Reagan Sees a ‘Better Year’ as He Faces MDs, Congress : Ends Week’s Vacation in California

President Reagan predicted the new year will be “better than ‘86” today and then flew off to Washington to face prostate surgery and a hostile Congress.

The President ended his weeklong California vacation with a traditional New Year’s celebration at the Palm Springs estate of millionaire publisher Walter H. Annenberg, where he played golf and watched college football on television.

As the Reagans boarded Air Force One for the trip home, a reporter shouted, “What will ’87 be like?”

“Great,” Nancy Reagan replied.

“Better than ‘86,” said Reagan, who suffered more setbacks last year than in any other of his six years in office--including watching the Senate fall into the hands of the Democrats and seeing his popularity plunge because of the Iran- contra scandal.

There has been no indication during the President’s holiday that he spent any time dealing with the Iran-contra affair that enveloped his presidency in the final weeks of the year. Both houses of Congress and a special prosecutor have mounted investigations into the scandal.

Reagan made only one public appearance after leaving Washington, an awards presentation ceremony for the designer and crew of the globe-circling Voyager aircraft. And in the privacy of his Los Angeles hotel suite, he recorded a year-end radio address to the nation and a New Year’s message to the Soviet people broadcast by the Voice of America.

Carlucci Assumes Post

Frank C. Carlucci, the President’s new national security adviser, formally assumed control of the National Security Council staff today, but aides said Reagan had no immediate plans to meet with him.

Carlucci succeeds Vice Adm. John M. Poindexter, who resigned after Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III discovered Poindexter knew about but did not move to stop the funneling to Nicaraguan rebels of millions of dollars in profits from secret U.S. arms sales to Iran. Reagan had approved the weapons sales despite an arms embargo against Iran but has said he knew nothing of the diversion of Iranian payments to the contra rebels.

Before leaving for California, Reagan appointed outgoing NATO Ambassador David M. Abshire to oversee the White House response to various investigations of the matter, and Abshire will assume his duties on Monday.

On Sunday morning, the President is scheduled to be admitted to Bethesda Naval Hospital just outside Washington for a series of tests, followed on Monday by surgery to relieve discomfort caused by an enlarged prostate.

Colon Exam Scheduled

The tests to be performed Sunday include a colonoscopy, in which doctors use a flexible instrument to visually examine the entire length of the lower intestine. Reagan’s first such exam in July, 1985, revealed the presence of a large tumor, which was removed surgically and found to be cancerous.

Monday’s prostate surgery, relatively common in men of advancing age, involves removal of tissue from the prostate gland that has encroached into the urethral canal, interfering with normal urination and causing occasional pain.

Reagan, 75, had similar surgery 20 years ago.

The tissue removed during the procedure will be examined to determine whether the President has cancer of the prostate, which also tends to occur more often among elderly men. But even if cancer is discovered, specialists say it is unlikely to be life-threatening.

Doctors say that the operation, which will take place under local anesthesia, generally is not regarded as risky and that Reagan should be hospitalized for only a few days.