A little thing like replacing a pulmonic valve via heart surgery isn't enough to stop the Terminator. Arnold Schwarzenegger is in stable condition after undergoing a planned procedure on Friday to replace a valve that was replaced in 1997 for a congenital heart defect, the Washington Post reports.
And the first thing he said when he woke up: "I'm back."
Hell yes.
"He is in good spirits,” Schwarzenegger's spokesman Daniel Ketchell said in a statement. “That 1997 replacement valve was never meant to be permanent, and has outlived its life expectancy, so he chose to replace it yesterday through a less-invasive catheter valve replacement.”
An open-heart surgery team was also on hand during the procedure.
“They frequently are in these circumstances, in case the catheter procedure was unable to be performed,” Ketchell said. “Governor Schwarzenegger’s pulmonic valve was successfully replaced.”
Hasta la vista, faulty pulmonic valve.
Matt Miller is a Brooklyn-based culture/lifestyle writer and music critic whose work has appeared in Esquire, Forbes, The Denver Post, and documentaries.
