Mayor recovers from open-heart surgery

ROSEBURG, Ore. – Mayor Larry Rich is recovering from recent open-heart surgery.

Rich is recuperating at home in Roseburg following triple-bypass surgery at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend in Springfield on Monday, June 17.

“Each day is getting better,” Rich said by phone Monday, July 8. “I have good moments and bad moments. And they can happen at any time.”

Rich, who was elected Mayor of Roseburg in 1998, underwent surgery at RiverBend Hospital to replace three arteries, including the left main artery, where a 60% blockage could have led to what’s known as a “widow-maker” heart attack. They replaced the arteries with an artery from the chest and a vein from the leg.

The mayor spent six days in the hospital after open-heart surgery and experienced an irregular heart beat known as fluttering during that time. He is holding phone meetings and carrying out his work as the mayor via email, but missed the Monday, June 24, City Council meeting as he continued recovering at home.

He is having a hard time breathing because of fluid in his lungs but has been able to walk quite a bit. The mayor went to the emergency room at CHI Mercy Medical Center in Roseburg on Thursday, June 27, after fainting for the first time in his life when he stood up while coughing from the fluid in his lungs. He smashed his face on bedroom furniture and the floor.

“The difficulty with breathing just comes and goes,” he said Monday. “For a week, it was pretty miserable.”

Rich has just finished his third week of recovery and had been told he should start feeling better from week four to six. He expects to preside over the City Council meeting on Monday, July 22.

“I’m hoping to be at the next Council meeting,” he said.

In January, he had surgery to install a stent in one artery after suffering a heart attack on Thursday, Dec. 28. He didn’t feel chest pain or any other symptoms that he recognized, but began feeling unwell that weekend after traveling to a higher elevation in Lake Tahoe. He was still recovering from that surgery at Carson Tahoe Regional Medical Center on Monday, Jan. 1, when he turned 68. He was discharged the next day.

Rich had to recover from the first surgery before he could undergo open-heart surgery.