Bob Dole treated for surgery-related infection

Former Sen. Bob Dole

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Former Sen. Bob Dole is scheduled to be released from a hospital Wednesday or Thursday after undergoing treatment for an infection related to surgery he underwent last month.

Dole had been readmitted Monday to Walter Reed Army Medical Center near Washington for treatment of a "superficial infection," according to his spokesman, Doug MacKinnon.

Dole, the 1996 GOP presidential candidate, will be 78 on July 22.

MacKinnon said this type of infection "is a known complication of the type of surgical procedure" Dole underwent June 27. The senator had an abdominal aortic aneurysm, an abnormal widening of the blood vessel, which was treated at the Cleveland Clinic.

The surgery involved placement of an endograft -- a fabric stent -- in the aorta to divert blood flow away from the aneurysm. The endograft was inserted into an artery near the top of the leg and threaded through the body into the aorta.

Dole will return to the clinic for a regularly scheduled follow-up in three weeks.

According to MacKinnon, Dole joked that he'd have to remain under "house arrest" for the next 10 days while he recovers from the infection. MacKinnon said the senator "feels fine" and is "doing great" and now needs to rest and "let Mother Nature take its course."