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Cheney treated at hospital for blood clot
Vice president was experiencing 'discomfort' following overseas trip

Mandel Ngan / AFP - Getty Images
Vice President Dick Cheney waves at the end of his speech Monday during the opening session of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Legislative Conference. The White House later revealed Cheney then headed to the hospital for treatment for a blood clot.
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• Cheney treated for blood clot
March 5: Vice President Dick Cheney was treated for a blood clot in his left leg. NBC’s Kevin Corke reports.

Updated: 15 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney has a blood clot in his left leg, tests revealed Monday. He will be treated with blood thinning medication for several months, a spokeswoman said.

Cheney visited his doctor's office in at George Washington Hospital Center in Washington after feeling minor discomfort in his calf, said spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride, but was not admitted to the hospital. An ultrasound showed the blood clot -- called a "deep venous thrombosis" -- in his left lower leg, she said.

Cheney, 66, returned to the White House after the medical exam and advisors are stressing the vice president is "fine" and "at the White House working."

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"He'll maintain his regular schedule," McBride said. "He feels fine."

The vice president returned last week from a nine-day trip overseas that included stops in Afghanistan and Pakistan - a trip of "over 67 hours" in the air, according to his aides and a trip distance of 22,827 nautical miles. timeline V.P. Dick Cheney's Health

Mar. 5, 2007
Treated for a blood clot in his left calf, following a nine-day trip through Asia and the Middle East.
July 1, 2006
His annual physical shows that the pacemaker is working properly and his overall heart condition. A stress test on a treadmill is scheduled for the fall.
Jan. 9, 2006
Cheney experiences shortness of breath and goes to the hospital. The problem is attributed to fluid retention as a result of medication he was taking for a foot ailment. He is placed on a diuretic and released.
Sept. 24, 2005
Has surgery to repair an arterial aneurysm on the back of each knee.

Nov. 13, 2004
Cheney enters the hospital after complaining of shortness of breath. He leaves after three hours. An aide says tests find no abnormalities.
June 30, 2001
Cheney returns to the hospital and has a special pacemaker, an implantable cardioverter defibrillator, or ICD, inserted into his chest. During his 2004 annual checkup, doctors say the device never has activated automatically to regulate, which they say means the heart is functioning normally.
March 5, 2001
Just over 100 days later, Cheney feels chest pains and has another angioplasty to reopen the same artery.
Nov. 22, 2000
Cheney has what doctors called a "very slight" heart attack, his fourth. He has an angioplasty to open a clogged artery. After this heart attacks, Cheney begins a daily 30-minute regimen on the treadmill and eating healthier. He takes medication to lower his cholesterol. He quit smoking in 1978.
1988
After a third heart attack, Cheney has quadruple bypass surgery in August to clear clogged arteries.
1984
Second heart attack.
1978
Cheney's first heart attack, at age 37.


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Cheney has had a long history of heart ailments. In 2005, he underwent six hours of surgery on his legs to repair a kind of aneurysm, a ballooning weak spot in an artery that can burst if left untreated.

NBC's Kelly O'Donnell