Kennedy awaiting test results at Boston hospital

[May 19, 2008]  BOSTON (AP) -- Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy remained in the hospital Sunday, awaiting test results that could explain why the 76-year-old Democrat suffered a seizure a day earlier.

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

Kennedy was resting, eating and watching the Boston Red Sox and Boston Celtics games on television Sunday 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 morning to Massachusetts General from the emergency room of Cape Cod Hospital, near his home in Hyannisport. 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."

In October, Kennedy had surgery to remove a blockage in his left carotid artery, which supplies blood to the face and brain. After the surgery, Kennedy resumed his busy schedule on Capitol Hill and across Massachusetts.

Kennedy is the second-longest serving member of the Senate and a dominant figure in national Democratic Party politics. He was elected in 1962, filling out the term won by his brother, John F. Kennedy, who was elected president in 1960.

His eldest brother, Joseph, was killed in a World War II airplane crash, while President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 and a third brother, Robert, was assassinated while campaigning for president in 1968.

[Associated Press; By MELISSA TRUJILLO]

Associated Press writer Glen Johnson contributed to this report.

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