Rufus Edmisten, an institution in Tar Heel politics, visited home Wednesday, after spending a couple of weeks battling Guillain-Barre Syndrome.

The former secretary of state and former attorney general has been at WakeMed receiving treatment for the disorder which attacks the body’s immune system, leaving a person weak in the legs and arms, Rob Christensen reports.

"It makes you wobbly," said Linda Edmisten, his wife. "The nerves have to heal themselves. The signals sent to the feet are not quite getting there."

Edmisten, who is now an attorney and lobbyist, has been receiving immunoglobulin therapy.

This is the same disease that struck actor Andy Griffith in 1982. Edmisten said her husband took courage in fighting his disease after reading an essay Griffith wrote on the subject.

"It's completely curable," Linda Edmisten said. "Over the last 25 years since Andy Griffith's battle, they have come up with a therapy to knock this out."

Edmisten, who was initially diagnosed with the disease on Aug. 24, still has a week or more physical therapy at the hospital before he can return home permanently, she said.

Rep. Larry Womble has been discharged from WakeMed.

The Winston-Salem Democrat was taken to the Raleigh hospital last night after feeling ill on the House floor Monday night. But he has returned home to Winston-Salem for follow-up care, a spokesman for House Speaker Joe Hackney said today.

Womble "will not be in session today," said spokesman Bill Holmes. "We will provide more information as it becomes available. Thank you again for your concern about Rep. Womble."

Womble, 66, is a seven-term Democrat and a retired educator.