Posted on 11/26/2008 8:31:31 AM PST by CedarDave
WASHINGTON — He doesn't claim to be cured, but Sen. Pete Domenici said Tuesday that a prominent doctor has raised doubts he suffers from the degenerative brain disease that prompted his decision to retire from the Senate after 36 years in office.
Cured or not, Domenici said he's feeling better than he has in months and is optimistic about his future based on recent medical diagnoses.
A devout Catholic, Domenici didn't discount the power of prayer in connection with his improved condition.
Domenici said he doesn't know why his condition hasn't worsened, but said he suspects God has played a role. Everywhere he goes people tell him they are praying for him. His sister is a nun, and she has also been appealing to God for help, he said.
The doctor who originally diagnosed him said she can't explain why the disease appears to be stalled. "But she mentioned that she wouldn't discount my faith," Domenici said. She said I was a very lucky man because the disease has not moved one bit, and that is exceptional — almost unexplainable," Domenici said.
A Republican who held the Senate seat in a Democrat-majority state for nearly four decades, Domenici cited the degenerative brain disease [frontotemporal lobar degeneration] when he announced his retirement last October.
The man tagged with the nickname "Saint Pete" for his ability to help the state, said the decision to retire has been difficult but he doesn't regret it because of other ailments that have left him in persistent pain.
And he was clearly pleased by better news on the medical front — that even if the disease is still there, it's at least stalled for now.
(Excerpt) Read more at abqjournal.com ...
A very good Man....prayers for his continued Health!
Gotta love Pete. He was a friend of my father’s, and he was a true representative of the interests of NM in general, not just to his party. He sure left some big shoes to fill.
NM list PING!!
NM Ping
God bless Pete!
Pete Domenici went back to his hometown school gym Thursday to make what was probably the hardest speech of his 41-year political career.Surrounded by nearly 50 relatives and staffers, many in tears, Domenici gamely described the incurable neurological disease that he has been suffering from for two years and announced it will end his Senate career.
With a big, blue "People for Pete" button on the lapel of his dark suit, he also vowed to complete his sixth term and listed some of his accomplishments in a Senate career that has lasted more than a generation.
~~snip~~
After standing for minutes of thundering applause in the gym at St. Mary's School in Downtown Albuquerque, where hundreds of business and political leaders and family friends had gathered, Domenici smiled and plunged into the grim task at hand.
"It's not a very pleasant job, but we'll get with it," he said. He went on to describe frontotemporal lobar degeneration, a brain disease that he said he has suffered from for two years, but that has progressed recently.
"For the last two years, I have felt very little impact from this disease," Domenici said, reading from note cards.
He saw his doctor, neurologist Argye Hillis at Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Baltimore, in April.
"At that time, the disease had not progressed... At another checkup in September, he said, there was evidence the disease had progressed.
He said he consulted with his wife and other doctors and decided he could not seek another term. He said some people urged him to run for a seventh term, win and then step down if his health deteriorated. "Some figured that was an OK approach," he said. "I didn't."
He said that the disease has been manageable but that he cannot predict its course.
'I've Done My Best' Domenici Discusses Disease, Vows to ... [serve] Through Rest of Term
His shoes will not be filled, especially by the tree-hugging, pandering Udall.
He was a good man; I had an issue with the Federal govenment several years ago- I was owed money but the contract for the work wasn’t done right in the beginning so it seemed no one could figure out how to pay me, so they didn’t. I contacted his office, talked to him- one of his “people” called me back to get all the info. and I got a check in the mail 3 days later after trying to collect for months.
I would hope that a merciful lord would look more favorably on the prayers of a devout faithful servant than the faux Catholics who desert their faith to serve the pro-abortion cause.
“A devout Catholic”.
I remember, as a kid, he came to San Jose Parish in Albq.,
there was a big croud around him after Mass.
We lost a good man, there in Washington.
Yeah, Ditto to just about everything above. I’ve known him since I was a youngster, he and my Dad were friends from the City Commission days.
While I got angry with some of the positions he has taken in the last few years, The State and the Nation are soon going to wish he he was still in the Senate.... especially considering who is taking over his seat.
Domenici endorsed RINO Heather Wilson in the repub primary against eventually winner and conservative Steve Pearce.
I thought everyone would be celebrating the departure of another RINO, especially after Pete campaigned for another RINO Heather Wilson to replace him vs. TRUE conservative Steve Pearce.
Yeah, IF Pearce had won, I wouldn’t mind seeing Pete retire. But he WAS a pretty strong conservative until the last couple of years. Considering that he is being replaced by a socialistic mediocrity, We’d miss him if he had always been a RINO.
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