Ronald Reagan: Anxiety over an Ailing President

Reagan's unexpected surgery

As the patient was coming out of sedation Friday afternoon, he got an unpleasant surprise. What had started out as routine minor surgery had turned into a serious problem. One small polyp had been removed from his colon, but in the process doctors discovered another, larger one. They knew that such growths very often become malignant. He would have to undergo major surgery: a three-hour operation, involving a deep abdominal incision, to be performed under general anesthesia, never a happy prospect for a 74-year-old man. The doctors offered him a choice: wait two or three weeks, or go ahead as quickly...

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