By Kenneth R. Bazinet,New York Daily News

WASHINGTON – Vice President Cheney was hospitalized early Monday after he had difficulty breathing in his sleep, but he was back at work by midday, aides said.

It wasn’t Cheney’s bad heart that caused his rush to the hospital. Instead, an unidentified anti-inflammatory drug he was taking for a swollen left foot was blamed for his abnormal breathing and a fluid buildup.

Cheney, 64, was taken to George Washington University Hospital at 3 a.m. and was back home by about 7:30 a.m., aides said. His wife, Lynne, was by his side at the time.

“He’s doing great. He’s back at the White House and has resumed his normal schedule,” Cheney spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride told the New York Daily News.

Cheney has survived four heart attacks and, as a precaution, had a defibrillator implanted in his chest. Tests Monday showed Cheney’s heart rate was normal, aides said.

“He’s doing fine. I talked to him this morning. His health is good. He’ll be coming in to work a little later on today,” Bush said a few hours before Cheney was back at his desk.

Cheney who had to use a cane last week because of the pain in his foot, isn’t sure what he’s ailing from and “has not been definitively diagnosed,” McBride explained.

Swelling in his heel is attributed to tendinitis, but a pain in his big toe has yet to be identified.

“Some doctors have suggested it might be gout, but he does not suffer from the acute pain usually associated with gout, nor does he have raised levels of uric acid in his blood, which is also associated with gout,” McBride said. “Other doctors have suggested that osteoarthritis is the cause.”

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