[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 14923-14924]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         EXPLANATION OF ABSENCE

  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I have advised the Senate leadership that 
I will be necessarily absent from the Senate for the balance of this 
week. This evening, were I able to be present for the vote on the 
President's veto of the Medicare bill, I would have voted to override.
  Following consultation and discussion with my physicians, including 
the Capitol Physician's Office, I made the decision earlier this summer 
to treat my atrial fibrillation with a pacemaker, and made arrangement 
for scheduled admission to Inova Fairfax Hospital. Colleagues will 
recall that last fall I was treated for this common condition.
  This past Saturday doctors implanted a pacemaker, and consistent

[[Page 14924]]

with the success of the routine procedure, I was released the following 
day.
  This morning I came to the Capitol, handled planned morning 
appointments, and voted on the floor of the Senate. During a follow-up 
visit this afternoon, the Capitol Physician's Office and my private 
doctors made the decision to schedule a readmission to Inova Fairfax 
Hospital where they will perform a second procedure to adjust the 
pacemaker, and will keep me for observation.

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