Kennedy Back Home After Grim Diagnosis

Mass. Senator Released From Hospital Day After Brain Cancer Detected

(CBS/AP)  Ted Kennedy walked out of Massachusetts General Hospital at 10 a.m. Wednesday. Wearing a patch on his head, where doctors took a biopsy of his tumor, and a smile on his face, he waved to the crowd, reports CBS News National Correspondent Jeff Glor.

First scheduled to be hospitalized through Thursday, Kennedy pushed to leave sooner, and got his wish. With his family, and his dogs, it was off to the Kennedy Compound on Cape Cod.

"I'm doing good! I'm doing just fine," Kennedy told the crowd that had gathered to wish him well.

The senior senator from Massachusetts was also with the dogs five days ago, when the seizures began, leading doctors to diagnose what's called a malignant glioma, a tumor that doctors say usually grows very quickly, and is almost always fatal within five years.

On the grounds of the compound, he walked arm in arm with his wife Vicki. And, he wasted little time getting in his boat, for a sailing trip this afternoon.

In good times and bad, this is where Kennedys retreat. JFK once said it's the only place he could truly be alone.

"The Cape is a very special place for Senator Kennedy and his family and they're drawn here just as his brother was so many years ago," Rebecca Pierce of the JFK Museum in nearby Hyannis told Glor.

Visitors stopped at the family museum to sign a book of well-wishes.

"I've watched these boys," said Renee Goodman, who was visiting from Maine. "I'm 62 years old. I went thru a presidency. And I watched one brother go. I watched another brother go. And I'm not ready to see him go."

The Kennedys say the current family patriarch is determined to fight, with no plans to retire.

For a family that's been through what seems like too many wrenching experiences to count, it's another fight they'll face with the world watching.

Doctors announced Kennedy "has recovered remarkably quickly" from the brain biopsy. They said he will recuperate at his home over the weekend while awaiting further test results that will help determine his treatment plan.

"He's feeling well and eager to get started," said Dr. Lee Schwamm, a top neurologist at Massachusetts General, and Dr. Larry Ronan, Kennedy's primary care physician.

CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Emily Senay explained on The Early Show that malignant gliomas are among the fastest growing types of cancer.

"There are cases where people have had MRIs for unrelated problems - totally clear. Just a few months later they reappear with some sort of neurological symptom and sure enough, a very large tumor is found," Senay said. That's how quickly they grow. They grow over weeks and months, not years, like we often think of most cancers."

Although the condition is serious, it's not necessarily a death sentence, according to two brain cancer survivors who appeared on The Early Show Wednesday.

"Don't write yourself off," said Dr. Bernadine Healy, an editor at US News & World Report and author of "Living Time: Faith and Facts to Transform Your Cancer Journey."

Healy told The Early Show: "I had surgery (when she was diagnosed 10 years ago), and then I also had chemotherapy, and at that time, chemotherapy was very unusual because the feeling was it never penetrated the brain. But one of the drugs I had was brand new at the time, and undoubtedly, it's one of the drugs that Sen. Kennedy will receive regardless of which type of glioma he has.

"The key thing is that we must realize that averages - what happens to one person doesn't dictate what happens to another, and let's be optimistic for the senator. I certainly am."

In an e-mail Tuesday, Vicki Kennedy told friends the grim diagnosis was "a real curveball" that left the family stunned even as Kennedy joked and laughed with them. She expressed pride in how her husband was handling the news.

"Teddy is leading us all, as usual, with his calm approach to getting the best information possible," she wrote in an e-mail Tuesday to friends.

"He's also making me crazy (and making me laugh) by pushing to race in the Figawi this weekend," she wrote, referring to the annual sailing race from Cape Cod to Nantucket.

The diagnosis cast a pall over Capitol Hill, where the Massachusetts Democrat has served since 1962.

Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd, the longest-serving member of the Senate, wept as he prayed for "my dear, dear friend, dear friend, Ted Kennedy" during a speech on the Senate floor.

"Keep Ted here for us and for America," said the 90-year-old Byrd, who is in a wheelchair. He added: "Ted, Ted, my dear friend, I love you and I miss you."

In a statement, President George W. Bush saluted Kennedy as "a man of tremendous courage, remarkable strength and powerful spirit." He added: "We join our fellow Americans in praying for his full recovery."

Kennedy has been active for his age, maintaining an aggressive schedule on Capitol Hill and across Massachusetts. He has made several campaign appearances for Sen. Barack Obama.

"He fights for what he thinks is right. And we want to make sure that he's fighting this illness," Obama said Tuesday. "And it's our job now to support him in the way that he has supported us for so many years."

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said: "Ted Kennedy's courage and resolve are unmatched, and they have made him one of the greatest legislators in Senate history. Our thoughts are with him and Vicki and we are praying for a quick and full recovery."

One of Kennedy's close friends and colleagues, Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., told The Early Show that Kennedy would fight back against his cancer.

"He is still very much with us here. This idea that we're sort of engaging in a funereal kind of process here is something he is finding somewhat amusing," Dodd said. "He knows what he is facing here. He has been through an awful lot over his life."

Kennedy has left his stamp on a raft of health care, pension and immigration legislation during four decades in the Senate. In 1980, Kennedy unsuccessfully challenged Jimmy Carter for the Democratic presidential nomination.

The Kennedy family has been struck by tragedy over and over. Kennedy's eldest brother, Joseph, died in a World War II plane crash; President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963; and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1968.

Ted Kennedy shocked the nation in 1969 when he drove his car off a bridge to Massachusetts' Chappaquiddick Island and a young female campaign worker drowned. Kennedy, who did not call authorities until the next day, pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and received a suspended two-month jail sentence.

Kennedy, the Senate's second-longest serving member, was re-elected in 2006 and is not up for election again until 2012. Were he to resign or die in office, state law requires a special election for the seat 145 to 160 days afterward.

[cpaide]

didn''t know teddy had another job besides the one in the senate. good for him!

http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/images/blpic-tedkennedyhooters.htm

not THAT deserves some respect!

[hunterdon6]

Ted Kennedy is a human being, the same as you and I. Even though he has taxed social security, gave lots of our tax payers money to people who don''t ever want to work for a living, who got their own riches through illegal activities, has allowed the drug companies to profit big time, who doesn''t think the common law abiding citizen should be able to defend themselves with a gun, while he has armed body guards, on and on and on. He is still a human like you and me and will meet his judgement day just like you and me.

[johnpatrick9]

President stupid has killed thousands in Iraq and the yoyos of the right dont see it..hopeless jerks. Look for the deep *** on your own shoes before you mouth off. You voted for a moron for president and that is something for the blood his fascists actions have shed is on your heads as well. To have supported bush and cheney is to have dipped your hands in blood. LIVE WITH THAT..CREEPS.

[brianbwb-2009]

Well, I guess "s-temper" cannot reply. Oh well, typical.

[libh8er]

Ted, after you go, can I have your liquor collection?

[amazedd]

I''m sorry it went down like this,
And someone had to lose,
It''s the nature of the business,
It''s the smuggler''s blues.

-Theo

[nishaboston]

excoachken I agree George Bush is a coward too. I am just talking about these people on here defending Ted Kennedy''s actions when they know *** well if that was your average Joe they would want that coward locked up. The fact that he did not call the police until the next day makes me sick to my stomach!!!! That is no diffrent then a cold blooded killer. I don''t see how he can even sleep at night.

[dukuss]

Teddy, Teddy, hurry up .........Mary Joeis waiting for you.

[excoachken]

nishaboston: On the subject of cowards, what do you think of a guy who got a DUI, hid out during the war in Vietnam, ignored clear warnings about the Twin Tower attack and lied our country into a war that has cost over 4000 American lives. On any objective scale of cowardice, Ted Kennedy hard makes a mark when compared to the Cowardly Cowboy Bush, who still can be called KING OF THE COWARDS!

[nishaboston]

Funny how some of you people are standing up for Ted Kennedy. Why should anyone give respect to a man that was a coward and left a woman in her car dying and did not call the police until the next day. You know if that was anyone else you would say the same thing. The man is a "coward".

[brianbwb-2009]

"If we want to stop crime, we must build more jails and imprison criminals," Posted by S_Temper

How yesterday''s failed notions of you. States have been spending your tax dollars on only two types of projects, building new jails and ballpark stadiums for the past twenty years, and haven''t even dented crime. If you want to solve crime, make it easier to make an honest living than a dishonest one, then people won''t be pushed into criminality, and also legalize, tax, and regulate activities that cannot be stopped anyway.

[brianbwb-2009]

Posted by S_Temper

Not to mention having killed more than 4,000 of your siblings, and probably half a million of another family''s children, for no other reason than their own personal profit (which they are not sharing with you), and promising to kill even more if you let them have four more years?

Seems your priorities are still as warped as ever.

[brianbwb-2009]

That "mommy and daddy from hell" is the government that you have been cheering and supporting these past 8 years, yet you complain about it in speculation that the party not of your choice might do the same...

Oh, and did I mention abrogating habeas corpus, which means your "mommy and daddy" can abuse you without proving that you have done anything to deserve such punishment, and without giving you the benefit of asking why?

[brianbwb-2009]

"I just hate politicians who want to "Mommy/Daddy" me and my family to death with new laws, new taxes, and new welfare programs every year." Posted by S_Temper

But is seems you love the ones who steal the taxes that you do pay, and give it as welfare to their already rich friends under cover of prosecuting an illegal war, (illegal because it was based on lies, btw) that tell you they have to eliminate your right to privacy to hunt down a fictitious "enemy" that they themselves created, who dictate what you can and cannot read, hear, download, watch, eat, smoke, who you can and cannot do business with, what religion you must follow, and who to hate on command.

That "mommy and daddy from hell" is the government that you have been cheering and supporting these past 8 years, yet you complain about it in speculation that the party not of your choice might do the same...

[tbweb]

What is really funny is I never anticipated a Kennedy on death''s door...

What I saw happening was the Chinese government taking care of their own...unlike ours during Katrina.

Funny, in a way...the Chinese don''t *** around, they just take care of their people...we, on the other hand, have to figure out who can buy who and...if we''''re lucky...kill a Kennedy for luck...

Posted by ibsteve2u at 12:21 AM : May 22, 2008,,,

The governments response to Hurricane Katrina crushed many Americans and even Sen. McCain openly admits the response was flawed and badly mishandled and blamed the Bush administration which was hard to do in an election season where Sen. McCain seeks Pres. Bush''s supporters. Sen. McCain really is a true American at his core and if given the opportunity to be President would be President for all Americans, its in his blood and a part of his spirit to be for all Americans despite the road he needs to travel to become President, I just sense that about him! When this administration called American Citizens "refugees" it suddenly dawned on many Americans what we were really dealing with!

[brianbwb-2009]

"I PROMISE THAT I WILL P*SS ON TED KENNEDY''''S GRAVE BEFORE I DIE!" Posted by S_Temper

And like most retards, you probably think that he will care one bit.

[brianbwb-2009]

"So will be get a deathbed confession on chapaquitic?"
Posted by payasyougo

Two points regatding this statement, one, we already know what happened, so a "deathbed confession" serves no purpose whatsoever, and two, if you were truly concerned about the life lost in the incident, instead of using it to vomit forth your hatred of the man, you would at least have learned how to spell "Chappaquiddick", or at least looked it up, to avoid looking like the English- challenged neocon-derthal that you appear to be.

[brianbwb-2009]

There is no other family that has had such a deep impact on America in the last century. It is a tribute to a man''''s effectiveness that those who are aligned with Mr. Kennedy''''s views consider him almost a saint, and those opposed consider him to be the left hand of Satan.

For the progressives, a great champion for the cause is now counting down his last time amongst us, let us rally around and honor his work, proudly wearing the label "Kennedy Liberal", and strive to be even more of a thorn in the side of the regressives.

For the regressives, your hatred and classless vitriol is the highest praise that any one could ask for, that he could so anger the forces of repression, racism, and religious intolerance, is a sure sign that his work is indeed for the good of humanity, precisely because you hate him so.

May we all strive to be as much trouble to the neocon-derthal regressives as Sen. Kennedy is.

[missingamerica]

What is really funny is I never anticipated a Kennedy on death''s door...

What I saw happening was the Chinese government taking care of their own...unlike ours during Katrina.

Funny, in a way...the Chinese don''t *** around, they just take care of their people...we, on the other hand, have to figure out who can buy who and...if we''re lucky...kill a Kennedy for luck...

[the74blaster]

The only good he has done is for you loons on the left who want to be everything to everybody. To feel good about yourselves, you''''d sell this country down the river.

Posted by Winstrv,

Really? Do you care to compare the amount of money Kennedy has borrowed for the U.S. with the amounts Bush has borrowed?