Brazil's President Lula discharged from hospital

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Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was discharged on Sunday from a Sao Paulo hospital following emergency surgery to treat an intracranial hemorrhage. "I am here in one piece... returning home calmly," the 79-year-old leader said as he made a surprise appearance at a news conference by his medical team at Hospital Sirio-Libanes. He later smiled and waved to reporters as he left the hospital. Lula had successful surgery last Tuesday in which doctors drilled through his skull to relieve pressure that built up after a blow to the head in October, when he fell in a bathroom in his presidential residence in the capital Brasilia. He underwent a follow-up operation on Thursday to minimise the risk of further bleeding in the affected area of the protective intracranial membranes. The president can resume activities but will need to take it easy for 15 days, cardiologist Roberto Kalil said at the news conference. "There was a risk of the worst happening," Kalil said later in an interview with the Globo television network. Lula will remain in Sao Paulo until Thursday, when he will undergo follow-up tests. Once cleared, he will be able to return to Brasilia and his normal routine. "The only restriction is physical exercise," said Kalil. Another doctor, Ana Helena Germoglio, said Lula's recovery had "exceeded expectations." Known for his frenetic work pace, Lula burst into the news conference on Sunday without warning and approached the microphones, walking unassisted. He addressed reporters while wearing a fedora-style hat that covered signs of his operations, accompanied by his wife Rosangela "Janja" da Silva. Lula's medical emergency started when he complained last Monday of a headache while in Brasilia. An MRI scan found a hemorrhage between his brain and the dura mater membrane that protects it, prompting his swift transport to Hospital Sirio-Libanes -- the country's top medical facility -- for surgery. "I confess I was scared by the volume of fluid growth in my head. I was worried by the urgency of the request" to go to the hospital, he said. "I never think I'm going to die, but I'm scared, so I need to follow the rules," Lula said, adding he will not go to the beach for the end-of-year holidays, as many Brazilians do. "I'm going home now," he told reporters, "calm, sure that I'm cured and that I just need to take care of myself." After suffering his fall on October 19, Lula had told an official from his Workers' Party that the accident was "serious." In the weeks following, the president skipped planned overseas trips. But from mid-November he resumed his active schedule, hosting a G20 summit in Rio and attending a Mercosur summit in Uruguay. The latest medical emergency adds to a list of health problems Lula has suffered over the years, including treatment in 2011 for throat cancer and a hip replacement operation last year. (AFP)