Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was awake and recovering from hip surgery on Friday, which his doctor said went off without a hitch.
“The surgery went without complications, the president is awake, going to post-anesthesia recovery,” the doctor Roberto Kalil Filho told a news conference.
Lula had said prior to the operation that he had been reluctant to interrupt his global diplomatic travels and undergo the surgery, but hoped the operation would put a spring in his step — and boost his mood.
His doctor said the surgery lasted about an hour, and that the president would be able to leave the hospital “Monday, or the latest Tuesday.”
After the hip replacement, the doctors “took advantage of Lula’s good response to anesthesia” to perform a cosmetic surgery on his eyelids.
Since taking office in January, Lula, who will turn 78 next month, has kept a full schedule of international travel.
The seasoned left-leaning politician put off the procedure as long as he could, confessing he did not like the thought of seeming frail.
“I’m like the footballer who doesn’t want to tell the coach he has pain so as not to be benched,” the president said in July, when he announced he would go under the knife for hip problems that have plagued him for months.
He admitted earlier this week he would have liked to do the surgery following his 2022 election, but was concerned it would worry voters before he had the chance to take office in January.
After confessing that the osteoarthritis pain “puts me in a bad mood and I want to stay in a good mood, because I made a commitment to make Brazil work,” he ultimately opted to get the hip replacement.
Before traveling to the United Arab Emirates in November to attend a UN climate meeting, Lula has stated that he will be able to carry on with his regular duties during a few weeks of recuperation in the nation’s capital, Brasilia.
The president stated last week that he will probably require a walker to get around at first, but that he won’t be seen using one in public on the advise of his official photographer.
“You will not see me with a walker or on crutches. You will see me handsome always, as if I had not undergone surgery,” he said with a chuckle.
Lula, who entered politics as a trade union leader, was previously president from 2003 to 2010, then defeated far-right president Jair Bolsonaro in elections last year for a stunning return to power and a third term.
