NEW YORK, Sept. 6 (UPI) -- Bill Clinton's doctors at New York's Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center said the former president might be able to leave the hospital in 4 to 5 days.
"Everything looks straight forward and we expect he may be able to leave the hospital in 4 to 5 days -- he presented Friday but we waited because he had been prescribed blood thinning medication," Dr. Craig Smith, the chief of cardiothoracic surgery who led the 15-member surgical team, told a news conference.
"The president underwent a routine quadruple bypass surgery this morning from 8 a.m. to noon and he is recoving normally, he is awake, but still sedated."
Clinton had been experiencing shortness of breath during physical activity for several months, however, it was after he experienced some chest discomfort while at rest that he sought medical help, according to Dr. Allan Schwartz.
Seventy percent of cardiac bypass patients are back to normal activities in six weeks, but some patients take two to three months for their recovery, Smith said.
Clinton had a well over 90 percent of his cardiac arteries blocked -- arteries from his chest and leg were used for the bypass -- and had he gone untreated he would have likely had a heart attack, Smith said.
When the ex-president leaves the hospital he will be prescribed aspirin and other medications and will have a salt restricted, low-saturated fat diet, the doctors said.
