BOSTON, May 18, 2008
Ted Kennedy Recovering After Seizure
Doctors Work To Determine Cause Of Illness That Hospitalized Mass. Senator
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Play CBS Video Video Ted Kennedy, 76, Hospitalized Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., is being hospitalized in Boston after having a seizure at the age of 76. Jeff Glor reports.
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Video Kennedy's Health Analyzed Sen. Ted Kennedy is reportedly awake and alert but, as Dr. Emily Senay reports, he is not out of the woods yet. Senay explains how seizures differ from strokes.
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Senator Edward Kennedy fell ill Saturday morning and was flown to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. (Getty Images/Patrick Chatelain)
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Interactive Kennedy Dynasty Learn more about the powerful family's political successes and personal misfortunes.
The 76-year-old Massachusetts Democrat spent a peaceful night at Massachusetts General Hospital, a top aide said, and few details of his condition were expected before a battery of tests was completed by Monday at the earliest.
"Sen. Kennedy had a good night's sleep and we expect today to be a very quiet day," said the aide, who requested anonymity because of hospital practices concerning the privacy of patient information.
The lone surviving son in a famed political family was flown Saturday morning to Massachusetts General after becoming ill and being treated at the emergency room of Cape Cod Hospital.
His physician said he did not suffer a stroke, as was first suspected, and he recovered enough by Saturday afternoon to watch a Boston Red Sox game on television and eat takeout food from the city's famed Legal Sea Foods. His wife, Vicki, his five children and stepchildren and his niece, Caroline Kennedy, were among those to visit him.
"Over the next couple of days, Senator Kennedy will undergo further evaluation to determine the cause of the seizure, and a course of treatment will be determined at that time," said Dr. Larry Ronan, who added Kennedy was "not in any immediate danger."
In October, Kennedy had surgery to remove a blockage in his left carotid artery - a main supplier of blood to the face and brain. This type of operation is performed on more than 180,000 people a year to prevent a stroke. The blockage was discovered during a routine exam.
The doctor who operated on Kennedy said at the time that surgery is reserved for those with more than 70 percent blockage, and Kennedy had "a very high-grade blockage."
Distinguishing between a seizure and a transient ischemic attack, TIA, often called a mini-stroke, can sometimes be difficult.
Seizures are little electrical storms in the brain. They tend to be brief; an occasional one can happen to anyone even without a prior history of seizures, especially if there has been some prior brain trauma.
A stroke is either ischemic - a clog in a blood vessel - or hemorrhagic, bleeding in the brain. Kennedy had the carotid artery surgery to try to prevent the ischemic type.
A stroke kills brain tissue; how much depends on how big it is and how long it lasts.
"Sen. Kennedy was at high risk because he had surgery for an artery in his neck," said Dr. Wendy Wright, an assistant professor at The Emory Clinic, Departments of Neurology and Neurosurgery.
But she said there are a lot of things that can cause seizures, such as an infection or medication.
"Certain medications are known to cause seizures. A stroke can cause a seizure, a brain tumor or a head injury, or something in the brain itself," Wright said. "Common symptoms that we know about are falling on the ground, shaking and having confusion."
Kennedy, the second-longest serving member of the Senate and a dominant figure in national Democratic Party politics, was elected in 1962, filling out the term won by his brother, John F. Kennedy, who was elected president in 1960.
His eldest brother, Joseph, was killed in a World War II airplane crash, while President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. A third brother, Robert, was assassinated amid a presidential campaign in 1968.
Kennedy is active for his age, maintaining an aggressive schedule on Capitol Hill and across Massachusetts.
He has been vocal in both his opposition to the Iraq war and support for Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama, who is trying to become the first senator elected to the White House since John F. Kennedy.
Kennedy made several campaign appearances for the Illinois senator in February, and most recently another in April.
Last week, he and Caroline Kennedy awarded the annual "Profiles in Courage" award commemorating President Kennedy. And Friday, he attended a ribbon cutting at the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park.
He was preparing to host the annual Best Buddies Challenge event on Saturday afternoon, a fundraiser for the Best Buddies organization founded by Anthony Kennedy Shriver that helps people with intellectual disabilities.
The event attracted celebrities, including New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and Olympian Carl Lewis.
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See all 139 CommentsPerhaps it is a result of an old head injury from an car accident....
I would have loved to but you cant understand a word he says. uuuurrrr rum errrrrr rum..my daddy made all
his money bootlegging errrr rum errr rum.
Posted by guad07rg at 01:12 PM : May 19, 2008
That fat bassturd needs to drop already so a new slimeball lib can take his place there in Mass.
I would have loved to but you cant understand a word he says. uuuurrrr rum errrrrr rum..my daddy made all
his money bootlegging errrr rum errr rum.
Posted by fain6 at 12:34 PM : May 19, 2008
Yes, I understand he wants to introduce a bill that would fund teaching all young women how to swim!
Kennedy has a sincere passion for helping Americans. If you watched his plea to the Senate to raise the Minimun Wage...you''d know the man is dedicated to our country and it''s people. You, who have never made a mistake are so adept at casting stones.. it seems that''s all you can do.Even that you don''t dowell.....simpletons.
Posted by briannorwood at 07:50 AM : May 19, 2008
Yes there are still plenty of waitresses who need groping, Illegal Aliens who need to be let in, US servicemen and women who need betraying, More taxes to
be raisining, more Teachers unions to be protecting,
and the big one that caused the siezure, more booze to be drinking
Posted by ubrew12
ya, but i don''t get why it wasn''t teddy who died. and why he didn''t even try to get help. maybe he thought he was one of the immortals and just knew she was dead so why bother. that explains a lot. thank you for that dumb-@$$ explanation. teddy thanks you and says that immortals do NOT have strokes and that the stories of his drinking are greatly underestimated. he will be returning shortly for more of the same, thank you.
Hmmmmm.....I believe you are onto something there, Lib8.
They overturned their car into 4 ft of freezing water at midnight off a country bridge in the middle of nowhere. Water entered instantly through the shattered windows, which buckled under the pressure. I give someone 30 seconds, TOPS, to extricate themselves from such a situation (step one: unbuckle seat-belt while freezing water enters your unside-down nose), and they were probably both plastered.
I''m sure, in such a situation, you would have used your teeth as the ''jaws of life'', to pry the bottom of the car away from your passenger. But us mortals have an easier time understanding why, in a situation like that, one or both of them would die.
Posted by mudrose at 09:55 AM : May 19, 2008
I concur
A symptom of too much tequila! Hey Ted, cinco de mayo is over buddy......you don''''t need to pander to the illegal aliens anymore. Save it for next year!
Posted by LibH8er
It''s time the fates intervene. No next year!
A symptom of too much tequila! Hey Ted, cinco de mayo is over buddy......you don''t need to pander to the illegal aliens anymore. Save it for next year!
The coverup following the Chappaquiddick incident was one of the best in our history
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And it was capped off by WATERGATE, which was designed to make the Republicans look as bad as the Democrats did after Chappaquiddick.
Why do you think Teddy was DIRECTLY INVOLVED in the "investigation???"
well another missed opportunity for a New Federal Holiday in may from the Socialist Liberal Black Caccus.
all our hopes for a New Holiday were dashed when O.J. Simpson didn`t get shot in that Las Vegas robbery.
yes Ted your still alive, and maybe just as well,
now you will not be able to slip away into oblivion without seeing all the missery you and your brothers Bobby, and Jack caused for hundreds of Millions of Americans.
yes Ted it is better for you to go down to your grave knowing you carry the legacy of single handedly destroying the United States of America with your Black Caccus.
sincerely wishing you better luck next Time
Fuzzy Bear
Posted by mudrose at 08:52 AM : May 19, 2008
Well, considering of whom we speak, "living" is a relative term. :)
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