The Latest Medical Hurdle for Reagan
Former President Ronald Reagan has suffered the latest in a series of medical crises. On January 12, he fell down at his Bel-Air home, breaking his right hip. On January 13, he underwent a one-hour hip surgery at St. John Health Center in Santa Monica, California. His prognosis is good, though doctors caution Reagan's Alzheimer's disease could complicate his recovery.
Reagan, who will be 90 years old on February 6, is a tough bird: he has recovered from prostate cancer, skin cancer, colon cancer, brain surgery and an assassination attempt. During his 65-minute hip surgery, the surgical team used pins, screws and a plate to put the President's hip back together. Reagan was placed under general anesthesia during the procedure and likely will remain hospitalized for seven to 10 days.
Dr. Kevin Ehrhart, chief of surgery at Saint John's Health Center, performed the operation and talked with The Early Show today about Reagan's condition.
Is a 10-day hospital stay unusual?
Typically it's 7 days. The reason is because insurance dictates such. That's probably not a problem for President Reagan. He has a fulltime live-in nursing situation at home. He may go home earlier than 10 days.
What type of fracture did he have?
It was an inter-trochanteric fracture, just below the ball of hip, where the muscles attach.
Was it a normal repair?
Typically, you put the pieces back together for this fracture, so they can heal. With the other kinds, where you replace the ball, where the ball is broken off, nothing has to heal. The patient can walk on it more quickly. [Reagan's] is a little more difficult, because it demands the patient not to put all his weight on it
Is that more difficult for a patient with Alzheimer's?
For most patients with hip fractures, at some point in post-op they are confused. And his would be more of a challenge. Also, with this injury patients often are older, and sometimes confused.
Why are hip fractures so lethal?
They occur in such dehabilitated patients to begin with. They're old, they have lung or heart disease or diabetes. They're barely getting along. So this is the proverbial straw that breaks the camel's back.
This is just my opinion: his "plus" is he's very strong. But his "minus" is he has Alzheimer's. Hip fractures in people 70 and 75 are almost more challenging because people who are 90 or 95 are really tough. They had to be to get to 90! I'm not sure of the science, but a lot of my colleagues agree, you've got to be tough to make it to 90!
His medical history is filled with cancer surgeries and brain surgery and a gun shot wound... is that good or bad?
To get over all that you've got to be a pretty tough person. You can't over all that unless you're tough! A lesser person would have succumbed to all that.
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Does Reagan and his wife speak?/strong>
They get along very well--his wife, his nursing staff, secret service. He's very cared for. There's no question they communicate. When I came back to check on him in the recovery room, he's laying there with all these monitors, and the rail is down, and she's laid her head on his chest as he falls asleep. So touching. It's not just two old people. It's two people who have been together and through a lot. It's very touching. They've been together 48 years. And the St John's nurse I talked with today saw the same thing. It's not PR or blowing smoke. They're very sweet together.