble, went to a hospital for tests Saturday after experiencing shortness of breath, an aide said.
Cheney, 63, who has had four heart attacks, returned Thursday night from a pheasant hunting trip in South Dakota with a cold that left him short of breath, spokeswoman Mary Matalin said. He joined President Bush on Friday for meetings with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Matalin said the pacemaker implanted in Cheney's chest three years ago indicated no abnormalities over the past 90 days and that an electrocardiogram showed no change. An EKG measure the heart's electrical activity.
She said the vice president felt fine otherwise, but that as a precaution and given his health history, his cardiologist, Dr. Jonathan Reiner, recommended that Cheney go to George Washington University Hospital for tests to make sure it was just a cold.
"Everything looks great, Matalin said. "He's walking around from room to room in his street clothes just waiting for the blood work."
She said Cheney was driven in a motorcade from his residence a few miles from the hospital and walked in under his own power. He did not need an ambulance.
"He was doing this just as a precaution," Matalin said.
The president was notified by his chief of staff, Andy Card, shortly after Bush returned from a bike ride Saturday at a Secret Service training facility outside Washington, White House spokesman Ken Lisaius said.
The 63-year-old Cheney has had four heart attacks, although none as vice president. He kept up a heavy travel schedule during Bush's re-election campaign, often traveling with his wife, Lynne Cheney.
Lisaius said Cheney was taking every precaution "as anyone with his history should do" and was having himself checked out.
In June 2001, Cheney had a pacemaker implanted in his chest. At his annual heart checkup on May 11, doctors determined that the pacemaker, called an implantable cardioverter defibrillator, was working fine and never had had to assist his heart.
The device is designed to activate automatically if needed to regulate the patient's heartbeat.
Ahead of the fall presidential campaign, Cheney dismissed speculation that his health might keep him from running again with Bush. He said his health had been good and that he could not think of any circumstances that would prompt to decline the role.
His first heart attack occurred in 1978, when he was 37. He had a second in 1984, and after suffering his third heart attack, in 1988, Cheney had quadruple bypass surgery to clear clogged arteries.
On Nov. 22, 2000, Cheney suffered what doctors called a "very slight" heart attack and had an angioplasty to open a clogged artery.
Cheney was back in the hospital on March 5, 2001, after complaining of chest pains. Doctors performed another angioplasty to reopen the same artery.
After his fourth heart attack, Cheney quit smoking, began regular daily exercises for 30 minutes on a treadmill and said he began watching his diet. He takes medication to lower his cholesterol.
Cheney has a long Washington history, dating from his 1975 job as President Ford's 34-year-old chief of staff.
After Ford lost the presidency, Cheney returned to Wyoming and began running for the state's only seat in the House of Representatives. He had his first heart attack during the campaign but still won easily. |
Humorous FARK headline for it: VP Cheney rushed to hospital. Bush notified, ready to assume power if necessary. 
I wonder how many illnesses this guy can take? Do you think he is going to die or become physically incapable of serving anytime in the next for years?
Well, this was just shortness of breath, but you never know. I hope our Veep makes it through this fine, even though I dislike him.
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