Colleague: Kirk ‘irritated’ in hospital, which means he’s getting ‘better’

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Sen. Mark Kirk

Updated: February 29, 2012 10:22PM

U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk was visited by his Democratic colleague Joe Manchin Saturday.

Manchin said Kirk is “getting more irritated at being in the hospital, which means he’s definitely getting better.”

Kirk has survived what was probably the roughest week of his life -- having an eight-inch-by-four-inch section of his skull removed last Sunday after a stroke. His doctors at Northwestern Memorial Hospital give him a good chance at recovery, though he may have limited use of his left limbs and some facial paralysis.

Manchin, of West Virginia, left a chair open for Kirk at last week’s State of the Union address by President Barack Obama.

Kirk is one of the most bipartisan, moderate Republicans in the senate and Manchin is one of the most conservative Democrats so the two have worked together on several initiatives.

“I brought all the love and best wishes of the Senate to Mark and his family, including cards with good wishes from his colleagues,” Manchin said in a written statement. “I also brought him some work to get done, some proposals to look at.”

Kirk’s mother, sisters and other family members have been with him at the hospital and they released their own statement thanking Manchin:

“Joe is truly a class act. We continue to grow more encouraged and impressed by Mark’s progress each day. He is talking, making jokes and asking about work. We thank the people of Illinois for their unwavering support.”

Kirk’s doctors say his “cerebral” ability to think, propose legislation and otherwise perform the tasks of a senator should be intact, they said.

Kirk credits his last near-death experience – having to be rescued by the Coast Guard at age 16 when his boat capsized in Lake Michigan and being treated for hypothermia at Evanston Hospital – as “a life-changing experience” that fueled his drive to achieve in life.

Friends and colleagues said Saturday they presume this second lesson in his own mortality will only strengthen his drive.

Kirk has been given doctors a thumbs-up sign on request and has been joking around and acting more like himself.

On Friday morning, Kirk’s neurosurgeon at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Richard Fessler, released a statement saying, “He is alert, responding more rapidly to questions and the swelling in his brain has stabilized.”

Kirk checked himself in to Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital on Saturday after suffering dizziness and a headache. Doctors there discovered a carotid artery dissection in the right side of his neck, and he was transferred to Northwestern Memorial, where tests revealed he’d suffered an ischemic stroke, caused by an artery to the brain being blocked.