NBC10 Meteorologist Glenn "Hurricane" Schwartz is recovering from successful double bypass heart surgery he had this morning.
He was in great spirits before his surgery and said he felt very fortunate. Glenn recognized some of the warning signs of a heart attack when he was on vacation this past weekend and went for a swim.
"And I’m a big swimmer. I like swimming laps. Done it for many years. Helps keep me in shape. That’s my aerobic exercise. But I only went a couple of laps before I started feeling this pressure in my upper chest that I hadn’t felt before. And I just decided to kind of cut it off and say well, maybe I’m a little out of shape…”
When Glenn got back to Philadelphia, he saw his doctor on Monday morning, had some tests done, was sent straight to the ER for more tests and by Tuesday night, was prepping for today's surgery.
Glenn let his Twitter followers (@HurricaneNBC10) in on the news Tuesday night at 9:45 with this Tweet:
"Having double bypass surgery in the AM. 99% of major artery blocked. Will be out a long time but will tweet some."
Glenn's doctor said that blockage is in his major artery:
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"Well, the 99-percenter is the most important artery in the heart. It’s the widow maker. It’s hanging by a thread. And you don’t ever know. He might have had symptoms at 80-percent. Some people have symptoms at 50-percent, but he didn’t have any until it was 99-percent. And it’s very scary. So one extra blood cell getting caught in there could block it up totally," said Dr. Francis Sutter, who is performing the surgery.
Glenn is in great shape. He exercises, he's meticulous about his medical checkups and he's a healthy eater. But he has one big thing working against him and that is family history. Last night as he got ready for surgery, he told NBC10's Renee Chenault-Fattah how grateful he is that he got to the doctor in time.
"I just didn't want to be this macho guy and say, 'Ok, I'll just go through it. I'll just swim harder and the next thing you know, you see me in the obit pages,'" Glenn said.
We are wishing Glenn a speedy recovery and will keep you posted on his recuperation right here on the NBC10 website.
If you'd like to send Glenn a get well message, you can post it below in the comment section or click here to email your good wishes at GetWellGlenn@gmail.com. You can also use the hashtag #GetWellGlenn if you're tweeting. We'll make sure to pass them all along to Glenn.
