John Green, bass player with Jim & Valerie Gabehart, is hospitalized in the Charleston Area Medical Center in Charleston, WV after suffering a heart attack on Friday night. Green, who formerly played with Lonesome River Band, is known to friends as Buck or Buckwheat.
Doctors performed a catheterization Saturday morning and found one artery blocked 100%, and two others blocked 70% and 80%. At that point he was told that stents would be be ineffective, and that triple bypass surgery would be scheduled for later this week.
We caught up with Buck last night at the hospital, and he said that though Saturday was a rough day for him, he was feeling much better by Sunday evening.
He felt what he thought was indigestion on Wednesday night, which woke him from his sleep, but it subsided after a few minutes so he returned to bed. Then on Friday evening, these same symptoms recurred, but with greater severity, and he was taken to the emergency room.
Green is resting in the hospital until his heart rate stabilizes, expecting doctors to set a date for surgery today or tomorrow. Buck said he is anticipating triple bypass on Tuesday or Wednesday.
We’ll update with further details as they are available.
