Teddy Kennedy in Hospital with "Stroke Like" Symptoms

Likewise, I just noticed that there's a similar article in todays Online NY Times, but curiously not in the online version of Boston Globe, yet.

It's on the front page of Boston.com


Local news station (Channel 5 anyway) here is reporting that he had a near complete blockage in an artery in his neck and that he underwent surgery to clear it.

I might be blind but my online boston.com does NOT have anything on teddy. Might that be due to a Kennedy blocking software filter?


Also, help me clarify this, OK? The operation for blockage that was cleared...might that have been the carotid operation done in October? Or was there another operation just done?

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2008/05/ted_kennedy_sai.html


Several of the stories mention that he had surgery back in October. The local station just had a news blurb a few minutes ago and said that they did something to adjust (?) a stent in his neck when he got to Mass General Hosp. and that his condition right now is "resting comfortably".

Shit.

http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080517/NEWS/80517001

Having been just treated for a neck artery blockage doesn't bode well. Will be keeping a close eye on this.....

littlek- Round these parts, it is a relatively common operation. Most people do well afterwards. Problem is, if the person can't get their cholesterol under control, the plaque builds up, and the problem can happen again.

Thanks for that link and the info. Jeez, in retrospect, I hope that my comment about my computer might have a Kennedy software filter was not misconstrued. On the whole, I like the Kennedys and Teddy in particular - I just don't enjoy reading about scandals and tragic losses.

My thoughts and best wishes go out to his family for his quick recovery. His leadership and hard-fought efforts have greatly benefitted the Commonwealth of Mass. over the decades he's been in office.

If it's anything like stenting around the heart, there is a period of elevated risk for some time after the operation.

I hadn't heard that he was conscious. Not nearly as concerned now.

Listen up, all you guys and gals "of a certain age". Very often, these blockages are found when the docs are looking for something else.

Mr. P's cousin thought he was very healthy. His daughter is a doctor, and insisted that he get a checkup. They found an artery that was totally blocked, and some others that had different levels of blockage. The long and short of it was that he was one inch away from a massive coronary or stroke. He had a quadruple bypass, and now, years later, is fit as a fiddle.

One very good and easy test is a doppler ultrasound of the carotid artery. It is painless, and gives a lot of information about the state of one's arteries.

Tumor Found
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080520/ap_on_go_co/kennedy

"Sen. Edward Kennedy has malignant brain tumor "

"BOSTON - A cancerous brain tumor caused the seizure Sen. Edward M. Kennedy suffered over the weekend, doctors said Tuesday in a grim diagnosis for one of American politics' most enduring figures. "He remains in good spirits and full of energy," the doctors for the 76-year-old Massachusetts Democrat said in a statement. "

"They said tests conducted after the seizure showed a tumor in Kennedy's left parietal lobe. Preliminary results from a biopsy of the brain identified the cause of the seizure as a malignant glioma, they said."

. . .

"Malignant gliomas are a type of brain cancer diagnosed in about 9,000 Americans a year — and the most common type among adults. It's an initial diagnosis: How well patients fare depends on what specific tumor type is determined by further testing.

Average survival can range from less than a year for very advanced and aggressive types — such as glioblastomas — or to about five years for different types that are slower growing."


*********************

Boston Globe online link:

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2008/05/kennedy_has_mal.html

. . .

"One expert, Dr. Joseph Madsen, a neurosurgeon at Children's Hospital Boston, said the diagnosis was "very sad news."

“High-grade glio-malignancies” such as Sen. Kennedy has “are unfortunately the most common kind of brain tumor in this age group, and they have a poor prognosis for long-term survival,” he said.

They can also be very debilitating during treatment, Madsen said, and Kennedy’s tumor is in an area where it may well eventually affect his speech."