BLOOMFIELD, NJ — Councilman Elias Chalet underwent open-heart surgery in New York City on April 28.
Speaking in his Broad Street real estate office earlier this week, Chalet said the surgery was necessary after something turned up on his EKG during a routine medical examination. Alerted, his cardiologist put him through a battery of tests.
“He said to me, ‘We have a problem,’” Chalet said. “ I never had any symptoms.”
Chalet was recommended to Dr. David Adam, at Mt. Synod Hospital. Chalet’s cardiologist, Dr. Eli Chaktoura, at Clara Maass Hospital, and Adam, set a date for the operation.
“They couldn’t wait longer,” Chalet said.
The operation took 11 hours.
“They repaired the mitral valve,” Chalet said. “That lets the blood out of the heart. And I had two bypasses.”
A small hole, from a small stroke,
or TIA, which Chalet had experienced in 2010, was also repaired. He was in
the hospital for a week.
“My mom and dad had heart problems,” he said. “I exercise and eat well. Otherwise, I would have been in big trouble.”
Chalet said he did not experience any symptoms because the main artery somehow created its own bypass, allowing the blood to continue flowing.
For the operation, the doctors made a 7-inch cut through his sternum, the central bone of the rib cage. The sternum was reattached with glue.
But before the operation, Chalet said he did not want to know anything about what was going to happen to him or what the operation would look like.
“I would have had second thoughts,”he said. “I was told it was an ugly operation.”
A vein was taken from his leg and tissue was removed from his hip to make the repairs.
“The doctor told me I was a gem,” Chalet said. “I didn’t need insulin to keep my blood pressure down. But my pressure was stable. I didn’t need blood or insulin. Nothing at all.”
Mt. Synod was an amazing facility,
he said, with 55 operating rooms just for the heart.
He returned to Bloomfield last week.
“I went to my cardiologist and he gave me a clean bill-of-health,” Chalet said. “But I told him I had double-vision.”
Chalet was then sent to the intensive-care unit at Clara Maass for tests. He was told that some blood clots remained from the operation and that was causing the vision problem.
“Everything was negative,” he said. “Thank god, every day I am getting stronger. That’s why I came to the office.”
Chalet represents the 1st Ward on the Bloomfield Council. In October 2016, he was arrested in his Broad Street office and subsequently indicted for bribery in an official capacity. He has continued to serve as a councilman and attend council meetings.
He has blood tests every three days and he is on coumadin, the blood thinner. He will begin physical rehabilitation next week, an hour a day, for six weeks, a Clara Maass.
Because his sternum was cut, when he coughs, Chalet said he needs to put a pillow to his chest.
“Coughing is like daggers,” he said. “It’s worst than anything I’ve ever experienced. It’s so painful.”
He said he kept his medical problem private until he got back to Bloomfield. Then he contacted mayor Michael Venezia and Township Administrator Matthew Watkins about his operation.
He said he hopes his experience makes other people consider having physical examinations even though they may not think they need it.
“The last snowstorm, I shoveled three driveways,” he said. “One was 120 feet long.”
Chalet was told by his doctor that if he had had a heart attack, it would have been “explosive.”
“God is always testing,” Chalet said. “He tests the people that fear him. He tests your faith, under all circumstances, if you still believe in him. My faith never wavered in any situation.”
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