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Morning News

Reagan Hospitalized: Two Days After Hip Surgery, Doctors Offer Encouraging Prognosis

Aired January 15, 2001 - 11:39 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Two days after he underwent hip surgery, there is some encouraging words this morning about Ronald Reagan.

Let's get the latest now on all that from CNN's Jim Hill. He's outside of St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California this morning with the very latest -- Jim.

JIM HILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Leon, the nation's 40th president is starting this week in much better shape than he ended last week. Last Friday, of course, the day that he fell in his Bel- Air home and broke his right hip. This morning, his doctor says he's on the road to recovery. He said the ex-president is now sitting up. He is eating. And also he is taking very little pain medication, which are all good signs of recovery at this point.

Earlier today, the chief surgeon in Saturday's operation demonstrated how during that hour plus of surgery he inserted a metal pin in the ex-president's right hip. Attached to that pin was a plate to hold the pin in place, that pin being put into the femur bone with a series of screws. The surgeon said that the ex-president is much healthier than a man of 89 would normally be, his bone structure is very good, his muscle tone, tissue tone, very good, all of those are pluses for the president.

However, the surgeon did say there are minuses that he faces in recovery.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. KENNY EHRHART, REAGAN'S ORTHOPEDIC SURGEON: His age, 90, is hard. He is at challenge, he has the challenge of Alzheimer's, which makes rehabilitation more of a challenge, but that's the biggest downside, those two factors.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: At the Reagan library in nearby Simi Valley flowers have been sent by well-wisher, the Reagans continue to get hundreds of messages and phone calls from people such as the president-elect, George W. Bush, former President George Bush, former President Gerald Ford, Lady Margaret Thatcher, Senator and Mrs. John McCain and so forth. The ex-president is expected to remain in the hospital here another six to 10 days, and then will likely be able to go to his home, his Bel-Air home, along with wife and former first lady Nancy Reagan, and begin a long process of physical therapy, which hopefully will get him back on his feet and onto the road of, hopefully, full recovery.

I'm Jim Hill, CNN, reporting live from Santa Monica, California.

HARRIS: All right, thanks, Jim.

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