Washington — Vice President Dick Cheney, who has had four heart attacks, underwent three hours of tests at a Washington, D.C., hospital Saturday after suffering shortness of breath, but went home when doctors found no abnormalities.
"I feel fine," Cheney, 63, said as he walked out of the George Washington University Medical Center and waved to reporters.
"Sorry we ruined your Saturday," said his wife, Lynne Cheney.
Because of Cheney's long history of heart trouble, neither he nor his doctors were inclined to ignore signs of a potential problem.
The vice president went pheasant hunting in South Dakota last week and returned to Washington Thursday with a cold. On Saturday, his cough and breathing distress had grown, and his cardiologist, Dr. Jonathan Reiner, said Cheney should go to the hospital for a round of heart tests. Reporters quickly gathered outside to await news.
White House Chief of Staff Andy Card notified President Bush shortly after the president finished a bike ride at a Secret Service training facility outside Washington that the vice president had gone to the hospital, White House spokesman Ken Lisaius said.
Cheney spokeswoman Mary Matalin soon issued a reassuring statement noting that Cheney had walked into the hospital. The vice president, she said, was wearing street clothes and walking from room to room as he awaited the results of his blood test. She said an electrocardiogram, taken to measure the heart's electrical activity, showed no change.
By the end of the day, Cheney's doctor confirmed that the cold, not his heart, must be the source of Cheney's breathing troubles.
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