Posted on 02/02/2022 12:28:59 AM PST by 11th_VA
SANTA FE, N.M. — U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján is currently being hospitalized after experiencing a stroke last Thursday morning.
According to his chief of staff, Carlos Sanchez, Luján was experiencing dizziness and fatigue and checked himself into Christus St. Vincent Regional Hospital in Santa Fe. He was later transferred to UNM Hospital in Albuquerque.
“Sen. Luján was found to have suffered a stroke in the cerebellum, affecting his balance. As part of his treatment plan, he subsequently underwent decompressive surgery to ease swelling," Sanchez said.
We talked to KOAT health expert Dr. Barry Ramo to better understand precisely what that means.
We talked to KOAT health expert Dr. Barry Ramo to better understand precisely what that means.
"In the spectrum of strokes, this is an unusual type of stroke. The cerebellum is a fundamental structure in the brain. It has to do with coordination has to do with vision, has to do with speech has to do with movement," said Dr. Ramo.
The senator underwent decompressive surgery to reduce the swelling in his brain and is now resting at UNM hospital, but what does recovery look like after something like this?
"The recovery time depends on how much damage has occurred as a consequence of the stroke," said Dr. Ramo.
Dr. Ramo believes his young age will play a critical role in the road to recovery.
"There are many things in Senator Luján's favor. One is his youth, and he's otherwise been healthy. The fact that they did the surgery, and the surgeon feels that he's going to have full recovery is excellent news," said Dr. Ramo…
(Excerpt) Read more at koat.com ...
More from The Hill on the 50-50 Senate:
Luján’s unexpected medical condition comes at a moment when Senate Democrats simply don’t have any votes to spare to pass party priorities, including reviving their social spending bill and now confirming a Supreme Court justice. The latest news could leave Democrats reliant on Republican votes to move forward on nominees and other priorities.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), himself a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, has insisted on parity between defense and nondefense programs.
It was one of "two simple things" he said would be critical to get the appropriations process back on track.
"Number one, Democrats will need to honor the long-standing bipartisan truce that provides parity for defense and nondefense spending grow spending growth," he said. "Number two, we must have agreement that we're going to keep long-standing policy riders in and new poison pill riders out."
”I think wrestling with this 'What is the top line for nondefense discretionary [spending]?' is a core issue," he said. "There's lingering fear on the side of Republicans that Democrats are going to take a chunk of this Build Back Better bill and move it through the system somehow, and I think that spooks them a little bit."
Murphy said failure to pass a new package of spending bills would cause big problems for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which he oversees as a subcommittee chairman.
"The Department of Homeland Security budget that I chair, that's a train wreck because we have such an imbalance of accounts at DHS right now. We have very little money coming in because of no travel, and we have huge obligations because of the increased number of people at the border," he said.
DHS revenues have dropped because of a falloff in fees associated with the pandemic-related decline in international travel and the increase in costs caused by the backlog of migrants at the southwestern border.
Scott Lilly, a former Democratic staff director on the House Appropriations Committee, said having to fall back on a yearlong continuing resolution would be "disastrous."
"It's disastrous for everybody to fail to pass [an omnibus appropriations package]," he said. "That's the most fundamental responsibility of the Congress.
"Specifically, there's a huge amount of money in that package for the military and for the Congress to fail, the military would lose something like $27 billion," he added. "To take that money away in the middle of this Ukraine crisis is to shoot American foreign policy in the foot."
BTTT
"The cerebellum (Latin for "little brain") is a major feature of the hindbrain of all vertebrates. Although usually smaller than the cerebrum, in some animals such as the mormyrid fishes it may be as large as or even larger.[1] In humans, the cerebellum plays an important role in motor control. It may also be involved in some cognitive functions such as attention and language as well as emotional control such as regulating fear and pleasure responses,[2][3] but its movement-related functions are the most solidly established."
This whole Rat budget proposal could fall. Trump budget for 2022. Rats get NOTHING with their majorities!
He was vaxed.
They will keep the body warm and roll it in to the senate when needed, or sacrifice some young child for body parts!
Heck no - they will pressure him to resign. Just like they did with SCJ Breyer. NM Governor would then appoint new Senator.
The governor of South Dakota at the time was Republican Mike Rounds (now in the Senate). If Johnson had resigned due to his health, the Senate would have been tied with Dick Cheney holding the tie-breaking vote, causing the Senate to switch to Republican rule.
In this case, Democrats will probably force Luján to resign so that the New Mexico governor can appoint a replacement who can vote.
-PJ
The percentage of younger people having strokes has gone WAY up since the vaccine started, but is being ignored.
Thank goodness Mitch is there to save the DNC agenda.
To collect their full pensions, congressmen must either be at least 62, be at least 50 with 20 years of service or have 25 years of service at any age.
I don’t think he meets any of that criteria ; and he was just elected to the Senate last year
No Schadenfreude.
Sounds like they trephined his skull to keep swelling from damaging his brain. Fear of subdural swelling.
CC
Given your knowledge in this area, what would be (on average) his recovery time ?
Two words: Republican Defectors. Expect the Mittens Caucus to vote with the Dems in the name of ‘bipartisanism’ or ‘collegiality’ or some other nonsense.
If he does then he can then be replaced by the governor. It is better he remains a veg.
So they took out part of his skull - that will require months for that to heal - JMHO
I am not a specialist. But I did stay at a Holiday in last night!
Seriously, though I know a little about a lot of different surgical procedures due to many years of “sitting in” on surgeries of prisoners as a corrections officer. You’d be better off consulting a neurosurgeon. I just watched a craniotomy once.
CC
I read yesterday that he had all his shots and boosters
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