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American Morning

Dick Cheney Returns to Duty

Aired July 02, 2001 - 10:01   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: Just two days after minor surgery for his heart and Vice President Dick Cheney is again focusing on the pulse, but this time it's the political pulse, that is, of a critical administration issue. The vice president is back at work today to promote the energy strategy that he is shepherding for the White House.

For the latest on Cheney's return to work and his improved health, let's check in now with our White House correspondent Major Garrett -- Major, good morning.

MAJOR GARRETT, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. The vice president arrived for work 7:45 Eastern Time this morning, all very typical, as he walked into the White House and went into meetings with President Bush on national security and international policy matters. Then, later on today, three talk radio interviews, all of them designed to help him promote the president's energy plan, which Congress, which is out of town for the Fourth of July recess, will take up, at least in the House, upon their return next week.

Some more meeting with top aids on other legislative items and then home, a rather typical day at work for the vice president. And the White House advisers say it's typical because he had a very good day on Saturday having that defibrillator installed right about here under his left collar bone. That defibrillator is there as what the vice president calls an insurance policy, just in case his heart beats either too fast or too slow. If, in fact, it does either the defibrillator will kick in, slow it down if it's beating too fast, speed it up if it's beating too slowly. Doctors say the procedure went beautifully. The vice president is in good health and his advisers say everything today is business as usual -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Major Garrett at the White House -- Major, thank you.

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, now, for the medical perspective, let's turn to CNN medical correspondent Rea Blakey -- good morning, Rea.

REA BLAKEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Leon.

In fact, this is the device the vice president is sporting in chest. It's a new Medtronic Gem III DR. Cardiologists say it's about 99 percent effective in preventing further arrhythmia. Now, CNN talked to one man who has had the defibrillator implanted. He says it changed his life.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): Paul Lebowitz has had eight heart attacks and in 1994 got his first implantable defibrillator. In April of this year, he got a new device implanted. It's a type of defibrillator that works two ways, to shock an irregular beating heart back to normal rhythm or as a pacemaker to speed up a slowly beating heart. Lebowitz says this so-called pacemaker plus lets him live on borrowed time.

PAUL LEBOWITZ: I can do the stairs with no fear of collapsing. I don't run up them or down them, but I can do them.

BLAKEY: It's the same type of device Vice President Cheney had implanted on Saturday.

DR. JONATHAN REINER, GWU HOSPITAL: In day to day life, patients with this device really face essentially, you know, no restrictions and really essentially no environmental hazards. Patients with these devices can use cell phones. That's not really an issue. They can go through airport security.

BLAKEY: It's important to note the implanted defibrillator doesn't necessarily prevent future heart attacks. Cheney has had four already. Lebowitz had several after his first defibrillator.

LEBOWITZ: It would not cure anything, but it would increase the quality of my life.

BLAKEY: And it has changed his lifestyle just a little.

LEBOWITZ: Or as my wife says I'm not dancing anymore. Of course I never did. But it's fine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLAKEY: Doctors at George Washington University Hospital say it's very likely the vice president will notice if and when that defibrillator regulates any arrhythmias. The doctors describe the sensation as a pop. By the way, the vice president's cardiologist, Leon, says there's about a 10 percent chance that Mr. Cheney will need the device to actually regulate his heartbeat.

HARRIS: You know, this may be a weird question, Rea, but where exactly inside the body do they put this defibrillator thing?

BLAKEY: OK, I will show you just right here. Right beneath the collarbone on the left hand side is where his was implanted. And, by the way, that will force him to use his cell phone on the right hand side because it could potentially interfere ever so slightly, this device could interfere with his cell phone's operation. So the doctors are recommending that he use the cell phone to the right because the implant is there on the left hand side just under the collarbone.

HARRIS: Interesting. Thanks much, Rea Blakey, reporting live for us from Washington. We'll talk with you later on.

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