Lasorda’s Doctors May Focus On Risks
Dr. Anthony Reid, the cardiologist treating Tommy Lasorda in his recovery from a heart attack, likely will have acquired most of the information today he needs to make a recommendation regarding Lasorda’s future as manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Reid, a visiting professor of medicine at UC-Irvine, will arrive at his recommendation in conjunction with Dodgers physician Michael Mellman.
It is impossible to predict precisely what Reid and Mellman will recommend to Lasorda. Reid cited patient-doctor confidentiality Wednesday in declining to answer several specific questions about Lasorda’s condition.
But among heart attack patients, there are always common denominators. Two of this nation’s leading cardiologists have weighed in with medical opinions that paint a grim picture as far as the risks that a person such as Lasorda would be taking if he were to return to a job such as a managing a major league baseball team.
Both doctors agree that the decision Lasorda and the Dodgers face is highly complicated.
Dr. Gordon Blackburn, program director of cardiac rehabilitation for the Cleveland Clinic - which The U.S. News and World Report ranks as the finest heart care center in America - wasted little time explaining the risks in returning to work.
“It’s kind of like playing Russian roulette,” Blackburn said. “If he were lean, if he had his anger, his temper, under control, if he exercised, if he ate properly and he were young, maybe he’s got one bullet in a 10-cylinder gun.
“If you’re anxious and overweight and have high a cholesterol level and you’re 68, you’re playing with nine bullets in a 10-cylinder gun.”
The five primary factors that are considered in determining the level of risk for heart disease in a person are whether the person: is a tobacco user; has a high cholesterol level; has high blood pressure; is in satisfactory cardio-vascular condition; and has a family history of heart problems or diabetes, especially in persons under the age of 55.
The secondary factors are stress related - how much stress a person is subject to and how that person reacts to stressful situations - and whether the person is overweight.
Several of the factors are linked. For example, a patient can control his blood pressure by exercising properly. Also, there is no guarantee that staying away from managing will prompt Lasorda to make greater strides toward reducing those risks.
However, what is known is that Lasorda, 68, currently checks out positively in only one of the seven categories: he is not a tobacco user.
Ripken’s not ready
Cal Ripken was part of the standing ovation for Ozzie Smith at the All-Star Game, but doesn’t want to contemplate his own retirement.
“I think all of us think that if you play long enough and stay healthy, someone is going to figure out a way for you to play the game forever,” Ripken said. “The reality is that it’s going to end sometime.
“The result is that there’s a space in the back of (your) mind that someone is going to figure out how it’s not going to end. You’ll just keep on playing. Retirement will be a thing of the past. You’ll be able to play for the rest of your life.”
Small world
New Florida Marlins manager Frank Boles once coached baseball at University of Louisville, where the team captain showed him around campus before he took the job. That captain was Kevin Malone, now the assistant general manager of the Baltimore Orioles.