Cosmic Ray Blog

FYI: Marty Israel

From Jason Link:

"I just got off the phone with Bob [Binns] about Marty Israel. He was administering a test to his class when he experienced severe chest pains. He went down to the main office to have an ambulance bring him to Barnes Hospital. It appears he suffered a heart attack, but due in part to his quick response in getting to the hospital, the doctors believe he is going to be fine. He is now in the intensive care cardiac ward and will probably remain there for a few days before transferring to another room in the hospital for some more surveillance."

From Bob Binns:

"Many of you know that Marty had a heart attack yesterday. He was in class around 1:15 pm when he experienced severe chest pains. An ambulance was called and he was rushed to Barnes Hospital and his friend, Sandor Kovacs, who is the head of cardiology, got him treatment very quickly. He had blockage of an artery and two stints were placed in the artery. I saw him around 3:45pm after the procedure. He was conscious and was concerned about a talk that he was supposed to give to boy scouts last night. Sandor told me that the prognosis was very good for recovery. There was some damage to the heart muscle but it was not extensive. I understand from Cliff Will that Marty experienced some additional heart pains last night, but I do not know the significance of that. As of last night the expectation was that he would be in intensive care for 1-2 days and then move to another floor for another 1-2 days. I will keep you informed as I know more."

Again from Bob, refering to the night of 2/13:
"Marty had a rough night last night with chest pains during at least part of the time. This morning they did another heart catheterization procedure to see if there were additional problems. They did not see any new problems. I think that Marty was encouraged. Margaret flew back from San Diego and arrived after midnight last night. Margaret and Elisa were with him when I left the hospital. I relayed to him your many thoughts of concern, prayers, and best wishes and he appreciated them all."

From Bob Binns again, on the 15th:
"Marty called a few minutes ago and told me that he had not had any additional chest pains since yesterday morning. Furthermore, yesterday (it must have been in the afternoon or evening) his doctor released him from ICU. He is still in the ICU, but only because there is not yet a bed available in what I think is a Cardiac care unit at Barnes. He was very upbeat and sounded good."