Evening star., 1955-10-02
State Of Health

9t0Ee OI FIGQltn
There Is something chilling ii the
words heart attack. When coupled
with the name Of the Nations
President. the country worries.
When that President ID also the
Nations lmoet-loved man. the.
country grieves.
But as the public read 3 series Of
careful medical explanations Of
President Eisenhower's Illness.
gloom gave way to optimism. It
became clear that Q heart attack
Is not necessarily death sentence
for the man who suffers It. And
Mr.. Eisenhower's attack was q
moderate one: the outlook for his.
recovery was good.
Here Is how the news unfolded
last week:
On Sunday . battery Of doctors
announced that the heart attack,
suffered at Am. Washington
time, the previous day. was mod
eratea-not mild as first reported
BY the Presidents press star. but
also not serious The President
had suffered q coronary thrOm-
bosis. A blood clot tthrombus1 In
one 0f the arteries tcOrcElaryl
feeding his heart muscles had
temporarily cut on the now Of
blood to one section Of the heart.
During the minutes when the blood
was blocked. some Of the cells In
part of his heart died.
The doctors said they had ordered
complete rest, mild sedati0n. anti
coagulants and light meals for the
President. He was kept under an
oxygen tent so that breathing
could be as easy as possible.
On Monday the heart specialists
made their most detailed report.
1t boiled down TO this: The Presi-
den was recovering alta normal rate,
The outlook was satisfactory.
The normal timetable q receVeks
the doctors reported. N0ll,d be- 0is
week cf complete rest to permit the
body to clean out the dead ares.
another two weeks % mild ACTIVITY
In bed while scar forms and
grows strong. q month Or nix weeks
Of gradually increased activity out
Of bed. then back TO the normal
routine.
The patient would Be watched
carefully during the recovery period,
as combinations could set IN ct any
time. Eighty to 30 per cent of the
persons suffering the same kind II
heart attack proceed to complete
recovery however. - the outlook
was good.
It was expected the President
could have d few conferences and
look oSefSa few papers before the
first two weeks were up.
The President ate his first meal
Of meat and vegetables on Monday.
And the oxygen tent was removed
for two 3O-minute intervals.
Mrs. Eisenhower and the Presi-
dents son. John. visited him for
A0bkt~A &NAA8t4Ays RtSAtOklo.
On Tuesday the oxygen was taken
away during the day except ct nap
time. Progress toward recovery pro-
ceeded smoothly.
On Wednesday the President
asked for little music, so soft, In
strumental pieces were played on .
tape recorder. The move was sig
nificant In that 1t showed Mr.. Eisene
hoWer's morale was high.
On Thursday he wanted even
more mental stimulation, so his
doctors permitted q nurse to read
to him from some Western stories
and 3 popular magazine. He went
to sleep that night without the.
oxyRen tent.
On Friday he performed an act
Of small intrinsic significance, but
of great interest to the Nation. He
signed d list of recommended
promotions iii the State Department
foreign service. Approval Was oTiy.
routine-4- 4-evea under normal cir
Ctirastances he would not bother 10
read the list. But the law required
his Endorsement. and be was able
to sign the papers.
That meant that the foreign sery-
ice officers would not have to miss d
months promotion pay. But more
significantly it meant that the
President was again able to grasp
the helm of Government--even for
a minute. It was good for his mo-
rale to perform that small act Of
his office. And 1t was good for the
Governments morale to have him,
symbolically, take charge again.
Use Of the oxygen tent was aban-
doned on Friday.
On Saturday the President again
showed encouraging progress. His
star In Denver said that II al
continued to 90 well he could sign
other routine papers IN the coming
week.
The President had spent COM
Portable first week. Each day had
been important. for each one that
passed without complication made
it more sure he would recover.
Complications still win be 4 danger
oiis possibility for another week,
and they cannot be ruled out for
more than a month. But the likeii-
hood Of trouble was considerably
reduced with the passing Of the first
week.
State Of Union
As the Nation listened to each
heat Of the presidnnt,G heart. what