Arnold Schwarzenegger was “really freaking out” when doctors accidentally poked through his heart wall
The Terminator actor, who was born with a congenital heart defect, has had three open heart surgeries in his lifetime
Aux News Arnold Schwarzenegger
Most of us would probably use a different set of words than “really freaking out” to describe the feeling of surgeons accidentally creating a life-threatening tear in our heart wall during what was supposed to be a non-invasive surgery. Something a lot closer to AHHHHH or, maybe, every swear word in the English language. But then again, most of us aren’t former professional bodybuilder, California governor, and Terminator actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, for whom this was kind of just another bump in the road.
Schwarzenegger detailed the harrowing experience of his third open heart surgery in a recent YouTube video, which he says occurred “just a few years ago, just before we started Terminator 6.”
“I was, like, really freaking out,” the actor, who was born with a congenital heart defect called aortic stenosis, recalled. “I woke up all of a sudden and the doctors were sitting in front of me saying ‘I’m so sorry, but unlike what we planned, which was non-invasive surgery… we made a mistake and poked through the heart wall.’”
This mistake, which caused internal bleeding and necessitated immediate, emergency surgery, almost cost the former politician his life. “I said, ‘Well, great! This is really great news. I mean, Jesus,’” the actor recalled. Still, he was somehow able to maintain a far more positive attitude than most of us could muster for much less. “The bottom line is you cannot roll the clock back,” he continued. “I was in the middle of a disaster, so now it’s ‘how do I get out of it?’ You have to collect yourself and shift gears.”
Schwarzenegger’s first goal was to get out of the hospital, which he said he accomplished by forcing himself to get up, start walking, and maintain an exercise routine, which apparently helped him in two major ways. First, if he didn’t exercise his lungs, the doctor said he could get pneumonia and die. Second and equally as serious, he had to be in shape to “run around, lift things up, and do the fight scenes” for Terminator 6, which he started filming just three months later (!!!).
“We did it because I had a positive attitude, I knew exactly how I’m going to get there, [and] I had the support system because none of this we can do by ourselves,” he concluded. Normally this kind of motivation inspiration might be grating, but when it’s coming from someone like Arnold Schwarzenegger, we simply have to listen.
10 Comments
“Ow, my heart!” — Arnie, probably
“I want to talk to the choppa,” he probably said after learning of the mistake.
But what were the drapes in the room like?I realize not many people saw Dark Fate, but trust me, that joke is hilarious if you have.
I thought the heart problems were from steroid use, and he used that as part of the cautionary talk he gave Ed Norton when he saw how big he had gotten for American History X….but I’ve been wrong before, so….
His was born with it. My son has the same conditon and it’s something he will have to monitor his whole life. He may need surgery when he’s older Arnold has said that taking steroids in his youth made the already damaged heart much worse which is why he has had to have major heart surgery several times. It’s more then likely that he was unaware of his heart condition as it was not something they were actively screening for in post-war Austria(these days they can detect it before birth) and when he started to initial have heart trouble doctors assumed it was his steroid use until they looked at his heart.
Thanks for an informative reply.I’m sorry to hear about your son’s condition. I hope you/he manage things well. (I don’t know how old he is, so don’t quite know how to phrase that.)
“I was, like, really freaking out…”
Having had two open heart surgeries myself (thus far), those nurses MADE him get up and start moving around. As soon as you’re out of the ICU, they work with you to get you moving. Perhaps he also wanted to get out of the hospital bed and start moving around, but “forced” himself is a bit of a stretch. There’s no getting around feeling like you’ve been hit by a semi but every nurse I’ve had has compassionately, but firmly, made sure that I get up and start walking up and down those halls. So, while Arnold is amazing and great and strong and all that, HUGE shout-out to the nurses that actually started him on his road to recovery.
Is his hair naturally still dark brown while his beard and eyebrows are almost solid grey? If so he’d be better off bleaching his hair grey because it’s making him look like he’s wearing a bad rug.
Arnold’s face being so close to the camera in the video thumbnail is, for some reason, the funniest thing I have ever seen.