Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 20, 1994 TAG: 9404200049
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
Nixon was suffering from swelling of the brain as a result of the stroke, said Dr. Fred Plum, chief of neurology at New York Hospital.
For the first time since the former president was stricken Monday night, his attack was described as a "major" stroke.
"The next one to three days is a critical period. . . . One has to say his prognosis is guarded," Plum said.
His internist, Dr. Michael Giordano, had said that Nixon, 81, was out of grave danger and described him as "awake, alert, in good spirits and able to understand."
"We thought Mr. Nixon was doing quite well," Plum said. But about two hours after he was moved to a private room, "it was apparent he'd taken a turn for the worse."
Plum said Tuesday night that Nixon was "drowsily arousable."
He also said that Nixon had been undergoing treatment for an irregular heartbeat.
Doctors said earlier in the day that Nixon was paralyzed on the right side except for his right foot.
Strokes - damage to part of the brain caused by insufficient blood supply - are the nation's third-leading cause of death. They strike about 500,000 people a year, killing one-third.
Plum said Nixon's doctors had been treating him for several years for an irregular heartbeat, "which tends to predispose to the formation of clots in the heart," believed to be the cause of the stroke.
Plum said anti-coagulant drugs with which Nixon was being treated apparently weren't sufficient to prevent the stroke.
Nixon's daughters, Tricia Cox and Julie Eisenhower, went to his bedside Monday night and Tuesday.
evangelist Billy Graham - who preached last year at the funeral of Nixon's wife, Pat - and New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani were among the first to pay respects at the hospital. Henry Kissinger, Nixon's secretary of state, called from California.
"There were hundreds of messages all night long; I've lost count," said Nixon aide Kim Taylor.
Dozens of calls of concern poured in from political figures, longtime friends and ordinary people, some of whom had survived strokes and wanted to pass along encouragement, said another aide, Elizabeth Johnston.
Nixon had the stroke at his Park Ridge, N.J., home around dinner time Monday, Johnston said.
He did not collapse, but communicated that he was in distress to his housekeeper, Heidi Retter. She helped him to sit and then summoned help, Johnston said.
Nixon, the nation's 37th president, served from Jan. 20, 1969, to Aug. 9, 1974, when he resigned during the Watergate scandal.
by CNB