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Kennedy waits in hospital, but eating, watching TV

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

May 19, 2008

BOSTON - Sen. Edward Kennedy remained in the hospital yesterday, awaiting test results that could explain why he had a seizure a day earlier.

Doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital said it would be today at the earliest before the tests were complete, and the hospital and Kennedy's office released no new information about his condition yesterday.

The 76-year-old Massachusetts Democrat was resting, eating and watching the Boston Red Sox and Boston Celtics games on television yesterday afternoon, said a top aide who requested anonymity because the family had asked that details of the senator's hospital stay not be released.

Among his visitors were his wife, Vicki, sister Jean Kennedy Smith, stepchildren Caroline and Curran Raclin, daughter Kara Kennedy as well as nephew Joseph Kennedy and his wife.

Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama also called. "People are still concerned with figuring out exactly what happened. I'm just thrilled that he is back on the mend and I suspect will be on the floor of the Senate immediately," Obama told reporters outside a fast-food and ice cream place in Milwaukie, Ore. "There's not a better senator or better friend or better supporter than Ted Kennedy and I'm just relieved that he's feeling better."

Kennedy was flown Saturday to the hospital from the emergency room of Cape Cod Hospital, near his home in Hyannis Port. Doctors originally suspected he had suffered a stroke, but his physician, Dr. Larry Ronan, later said it had been a seizure and that the senator was "not in any immediate danger."