Surgery set tomorrow on Menino's bum knee

stan grossfeld/globe staff/fileMayor Thomas Menino behind Sox chairman Tom Werner last Oct. 30. (stan grossfeld/globe staff/file)

Talk about taking one for the team.

Mayor Thomas M. Menino is scheduled to undergo arthroscopic knee surgery tomorrow to repair cartilage torn when he slipped during a Red Sox championship rally last fall. Months of physical therapy failed to heal the synovial joint in his right leg.

The chief of orthopedic surgery at Brigham and Women's Hospital will perform the procedure at Faulkner Hospital using local anesthesia. Dr. Thomas Thornhill said yesterday that the mayor could be up and around in a few days, or it could be a few weeks.

"It depends on what we find," Thornhill said.

Menino, 65, hyperextended his right knee hoisting the World Series trophy at Fenway Park before the team's victory parade last Oct. 30. The mayor lost his footing on a staircase but quickly recovered his balance - and managed to keep the trophy aloft throughout.

In 2004, he underwent treatment for Crohn's disease, a chronic condition that causes painful intestinal blockages. In 2003, doctors at Brigham and Women's removed a small lump from his back that turned out to be a rare form of skin cancer. City officials say he has since been cancer-free.

"It's a contest between Tom Brady and I to see who gets better faster," Menino said yesterday. "I'll be back on the playing field Monday morning."

Donovan Slack can be reached at dslack@globe.com.