Laura Bush: I Never Felt Bad
First lady Laura Bush suffered no ill effects from the cancerous growth on her leg and that is why it was never revealed to the public, she told CBS News chief Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer in an exclusive interview.
"I never felt badly," Mrs. Bush said in an
Mrs. Bush had a squamous cell carcinoma removed from her right shin in early November, the White House acknowledged Monday night after a bandage on Mrs. Bush's shin was spotted by a reporter attending the White House Hanukkah party. Squamous cell carcinoma is the second most common form of skin cancer.
On Tuesday, reporters hammered White House press secretary Tony Snow with questions on why Mrs. Bush and the White House did not disclose the details of the procedure when it occurred.
"I don't know. She didn't feel obliged and she believes that she has the same medical privacy rights that you and I have," Snow told the reporters. As the questions continued, Snow grew exasperated and told reporters, "She said, 'It's no big deal, we knew it wasn't a big deal at the time.' Apparently, she's wrong about this."
Mrs. Bush told Schieffer that it did not occur to her that she should go public with the ailment.
"I thought it was an insect bite, actually when I first got it, and then it just didn't get well so we had it biopsied before the election and found out it was squamous cell carcinoma, which is not a very serious skin cancer," the first lady said. "Right after the election, I had it removed."
The American Cancer Society estimates that basal and squamous cell carcinoma are responsible for less than 0.1 percent of cancer deaths. Conversely, almost 8,000 Americans will die from melanoma this year.
Four days after the growth was removed, Mrs. Bush accompanied the president on his tour of Asia, including stops in Vietnam, Singapore and Indonesia. After the trip, Mrs. Bush came home and "stood for 24 receiving lines at all those parties. I was never sick. I never felt badly. So, it just didn't occur to me."
Another reason Mrs. Bush was not forthcoming about the squamous cell carcinoma was that, unlike the president, she considers herself a private citizen.
"I don't release the results of my regular physicals, like the president does," Mrs. Bush said.
Despite her attempts at secrecy, Mrs. Bush said she is not upset that the minor surgery was made public.
"I'm glad it's out, because I'm glad people will pay attention if they have spots and they don't know what they are," Mrs. Bush said.
The first lady noted her fair complexion and her childhood growing up in West Texas. "I have never really did a lot of sun bathing like some of my friends did because I didn't tan, but, of course, I played outside for my whole childhood and spent the afternoons at the swimming pool and did all those things we all did growing up in Texas, so I was out in the sun a lot," she said.
The American Cancer Society reports that more than 1 million cases of basal and squamous cell skin cancers are diagnosed each year in the United States and says that most, but not all, of these types of skin cancer are highly curable.
Mrs. Bush also spoke to Schieffer about the president's handling of the war in Iraq. In an excerpt shown on Wednesday night's CBS Evening News with Katie Couric, she said President Bush has had a
Read the transcript (in PDF format).