Kerry undergoes shoulder surgery

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BOSTON (AP) -- Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry had complication-free outpatient surgery yesterday to repair a tear in his right shoulder and bicep tendons and will be back shaking voters' hands soon, although not too forcefully.

The four-term Massachusetts senator planned to be off the presidential campaign trail for the remainder of the week.

Dr. Bertram Zarins, chief of sports medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, said Mr. Kerry would be in pain for a few days and probably in need of an ice pack and narcotic painkillers.

Dr. Zarins said the senator was smiling and talking shortly after coming out of the 45-minute procedure. "He joked a little bit and said, 'I hope I didn't reveal any state secrets,'" Dr. Zarins told reporters in a conference call.

Mr. Kerry tore his subscapularis tendon, one of the tendons that make up the rotator cuff, in January while campaigning in Iowa. He wrenched his right shoulder while bracing himself during an abrupt stop on his campaign bus.

Dr. Zarins told reporters Monday that Mr. Kerry would have to forgo temporarily the most time-honored tradition in politics -- shaking hands. Mr. Kerry said he didn't get those orders.

"That's not what he told me," Mr. Kerry told reporters Tuesday. "I was like, 'Whoa,' when I read that."

After surgery, Dr. Zarins said he wouldn't restrict Mr. Kerry's activity, but that pain would limit his right arm motion. He said Mr. Kerry's rehabilitation would probably just involve him leaning over and swinging his arm like pendulum. The senator could gradually reintroduce movements until a complete recovery, with "heavy use" in several months, Dr. Zarins said.

"I think he'll be shaking hands fairly quickly," said Dr. Zarins, who also treats the New England Patriots, the New England Revolution and the Boston Bruins sports teams. "We're not going to tell him not to do it."

Mr. Kerry, 60, was under general anesthesia for the surgery.

Dr. Zarins said he made an incision about an inch and a half long, discovered a small tear in the bicep tendon next to the subscapularis and then made a smaller, second incision and repaired both.

He wasn't sure how many stitches it took to close the wound, but said he would evaluate Mr. Kerry over the next few days and remove the stitches in a week to 10 days.

As he did before prostate surgery last year, Mr. Kerry entered the hospital wearing a leather bomber jacket bearing his swiftboat platoon's patch from the Vietnam War.

"I'll be back faster than you can blink," he told the Building Trades Legislative Conference two hours before going in for surgery.