Kelowna city Coun. Charlie Hodge is on the mend.
After a lengthy surgery last week to reconstruct part of his jaw, Hodge is recuperating in the intensive care unit at Kelowna General Hospital.
According to his wife Teresa, Charlie had to have a post-operative tracheotomy and cannot speak yet.
“He can still get more infections, germs etc., so he isn’t out of the woods yet,” she wrote in a Facebook post updating her husband’s condition Wednesday. “He’s chipper for a guy whose been through the grinder.”
Hodge, who writes a popular weekly column for the Capital News, had a 2 1/2-inch piece of bone from his tibia removed to be used in reconstructing part of his jaw. The removal of the portion of jawbone occurred earlier during surgery necessitated by an infection stemming from impacted teeth.
Initially, Hodge had a titanium rod placed in his jaw.
Teresa Hodge said her husband, despite recovering from major surgery, has insisted on keeping up with city council business and has had the weekly council information packages delivered to his hospital bed so he can stay informed.
A city hall colleague who visited Hodge earlier this week said she were pleasantly surprised by how well he appeared, given the seriousness of the nearly 12-hour surgery he underwent Oct. 25.
Heading into surgery, Hodge said his goal was to be out of hospital and back at the council table by December.
Teresa said the first thing Charlie did after getting his hands on a cell phone in the ICU was text his acceptance of an invitation to this year’s city Christmas party.
“I guess that means he plans on getting out by December,” said Teresa. “Now that is incentive.”
Meanwhile, Charlie Hodge has been named as the city’s newest director on the Central Okanagan Regional Board.
The city was awarded a seventh position on the board as a result of its growing population. The board currently has 12 directors —six from Kelowna including Mayor Colin Basran and board chairwoman Coun. Gail Given, two from West Kelowna and one each from Peachland, Lake Country. The two unincorporated electoral areas of Okanagan East and West have a director apiece. The WFN council appoints a non-voting representative to the board.
Hodge, who has severed two separate terms on Kelowna city council—2008-2011 and the current term that started in 2014—was an alternate on the RDCO board prior to the announcement of his appointment earlier this week.
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