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American Morning

Vice President Returns to Normal Workday

Aired July 02, 2001 - 09:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: And on this first day -- this first Monday of July, at least, we're going to start with two developing stories.

It is back to work for Vice President Dick Cheney, just two days after having a heart-regulating device that was surgically implanted. More on that just ahead with our White House correspondent Major Garrett. He is covering that story. Also, our medical correspondent Rea Blakey will have more on the health aspects of the vice president's procedure.

And Jason Carroll is covering a grim story for us in Syracuse, New York: a deadly attack by a father on his young sons.

First, though, we start with Major Garrett who is at the White House this morning.

Major, good morning.

MAJOR GARRETT, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

You know about 150,000 Americans have the defibrillating device that was installed in Vice President Cheney on Saturday installed in them, but very few, probably none, have as heavily chronicled their day -- first day back to work as Vice President Cheney's was today.

Cameras stationed outside of the vice president's residence at the Naval Observatory and here at the White House, he returned to work about 7:45 Eastern Daylight time this morning, going in to briefings with President Bush on national security and international policy matters. From there he will participate in three talk radio interviews to promote the president's energy plan, then have some more meetings with other senior advisers to round out the day. The rest of the week will be somewhat light -- a regular workday on Tuesday. He'll take most of Fourth of July off, and then on Thursday, leave for an extended Fourth of July vacation to his ranch in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Overall, vice president's aids say he feels very good and the doctor's prognosis for him returning to work at full speed is very good indeed -- Daryn.

KAGAN: So, Major, the vice president does intend to hit it at full force then, not take it easy?

GARRETT: Well, I mean at full force for a normal day here for the vice president. It's worth pointing out there are no public speeches today, he's not flying anywhere this week to do any particularly hard political work for the White House, but he's doing what he was supposed to do on this Monday, anyway, which is participate in these briefings, have some legislative meetings with his top staff, and then, again, work the phones on these talk radio interviews to try to push that energy plan.

So I would say it's a regular workday for the vice president. He's getting back into it just as he had planned to before this procedure was performed, but it is not a hyperaggressive day for the vice president -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Got it. On the Cheney scale then, we should clarify that.

Major Garret at the White House. Major, thank you.

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the dual purpose pacemaker the vice president had implanted is being called an insurance policy.

Joining us from Washington with more on life with a pacemaker, our CNN medical correspondent Rea Blakey.

Good morning, Rea.

REA BLAKEY, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Leon.

It's called the Medtronic GEM III DR. Here it is. It's an implantable cardioverter defibrillator or ICD. As Major said, 150,000 Americans are living with this device implanted in their chest. It's a combination defibrillator and pacemaker and it shocks irregular heartbeats back to a normal rhythm. Also, like a pacemaker, though, it will speed up the heartbeat if the heart beats too slowly.

Now, this defibrillator, we're told, is 99 percent effective at preventing arrhythmia, the irregular heartbeat, but it will not prevent future heart attack. As you know, the vice president has had four heart attacks since 1978, quadruple bypass surgery and a stent placed to open a blocked artery. The ICD will monitor and treat his irregular heartbeat, which developed as a result of the tissue damage that was caused, Leon, by those heart attacks.

HARRIS: All right, thanks so much.

Rea Blakey in Washington. We will get back with you later on this morning.

Folks, you can find out more about the vice president's health on our Web site. Among other things there, you'll find a chronology of Cheney's heart problems. Log on to CNN.com. AOL keyword is CNN.

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