Miller’s surgery ‘perfect’

Tuesday, Nov. 19, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Gov. Bob Miller's operation at a Los Angeles hospital to remove a cancerous prostate gland "went perfectly," his surgeon said.

Miller, 51, was in the operating room at Cedars Sinai Hospital for a little more than 90 minutes Monday and then spent about one hour in the recovery room before being returned to his private room that overlooks the Hollywood Hills.

Dr. Skip Holden, a specialist in urologic oncology, said, "Everything went fine." Surrounding areas of the gland were examined but there was no spread of the cancer, he said.

"Everything is clean," Holden said. "I couldn't be more pleased." He called the governor "a very strong patient."

When the governor regained consciousness in the recovery room, his wife, Sandy, went in to visit him. When she emerged, she gave the "thumbs up" signal, said the governor's press secretary, Richard Urey.

The attending anesthesiologist was Dr. James Futrell, a 6-foot-8 physician who played basketball at Northern Illinois University. Before Miller went under, he talked basketball with Futrell and invited him for a one-on-one game in Nevada. The governor, an avid pickup basketball player, is 6 feet 4.

The governor is expected to return to Carson City by the end of the week, where he will spend 10 days to two weeks at home. But he will also be doing paperwork and making phone calls. Urey said it will be a "few weeks" after that before Miller is back to his full schedule.

Last week, Miller attended a three-day governors' seminar in Atlanta, briefing the new governors on national issues. He flew to Los Angeles Saturday night.

The governor played golf Sunday at the Hillcrest Country Club in a foursome that included comedian Jan Murray and some friends of Miller's father, Ross Miller, who died of cancer. Sunday night the governor attended a fund-raiser for Bonds for Israel.

He ran into Holden at the dinner, joking with him that he should not drink too much wine and stay out too late. Urey said the governor quipped that the dinner lasted so long he thought they were applying the anesthesia early.

Urey said Lt. Gov. Lonnie Hammargren's office had been contacted and "there has been total cooperation."

There was no transfer of power to Hammargren during the surgery. Earlier this year, Hammargren tried to fill a vacancy on the Lincoln County Commission while the governor was on vacation. After that incident, Miller wrote Hammargren a highly critical letter.

The governor's staff asks that cards and letters be sent to his Carson City office and not the hospital.

On Oct. 9, Miller announced that blood tests a week earlier in Las Vegas revealed earliest-stage prostate cancer but that the chance of full recovery was good.

His personal physician, Dr. Elias Ghanem of Las Vegas, recommended that the surgery be performed by Holden, medical director of the CAPcure Foundation, a cancer center. Holden was previously associated with the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Institute of New York City.

Miller