Al Roker on the mend after knee surgery. ‘It was a bit of a bear,’ he says on ‘Today’
“Today” fixture Al Roker is taking more time off from the NBC morning show after his most recent knee surgery.
Appearing virtually on Monday’s episode of “Today,” the veteran meteorologist told his co-hosts Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie that he was home from the hospital after undergoing a total knee replacement surgery on Tuesday.
“It’s Monday and I’m home from the hospital. It’s just another day!” Roker said during the remote appearance from his home.
The 68-year-old broadcaster is up and about but said that his knee is still feeling “stiff.” He explained that his recent surgery at New York City’s Hospital for Special Surgery was more complicated because it is considered “a revision.”
“It was a replacement of a replacement, so they had to take stuff out, put new stuff in, so it was a bit of a bear,” Roker said, adding, “So we’ve just been kind of hanging out. Chilling out, not doing anything, which I know, a lot of people find hard to believe, but in fact, that is the case.”
The TV personality will undergo physical rehabilitation three days a week and that will likely continue for a few months. He’s hoping to return to “Today” in the next two weeks but, he admitted, he still doesn’t know.
“We’ll just play it by ear every day. And that’s the thing. And yes, I know I’m not going to rush back before I have to,” he said.
Roker first had knee replacement surgery in April 2022. The second procedure was delayed because of his hospitalization late last year for blood clots in his leg and lungs. The weatherman was absent from “Today” for about two months, returning in January when he provided viewers with some exhaustive medical history.
“Look, I had two complicating things,” he said at the time. “I had blood clots, which they think came up after I had COVID in September. And then I had this internal bleeding going on, I lost half my blood. They were trying to figure out where it was.”
Roker’s medical team at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center discovered through surgery that he had two bleeding ulcers too. His colon was re-sectioned, gallbladder was removed and he had an operation on his small intestine, he said.
“I went into [the hospital] for one operation, I got four free,” he joked. “So I got that going for me.”
Al Roker and Hoda Kotb took a break from their usual ‘Today’ show duties to visit and celebrate nurses in honor of National Nurses Week.
In the meantime, the Broadcasting + Cable Hall of Famer said Monday that he’s been using his recovery time to catch up on a few TV shows, including “The Mandalorian” and “Poker Face,” as well as spending time with his family. His son Nick just came back from college and his wife, Deborah Roberts, recently made the New York Times bestsellers list. Roberts’ milestone saw Roker briefly jump networks last week to congratulate her on rival morning show “Good Morning America,” where she is an ABC News correspondent.
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