Kerry has shoulder surgery

Boston surgeons yesterday successfully repaired a torn tendon in Senator John F. Kerry's right shoulder, discharging the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee to convalesce at his Beacon Hill home for several days even as evidence mounted that the Bush campaign's attacks have hurt his public standing.

Kerry, emerging from general anesthesia yesterday afternoon at Massachusetts General Hospital, quipped, "I hope I didn't reveal any state secrets," according to his surgeon.

Kerry will probably spend the rest of the week recovering in Boston, tending to paperwork and phone calls and undergoing low-grade physical therapy. Certain cosmetic aspects of campaigning will be off-limits for several weeks as well, said his surgeon.

"I think he'll be able to shake hands quite soon," said Dr. Bertram Zarins, who also treats injured New England Patriots and Boston Bruins players. "But throwing a football will be several months down the road." Between campaign stops, Kerry is often photographed tossing a football with aides on airport tarmacs.

New polls indicate the Bush campaign's ongoing barrage of attack ads may be taking a toll on the Massachusetts Democrat. A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll this week showed his favorable rating dropped from 60 percent a month ago to 53 percent, while his disapproval rating rose from 26 percent to 36 percent. President Bush's numbers were stable at 57 percent favorable and 41 percent unfavorable.

Yesterday morning, before his surgery, Kerry visited the Boston Carpenters Apprenticeship and Training Center in Brighton to talk jobs. He took aim at the recent comments by three top administration officials suggesting that outsourcing US jobs overseas would benefit the national economy.

"We all understand outsourcing will take place. I understand that, I'm not dumb about economics," Kerry said as five unemployed workers sat on stools arranged around him. "What we object to is the sort of blindness of this administration to the problems that are left behind as people try to bring their life together, and also the unwillingness to do what's really necessary to create more jobs in the United States."

Kerry has proposed creating 10 million jobs with a massive influx of public works spending, and by providing tax credits for businesses, reducing health care costs to free up capital, and spurring technological development, particularly in the energy arena.

"I don't think we deserve leadership that's satisfied to downsize the American Dream. I'm not," he said. He also took aim at the administration's decision to reverse course, allowing national security adviser Condoleezza Rice to testify before the commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States.

"They seem to always get it right -- late -- on almost everything," Kerry said. "Late coming to homeland security, late coming to what we need to do with the UN and Iraq, late coming to the economy, late coming to the truth. This administration, we need a president who gets it right the first time, and that's what this is about."

Bracing himself as his campaign bus suddenly braked in January, Kerry tore a tendon connected to his right shoulder muscle. In addition to that 3/4-inch tear, surgeons yesterday also discovered a second, smaller tear in a right bicep tendon.

Surgeons cut a 1 1/2-inch incision in his shoulder area and a smaller one near his bicep. The procedure lasted about 45 minutes.

Just after 3 p.m., Zarins told reporters: "Everything went smoothly. Senator Kerry is awake, smiling, having no pain."

Zarins reported no complications. Kerry received novocaine injections around the incision and may require painkillers for several more days. Kerry, with his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, at his side, was chatting away in the recovery room yesterday afternoon.

Doctors have advised Kerry against handshaking for at least a week and baby toting for several weeks, though the candidate will have to judge on his own when to resume these campaign staples.

"I'm just going to say go by pain and, if it hurts, just not to do it," Zarins said, regarding the advice he gave Kerry.

Glen Johnson can be reached at johnson@globe.com. Raja Mishra can be reached at rmishra@globe.com.