Cardinal expected to leave hospital later this week
Cardinal Francis George, hospitalized since Friday with flu-like symptoms, is expected to be released from the hospital later this week, archdiocese officials said Tuesday.
During a routine checkup last week at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, doctors found that George was dehydrated, and recommended he remain hospitalized until he recovers, according to an archdiocese news release.
The 77-year-old cardinal is being treated with an antibiotic and is receiving intravenous fluids.
The leader of the Archdiocese of Chicago, which encompasses Cook and Lake counties, has been receiving chemotherapy treatment for kidney cancer. Doctors earlier this month advised George undergo a new, more aggressive round of chemotherapy to address activity of cancer cells surrounding his right kidney.
The cardinal underwent chemotherapy in August 2012 after being diagnosed with urothelial cancer. The cancer has been dormant for well over a year, archdiocese officials said, but it is still confined to the area of his right kidney.
George survived cancer in 2006, when he underwent a risky procedure to remove his bladder, prostate and a portion of his right ureter.