Al Roker’s 7-hour Surgery And Health Crisis Was “Frightening”: “I Lost Half My Blood”

Al Roker’s 7-hour surgery came with additional complications, as, during surgery, his medical team found out he had two bleeding ulcers in addition to the blood clots in his leg and lungs. This made him realize how far his condition had progressed before surgery.

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Upon Roker’s celebrated return to NBC’s “The Today Show” after two months absence, the host opened up about the medical condition that kept him away from the show for that long.

With wife Deborah Roberts by his side, the 68-year-old weatherman detailed his intense 7-hour surgery that was meant to “correct a bunch of internal stuff.”

Roker had no idea his condition was so serious when he talked with doctors in November and told them about experiencing stomach pains.

It was soon found out that his condition had progressed to become a range of issues that baffled his medical team and sent Roker to the hospital twice.

“Look, I had two complicating things,” Roker said on Today. “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.”

“Al was a very, very, very sick man … most people didn’t know that,” explained Roberts, 62. “Two doctors led this brilliant team — it was a team — who had to figure out what was happening. He was a medical mystery for a couple of weeks. And it was the must tumultuous, frightening journey we have been on.”

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Roker was treated at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. During the surgery process, his medical team discovered he had two bleeding ulcers. This made them resection his colon, take out his gallbladder and operate on his duodenum, part of the small intestine.

“I went into for one operation, I got four free,” joked Roker. “So I got that going for me.”

He also heartily thanked his wife for getting him “through this medical crisis.”

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