Schillo Says Heart Surgery Won’t Temper His Fire

Like many people who have had heart surgery, county Supervisor Frank Schillo has made several lifestyle changes since undergoing a triple bypass last month.

He walks more than a mile every day and has lost 15 pounds. He avoids fatty foods. He takes occasional naps. But he’s hardly a model patient.

Ignoring his doctor’s advice to stay clear of stress, he phones staff members in his Thousand Oaks office several times a day, reads the transcript of Board of Supervisors sessions he has missed and already is filling his day-planner with upcoming meetings.

The 67-year-old supervisor returned to his office for the first time Thursday and plans to join his colleagues on the five-member board for the April 24 meeting--six weeks after experiencing the pains that sent him to the hospital for surgery.

“It’s kind of like a little contest between the doctors and me,” Schillo said. “They are concerned about me going back too soon. But if I’m feeling good, what am I doing just sitting around?”

After feeling chest pains March 7, Schillo went to see his family doctor in Thousand Oaks. At the doctor’s urging, he was taken by ambulance to St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard. Doctors there ordered the bypass procedure after finding three arteries with significant blockage.

The operation entailed attaching blood vessels from his leg to arteries near the heart to bypass the blocked arteries. Doctors told him he did not suffer a heart attack but might if he didn’t have the surgery.

After the successful procedure, Schillo was sent home for a little rest and relaxation. He is off painkillers but is taking aspirin and blood-pressure medication to protect against additional problems. Doctors have given him high marks during his checkup appointments, he said.

But the hard-charging politician, known for wielding a sharply critical tongue, says the recent health scare will not cause him to tone down his passionate opinions.

“I’m still me,” he said, adding that the recent surgery “doesn’t mean that I’ll be any less vociferous, or mean and nasty in some cases.”

Schillo said he just has to work on controlling the stress and strain by spending fewer hours in the office and making every one of those hours productive.

All the detail work he used to handle, from filling out forms to attending unnecessary meetings, he will leave to his staff. And he plans to spend more time relaxing with friends and family.

But senior aide Julian Macdonald said he’s not confident Schillo will stick to his resolutions.

“The man is such a workaholic,” he said. “He’s kind of like a tenacious bulldog pulling on a leash all the time. So, trying to keep him down is like trying to sit on him--you just can’t.”

When he does return to work, Schillo has a list of 27 goals. His top priorities include opening a proposed service center for the mentally ill on Lewis Road near Camarillo and funneling money from a state tobacco tax into family resource hubs in eastern Ventura County.

Schillo said he was not pleased to see that his colleagues voted 3 to 1 to cap public safety funding while he was recovering. Although his no vote would not have changed the outcome, Schillo said he would have liked to voice his strong opposition to any changes.

“You’d like to think you are indispensable, but the reality is that I’m not,” he said.

The supervisor said he doesn’t plan to let his recent health problems prevent him from running for reelection to a third term next year. In fact, he said, campaigning and walking precincts can only help improve his health.