One day after undergoing brain surgery at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., Senator Edward M. Kennedy, 76, appeared active walking the hospital’s hallways, spending time with his family and catching up on daily news, according to a statement issued by his office.

On Monday, Kennedy underwent a risky brain surgery in order to reduce the brain tumor’s size so he could start chemotherapy and radiation treatment. In May, the senator was diagnosed with malignant glioma after running several tests at the Massachusetts General Hospital.

Just hours after the three-hour surgery that was “successful and accomplished” the surgeons’ goals, Kennedy was feeling “like a million buck,” as he told his wife Vicky. A day after the surgery, he is even better, walking on the hospital’s hallways, “spending time with family and actively keeping up with the news of the day. He looks forward to returning home to Cape Cod soon, and is thankful for all the prayers and well wishes,” Kennedy’s office wrote in a statement, according to the Associated Press.

Dr. John Sampson, the associate deputy of the brain tumor center at Duke University Medical Center who was not involved in Kennedy’s surgery or care, said patients who have no complication on the first day after the surgery have the strongest prospects for recovery. He also added that the “disastrous complications” usually happen within the first six hours or at least the first 24 hours after surgery. Complications could appear in the coming days as well but they are expected to be less serious.

Kennedy is expected to spend one more week at Duke University Medical Center before returning to Massachusetts and begin radiation treatment and chemotherapy treatments.

Patients with the worst form of malignant glioma usually survive about 12 to 15 months, experts say, but every patient is different and there’s “a bunch of new treatments that are looking pretty good,” said Matthew Ewend, chief of neurosurgery at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, referring to Kennedy’s chances of surviving.