Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III is not going to shuttle to Brussels to satisfy together with his NATO and European opposite numbers this week, a Pentagon legitimate mentioned on Monday, as he remained hospitalized for headaches stemming from prostate most cancers surgical treatment.
Mr. Austin, 70, returned to the health facility on Sunday, for the 3rd time in two months, with “symptoms suggesting an emergent bladder issue.” He had to begin with supposed to “retain the functions and duties of his office” however quickly became over his government to the deputy protection secretary, Kathleen Hicks.
It was once unclear how lengthy Mr. Austin was once anticipated to stay at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., the place he was once taken on Sunday. In a remark, Dr. Gregory Chesnut and Dr. John Maddox mentioned that Mr. Austin underwent nonsurgical procedures on Monday “under general anesthesia to address his bladder issue.”
“A prolonged hospital stay is not anticipated,” the medical doctors mentioned, including that they anticipated that Mr. Austin would “be able to resume his normal duties tomorrow.”
Brig. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder, the Pentagon spokesman, informed journalists that Celeste Wallander, the assistant secretary of protection for global safety affairs, would constitute the United States at a gathering on Ukraine in Brussels on Wednesday. He additionally mentioned that the American ambassador to NATO, Julianne Smith, would constitute Mr. Austin at a NATO protection ministers assembly in Brussels on Thursday.
Mr. Austin, General Ryder mentioned, might attend the Wednesday assembly nearly if his well being lets in. Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, could also be anticipated to wait Wednesday’s assembly nearly, General Ryder mentioned.
On Dec. 22, Mr. Austin underwent what’s referred to as a prostatectomy, the elimination of all or a part of the prostate gland. He was once launched after the surgical treatment however returned every week later with an an infection. He was once installed extensive care, and medical doctors mentioned they tired extra belly fluid.
Mr. Austin was once extensively criticized for failing to in an instant expose his sickness and lack to the White House, a breach of protocol that baffled officers around the govt, together with on the Pentagon.
He remained hospitalized for 2 weeks in January and returned to the Pentagon on Jan. 29.
Two mavens who specialise in prostate most cancers surgical treatment mentioned that the majority males who go through prostatectomies don’t want to go back to the health facility within the weeks after that surgical treatment.
A contemporary learn about discovered that within the United States, best about 4 % of guys who’ve prostatectomies are readmitted to the health facility inside of 30 days in a while, and less than 2 % are readmitted 31 to 90 days in a while.
Mr. Austin has “had a more rocky course than most patients,” mentioned Dr. Judd W. Moul, a urologist and prostate specialist at Duke University.
Dr. Moul and Dr. Herbert Lepor, a professor of urology on the New York University School of Medicine, mentioned one conceivable explanation why for Mr. Austin’s most up-to-date hospitalization might be that scar tissue from his surgical treatment had narrowed the pathway for urine to go via his bladder.
A regular treatment is to stretch or dilate the urethra, a minimally invasive process this is frequently carried out with normal anesthesia, Dr. Lepor mentioned. A catheter is in most cases inserted to empty the urine. Patients might want to have a catheter for a number of days after that. Longer-term use of a catheter would best be wanted if medical doctors have been not able to sufficiently dilate the urethra.
Dr. Moul mentioned that public consciousness of prostate-related well being problems were raised by way of the eye to Mr. Austin’s situation and the new announcement that medical doctors treating King Charles III for an enlarged prostate discovered that he had most cancers (the kind of most cancers has now not been disclosed).
“We’ve never had this kind of urologic intrigue before,” Dr. Moul mentioned.
At a information convention on Feb. 1, the protection secretary, who’s referred to as being extraordinarily personal, sought to give an explanation for why he stored quiet about an sickness that he described as a “gut punch.”
Mr. Austin mentioned he concept President Biden had sufficient to fret about with no need to be involved in regards to the non-public issues of his protection secretary.
“When you’re president of the United States, you’ve got a lot of things on your plate,” he mentioned. “I just didn’t feel that that was a thing that I should do at the time. But again, I recognize that that was a mistake.”
The House Armed Services Committee has requested Mr. Austin to testify this month about why he and his aides stored his sickness secret.