CHAPPAQUA, N.Y. — Former president Bill Clinton said Friday he felt “great” and planned to get back to work after undergoing heart surgery the previous day because “that’s what my life is for.”
Speaking outside his home in suburban Chappaqua, about 35 miles north of New York City, Clinton praised the doctors who Thursday placed two stents in one of his coronary arteries and said he felt so good, he had “done a couple miles on the treadmill today.”
Clinton left the hospital early Friday morning.
Asked if the doctors had told him to take a day off, he replied, “No. They said not to lift anything that weighs over 10 pounds for a week. Not to jog, but to walk, but not to walk fast up steep hills for a week, until the opening, where they did the surgery in my leg, heals.
“But they said that I should go back; and you know it’s a miraculous thing. You can feel the energy coming back right away when there’s all the arteries are pumping to the heart.”
He added, “I have to keep working; it’s what I should do. That’s what my life is for. I was given a good mind, a strong body, and you know I’ve had a wonderful life. It would be wrong for me not to work. Hillary and I took some time off around the New Years. And we will continue to try to take more vacations. But I want to work. It’s a good thing to do.”
Earlier Friday, he reassured supporters he will continue his work as a fundraising coordinator for earthquake-struck Haiti.
“In my capacity as UN Special Envoy for Haiti, I will continue to work with the Haitian government and people, international donors and multilateral organizations,” Clinton said in a statement.
Clinton is a special UN envoy to Haiti and also works with fellow former US president George W. Bush in coordinating fundraising.
AFP contributed to this report
