NATION : First Lady Gets Thyroid Remedy
Barbara Bush underwent radioactive treatment today to destroy her thyroid gland because it is producing excess levels of hormones, a condition that has irritated her eyes and caused her to lose 18 pounds in recent months.
“She’s just fine, piece of cake, never broke her stride,” her press secretary, Anna Perez, said after the President’s wife returned to the White House after a two-hour stay at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
The radiation was administered in an iodine solution sipped through a straw. Mrs. Bush said it was a colorless liquid that tasted like water, Perez reported.
Doctors told Mrs. Bush, 63, that the only side effect she may suffer is a slight pain in the neck for several days. “She cracked jokes about that all day,” Perez said.
A White House statement said the procedure “has no significant side effects” and has been a standard treatment for 40 years for people suffering with Mrs. Bush’s condition, known as Graves disease.
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