Buddhist Master Hsing Yun (星雲), the founder of Fo Guang Shan (佛光山) Monastery, suffered an acute stroke last weekend, but is in a stable condition after surgery on Monday, the Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital said yesterday.
Hsing Yun experienced vomiting, fatigue and weakness in his limbs on Saturday before being hospitalized on Sunday, when doctors determined that he had suffered a stroke in the left side of his brain and arranged for him to undergo surgery.
The 90-year-old Buddhist monk has a history of “the three highs” — high blood sugar, high blood pressure and high blood lipid — as well as heart disease and diabetes, and was hospitalized at the same hospital twice in 2011 for an ischemic stroke.
“There was a blood clot about the size of a fist, and fortunately it was mainly in the intraventricular, so it does less damage to brain cells,” Chang Gung Memorial Hospital honorary superintendent Chen Chao-long (陳肇隆) said yesterday.
He said doctors detected a blood clot during an examination and suggested that immediate surgery be performed on Monday. After a three-hour surgery to remove the blood clot, Hsing Yun was moved into an intensive care unit for observation.
“We were able to remove his inserted tubes about 65 minutes after the surgery,” Chen said. “The whole surgery went very successfully.”
The hospital said that after Hsing Yun regained consciousness, he asked if he could return to Fo Guang Shan to preach, but his medical team said it was better for him to stay in the intensive care unit for further observation, adding that his condition yesterday was relatively stable.
Chen said people with the “three highs” should pay special attention to their daily diet, exercise regularly and get regular follow-up examinations at a hospital to control their medical conditions.
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