Nevertheless, here is the litany:

• While relaxing at an informal gathering, put his feet up on a table, and planted one foot in the middle of a two-pound wheel of Brie cheese (ca. Dec. 1974) 3j.
• Fell while walking down air stairs at a Spanish airport on May 3, 1975 2d.
• Dr. Zebra can remember at least one other slip -- Hit a spectator with a golf ball.
• As Vice President, unexpected turbulence plunged his plane downwards, spilling a gin and tonic on his head 3k. Comment: Yes, it's not really clumsiness, but it had to go somewhere. :-)

Ford would awaken at 5:30 am as President 3b. Comment: Perhaps lack of sleep has something to do with the appearance of aging.

However, one part of his routine did not last. In 2000, he said: "I haven't had a drink in 22 years, she [Betty] hasn't had one in 23 years ... she stopped drinking in 1978. I kept drinking for a year; then I got tired of drinking alone, so we drink [chuckle] tonic and lime at night" 3f.

Upon awakening on Wednesday morning, Ford had new symptoms and returned to the hospital. He apparently had left arm weakness, balance difficulties, and slurred speech 6. A stroke was diagnosed and he was treated with "blood thinners" 6.

The slurred speech, however, was ascribed to a swollen, painful tongue, which proved to be abscessed with actinomycosis. (This is an exceedingly rare cause of a tongue abscess.) The abscess was drained under general anesthesia 7. (It is not clear when the anticoagulants were started, in relation to the abscess drainage.)

Later, a Ford spokesman declared that Ford had developed tongue pain while in Colorado, before Ford departing for the convention 7.

By August 5 Ford was "completely recovered from the stroke" (there were also questions about a possible other strokes) 7. He left the hospital on August 9, still taking antibiotics and blood thinners 8.

The Hahnemann University Hospital was obviously embarassed by missing the diagnosis on the first night, but refused to admit anything. A hospital spokesman said "We do not believe there was any misdiagnosis there." He then shamelessly shifted the blame to the patient, saying "The activities that evening were totally controlled by the President" 6.
Comment: The question is: how could the abscess have been missed on physical examination the first night, especially when Ford had noted tongue pain days earlier? How did the physician(s) arrive at the mistaken diagnosis of a sinus problem? A CT scan is usually not required to discover a tongue abscess.

Comment: It is possible that missing the tongue abscess the first night played a role in causing the stroke, as there is a tight relationship between inflammation and acute vascular events. In simple terms, inflammation (the classic response to an infection) makes the blood more likely to clot (the actual event triggering a stroke). Older physicians, for example, will recall the classic association between pneumonia and acute myocardial infarction. In Ford's case, the missed diagnosis allowed the infection, hence the inflammation, to progress for the extra few hours leading to the stroke.