Dr. Michael Debakey (pictured at right, at age 85) died today, at age 99. He invented the coronary bypass. He performed one on my father. This is the story of how that came to be.
Dad's second heart attack occurred while he was getting an arteriogram, as part of the one-year followup, after his first attack. If you're going to have a heart attack, NYU's cardiac care hospital is a pretty good place to do it.
The doctors wanted to do a bypass. My mother, noting that insurance allows a second opinion, asked a cousin who was in medical school who was that best cardiac surgeon in the country. "The doctor who wrote my text book is pretty good," said my cousin. It was Dr. Michael Debakey.
Most people would seek a local doctor for a second opinion. We weren't rich or famous or well connected, but I don't suppose Mom thought twice about seeking the top name.
Mom wrote two letters: One to Debakey and one to his then-rival and former partner Denton Cooley. A few days later, the phone rang. It was Dr. Debakey. "Will you consult on my husband's case?" she asked. He would. She had them NYU send the records.
A few days later, he called again and advised a triple bypass. I don't suppose she thought twice before she asked, "Will you do it?" He would. They talked for a while and he asked if she had any questions. She said no, and he said, "That's because you don't know what questions to ask," and he answered all the questions she did not know she had. They were on the phone for an hour and a half.
A few days later, we were in Houston. It was July or August, as I recall. Not a good time to be in Houston. Hot, very hot, and shirt-wringingly humid. I remember that spending hours waiting in a hospital was not so bad, since it was air conditioned.
Debakey put my Mom in the hospital. He was talking to her in his office and noted she did not look healthy. She is allergic to tobacco smoke and was suffering from days in the waiting room, with the families of Debakey's 60 patients. He had her admitted for treatment.
Debakey was 69 when he did my Dad's surgery. His patients filled a floor of the hospital. My mom recalls he did 21 operations that day. He did about 100 a week. His team prepared and closed each patient. By 1992, he had done 50,000 surgeries. "Man was born to work hard," he said.
He also played hard. I recall someone pointing out a blue Mercedes in the parking lot. It had a baby seat in the back. "That's Dr. Debakey's car." His wife was 34.
My Dad, shown here at a much younger age, also believed man was born to work hard. He survived another eight years, one of many thousands who benefit from Debakey's work. Debakey's patients included at least three U.S. presidents and dozens of celebrities and world leaders. Celebrities were no different to him: "Once you incise the skin, you find that they are all very similar," he once said.
And one of the great men Dr. Bakey worked on was Harry Rubenzahl. Because my mother didn't hesitate to think that the doctor who took care of presidents would be the perfect choice to take care of her husband.
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