Former US Vice President Cheney feeling well after hospitalization

Former Vice President Dick Cheney was “feeling good” a day after being hospitalized with chest pains, a source who spoke to Cheney said Tuesday.

The source said Cheney watched some Olympics coverage on television Monday night hours after being admitted to George Washington University Hospital in Washington, but he was in a “holding pattern” until more tests were conducted Tuesday morning.

The 69-year-old Cheney has a long history of heart problems. The daunting and vociferous Republican suffered his first heart attack at a relatively mellow age of 37 and has since had another three attacks. He now lives on a specially designed pacemaker. He has also gone through quadruple bypass surgery and two artery-clearing angioplasties.

Cheney was rushed to George Washington University Hospital on Monday. The doctors there have told that Cheney is “doing fine” and “resting comfortably” right now and will probably be released later today.

Cheney has a long history of heart problems. He has suffered four heart attacks since 1978 when he was 37. He suffered his second heart attack in 1984 and a third in 1988 before undergoing quadruple bypass surgery to unblock his arteries. His fourth heart attack occurred in November 2000. At that time, doctors inserted a stent to open an artery.

The following year, doctors implanted a heart monitoring device to keep track of his heart rhythm and slow it down if necessary. In 2008, he underwent a procedure to restore his heart to a normal rhythm after doctors found he was experiencing a recurrence of atrial fibrillation.

Since leaving office in 2009, the former vice president has been a vocal critic of the Obama administration, most recently on ABC’s “This Week,” where he railed against its policies on terrorism and the Iraq war.

He has accused the administration of failing to treat the fight against terrorists as war, citing the decision to try accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a civilian court, the move to treat the failed Christmas Day airline bomber as a suspect in the U.S. criminal justice system and actions to shut down the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

AFP reports that Cheney was to meet the former President George W. Bush on Friday. If the plan still materialised this will be the first time the ex-man in chief and his next in command will meet since they left office in January 2009.