Former Bengals coach Sam Wyche has a heart condition, but he hasn't lost his sense of humor.

        So, while he was in the radio studio Thursday at WLW-AM (700) talking about his cardiomyopathy with Bob Trumpy, and Trumpy asked what happens if the condition worsens, Wyche said: “You get a heart transplant or you croak.”

        “That kind of got blown out of proportion,” Wyche said Thursday night.

        He said his cardiomyopathy is under control with medication. He feels fine. He's on no list for a transplant.

        “I feel good,” he said. “Right now I'm playing with the grandkids.”

        Wyche, 56, has had health problems for nearly a year, but it wasn't until Thursday that he revealed the heart condition. He was in the WLW studio Thursday talking about it with Trumpy, his former Bengals teammate. Trumpy was filling in for WLW afternoon host Bill Cunningham.

        “I've been well aware of his medical situation for months and months,” Trumpy said. “Sam makes light of it, but it's very serious.”

        Wyche was in Cincinnati to see Dr. Dean Kereiakes, a cardiologist with the Ohio Heart Health Center.

        “He's done a great job,” Wyche said. “He has me on the right combination of medication. He adjusted it again today. Everything is very positive.”

        Wyche first noticed health problems about a year ago. He was lifting boxes in his South Carolina home when he became short of breath.

        A CT scan revealed blood clots in his lungs and enlarged lymph nodes. Wyche had surgery in March to determine if the lymph nodes were cancerous. It turned out they weren't, but during the operation, the nerves to his left vocal cord were severed.

        With the vocal cord paralyzed, Wyche's voice was reduced to a near whisper. He was forced to give up his job as an NFL analyst on CBS television.

        He did appear on CBS' pregame show for the Super Bowl in a studio segment.

        Former Bengal Cris Collinsworth was the one who steered Wyche to Kereiakes. Collinsworth knew Kereiakes through Collinsworth's association with ProScan Imaging.

        “I called him on something totally unrelated,” Collinsworth said. “We started to talking about it. I said, "Sam you need to quit fooling around and come here and see the best.'”

        “I owe a lot to Cris for helping,” Wyche said.

        Wyche said there are no plans for surgery at this time. He hasn't had any shortness of breath recently. The cardiomyopathy has reduced the ejection fraction of his heart. Normally the heart ejects 50 to 60 percent of the blood in the heart chamber on each beat. Wyche's ejection frac tion was well below that.

        “The bad thing is it's not recoverable,” he said. “I'll never get back to 50, 60 percent.”

        So somewhere down the line, other measures might have to be taken. But right now, Wyche said things are under control. He's seeing Kereiakes again in three or four months.

        “It's like if you have a sinus condition, you take a pill,” Wyche said. “I have a heart condition that I take a pill for.”

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