Schwarzenegger has surgery to repair broken leg
Source: Reuters
(Updates with operation completed, surgeon says successful) By Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES, Dec 26 (Reuters) - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had successful surgery on Tuesday to repair a leg he broke while skiing with family in Idaho over the weekend, the Republican's office said. A team led by orthopedic surgeon Dr. Kevin Ehrhart performed the 90-minute operation in which cables and screws were used to wire the two main fragments of Schwarzenegger's broken femur bone, in his upper right thigh, back together. Ehrhart, who once treated former U.S. President Ronald Reagan, also cleared Schwarzenegger to resume his duties as chief executive of the nation's most populous state. "Following the surgery, the governor was awake, alert and talking in the recovery room," Ehrhart said in a statement issued by the governor's office. Ehrhart said the operation, which began at 9:45 a.m. went "without complication" and that post-surgery X-rays of the governor's right leg "looked great." He said Schwarzenegger, 59, would remain hospitalized for three days, as is standard for such procedures, and that his recovery would take about eight weeks. "I expect the governor to fully recover," Ehrhart said, adding that the governor was not in a cast and that he will use crutches to talk while his leg heals. The Austrian-born former bodybuilder and Hollywood action star was elected governor in 2003 in a special recall campaign that ousted Gray Davis, then the Democratic incumbent. The name of the California hospital where the Republican governor was admitted was undisclosed for security reasons. Ehrhart was the surgeon who repaired Reagan's broken hip after the former president, then 89 and suffering from Alzheimer's disease, fell at his home in January 2001. While Schwarzenegger was under anesthesia, Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, a Democrat who ran against Schwarzenegger in the 2003 recall election, assumed the role of acting governor. Schwarzenegger, who is married to veteran broadcast journalist Maria Shriver, niece of the late U.S. President John F. Kennedy, broke his leg during a family vacation while skiing in Sun Valley, Idaho, on Dec. 23. Shriver said her husband was "looking forward to his inauguration" to his second term next week. The skiing accident marked the governor's third medical incident in just over a year. In January, he received 15 stitches to close a cut lip after colliding with a car while riding his Harley-Davidson motorcycle in Los Angeles. Last December, Schwarzenegger was examined at the University of California-Davis Medical Center for stomach flu and a rapid heartbeat. He was back at work the next day. Schwarzenegger underwent heart surgery in 1997.
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