Patrick calls for awareness after scare

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said he had no idea “I had a ticking time bomb in my chest” before a trip to the emergency room likely saved his life.

Speaking on a radio show in Dallas for the first time since having a stent put in to open an artery that was nearly blocked, the Houstonarea Republican said he thought the fatigue he was feeling was just from a hectic schedule that had him flying a lot lately.

“I just thought I was tired,” said Patrick, 69.

But that changed dramatically on Thursday night. After being at Stephens Elementary in Houston earlier in the day to meet with school officials, Patrick said he was home when he felt a sharp pain in his chest unlike anything he had felt before.

He went to the emergency room, and doctors at Houston Methodist Willowbrook Hospital found an artery was 90 percent blocked.

Patrick said that there were warning signs before and that he’s now going to be an evangelist for men and women to be more aggressive in getting to the hospital when they have heart attack symptoms.

Patrick told radio host Mark Davis on 660 AM in Dallas that two days earlier at an airport in New York, he nearly didn’t make his flight because he was feeling so ill. Patrick said he was so short of breath that he had trouble walking.

“Suddenly I could barely get to the plane,” Patrick said.

Patrick said he is otherwise in pretty good shape. He doesn’t smoke, isn’t overweight and rarely drinks. Yet he said genetics had him at risk the whole time.

“I never had any idea that I had 90 percent blockage,” Patrick said.

During the same interview, Patrick weighed in on the controversy surrounding House Speaker Dennis Bonnen.

Patrick said he has not heard the now-infamous secret recording of Bonnen speaking with Michael Quinn Sullivan of Empower Texans, but agrees with Bonnen that the recording needs to be released so the public can hear it and other House members can decide what to do. Sullivan says at that meeting, Bonnen offered him media credentials on the condition that Sullivan’s group target 10 moderate Republican lawmakers in the 2020 GOP primary elections. Bonnen has denied offering such a deal, though he admitted saying “terrible things” during the meeting.

Patrick said the most important thing to him is getting the controversy resolved one way or the other before the 2020 election cycle gets underway. He said Republicans have a serious battle to retain control of the Texas House and cannot be distracted.

“We don’t have to lose many seats to lose the House to the Democrats, and this could play a part in that,” Patrick said. “The sooner it’s behind us — however this turns out — is the better.”