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A slimmer, fitter, Frank on constituency duty in Coram’s Fields last week |
Big Frank and the big heart op
Former health secretary Frank Dobson discusses the operation that saved his life
FORMER health secretary and current Labour MP for Holborn and St Pancras, Frank Dobson, has spoken for the first time about the life saving heart operation he underwent last year.
Mr Dobson, 67, the Health Secretary between 1997 and 2000, had a heart valve replaced in September 2006 and at the same time underwent a by-pass operation.
He praised the doctors, surgeons and back up teams that diagnosed and then fixed a potentially life threatening condition.
His aortic valve – which supplies the heart with blood – needed to be replaced and doctors decided on a procedure that replaces the valve with one from a pig.
He explained: “I didn’t have any symptoms and had simply gone to talk to my doctor about a bunged up ear.
“He suggested that I should consider going to the University College Hospital for a general MOT and they carried out a couple of tests.”
An angiogram confirmed the valve needed to be replaced and doctors also discovered that an artery close to Mr Dobson’s heart was furred up – creating the conditions for a potential heart attack in the future.
He was admitted to the UCL heart hospital in Westmoreland Street on September 25 last year – the day before Tony Blair’s last ever speech as Labour leader at party conference.
“I thought that was quite a good excuse for not showing my face,” he added.
“I had always enjoyed quite good health – I should really have had chest pains and been short of breath but I did not, so I was surprised when I was told I needed this surgery.
“Before the operation I went to the hospital for a morning with other patients and we were given a tour, shown a pig’s valve, and then the Intensive Care Unit – which was of course something I had seen before as the health secretary. It meant I was very well prepared for this, and that helped. Usually I am a coward but for some reason I wasn’t really frightened. I have a real trust in doctors.”
His mind was also put at rest by the record of the hospital – he was told that the surgeons had a very high success rate for the type of operation he was having, and he was also told that the surgeon dealing with his case had a 100 per cent success rate.
Mr Dobson continued: “I went in over night and the following morning they took me down to the operating theatre. The last thing I remember was the anaesthetist saying “I am about to give you a Mickey Finn – a knock out.
“The next thing I knew I woke up in ITU. The only nasty thing about it was having a tube down my throat. It was unpleasant, but they took it out soon after I woke up.”
The surgeons had cut a hole in Mr Dobson’s chest and then opened his sternum, removed the leaking valve and then replaced it with another.
Mr Dobson added: “Your heart is stopped and that means giving you constant blood transfusions during the operation with your own blood.”
He spent a night in intensive care and then 10 days on a high dependency unit before being sent home to recover.
Mr Dobson continued: “They have 250 staff at the hospital and I asked the surgeon how many people were involved in my operation. I was told in total 60 people.’
He bought 60 boxes of chocolates for the staff and returned to hand them over. He said: “The care I was given was wonderful and I have such respect for the medical profession. The logistics of the operation is immense.”
He is also vowing to keep himself in good trim.
“I walk up the stairs to my flat and to my office, and try to get out of breath more than I used to. I also find myself walking to the Commons chamber at a pace I haven’t known since my younger days.”
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