After six weeks of health problems, Kelowna Coun. Charlie Hodge returned to his seat in Kelowna chambers for today’s regular city council meeting.
Hodge, who had emergency surgery last week, after getting an infection in his jaw following the removal of a severely impacted tooth, missed last week’s council meeting while in hospital.
But on Monday afternoon, he was back, looking markedly slimmer following the last six weeks on a liquid diet, and sporting a new titanium place in his jaw, complete with six screws holding it in place and more than 200 stitches, most of which are inside his mouth.
“I’m back and very thankful for it,” he told council.
Prior tot he meeting, Hodge—who writes a weekly column for the Capital News—said he is still in a a great deal of pain but it’s a different sort of pain.
“It’s the pain of healing,” he said.
During the council meeting, Hodge publicly thanked his wife, his medical team, his colleagues on council and the many members of the public who wished him well. And he praised the the medical treatment he received at KGH, saying the staff there did a great job despite it being obvious to him that the hospital is seriously understaffed.
“The people there do a phenomenal job despite the criticism they get,” he said of the doctors, nurses and staff at KGH.