Wayne Lukas gets interim pacemaker, wife says
Louisville Courier-Journal
Record-setting trainer D. Wayne Lukas had a temporary pacemaker inserted Saturday night — “just to get things kind of settled down, his heart rate normal” — and began feeling better to where he watched his beloved Dallas Cowboys play on television Sunday, Laurie Lukas said.
Laurie Lukas, at the hospital in suburban Philadelphia, said by phone Monday morning that her Hall of Fame husband was undergoing the catheterization procedure “where they’re checking all the arteries and veins and everything, just to make sure the blood flow is normal and there’s no blockage. (Tuesday) he’s scheduled to have a permanent pacemaker put in.”
Laurie Lukas said that as late Sunday night, Wayne told her he was finally able to rest.
“I think this thing has been so aggravating to him,” she said. “He’s so stoic, he doesn’t talk about it much. But he’d complained of being tired, of course, complained of not being able to sleep. But that’s all part of this deal. So the systems were not horrendous by any means. But boy, it did sure get a hold of him Saturday for sure.”
Lukas was hospitalized late Saturday when he wasn’t feeling well while in Philadelphia to run Mr. Z in the Pennsylvania Derby and Take Charge Brandi in the Cotillion – the red flag being that he opted to stay at the hotel instead of going to the track.
But getting him to a hospital came only after his wife, assistant Tim Austin, horse-van driver/assistant John Sica and noted Louisville orthopedic surgeon Raymond Shea practically did an intervention to get him to change his mind about going to the hospital.
“It was not his wishes. He just said, ‘I’ll be fine,’” said Laurie, who flew from Colorado to Philadelphia Sunday morning. “… We were all very concerned. He wanted to drive back in the truck to Kentucky on Sunday. Dr. Shea was helping me with it there in Louisville. We had lined up somebody to see him as soon as he got to Louisville Sunday, and Dr. Shea told me, ‘You know, Laurie, he really should be seen there. But if you really want to honor his wishes, this is what we’ll do.’
“We just couldn’t see him getting in that truck and driving, or getting on a plane. John went to see him and said he’s very, very weak. So we just called 911. John met them there and said, ‘Look, we don’t have a super emergency situation, but we want to have you guys take him out. He may be fine, he may just have a bug.’ They determined he really needed to be seen, and Wayne agreed.”
Well, sort of. Lukas, who recently turned 80, for decades has prided himself on his work ethic, riding his pony all morning and frequently joking about never seeing doctors, his only vice being fast foods.
“We intervened and made a decision above his head,” Laurie said with a laugh. “We said, ‘Look, we don’t want anything happening.’ We couldn’t live with that. We decided we’d risk him being really mad at us, and he was mad, apparently, when they came. But then he was just completely OK with it, and he’s been great.
“He’s had a lot of encouragement from people who have had pacemakers put in. Apparently it’s a relatively simple procedure. And the pacemaker should get him leveled out – and look out, we’re all in trouble. Unknown to us, he’s been operating at not full capacity, and look at him at not full capacity. When he gets back to that, we’ll never be able to keep up with him.”
Lukas did not have a heart attack. But Bob Baffert, his training colleague and pal, had one three years ago and this year won the Triple Crown with American Pharoah.
“There you go, so the best is yet to come,” Laurie Lukas said. “Wayne turned to me last night, and I said, ‘I’m so glad you’re in here.’ He said, ‘Yeah, we’ve still got things to do.’”
Assistant Tim Austin remains in Philadelphia, with horses vanning back Monday, said Bas Nicholl, the Lukas assistant overseeing the Churchill Downs operation.
