Dick Cheney Said Goodbye To Family Before Heart Surgery, New Book Reveals

The heart procedure former Vice President Dick Cheney underwent three years ago was so serious, he felt he "needed to say goodbye" to his family.

Cheney shares the new detail of his heart surgery in his new book, “Heart: An American Medical Odyssey," according to the New York Times. Cheney underwent the procedure in 2010.

“If this is dying, I remember thinking, it’s not all that bad,” Cheney writes in the book, according to the New York Times. “I believed I was approaching the end of my days, but that didn’t frighten me. I was pain free and at peace, and I had led a remarkable life.”

Cheney writes about making plans with his family in case of his death, telling his wife and daughters he wanted to be cremated and have his ashes flown to Wyoming, where he was raised. Cheney says his family members "weren't eager to discuss" plans in case of his death.

"For them, talking about it made an already difficult situation even worse," Cheney writes. "But I needed them to know. And I needed to say goodbye.”

Cheney will discuss the book in an interview on The Today Show Monday. Read more on Cheney's book at the New York Times.