Former Vice President Dick Cheney's heart transplant "went flawlessly," according to his cardiologist Dr. Jon Reiner. "It exceeded expectations," Reiner told ABC, describing Cheney's recovery as "dramatic" and that the patient is doing "remarkably well, amazingly well," adding that he was out of his hospital bed and sitting in a chair yesterday morning. "This is great news," Satan said in a telephone call from Hell. "I need Dick and Cthulhu to get back to reaping souls—they're my best men, and it's getting a little sparse around here—I shouldn't be able to hear you over the screams of the damned."
Dr. Reiner noted that Cheney is still in intensive care, and will be recuperating for some time. "The organ has functioned terrifically," he said. "There can still be challenges, but so far, so good. So far so very good." Presumably he tilted his head back and laughed heartily and unnervingly after this last comment.
Though the former Vice President had said he was still deliberating whether or not to take a transplant, Dr. Reiner said that there was no hesitation on Cheney's part when he was contacted at 10 a.m. on Saturday and told a donor heart was available. He had been waiting almost 21 months, longer than the average wait time for a transplant. "His response was to say, 'Sure. What time? Let's go.'" The entire process was over in 17 hours.
Cheney could live for many years after the transplant provided there are no complications. "If you ask is it reasonable for a patient, like this patient, to consider 10 years, yes, I think that’s reasonable,” Dr. Reiner said. "And good quality life."
