Zsa Zsa Gabor recovering after amputation

LOS ANGELES – Zsa Zsa Gabor was doing well after surgery to amputate her right leg – an operation that doctors said was necessary to save her life, her publicist said Friday.

Gabor’s blood pressure and heart rate were normal and she was resting comfortably hours after her surgery, publicist John Blanchette said. He said she’ll be in the hospital for another week or two and hopefully will be home by her 94th birthday on Feb. 6.

Gabor was being watched carefully, but there were no complications, doctors at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center said.

Gabor, who had an infection in her leg for several months, was hospitalized on Jan. 2 after efforts to save her leg with antibiotics failed.

Gabor broke her hip and had replacement surgery in July, and has been hospitalized several times since for swelling in her legs and blood clots throughout her body.

“Ms. Gabor needed an amputation above her knee due to poor circulation and a large ulcerated area on her right leg,” said Dr. David Rigberg, associate professor of vascular surgery.

Gabor has used a wheelchair since she was partially paralyzed in a 2002 car accident, and she had a stroke in 2005. She retreated from the spotlight after the accident and stroke. She liked staying home and watching soap operas, game shows and old movies, her husband, Frederic Prinz von Anhalt, told reporters in July. She detested having her picture taken by the paparazzi while she was in her wheelchair.

“She wants people to remember her as she was years ago,” he said then.