Laura Bush 'very well' after surgery -White House

WASHINGTON, Sep 9 (Reuters) US first lady Laura Bush ''sounded very well'' after successful surgery to treat pinched nerves in her neck, a White House spokeswoman said yesterday.

She left the George Washington University Hospital after the 2 1/2-hour procedure and was ''resting comfortably at the White House,'' the first lady's spokeswoman Sally McDonough said.

President George W. Bush called his wife from Air Force One on his way back from a meeting with Asia-Pacific leaders in Sydney. ''He said she sounded very well,'' White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

''He looks forward to getting back to help her in the recovery,'' Perino said on Air Force One en route to Hawaii, where Bush's plane was to refuel.

McDonough said Laura Bush underwent ''a successful posterior cervical foraminotomy,'' a minimally invasive and common surgical procedure to relieve pressure on pinched nerves.

Many clinics offer the procedure on a walk-in, walk-out basis, although sometimes an overnight stay is required.

It is designed to enlarge the opening through which the nerve root leaves the spinal cord in the neck, for which the doctor can make a 1-inch (2.5 cm) incision and use an X-ray to guide the tools.

The first lady had been undergoing physical therapy for several months, but her doctors determined that the conservative treatment was not working and they recommended surgery, McDonough said earlier.

REUTERS TB RN0453