Leahy recovering from hip replacement surgery

According to the Mount Sinai Hospital System website, hospital stays after hip replacement surgery typically last for three to five days, potentially followed up by a “short stay” in a rehabilitation facility. 

“As soon as the first day after surgery, you will be asked to start moving and walking around with a walker, crutches, or a cane,” the Mount Sinai site says. “You will need physical therapy to strengthen your new joint for up to several weeks after your operation.”

A separate post on the Johns Hopkins Medicine website says “most” patients can start walking and go home the day of the surgery, with a possible need for a cane or walker to get around in the aftermath. “If you have a desk job with minimal activity, you can return to work in about two weeks,” the Hopkins site says.

The surgery, while successful, had threatened to sideline Leahy for weeks, just as momentum appeared to be building to salvage a downsized version of the “Build Back Better” plan that stalled last year. 

With no Republican support for the measure, Democrats need every single vote from their members to pass the measure using the budget reconciliation process, which allows for a simple majority instead of 60 votes for passage.