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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.
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