Quayle in ‘Good Spirits’ After Appendectomy
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INDIANAPOLIS — Former Vice President Dan Quayle had his appendix removed Wednesday and was “awake and in good spirits” after the surgery, his doctors said.
“We expect Mr. Quayle to be up to a normal, active schedule soon,” surgeon David Canal of Indiana University Hospital said.
The surgeon said that Quayle, 47, was joking shortly after the operation and expressed a wish for a bacon cheeseburger.
The appendix, a finger-shaped tube, has no known function.
Doctors discovered that Quayle’s appendix was swollen during a checkup and in regular tests after he was hospitalized a month ago for blood clots in his lungs.
Quayle had been taking blood thinners to prevent new clots while his body’s natural enzymes broke down the existing clots.
Such clots, called pulmonary embolisms, often strike people who are sedentary for long periods. Doctors believe that long plane rides probably contributed to Quayle’s problem.
The former vice president has said he will decide early this year whether he will seek the Republican Party’s 1996 presidential nomination.
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