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Stribling heart surgery successful
Doctors on Wednesday afternoon successfully removed a benign tumor from the heart of Fauquier Supervisor Chester Stribling.
"It was noncancerous," Neal Stribling, the Lee District supervisor's brother, said Thursday. "They were very pleased with his progress. And they had high hopes he'll be coming home this weekend."He said his 52-year-old brother had been on the operating table at Inova Fairfax Hospital for five hours.
Doctors kept Stribling on a ventilator until 10 p.m. Wednesday and sat him up for the first time since the operation at 5 a.m. Thursday, according to Neal Stribling.
He was uncertain about his brother's recovery period.
But his brother "wouldn't be able to drive for three weeks," Neal Stribling said. "But I told him he had to be at work on Monday. If he couldn't drive, I'd come and get him. That's what brothers are for."
The brothers are mechanics with the family's Morrisville auto repair business.
The tumor in Stribling's heart is called an atrial myxoma.
Rare and mostly benign, atrial myxomas affect fewer than five people in 10,000, according to Virtualmedicalcentre.com. Women experience higher rates of atrial myxoma than men, the Web site states.In early August, tests showed Stribling had a tumor in the left chamber of his heart.
In an interview the week he received the diagnosis, Stribling recalled that his cardiologist told him the tumor "'is almost as big as the chamber in your heart. It's got to go. You could have a heart attack,'" if the tumor impedes normal heart functions or detaches.
Based on its size, the tumor appeared to be two to five years old, Stribling said his doctor told him.
Stribling said his cardiologist advised him that heart tumors seldom return.E-mail the reporter: ddelrosso@timespapers.comddelrosso@timespapers.com .
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