Clinton 'Glad To Be Home'

Former President Bill Clinton left the hospital, four days after undergoing surgery to remove scar tissue and fluid around his left lung.

"I'm glad to be home and look forward to getting back to work within the next month or so," Clinton said in a statement issued by his spokesman, Jim Kennedy.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton accompanied her husband from the hospital to their home, where the 42nd president was to continue his recovery. A motorcade of five or six SUVs was seen leaving New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center shortly after 5 p.m. Monday.

Clinton's recovery was proceeding normally, and he has begun walking each day, Kennedy said. He is expected to remain at home for the next four to six weeks.

The former president said he and his wife were "very grateful to the medical team that cared for me at the hospital, and we deeply appreciate all the prayers and good wishes we've received in recent days."

After the surgery, the former president's wife and their daughter, Chelsea, said he is in good spirits and looking forward to getting back on his feet.

Sen. Clinton said that although this was not considered a life-threatening procedure, "that didn't stop Chelsea and me from worrying together and praying together."

The Clintons discouraged well-wishers sending flowers, but did receive numerous get-well wishes via e-mail to the former president's Web site.

"Please take care of yourself," wrote one well-wisher, identified only as Jeannie. "I don't want to see you running around the world, right away. If anything happened to you it would break my heart and the world would suffer a great loss. Hillary, watch him!!"

The operation was done at the same facility where Mr. Clinton underwent open-heart surgery. Doctors described it as a low-risk procedure, and Mr. Clinton himself called it routine.

The complication for which the former president was operated on occurs in only a fraction of 1 percent of bypass cases; doctors said the combination of fluid and scar tissue had decreased Mr. Clinton's left lung capacity by 25 percent. The former president first noticed the problem when he suffered shortness of breath during his daily 4-mile walk.

In a rare complication from his bypass surgery in September, scar tissue had developed because of fluid buildup and inflammation, causing compression and the collapse of the lower lobe of Mr. Clinton's left lung.

Surgeons removed a thick rind of scar tissue, in some places up to 0.3 inches thick, which made it impossible to use a minimally invasive videoscopy. Instead, surgeons performed more traditional surgery.

"It was like peeling an orange," said Dr. Joshua Sonett, one of the surgeons, about removing the tissue.

By the end of the operation, Mr. Clinton's lung "was very healthy and looked excellent," he said. "We expect even better than a full recovery."

Well-wishers who posted messages online hoped, too, for a speedy recovery.

"I'm so glad to hear that you're on the mend and hope you'll be back to yourself very soon. It's great to see you and #41 [former President Bush] getting along so well and doing so much good in the tsunami region," writes a well-wisher identified as J. Harldorsen, referring to the former presidents' work in raising money for tsunami victims, which had them both on the golf course the day before the surgery.

"Former presidents should show the rest of the world how important it is to care for each other," Haldorsen continues. "Now, no more scares, Mr. President — we still have lots for you to do! God bless."