Kennedy Going Home Tomorrow

Senator's seizure probably caused by fatigue, doctor says
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 20, 2009 7:42 PM CST
Kennedy Going Home Tomorrow
Medical personnel wheel Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., into an awaiting ambulance outside of the East Front of the U.S. Capitol after the inauguration. Sen. Chris Dodd is at right.    (AP Photo/ John Moore)

Ted Kennedy continues to do well after today's seizure and will be released from the hospital tomorrow morning after a night of observation, the Boston Globe reports. His collapse was probably caused by “simple fatigue,” a doctor said. He is surrounded by family at a Washington hospital after being carted off in an ambulance during an inaugural lunch, at which he’d been “in a happy mood, regaling us with a few jokes,” said a table-mate.

“All of a sudden, he slumped his head like he was going into a seizure,” said Hawaii Sen. Daniel Inouye. Such seizures aren’t unusual in brain cancer patients, says one expert, because of abnormal brain tissue. And “stress—even happy stress, excitement,” can make seizures more likely, says another. Still, as he headed to the ambulance, he was bellowing against any help. “When he bellows," said Sen. Chris Dodd, "he's usually in pretty good shape.”
(More Ted Kennedy stories.)

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