Kennedy makes dramatic entrance

By Susan Milligan and Stephen Smith, Globe Staff

DENVER -- Senator Edward M. Kennedy is in Denver for a dramatic, unexpected appearance at the Democratic National Convention.

While excited delegates are hoping he will speak to them, it is unclear whether he will, because of his health.

Delegates will see a video tribute to the long-serving Massachusetts political icon, who is battling brain cancer.

UPDATE: Caroline Kennedy, in her introduction of the video, again plans to compare Obama to her father, President John F. Kennedy, as well as paying tribute to her uncle.

“I am here tonight to pay tribute to two men who have changed my life, and the life of this country -- Barack Obama, and Edward M. Kennedy," she plans to say, according to excerpts released by the party. "Their stories are very different, but they share a commitment to the timeless American ideals of justice and fairness, service and sacrifice, faith and family. Leaders like them come along rarely. But once or twice in a lifetime, they come along just when we need them the most.

"I have never had someone inspire me the way people tell me my father inspired them -- but I do now. And I know someone else who’s been inspired all over again by Senator Obama.

"In our family, he’ll always be known as Uncle Teddy. More than any senator of his generation, or perhaps any generation, Teddy has made life better for people in this country and around the world. For 46 years, he has been so much more than just a senator for the people of Massachusetts, he’s been a senator for all who believe in a dream that’s never died."

Kennedy arrived Sunday night and had a precautionary checkup at a local hospital. Kennedy had planned to stay home in Hyannis Port and watch from there, but decided he couldn't miss the event.

"Senator Kennedy is in Denver and plans to attend tonight’s tribute to him," his office said in a statement. "He’s truly humbled by the outpouring of support, and wouldn’t miss it for anything in the world."

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he's not surprised that his uncle made it to Denver.

“He seems great…he is lucid, he is sharp, he seems completely unchanged by the surgery, by the illness…all of us are happy; his mind is completely unaffected,” Kennedy told Chris Wallace on Fox News Network.

Kennedy said he believes the country is ready to hear Senator Kennedy's message again.

“The American people have really come around to believe that the things that he’s been fighting for, for the past fourty-four years as a Senator, are things that most Americans want.”

Travel to high-altitude cities such as Denver can pose at least a theoretical risk to the health of brain cancer patients, a leading cancer doctor said today.

Anyone venturing from a lower to a higher altitude can experience swelling in the brain because of the drop in atmospheric pressure, said Dr. Deepa Subramaniam, director of the Brain Tumor Center at Georgetown University's Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.

And, potentially, that could prove more problematic for brain cancer patients. That's because they may already be coping with swelling caused by a tumor or by surgery to remove a cancerous growth.

Still, Subramaniam said in an interview, she is not aware of any of her patients experiencing such problems, including a patient who traveled to Denver a few weeks ago.

"While theoretically we worry about the increase in the brain swelling, most patients actually do quite fine and should not have any significant trouble," she said.

If patients do experience swelling and a headache results, doctors typically prescribe steroids or other medications to ease swelling, said Subramaniam, who is not involved in treating the Massachusetts senator.

Cancer patients may also be at elevated risk compared to other people for developing blood clots during an airplane flight, the Washington, D.C., oncologist said. Doctors aren't sure why, but brain cancer patients appear to have an especially heightened propensity for clots.

Still, if cancer patients -- just like any passenger -- move their toes and walk through the cabin during a flight, that can reduce the prospects of a clot forming.

Kennedy's doctors have said they are treating him with radiation and chemotherapy. The chemo drug most commonly used to treat brain tumors is called temozolomide. Unlike some other cancer medications, it does not deplete red blood cells, which ferry oxygen through the body. The drug, though, can deplete white blood cells, which help fight infections.

Subramaniam said she urges her brain cancer patients to continue leading active, productive lives, including traveling.

"I don't limit my patients at all," she said. "If patients want to travel, I never tell them to hold off just because they have a tumor or they're on treatment. Life is precious."