JERUSALEM – Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s surgeons reported “significant improvement” yesterday after his third operation in two days – and his youngest son declared, “My father will live.”
Sharon had been rushed back into surgery early yesterday after a brain scan detected renewed bleeding and increased pressure.
After nearly five hours in the operating room, doctors said they had drained all blood clots, ended the bleeding and made sure the pressure returned to normal.
Hadassah Hospital Director Shlomo Mor-Yosef said another brain scan showed “significant improve ment.”
The update on Sha ron, who remains in a medically induced coma, was good news because swelling of the brain and new bleeding from a stoke-causing blood vessel are common causes of death in patients immediately after a stroke.
But the chief neurosurgeon operating on Sharon acknowledged there was bound to be some damage to the prime minister.
“There is always some damage when you have cerebral hemorrhage,” Dr. Felix Umansky said.
“We cannot assess the damage because he is under anesthesia all the time. We need to wait and see what will happen once we reduce the medication which keeps him under sedation.”
Sharon’s sons, Gilad and Omri, who were camped out next to their father’s intensive-care room, emphasized the good news – that the latest crisis was over.
“People should calm down,” Gilad Sharon told The Post. “My father will live.”
After Sharon had his first two operations on Thursday, following a massive stroke the day before, doctors said they expected to bring him out of the induced coma by tomorrow. Yesterday, they didn’t say whether that was still their plan or give any indication of when the extent of damage to the 77-year-old premier would be known.
But Israel’s elder statesman Shimon Peres, a Sharon ally, said he was “very worried.”
An aide to Peres, who is expected to play a major role in a post-Sharon government, said Peres’ staff was told Sharon’s condition was “not good.”
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke yesterday with acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who may head Sharon’s new Kadima Party in March 28 elections.
A poll released yesterday found that an Olmert-led Kadima would win 39 of 120 seats – about the same as the party was expected to win under Sharon.
Rice also underlined the seriousness of Sharon’s condition by canceling a six-day Asian trip that was to begin today.
State Department officials said little beyond acknowledging that Rice would probably represent the United States if there was a funeral to attend in Jerusalem.
President Bush is said to be keeping his schedule clear as well.
“Our thoughts are with the family of Prime Minister Sharon and with Prime Minister Sharon, and we continue to hope for his recovery,” spokesman Sean McCormack said. “And I think, out of respect for them and out of respect for the Israeli people, I don’t think I have anything more to say.”
With Post Wire Services