Arnold Fitted with Pacemaker to be FUBAR Fit!

With only a month to go until Schwarzenegger leaves for Canada to film FUBAR Season 2, he chose to be fitted with a Pacemaker. Arnold, who has had three open-heart surgeries in the past before the pacemaker, continues to give courage to all who are in need of operations or medical procedures. Arnold’s heart remains strong and he’ll now be FUBAR FIT! Keep pumping, Arnold! 

Here’s Arnold discussing his recent Pacemaker adventure:

“Last Monday, I had surgery to become a little bit more of a machine: I got a pacemaker.

I have to tell you, just saying this to all of you guys goes against so much of my upbringing in Austria, where nobody, ever, talked about medical issues. Everything related to healthcare was kept to yourself.

But I’ve gotten so many messages and emails from people who were born with a bicuspid aortic valve, like me, telling me that talking about my valve replacement surgeries has given them courage and hope to deal with their own.

So since I know that going against my secretive instinct and being transparent helps people, what choices do I have?

First of all, I want you to know that I’m doing great.

I had my surgery on Monday, and by Friday I was already at a press conference with my friend and fellow fitness crusader Jane Fonda https://youtu.be/mq9_JIXDCgM?si=D9dM1IPQQPEE_VtD

By the way, when we talk hear bout exercise being the only magic pill to slow down aging, look at Jane. She’s ten years older than me, turning 87 this year!

I had to stop her from hitting me on the chest when she was making a point, but besides that, nobody would ever think I stated this week with a surgery.

I want to thank my whole team at the Cleveland Clinic – all of the doctors and nurses took amazing care of me and made the surgery as painless as possible.

They also advised me that it was time to go through this, because some scar tissue from my previous valve replacement had made my heartbeat irregular. It had been like that for a few years, so I stayed in touch with my medical team and visited in person at least once a year to get a full checkup and see how my heart was doing.

That’s life with a genetic heart issue. But you won’t hear me complaining. My mother and her mother’s bicuspid valves killed them. I’m still here because of medical innovation and being very diligent about staying in touch with my doctors and listening to them.

My mom refused to have the valve replacement surgery. But back then, the only option was open-heart. Today, they’re replacing valves with non-invasive procedures where you can go home the same day.

I had my valves replaced for the first time in 1997 – that required open-heart surgery where they switched my valves. They told me both valves would last 12 – 15 years. Dr. Starnes did a wonderful job and they made it 21 years, and by the time I went in for replacement in 2018, the non-invasive option was available. Of course, you know that there was a little screwup, and my non-invasive surgery became open-heart. I told that story and shared footage here in this newsletter: https://youtu.be/F-vTVjV-2x8?si=1A4VdkGb4G03MtxD

They only replaced one of the two valves, so I headed to the Cleveland Clinic in 2020 and did the other one – this time, the non-invasive Transcatheter valve replacement worked!

But with all of those surgeries, my doctors warned me that there was a little scar tissue. And sure enough, my heartbeat wasn’t quite the same.

They told me they would let me know when it was time for a pacemaker. I went in for my normal checkup at the beginning of March on my wat to the Arnold Sports Festival, and they did a full series of tests. When I got home to LA, like it was fate, I was talking to one of my best friends.

They told me that they had a pacemaker installed, it was a quick recovery, and their energy levels were back to what they were used to.

That’s one thing you learn about an irregular heartbeat: all that extra work your heart is doing wears you out. Man, if I can be honest with you, I was struggling with those 16 hour days at the Arnold Sports Festival US at the beginning of March and in the UK last week, visiting as many sports as possible and walking through those crowds of hundreds of thousands of fitness fanatics.

The same day I talked to my friend, one of my doctors called to tell me that after looking at all of my results and date, and knowing I had 6 weeks until it was time to film FUBAR Season 2, it was time to go for it. The doctors told me they want many more seasons of FUBAR and this was the best way!

I told them I’d stop in Cleveland on my way home from the UK and we’d do it. I had gotten too many messages to ignore it.

Monday, I went under and got my new machine part installed.

Like I said, by Friday, I was out doing my normal environmental work, and nobody knew anything. I can’t do my serious training in the gym for a while but I will be 100% ready for FUBAR next month!

I could have kept it a secret. But I know we have more than 750,000 subscribers now (775,000 to be exact – the village is a city now!), and a lot of you are probably dealing with your own health challenges.

I want you to know you aren’t alone.

And if you’re putting something off out of hear, I hope I inspire you to listen to your doctors and take care of yourself.

This village is a place for us to be open and honest, because its impossible to be truly positive when you keep everything bottled up.

That’s what Arnold’s Pump Club is all about. There are weights that none of us can lift alone.

But together, we can lift anything- we can lift up the world.

You are never alone here. “