- The 80-year-old is still planning an overseas trip this year
Sam Newman has revealed he is preparing to undergo another surgery just three months after suffering a stroke that left him temporarily unable to speak.
The 80-year-old made the candid admission during the latest episode of the You Cannot Be Serious podcast alongside co-host Wayne Carey, casually dropping the news while discussing travel plans and AFL footy tips.
‘I’ll definitely be in hospital at some stage next week,’ Newman told listeners, before quickly moving the conversation on to a game of poo bingo he had discovered at Big W.
The former Geelong Cats champion appeared unconcerned by the upcoming procedure, despite it coming only months after he spent 10 days in hospital following two transient ischemic attacks, commonly known as mini strokes.
Carey remarked on how well Newman appeared to have recovered since the frightening health scare.
‘You’ve recovered beautifully,’ Carey told him during the episode.
AFL great Sam Newman has announced he is going in for surgery again after suffering a stroke
Newman said he might not be alive after mini strokes triggered emergency neck surgery in Melbourne
Doctors discovered a narrowed artery supplying blood to Newman’s brain and performed surgery to widen it
Newman confirmed he has been taking blood thinners since the stroke and described the medication in typically colourful fashion.
‘I’ve had to go on blood thinners since the had the two-stroke since you know it’s like putting two-stroke fuel in instead of four stroke fuel,’ he said.
The surgery discussion arose during a conversation about Newman’s plans for an overseas trip, with Carey raising concerns about the dangers of long-haul flying after a stroke.
‘You get um deep vein thrombosis DVT… does that come into [it]?’ Carey asked.
Newman explained there had been restrictions on when he could safely travel following the stroke.
‘It’s got to be three months after,’ Newman said.
When Carey pointed out the timing had arrived quickly, Newman replied: ‘Oh, three months.’
‘Jeez, that’s gone quick,’ Carey responded.
Newman, pictured with his partner Sue Stanley, is planning an overseas trip this year
Newman is showing no signs of slowing down at 80, despite recent medical episodes
Newman did not disclose the exact nature of the surgery and offered little detail about the severity of the stroke beyond discussing the medication and travel limitations.
The veteran broadcaster previously revealed he suffered the mini strokes while out in Port Melbourne with partner Sue Stanley, who realised something was wrong and called an ambulance.
Doctors later discovered a narrowing carotid artery in the left side of his neck, which was allowing small blood clots to travel to his brain.
Newman temporarily lost speech and strength in both arms during the episode.
‘A little fleck of blood went into my brain, and I lost speech temporarily, and I lost strength in both my arms, but that was very short lived, five minutes,’ he previously explained.
Surgeons later performed a procedure to widen the artery.
Despite the seriousness of the latest health update, Newman and Carey largely kept the podcast light-hearted, spending more time joking about hospital grooming standards than discussing the operation itself.
When Carey quipped that Newman should ‘make sure you shave down in case the orderlies and the nurses want to have a look at the plumbing,’ Newman replied without hesitation: ‘I’m waxed to the minute.’
