Rehabilitating after successful heart surgery in Florida, says getting stronger everyday
By JOSH RESNEK
City Council President Wayne Matewsky has returned to Massachusetts.
He was flown to Boston Saturday on a medivac airplane from Florida, where he took ill three weeks ago.
Matewsky suffered a heart attack.
Five days later, he underwent surgery. Surgeons performed a quadruple by-pass on him to repair his blocked arteries.
The operation was successful.
Since the operation, Matewsky was gaining strength and be- ginning to take steps out of his hospital bed in Ft. Lauderdale. He is now at the Spaulding Hospital in Cambridge, perhaps the finest rehab in the nation.
“I’m tired but I’m getting stronger every day,” Matewsky told the Leader Herald Monday afternoon.
“I am working hard so I can get back to my home in Everett which I love and to be reunited with my mother Marion and my dog, Tammy,” he said.
Matewsky’s mother, Marion, in her 90’s, has been staying with his brother in Winchendon.
Matewsky’s sister Wanda is returning to Everett from California to care for their mother, who will be returning to the family home on Lewis Street.
“I am grateful to the point of exhaustion to all those who have shown an interest in my well-being,” he added.
“I thank God for having such good friends and colleagues. I thank God for being alive,” he said.
Matewsky said he was visited in Florida by Stat Smith, Nicky Saia, Mike Mangan, Anthony DiPierro, Mike Marchese, and David Ravenisi.
He said Councilor Jimmy Tri Le visited him at the Spaulding over the weekend.
He also noted that the mayor had provided the Everett Police as security for his home while he was gone, and that City Clerk Sergio Cornelio had taken care of private matters for him.
He was gracious and thankful to them all.
He said he is certain he will recover fully and that he would resume his presence on the council as soon as possible.
He didn’t want to make much of it, but he intimated he’d be running again.
He revealed that he has stopped smoking and will maintain a strict diet designed to keep his cardiovascular system free and clear of blockages.