Ted Williams Improving

BOSTON (AP) â€” Doctors continue to be encouraged by Ted Williams' improvement more than one week after a 9-hour operation to repair failing heart valves. <br><br>Doctors have removed a tube that ran

Wednesday, January 24th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

BOSTON (AP) â€” Doctors continue to be encouraged by Ted Williams' improvement more than one week after a 9-hour operation to repair failing heart valves.

Doctors have removed a tube that ran down his mouth and into his throat and four of the six IV lines and have continued to decrease the 82-year-old Hall of Famer's medication intake, The Boston Globe reported Wednesday.

The throat tube was replaced with a tracheotomy below the larynx, which doctors say would allow him to talk, something he could not do before.

``He absolutely looks better every day,'' said Jeffery Borer, the cardiologist treating Williams. ``He's beginning to look more like the person he was.''

However, Williams remains under sedation and has a mild infection in his lungs. Doctors say he has lost 22 pounds since the surgery.

Last week, doctors removed the pump that helped Williams' heart function since the operation.

Doctors had said Williams was expected to remain in New York Presbyterian Hospital's Weill Cornell Medical Center for 10 to 14 days after the operation. On Tuesday, doctors indicated Williams' stay could be longer than that.

``Certainly we have to measure he will be in the hospital in weeks,'' Borer said. After that, Williams would have to be in a rehab facility for several more weeks.

Williams' procedure was unexpectedly long because of excessive bleeding caused by medication Williams had been taking, surgeons said. During the surgery, a team of 14 doctors and nurses repaired the leaking valve with pig tissue.

Doctors also took longer than normal to stabilize Williams' heart after the surgery.

Williams continues to respond well to commands, and his blood pressure, cardiac output and pulmonary pressure are all improving, doctors report.

Williams had a pacemaker inserted in November, but continued to suffer from shortness of breath, caused by the leaky heart valve.

He entered a Florida hospital on Jan. 11 with what his cardiologist, Rick Kerensky, described as ``deterioration of his cardiovascular and neurological status.'' He was transferred to New York on Jan. 14, one day before he underwent surgery.

Williams hit .406 in 1941 and had 521 career home runs, including a farewell homer in his last at-bat in 1960.