Bredesen still unseen, hopes to return to work this week
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Bredesen expects to return to work this week after being treated for a flu-like illness for which doctors have not yet been able to pinpoint a cause, his spokeswoman said Friday.
His staff has insisted throughout the illness that Bredesen has been in phone contact with his office and family, that he has been able to walk to medical appointments and that he is generally recovering from his illness.
So why hasn?t he spoken to reporters or let photos be taken of him to let Tennesseans know he is OK?
?The bottom line is he?s just not up to it,? spokeswoman Lydia Lenker said. ?He?s been wholly focused on finding out what’s wrong with him and with getting better.?
Lenker said Bredesen plans to return to work next week, but she did not specify an exact date. She said he will hold a news conference along with his wife and doctor.
The 62-year-old Bredesen hasn?t been heard from since he went to the emergency room at Centennial Medical Center in Nashville on Aug. 14 with symptoms that included fever, headache and nausea.
He spent four nights in the Nashville hospital and then took a two-day trip to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.
The outpatient Mayo Clinic tests were conducted to try to find the cause of the governor?s illness. Doctors originally suspected a tick bite and have not yet ruled that out.
Other governors have been quicker to speak with reporters after spending time in the hospital:
? New York Gov. George Pataki, paraphrasing Mark Twain, told reporters, “Rumors of my demise are greatly exaggerated” nearly two weeks after suffering a burst appendix in February.
? Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher made a surprise appearance at a hospital news conference a week after having his gallbladder removed in February.
? Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, then 48, in 2001 suffered compression fractures to two vertebra roughly between his shoulder blades when he fell on some ice while running. Though he appeared to be in pain, Johnson was back in the state Capitol and meeting with reporters a week later.
? Former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, then 54, spoke with reporters as he was released from spending two nights in the hospital being treated for an inflammation of the pancreas.
? Former Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles was hospitalized in 1995 with a temporary decrease of blood flow to part of his brain. Chiles, then 65, met briefly with reporters in the neuro intensive care unit a day after being admitted.