State College Mayor Bill Welch said his recovery following surgery at Hershey Medical Center is going well.

Welch returned home last Friday following his Feb. 7 surgery to correct an abdominal aortic aneurysm.

Welch said he is able to sit up, check his e-mail and answer the phone without any problems.

"All signs seem to be good," he said. "The big issue for me today is getting these 45 staples out of my belly."

Nurses have been visiting him at home since the day of the operation to administer blood thinners and check his condition, he said.

"The home care nurses have just been terrific," he said.

Welch's surgeon explained the operation to correct an aneurysm.

The aorta is the main artery leading away from the heart, said Dr. Robert G. Atnip, Chief of Vascular Surgery at Hershey Medical Center. An aneurysm is a bulge in the artery.

"With every beat of the heart, there's pressure on the aorta," he said. "Like anything that's elastic, it starts to wear out after awhile."

Without surgery, the condition can be deadly, he said. "If not treated and the wall breaks, it's basically fatal hemorrhaging," he said.

To correct the problem, surgeons remove the weak and diseased section and replace it with a graft, Atnip said.

"Most people are out of commission about a month," he said. "He's done well."

Welch said he had known about the aneurysm prior to the surgery.

It was first discovered nine years ago while he was hospitalized for a kidney transplant. The bulge grows very slowly, he said.

Doctors have been keeping an eye on it and recently, because he was in strong physical health, decided it was time to act.

"They have an unpleasant tendency to burst," he said. In the event of an aneurysm rupturing, the chance of survival is very low, Welch said.

"If it actually bursts, you're not in good shape," he said.

By operating early, doctors told him the surgery had a 95 percent chance of success, Welch added.

Although he does not like to make predictions, Welch said he would hopefully return to his full duties as mayor within a month.

While recovering, he is watching the State College Borough Council meetings on CNET and keeping in touch with council members over the phone and e-mail.

Borough Council President Richard McCarl said he gets daily updates on the mayor's condition, but has not bothered him with borough issues, preferring to let him recover. "I had bypass surgery a couple years ago, and I just remember how tired I was," he said.

Although he is doing well, Welch said he has no plans for additional surgery anytime in the near future and is tired of being stuck with needles.

"I've had it for the moment," he said. "My right arm looks like a banana that's gone bad."