Arnie has emergency open-heart op

Arnie wakes from heart op: ‘I’m back’

CHARITY At event this month ARNOLD Schwarzenegger’s first words when he came around after heart surgery yesterday were: “I’m back.”

The Hollywood star, 70, had an emergency open-heart op after suffering complications during an experimental type of valve replacement procedure on Thursday.

Doctors at Cedars-Sinai hospital in LA were prepared for difficulties and switched to open-heart surgery, lasting several hours.

The actor’s representative, Daniel Ketchell, said that the surgery was successful and that he was in stable condition. He tweeted: “Schwarzenegger STAR In 1991 flick Terminator 2

is awake and his first words were actually, ‘I’m back’ – so he is in good spirits.”

Medics were updating an aortic valve Schwarzenegger had replaced in 1997.

He said of the op at the time: “I’ve never felt sick or had any symptoms at all, but I knew I’d have to take care of this sooner or later. I said to the doctors, ‘Let’s do it now, while I’m young and healthy’.”

The actor later spoke about the heart surgery, after breaking six ribs in a motorcycle crash in 2001.

He said: “It was very painful, much more painful than the heart surgery. A rib breaking is, like, the worst.”

The former bodybuilder said his heart condition is congenital and has nothing to do with possible steroid use.

Schwarzenegger was in a second bike accident in 2006, suffering only minor bruises.