Riley’s Spinal Surgery ‘a Great Success’ : Health: Doctors cut pinched nerves to relieve leg pains. It’s unknown when he will return to Board of Supervisors.

Spinal surgery performed early Thursday on Orange County Supervisor Thomas F. Riley was “a great success,” leaving the politician groggy but resting comfortably at Hoag Hospital, his chief of staff said.

Riley, 81, underwent three hours of surgery and is expected to remain hospitalized until Sunday or Monday, aide Christie McDaniel said.

Riley was admitted to Hoag on Wednesday after his doctors decided that surgery on pinched nerves in his lower back would alleviate the intense leg pain that Riley has suffered in recent weeks. The leg problems are the latest in a string of health problems.

“We’re all real, real pleased,” McDaniel said. “It’s amazing. I don’t know if he’s a cat with nine lives or how many he’s got left, but he looks great.”

McDaniel said she did not know when Riley would resume his duties as chairman of the Board of Supervisors. Vice Chairman Gaddi H. Vasquez, who will fill in for at least the next regular meeting on Tuesday, could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Riley’s hospital stay comes just two months after he was hospitalized for a foot infection. The infection, which confined Riley to a wheelchair, masked the severity of the unrelated leg pain until he resumed walking in recent weeks.

Riley had felt occasional jolts of pain through his legs dating back to last year, but after he began to recover from the infection in his left foot, the discomfort became more intense, McDaniel said. That pain continued until, in the past few weeks, even the slightest weight on his legs was agony.

Riley underwent magnetic resonance imaging last week, a scan that pinpointed nerves in his lower back as the culprit behind the pain, McDaniel said. During the surgery Thursday, neurosurgeon Nasrola Edalatpour “cut back the nerves so they wouldn’t rub against the spine,” McDaniel said.

Riley has represented the 5th District on the board since his 1974 appointment by then-Gov. Ronald Reagan. Riley plans to retire when his term expires next year.

In recent years, Riley has weathered a series of maladies, including bouts of emphysema, asthma, bronchitis and problems related to his diabetic condition. In 1991, he underwent quadruple bypass heart surgery.