PHILADELPHIA, Former U.S. president Gerald Ford, already hospitalized after suffering a minor stroke during the Republican National Convention, underwent surgery on Saturday to drain an abscess in his tongue caused by a rare bacterial infection, doctors said. "The president came through the operation and the anesthesia exceedingly well," Dr. Robert Schwartzman, head of the Neurology Department at Hahnemann University Hospital, told a news conference.
Ford, 87, will have to undergo weeks of outpatient antibiotic treatment to keep the infection from recurring, doctors said.
But they also said he had made a full neurological recovery from the stroke and could be ready to leave the hospital after a few more days of observation. Schwartzman said, "He is now, I think, probably completely recovered from his small stroke." The former president had been suffering from a painfully swollen tongue that caused him to slur his speech since last Sunday. The problem was causing Ford a great deal of pain and made it increasingly difficult for him to speak and swallow, doctors said.
Doctors initially suspected the problem was linked to the stroke until a medical test showed evidence of an abnormal growth, raising fears of cancer. Surgeons set out to perform a biopsy on Saturday morning but found the abscess during an hour-long operation and drained the swelling by cutting an incision four-tenths of an inch (1 cm) in length. They also took tissue samples that were found to be free of cancer, doctors said. The abscess was caused by a common oral bacillus known as actinomycosis, which has been known to cause infections in only a handful of cases, doctors said.
"It's so rare, we're calling it the president's syndrome," quipped a relieved Ford family spokesman Calvin McDowell. Dr. Richard Hayden, chief of head and neck surgery at Hahnemann, said Ford began to show improvement soon after the operation. "His comfort level is markedly improved and he's able to swallow without difficulty.
His speech has come back and, of course, he and the family are much happier with the way his tongue is feeling at this time," he said. Doctors on Wednesday said that Ford had suffered the stroke while waiting to be honored at the Republican Convention in Philadelphia. Ford served as president from 1974 to 1977, taking over when president Richard Nixon left office in disgrace over the Watergate scandal.
His wife, Betty, and their four children all were at the hospital when Hayden informed them that surgery would be necessary. The outcome of Saturday's surgery came as sheer relief to the family, according to McDowell. "Mrs. Ford called it a beautiful day and beautiful news," McDowell said.
(Reuter)