LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Hollywood icon Arnold Schwarzenegger has apparently suffered a series of harrowing cardiac issues in his life, which led him to undergo three major open heart surgeries.
The 73-year-old actor’s cardiac issues were reportedly caused because of a congenital heart defect known as aortic stenosis, which causes the heart to pump harder than usual to get blood through the aortic valve.
Described as a “valve disease”, aortic stenosis is one of the “most common and serious” conditions that cause the aortic valve opening to narrow down, according to The American Heart Association.
It is important to note that those diagnosed with aortic stenosis do not experience any noticeable symptoms until the amount of restricted blood flow becomes greatly reduced, according to Daily Express.
Due to this congenital heart defect, the former California governor underwent his first ever heart surgery back in 1997, which failed almost 20 years later leading to his subsequent surgery in 2018, and then a third in 2020.
How did Arnold Schwarzenegger recover from 2018 heart surgery?
In a recent YouTube video, the ‘Terminator’ star reflected on how he recovered from an unplanned open heart surgery in 2018.
'I remember when I had my open heart surgery, the third one,' the FUBAR star said in the video, which was shared on his YouTube channel, as a part of his health and fitness group, Arnold's Pump Club.
The actor said he had been scheduled for a minor invasive treatment to replace a heart valve, but when he awoke, the doctor confessed it had become something more serious.
He remembered that the surgeon told him 'We made a mistake and poked through the heart wall... and we had to open you up very quickly to save your life.'
After recovering from the shocking news of what he called 'a disaster,' Schwarzenegger realized that the first step to recovery was getting healthy enough to get discharged from the hospital.
In an effort to get healthy and start walking again, the actor followed a doctor’s advice, who told him "You have to exercise your lungs because if you get pneumonia, you can die."'
He also shared a video of himself pushing a walker around hospital hallways while donning yellow non-slip socks and a blue and white hospital gown, according to Daily Mail.
''And so this is what we did every day,'' he said, adding ''Everyone came into the hospital and they said, "Okay Arnold, get up now, let's go walk the hallway."'
The ‘Expendables’ star said having a good support system in place was important ''because none of this we can do by ourselves.''
How did Arnold Schwarzenegger learn about his heart disease?
Being a seven-time Mr Olympia winner, Schwarzenegger was apparently confident about his body until he learned that he was born with a hereditary heart condition he got from his mother.
Back in 2016, the ‘Commando’ star sat down for a talk with Graham Bensinger, where he talked about his health and how the hereditary condition killed his murder.
“My mother had a heart problem, so I took her to UCLA one day. They told her that she had a valve problem. The method of two of her valves didn’t really work well,” he said.
During the check-up, the doctors asked Arnold’s mother whether or not anyone else from the family suffered from the same condition to which she replied “My mother had a valve problem, and she died at the of 67.”
This was the moment when the doctor realized that the heart alignment was “obviously something that’s been passed down” to the actor.
On learning about this, the doctors advised, “Arnold, you better get your heart checked regularly.”
Afterwards, the actor had his heart checked regularly until 1997 when doctors reported that his valves were failing and he should get it changed as soon as possible.
At that time, Schwarzenegger opted to undergo a surgery called a Ross procedure, as he felt a mechanical valve might limit his physical activity and capacity to exercise.
During his interview with Bensinger, he revealed that the surgery didn’t go as smoothly as he thought.
Initially, things seemed to be going well but after nearly 20 years, his physician told him that the surgery had failed and he needed to be taken back to the operating room.
In March 2018, Schwarzenegger had his pulmonary valve replaced.
Although he hoped to have the valve replaced using a minimally invasive catheter-based intervention, he ultimately wound up having an open heart procedure instead.
As per Med Page today, over time, tissue heart valves wear out and need to be replaced.
Due to this reason, the actor again had his aortic valve replaced at the Cleveland Clinic Medical Center in 2020.
