Lynnwood City Councilman Jim Smith is recovering at home after having triple bypass heart surgery April 2 in Seattle.
Smith was on his way home from work April 1 when he noticed a problem, said his wife, Sherry Smith.
“He was kind of wobbly on his feet and he had a little pain in his chest, not much,” she said.
Doctors at Stevens Hospital conducted a blood test. They showed Sherry the results, telling her “the whole right side of his heart was getting no blood flow at all,” she said.
That’s when they told her he needed triple bypass surgery.
“Within an hour, they took him by ambulance to Swedish Hospital, Cherry Hill Campus,” she said.
Smith has been home recuperating since Sunday, April 12.
“He’s doing well,” she said.
The councilman, who’s served since 1988, has never had heart problems before, Sherry Smith said.
That’s not unusual, said Dr. David Gartman, cardiac surgeon with Swedish Medical Center.
Often, he said, “people have been doing fine and then, all of a sudden, they have an episode that gets their attention. Once they really think about it, they usually say, ‘I’ve been having a little something going on.’”
Triple bypass surgery eases blockages in coronary arteries. In the procedure, doctors graft a leg vein to an internal artery, essentially bypassing the obstructed artery with a conduit, Gartman said.
The councilman will be out of work for two months and will get cardiac rehabilitation twice weekly, his wife said.
“He can have absolutely no stress, none, whatsoever,” she said.
That means he’ll probably miss some council meetings.
He’ll also be unable to pursue his passion, flying, for a while.
“He’s grounded for year,” Sherry Smith said. “He was very upset when he heard that; he started crying.”
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