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Bret Michaels Undergoes Heart Surgery

Bret Michaels is undergoing heart surgery on Monday at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix. Ethan Miller/Getty Images

NEW YORK (CBS/AP) Singer and reality TV star Bret Michaels, 47, is undergoing  heart surgery on Monday at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix to close a hole in his heart.

"I gotta tell ya, I'm very positive. I feel positive they're going to do an amazing job. They've done thousands of these operations," he tells sources in December.

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Lead vocalist of Poison, Michaels was diagnosed with this heart defect in April when doctors treated him for a brain hemorrhage at the Barrow Neurological Institute. Shortly before he suffered the hemorrhage, the diabetic singer suffered from an emergency appendectomy. Unfortunately in May, he also suffered from a mini-stroke. Doctors say without the procedure, Michaels would have been at a higher risk for developing blood clots and additional strokes.

Michaels is undergoing  a cardiac catheterization during which a doctor will insert a catheter into his groin and guide wires along with the closure device into his heart with cameras to assist doctors in mending the hole.

The closure device or "fake, umbrella-looking apparatus" as Michaels describes to People, will help avoid abnormal blood between the two chambers of the heart, which is said to have caused the original stroke in May.

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