A week after undergoing a quintuple heart bypass, Okaloosa County Administrator Ernie Padgett already is planning his return to work.
Padgett had the surgery Sept. 17 at Baptist Hospital in Pensacola. He’s taken a temporary medical leave from the county.
“I never dreamed I had any kind of heart problem,” said Padgett, who is 65. “It was just one of those shockers that came out of nowhere.”
Two weeks ago, he began to have chest pains and rushed to the emergency room at Fort Walton Beach Medical Center, where doctors performed a heart catheterization and inserted two stents.
The following week Padgett was transferred to Baptist Hospital, where doctors opted for bypass surgery.
“The way they described it was that my heart muscle was in good shape, but it’s like a car engine that isn’t getting any gas,” he said. “I figured that was the best long-term solution.”
He’s recuperating at home now with help from his wife, Lydia, and under strict orders to take it easy.
“I certainly appreciate everybody’s concern and prayers here in the county,” Padgett said. “It’s more aggravating discomfort than searing pain.”
With an office laptop and a phone close by, he’s counting the days until he’s up and around. In two weeks he hopes to have Lydia drive him to the office for a few hours. In three weeks, he’d like to be well enough to sit in on the Oct. 15 County Commission meeting in Fort Walton Beach.
“It’ll be five weeks before I can drive,” he added. “Over the next couple of months, I’ll just ease back into it.”
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Kari C. Barlow at 850-315-4438 or kbarlow@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @KariBnwfdn.