Kerry Shoulders Through Surgery

John F. Kerry sailed smoothly through surgery to repair his injured right shoulder Wednesday, the first of four days that he planned to spend away from the presidential campaign trail.

Kerry is to meet with aides and advisors over the next three days to plot strategy.

The surgeon for the Massachusetts senator told reporters that Kerry would be ready to resume campaigning almost immediately, although he would probably have to go easy on shaking hands for a time and won’t be ready to toss a football or baseball with his aides “for months.”

The candidate carried on as usual in the hours before the surgery to repair a torn tendon. He flew into Boston overnight after a fundraiser in Beverly Hills, spoke to building trade workers by satellite Wednesday morning, and then met with unemployed workers in Brighton, Mass.

The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee told the Building Trades Legislative Conference in Washington that he would appoint “a member of the house of labor” as his Labor secretary.

He also said the Bush administration had failed to renew the unemployment benefits insurance program that expired Wednesday.

Kerry’s shoulder surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital lasted about 45 minutes.

His doctor, Bertram Zarins, said the candidate emerged smiling and quipping. “I hope I didn’t reveal any state secrets,” Zarins quoted Kerry as saying.

Kerry, 60, originally injured the shoulder in a 1992 bicycling accident and reinjured it when a campaign bus lurched in January, throwing him off balance.

He entered the hospital about midday and went under general anesthesia so that Zarins -- doctor to three professional sports teams in the Boston area -- could make a small incision and stitch together the torn sub-scapularis tendon.

By late in the day, Kerry was back in his Beacon Hill home watching a videotape of “The Blues Brothers” movie and relaxing, an aide said.

Kerry told reporters the day before the surgery that he had been surprised to read news reports that quoted his doctor saying he would need to take a break from shaking hands for two to three weeks.

The candidate, who had prostate surgery about a year ago, said he expected to proceed with little change in his campaign.

“This is not a big deal. It’s really not,” Kerry said.

But with the Democrat apparently headed toward a November showdown with President Bush, everything he does becomes news.

More than 40 reporters took part Wednesday in a phone news conference with Zarins after the surgery.

Times staff writer Elizabeth Mehren contributed to this report from Boston. Rainey reported from Los Angeles.