King Diamond, heavy metal icon and wielder of one of rock’s wickedest falsettos, has been waylaid by a series of very un-metal heart attacks that recently resulted in triple-bypass open-heart surgery. King’s wife Livia posted a statement on the official King Diamond website saying that her husband would be “taking a break from music and the music business altogether until further notice” while he recuperated, saying that while his eponymous band is not officially stopping (the recently reunited Mercyful Fate is still on "hiatus"), and that King wants to keep writing new music and touring, “All those things are in the distant future and he's not thinking about them.” She then allayed this very un-metal news with a description of King’s surgery that is, actually, pretty fucking metal:
If you are interested in the details of how this surgery is performed, please look it up online. I will only touch on the basics. The sternum (breastbone) is cut in half and pulled apart, to expose the heart. Veins are harvested from other places of the body, in King's case it was his left leg and chest wall. The person is then hooked up to a machine that practically does the job of the heart, circulating and oxygenating the blood. The heart is then stopped, and the lungs collapse (the lungs stop working since the blood is being oxygenated by the machine). The surgeon then sews the harvested veins in place, bypassing the found blockages. Once the surgery is done, the surgeon moves the ribs and breastbone back into place and wires it together. The chest is closed as well. They use an electric pulse to start the heart and a breathing machine is lead into the lungs to restart breathing. King's surgery took approximately 7 hours.
In truth, you probably don’t need to look anything up, because she kind of nailed it. Also proving that King Diamond is a badass even in extreme sickness, Livia adds that he was “the first one in the history of the hospital who walked on his own power from the ICU to normal care.” She encourages everyone to follow his example and “STAY HEAVY” while he recuperates.