Al Roker 'The Today' show weatherman, 68, feeling strong after his second knee replacement surgery as witneesed walking around in the hospital in a video shared on his Instagram. The video is set to the song "Walk of Life" by Dire Straits, Roker wears a hospital gown as he uses a walker to move through the halls of the hospital with a nurse by his side. His left knee is bandaged. Also in the video he heads to the physical therapy room, where he walks down a block of wooden stairs using a cane. He captioned the video on Instagram,
"Up and walking this morning on the #newknee #stepbystep thanks to @drdavidmayman Wearing a negative pressure pump to help facilitate wound healing,"
First Knee Replacement Surgery
Roker's first knee replacement surgery was done in April 2022 and he has been keeping his social media fans in the loop about his recovery. Roker shared a video post earlier with his new knee from his hotel room of the sun shining high in the sky on the first day. He captioned,
"Feeling grateful and #hopeful on this #firstday with my #newknee Who knew? Lovely Day."
Knee Replacement Surgery News Break
Roker had first shared the news of his surgery in an Instagram video. On a stroll through Central Park he revealed to followers about how difficult walking has been for him lately.
"I'm a little less than three days away from getting this left knee replaced, It's a replacement of a replacement so I am kind of limping through. This is probably my last walk of any significance before the knee, but it was just such a gorgeous day I had to get out and enjoy it."
Earlier Health Challenges
Roker was in hospital on and off from the last couple of months due to multiple health complexities, earlier he was hospitalized due to blood clotting in his leg and lungs and he remained absent from his Today show and returned on Jan. 6. After appearing on Today, he explained that
"Look, I had two complicating things, 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 was being treated at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center through surgery after his medical team discovered two bleeding ulcers. Doctors resectioned his colon, took out his gallbladder and operated on his duodenum, part of the small intestine. Roker joked,
"I went into for one operation, I got four free, So I got that going for me."
"Thank god for Deborah, She basically shielded me from all of this. I'm a living example of ignorance is bliss. I was able to put all my energy into recuperating because I didn't know how bad this was. ... I thought I was doing good! It's not lost on us that this is a major, major thing for Al to be here, He is a living breathing miracle. And I'm not overstating it, I think."
Career Brief
Roker started his career as a weather anchor on Today in 1996 and earlier he worked as a weatercaster from 1990 to 1995, filling in for the late Willard Scott before his semiretirement.
