Another win for Ray Flynn, as he ends stay in hospital

GEORGE RIZER/GLOBE STAFFFormer mayor Raymond L. Flynn greeted his 10-month-old grandson, Flynn Patrick Foley, upon being released from St. Elizabeth's Medical Center yesterday. (GEORGE RIZER/GLOBE STAFF)

Surrounded by his grandchildren and wearing a T-shirt that read "Boston Original," former mayor Raymond L. Flynn sat on the backyard deck of his South Boston home yesterday and recounted how he nearly died.

"I had some rough nights," he said a few hours after being released from St. Elizabeth's Medical Center in Brighton.

Last week Flynn, 69, passed out while speaking to more than 100 people at a bar in Quincy. Over the following week, as he suffered from a massive infection in his ear, his temperature rose to 104 degrees.

"It seemed like everything hit me all at once," Flynn said calmly, his wife, Catherine, at his side. "I was feeling very weak."

It's been a stressful few months for Flynn, a former ambassador to the Vatican who last month lost his 61-year-old brother, Dennis, to a heart attack.

The popular former mayor had been working on a book, filing a weekly column for an Irish newspaper, and delivering speeches throughout the country.

On Aug. 11 he had an operation at St. Elizabeth's for skin cancer inside an ear. The operation, which required doctors to remove a portion of skin from one of his biceps and graft it to his ear, left him with 29 stitches.

He never fully recovered.

Over the next few weeks, he lost his appetite - and 7 pounds.

He was tired and feeling down after the loss of his brother.

On Sept. 17, he went to Bad Abbots pub in Quincy to take part in its "Theology on Tap" series, which features speakers discussing religion in a bar setting. It was hot inside, and Flynn felt crummy.

About 35 minutes into his speech, he fainted.

At first, he said, doctors could not figure out what was causing such a high fever.

"The side of my head was all swollen," Flynn said.

Then doctors identified the problem and began treating him with antibiotics.

"I had a very serious infection," he said.

He said he may have been carrying a parasite from a decade ago, when he spent time building AIDS clinics in Uganda. He said it's possible a parasite exacerbated the infection.

As he fought the fever in the hospital, he was heartened by the outpouring of love from friends, politicians, and former constituents. On one day alone, the former Democratic mayor received about 375 letters.

He also received calls from former president Clinton and from Senators Edward M. Kennedy and John F. Kerry, and a visit from Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley.

"I hadn't even received a response like that on the day I was elected mayor," he said.

Flynn was elected to the City Council in 1978 and served for six years before becoming mayor in 1984. President Clinton appointed him ambassador to the Vatican in 1993, a post he held until 1997.

As he sat on his small deck yesterday afternoon, Flynn looked well for a man who worried he might not leave his hospital bed.

He plans to take it easier now and will remain on antibiotics until his doctors tell him to stop.

He spent yesterday drinking tea, napping, and playing with his grandchildren.

"I'm feeling much better, much stronger," he said.