This is how the king has lived with health problems – VG

On Friday, King Harald underwent a successful heart operation in which a new heart valve was operated on.

The king underwent a similar operation in 2005.

Then an artificial heart valve was inserted, which has a lifespan of 10 to 15 years.

After the operation in 2005, King Harald told in an interview with the NRK Super series “The Magic Body” in 2015 about how he experienced the situation.

– I was a little out of breath. More than usual. Otherwise, I didn’t notice anything special about it. It was the doctors who found out, the king said.

It was respiratory problems that also this time led the king to be admitted to Rikshospitalet on September 25.

Then the Palace announced that the king was breathing heavily and that Covid-19 was out of the question. Already two days later, he was discharged and sent home to Bygdøy.

On October 4, he was still under investigation, and on Thursday he was admitted again to Rikshospitalet to change the heart valve with which he had lived since 2005.

– The king was out of breath, especially two weeks ago, and we found ourselves having to investigate further, and then we saw that it was time to replace the heart valve, said King’s physician Bjørn Bendz after Friday’s operation.

After the operation, the king was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit for further observation, and King Harald will be on sick leave until October.

Watch the life doctor explain the procedure in the video below.

Ukebladet Her og Nå has reproduced parts of an interview with the king of “The Magic Body” in 2015, and when asked by young presenters how he manages to stay so healthy and fast after the operation, he replied:

– I think it’s a bit random. But it’s also the fact that the doctors are very good, and that they accomplished what they did, he said in 2015.

In the interview, which was also partially shown in Dagsrevyen on Thursday, the king still admits that he feared the operation.

– I did. Doctors told me this was routine. Then I said, “It’s probably for you, but not for the patient,” he said.

By the way, this is not the first time the king has spoken of concerns about the disease. In December 2003, the King received cancer diagnosis in the bladder, and also underwent a successful operation at that time.

– He was very scared, he said later about the disease.

Recover quickly

At Easter 2005 and before the operation, the changes in the king’s health made him unable to spend Easter in Sikkilsdalen as planned.

Instead, it was Easter at Kongsseteren in Oslo. That was where he also went after the operation. The hospital at night and in Kongseteren during the day.

In 2005, the King began training the day after the heart operation.

“The king has started taking shorter walks. The progress is very satisfactory,” said the Palace shortly after the operation in 2005.

“I have not been in as good shape as I am now in three or four years,” said the King. VG August 2005.

The king’s physician at the time, Halfdan Ihlen, was impressed by how quickly the king recovered from the absence due to illness.

When the king fell ill in September this year, he and the queen stayed at the Bygdøy kongsgård summer residence. This is also where he was in the time between his first admission in September and when he was admitted and operated on in October.

The king’s previous health problems

King Harald has been an avid athlete for many years and has participated in several world sailing championships. Between 1964 and 1972, he represented Norway during the Olympics on three occasions, where the highest position was an eighth place.

Recently, in 2018, he participated in the 8-meter WC in Langengargen in Germany, and together with the crew of «Sira» he obtained 1st place and 4th place.

Like most people over 80, the king has had various health problems over the years. However, this has rarely prevented her from fulfilling her duties, and during the sick leave, both Queen Sonja and Crown Prince Haakon have assumed royal duties.

When the Storting was to open on September 2 of this year, both the queen and the crown prince participated in the king’s place.

Back injury

In March 1988, then-Crown Prince Harald was admitted to Rikshospitalet to receive treatment for a back injury. He was taken to the hospital the same day he returned home from the Calgary Olympics. According to the Palace, Harald’s admission was not due to an accident, but to ordinary back problems.

That same year, he, his ship, and his crew won a bronze medal at the San Francisco World Championship, and in 1987 he won gold.

Ulcer

In the winter of 1995, King Harald was treated for stomach ulcers at Rikshospitalet. A tablet cure for duodenal ulcers followed for three weeks, without being released to the public. Nor did he cancel a single assignment outside the Palace during the period when he was ill.

The stomach ulcer had developed from a chronic bacterial infection in the stomach, a disorder that is often caused by the stress and pressure of hard work.

Verkebyll

In the new year 1999, King Harald was admitted to the Rikshospitalet department of plastic surgery, where he underwent surgery to remove a painful boil on his cheek. The boil caught the attention of many when the King delivered the New Year’s speech, eventually becoming so troublesome that the King decided to have it removed.

Bladder cancer

In December 2003, the King received cancer diagnosis in the bladder. The cancer operation on December 8, 2003 went according to plan. The king had to undergo surgery to remove his bladder and was on sick leave until mid-April.

Heart valve

In March 2005, the king was diagnosed with aortic stenosis and underwent an operation on the heart valve between the heart and the main artery. Then an artificial heart valve was inserted. These heart valves have a lifespan of 10 to 15 years.

– Age is just a number

In his New Year’s speech on the last day of 2016, King Harald said, among other things:

– Life has taught me that what is most important to us humans does not change much over the ages. We need someone to care about us. We need it for our use. We need to be seen and recognized for who we are. We need someone who has time to listen and be present. We need to know that we exist for something and someone beyond ourselves.

Regarding the 80th anniversary in 2017, he said in an interview with NTB that he has no plans to take it easy, despite his age.

He also said that it is not relevant to take a step back, unless you receive a clear message from children that the time has come.

During the government gala dinner for the royal couple at the opera the next day, the king was very personal in his speech of thanks. He spoke of a long journey through resistance, love and frustration, and finding it difficult to replace his beloved father.

In a comment regarding the 80th anniversary of the royal couple in 2017, VG political editor Hanne Skartveit wrote, among other things, this about the importance of the royal couple to the Norwegian people:

– We know that royalty loves us well. And we see that they work hard. While the royal couple’s peers are long-retired and live lives with no other obligations than to care for themselves and their loved ones, the King and Queen still have full-time jobs. They are 80 years old, having no idea what it is like to be retired. And they still seem to have fun at work. That is amazing.

At that time the king said this about whether age weighs or not:

– I always thought that those who were 80 were old, but I don’t feel old. Age is just a number, says King Harald.