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May 21, 2008 8:43 am US/Pacific
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Kennedy Heads Home After Grim Diagnosis
BOSTON (CBS News) ―
Ted Kennedy walked out of Massachusetts General Hospital at 10 a.m. Wednesday. Wearing a patch on his head, where doctors took a biopsy of his tumor, and a smile on his face, he waved to the crowd, reports CBS News National Correspondent Jeff Glor.
First scheduled to be hospitalized through Thursday, Kennedy pushed to leave sooner, and got his wish. With his family, and his dogs, it was off to the Kennedy Compound on Cape Cod.
"I'm doing good! I'm doing just fine," Kennedy told the crowd that had gathered to wish him well.
The senior senator from Massachusetts was also with the dogs five days ago, when the seizures began, leading doctors to diagnose what's called a malignant glioma, a tumor that doctors say usually grows very quickly, and is almost always fatal within five years.
On the grounds of the compound, he walked arm in arm with his wife Vicki. And, he wasted little time getting in his boat, for a sailing trip this afternoon.
In good times and bad, this is where Kennedys retreat. JFK once said it's the only place he could truly be alone.
"The Cape is a very special place for Senator Kennedy and his family and they're drawn here just as his brother was so many years ago," Rebecca Pierce of the JFK Museum in nearby Hyannis told Glor.
Visitors stopped at the family museum to sign a book of well-wishes.
"I've watched these boys," said Renee Goodman, who was visiting from Maine. "I'm 62 years old. I went thru a presidency. And I watched one brother go. I watched another brother go. And I'm not ready to see him go."
The Kennedys say the current family patriarch is determined to fight, with no plans to retire.
For a family that's been through what seems like too many wrenching experiences to count, it's another fight they'll face with the world watching.
Doctors announced Kennedy "has recovered remarkably quickly" from the brain biopsy. They said he will recuperate at his home over the weekend while awaiting further test results that will help determine his treatment plan.
"He's feeling well and eager to get started," said Dr. Lee Schwamm, a top neurologist at Massachusetts General, and Dr. Larry Ronan, Kennedy's primary care physician.
CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Emily Senay explained on The Early Show that malignant gliomas are among the fastest growing types of cancer.
"There are cases where people have had MRIs for unrelated problems - totally clear. Just a few months later they reappear with some sort of neurological symptom and sure enough, a very large tumor is found," Senay said. That's how quickly they grow. They grow over weeks and months, not years, like we often think of most cancers."
Although the condition is serious, it's not necessarily a death sentence, according to two brain cancer survivors who appeared on The Early Show Wednesday.
"Don't write yourself off," said Dr. Bernadine Healy, an editor at US News & World Report and author of "Living Time: Faith and Facts to Transform Your Cancer Journey."
Healy told The Early Show: "I had surgery (when she was diagnosed 10 years ago), and then I also had chemotherapy, and at that time, chemotherapy was very unusual because the feeling was it never penetrated the brain. But one of the drugs I had was brand new at the time, and undoubtedly, it's one of the drugs that Sen. Kennedy will receive regardless of which type of glioma he has.
"The key thing is that we must realize that averages - what happens to one person doesn't dictate what happens to another, and let's be optimistic for the senator. I certainly am."
In an e-mail Tuesday, Vicki Kennedy told friends the grim diagnosis was "a real curveball" that left the family stunned even as Kennedy joked and laughed with them. She expressed pride in how her husband was handling the news.
"Teddy is leading us all, as usual, with his calm approach to getting the best information possible," she wrote in an e-mail Tuesday to friends.
"He's also making me crazy (and making me laugh) by pushing to race in the Figawi this weekend," she wrote, referring to the annual sailing race from Cape Cod to Nantucket.
The diagnosis cast a pall over Capitol Hill, where the Massachusetts Democrat has served since 1962.
Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd, the longest-serving member of the Senate, wept as he prayed for "my dear, dear friend, dear friend, Ted Kennedy" during a speech on the Senate floor.
"Keep Ted here for us and for America," said the 90-year-old Byrd, who is in a wheelchair. He added: "Ted, Ted, my dear friend, I love you and I miss you."
In a statement, President George W. Bush saluted Kennedy as "a man of tremendous courage, remarkable strength and powerful spirit." He added: "We join our fellow Americans in praying for his full recovery."
Kennedy has been active for his age, maintaining an aggressive schedule on Capitol Hill and across Massachusetts. He has made several campaign appearances for Sen. Barack Obama.
"He fights for what he thinks is right. And we want to make sure that he's fighting this illness," Obama said Tuesday. "And it's our job now to support him in the way that he has supported us for so many years."
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said: "Ted Kennedy's courage and resolve are unmatched, and they have made him one of the greatest legislators in Senate history. Our thoughts are with him and Vicki and we are praying for a quick and full recovery."
One of Kennedy's close friends and colleagues, Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., told The Early Show that Kennedy would fight back against his cancer.
"He is still very much with us here. This idea that we're sort of engaging in a funereal kind of process here is something he is finding somewhat amusing," Dodd said. "He knows what he is facing here. He has been through an awful lot over his life."
Kennedy has left his stamp on a raft of health care, pension and immigration legislation during four decades in the Senate. In 1980, Kennedy unsuccessfully challenged Jimmy Carter for the Democratic presidential nomination.
The Kennedy family has been struck by tragedy over and over. Kennedy's eldest brother, Joseph, died in a World War II plane crash; President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963; and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1968.
Ted Kennedy shocked the nation in 1969 when he drove his car off a bridge to Massachusetts' Chappaquiddick Island and a young female campaign worker drowned. Kennedy, who did not call authorities until the next day, pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and received a suspended two-month jail sentence.
Kennedy, the Senate's second-longest serving member, was re-elected in 2006 and is not up for election again until 2012. Were he to resign or die in office, state law requires a special election for the seat 145 to 160 days afterward.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)