Some troubling news out of Massachusetts:
U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy was rushed by ambulance to Cape Cod Hospital this morning after falling ill at the Kennedy compound in Hyannisport.
Hyannis fire responded to the compound after a call was made around 8:30 a.m. It’s unclear what Kennedy’s medical condition is, but after he spent almost two hours in the emergency room a decision was made to transfer him to Mass General Hospital in Boston.
Kennedy, 76, was placed on a stretcher and wheeled out to the MedFlight helicopter around 10:15 a.m. where it took off from Barnstable Municipal Airport.
I’m hearing that he had stroke-like symptoms. It’s not unusual for people to be airlifted from Cape Cod to Boston, as they have more complete medical facilities there. Send the Kennedys some positive thoughts.
The Boston Globe says he has had a stroke and that Kennedy family members have been summoned to the hospital.
Not good.
His Senate office just released a statement that says he felt ill and went to the hospital and that after consultations with his doctors he was transferred to Boston. But it says nothing about his condition.
It does sound like he’s been fully conscious, judging by the bits I’ve seen of the Senate office statement. So it does sound less bad than originally reported.
Good thoughts on their way!
Am hoping it was not a stroke, and am glad they got him to MassGen quickly–depending on what kind and how fast it’s treated, some strokes can be treated so much better than in the past…
I remember hearing a while back he’d had a procedure to clear some gunk out of an artery in his neck, I believe. It wouldn’t surprise me if that procedure loosened some plaque and a tiny little piece lodged in a vessel in the brain — which would be stroke. It wouldn’t be a hemorrhagic stroke though, which is the worst, most damaging kind you can have. It sounds more like an embolism which would be better news if a stroke is what he’s dealing with.
Apparently, he’s had a seizure, not a stroke, according to the NYT an hour ago.
I’m not a doctor, but I just visited a few sites for the laymen definition of the terms “seizure” and strokes.
This site from epilepsy.com describes what seizures are.
This site lists causes and symptoms among other things.
The American Stroke Association provides definition of a stroke.
My thoughts and prayers are with him, and with his family.
I was at the Nevada Dem State Convention (it’s lunch break now) and Harry Reid said he had just spoken with Ted Kennedy’s wife. She said that it was a stroke. Not life-threatening, but serious.
Correction: she thought it was a stroke. I’m not clear on what it actually was.