Get well Congressman

My Congressman, Republican Clay Shaw will be having surgery for lung cancer on January 4th. Here's wishing the Congressman a fast and full recovery.

Open Post- Bright & Early, Basil's Blog, Right Wing Nation,

WASHINGTON - Rep. Clay Shaw, a Fort Lauderdale Republican, announced Thursday that he will have surgery Jan. 4 to remove a cancerous tumor on his left lung that was discovered in May.

Since then, Shaw has taken Tarceva, a drug that has reduced the tumor and kept it stable, but did not eliminate it. Shaw had the option of trying another drug but decided on surgery.

''The longer you wait, the tumor could go somewhere else, so I decided to do the surgery now,'' he said.

The surgery will be performed at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, where Shaw had a similar tumor on the same lung removed in 2003.

Shaw, 66, faces a tough reelection challenge next year from state Sen. Ron Klein, a Boca Raton Democrat. Shaw said he expects to be hospitalized several days, then return to Washington for President Bush's State of the Union address and the new session of Congress at the end of January.

''I expect to be out a few days and then be back at full strength,'' Shaw said.
Shaw has served 25 years in Congress and is ''actively seeking'' to become chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee in 2007. He faces stiff competition from Reps. Jim McCrery of Louisiana and Nancy Johnson of Connecticut.

Shaw also is co-chairman of the ''2015 Caucus,'' which includes members who survived cancer or have a close relative who has had cancer. The caucus seeks an increase in funding for cancer research with the goal of curing or making cancer a manageable disease by 2015.