Don is out of surgery, in the ICU and his condition is critical, but stable and improving.

Essentially, what occurred is the catheter curled while inside the coronary artery, and as it was being withdrawn it punched a hole in the coronary artery. This is extremely rare, but can occur. The tear in the artery caused him to lose a lot of blood, all of which was going into his chest cavity.

In order to repair the tear, which also resulted in a heart attack (myocardial infarction) they had to rush him to the operating room, opened his chest, then removed a segment of saphenous vein from his leg, which was used to bypass the damaged area. They also used a segment of mammary artery from his chest wall to do additional repairs. In the process the doctors noted some blockage of his circumflex coronary artery as well, but is was only about 50 percent, which you can live with.

He will likely be in the ICU for at least two to three days, then moved to a step-down area before being moved back to a room with a full-time cardiac monitor. After about another 3 to 7 days, depending upon his progress, they will get him out of bed and begin physical and cardiac rehab. Depending on his progress, he should be out of the hospital in two to three weeks, then on a 3 to 4 day a week physical and cardiac rehab program for about 12 to 24 weeks, depending on his insurance coverage. It's a long road, but Don is a pretty strong guy and physically, I'm sure he can handle it. The mental anguish, however, can be even more difficult to overcome. I sincerely believe he's pretty strong in that department as well. Then it's back to golf, fishing and music.

Gary