USA TODAY International Edition
Fox says coaching stress a non- issue
Broncos coach emphasizes heart surgery corrected hereditary issue
There were times Sunday when John Fox’s surgically repaired heart just couldn’t take it. Fox was forced to flip the channel away from the Denver Broncos’ 28- 20 victory against the AFC West rival San Diego Chargers, his team’s first game since he had surgery to replace the aortic valve in his heart.
“It just got probably a little tense, and that wasn’t the best thing for me at that moment,” Fox said.
Fox, in a 20- minute conference call with news reporters Tuesday, declined to detail the moments that were particularly stress- inducing, but let’s assume Peyton Manning being tackled at his lower legs and getting up limping in the fourth quarter was one of them.
“That could have been one of them,” Fox said, laughing.
It was a low, raspy chuckle, a sound that has become so familiar around the Broncos facility since Fox was hired as coach in January 2011, and it was a sign Fox’s recovery from heart surgery is going well.
Fox said Tuesday that he was born with a bicuspid valve and had known about the hereditary abnormality since 1997, when his doctors in New York were trying to discover the cause of a heart murmur. His heart has been routinely monitored since, and Fox had planned to have the
“This is basically something I was born with that I needed fixed. This is really not a lifestyle problem.”
Broncos coach John Fox
valve replaced in the offseason.
That timeline changed after he became extremely lightheaded and dizzy, nearly to the point of fainting, while playing golf in Charlotte on Nov. 2. Fox was hospitalized, and his doctors in North Carolina decided it was time to replace the valve.
He spent a couple of days in intensive care after the surgery Nov. 4 and was released from the hospital Friday.
“I’m very, very healthy. I think the normal length of ( hospitalization after) open- heart surgery is five to sev- en days, and I was out in four. They said this wasn’t due to poor lifestyle, or not being healthy, too much stress, not enough stress,” Fox said. “This is basically something I was born with that I needed fixed. This is really not a lifestyle problem.”
When Fox’s doctors think he’s strong enough to fly, he will return to Denver to continue his rehab closer to his team, though they would not put a specific timetable on when he’d return to the sideline.
“My goal and dream is to be there before the conclusion of the season,” Fox said.
He said he was in frequent contact with his coaching staff, especially interim coach Jack Del Rio. Fox was in the middle of watching the coaches’ film of the Chargers game Tuesday when he took a break to speak to reporters. He’ll share his notes with the coaching staff, which spent Tuesday concocting a plan for Sunday’s prime- time showdown against the undefeated Kansas City Chiefs.
“I’ve got a pretty good team of people there that I stay in touch with on a daily basis, and it’s obviously been helpful to me with the rehab process. It keeps me from being bored to death,” Fox said.