How Al Roker Continues His Surgery Recovery Between Takes at 'Today'
Al Roker is back at Today, after having knee surgery recently, and the beloved weatherman has to make sure to work on his recovery between takes at the morning news show. Over on Instagram, Roker shared a photo of his knee wrapped up in an ice pack. In the caption, he explained, "In between my on camera stuff on the [Today show] my leg gets elevated and I use an ice wrap to ice my knee."
Earlier this week, Roker surprised his Today co-anchors by making an early return to the show following his surgery. On Thursday, the 68-year-old weatherman appeared in a live segment, much to the joy and surprise of Today anchors Dylan Dreyer, Sheinelle Jones, and Craig Melvin. "What's up, brother? Good to see you," Melvin exclaimed, then adding, "We weren't expecting that – clearly!" Offering an update on his health, Roker shared, "I am doing fine. It is good to see all of you. I'm going to be honest. I've had a number of replacements, knee replacements. It's not a big surprise. This one has been the toughest one yet because they had to take out the old one, which had some complications, and then put in a new one."
Previously in May, Roker appeared virtually on the show, and explained, "This one is a little more complicated because it's what they call a revision; it was a replacement of a replacement, so they had to take stuff out, put stuff in, so it was a bit of a bear. So we've just been kind of hanging out. Chilling out, not doing anything – which I know, a lot of people find hard to believe, but in fact, that is the case."
This was not the first time Roker had had to take a leave of absence from the Today show, due to some health problems, lately. Back in early November, the beloved meteorologist was hospitalized for blood clots in his legs and lungs. "Last week I was admitted to the hospital with a blood clot in my leg which sent some clots into my lungs," Roker wrote in a Nov. 18 Instagram post. After being treated, he was released to spend Thanksgiving with his family but had to be transported back to the hospital on Friday, Nov. 25.
Speaking to Page Six, a source familiar with the situation said, "Al was taken from his home in a stretcher back to the hospital on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. His condition was worrying, but once back in the hospital, he improved." Thankfully, Roker continued to recover and appears to be doing much better.