Prayers For Bill Clinton

There seem to have been a few complications following the former president’s surgery last year. He will be having surgery to deal with these issues.

Former President Clinton will undergo a medical procedure this week to remove an unusual buildup of fluid and scar tissue from his chest, six months after he underwent quadruple bypass surgery, his office said Tuesday. "I feel fine," Clinton said in Washington.

The low-risk procedure will take place Thursday at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center. Clinton will remain hospitalized for three to 10 days and is expected to make a "full functional recovery," doctors said.

Clinton, who planned to play a golf tournament in Florida on Wednesday with former President George H.W. Bush for tsunami relief, said doctors discovered the condition during a recent X-ray. He called the surgery a "routine sort of deal."

"I feel fine," Clinton told reporters following a visit to the Oval Office with the former president. "And we're going to go play golf tomorrow."

The procedure, known as a decortication, will remove scar tissue that has developed as a result of fluid buildup and inflammation, causing compression and collapse of the lower lobe of the left lung, doctors said. The surgery will be done either through a small incision or with a video-assisted thoracoscope inserted between ribs.

It sounds like a relatively uncomplicated procedure, but any time you are messing with the heart there is the potential for trouble. Here’s hoping for a speedy recovery.