Rep. Charlie Wilson (D-Ohio) returned to work this week after emergency surgery to repair his colon.

“I’m back, I’m healthy, and I’m ready to get back to work,” Wilson told reporters Tuesday.

He will vote, but per his doctor’s orders will not take any meetings until next week and will not resume a full schedule until after Thanksgiving, according to his office.

On Oct. 9 the first-term congressman had a routine colonoscopy —his third such procedure — that resulted in a perforated colon. “It’s a one-in-1,000 risk that can happen,” explained Wilson’s spokeswoman, Hillary Wicai Viers. “When you have a hole in your large intestines, stuff is going places it shouldn’t, so they had to [perform] emergency abdominal surgery.”

Symptoms of the perforation included fever and tenderness in the belly. Wilson had surgery on Oct. 11 at George Washington University Hospital, which will leave the lawmaker with a nine-inch wound.

The congressman remained in Washington until after the House voted to override President Bush’s veto of legislation expanding the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) wheeled him in so that Wilson could cast his vote to override the veto.

Wilson returned home to Ohio with his live-in girlfriend, Angela Hatfield. The couple lives in St. Clairesville. “We’re glad to have him back,” remarked Viers. “We’ve missed having him around.”

The print version of this article stated that the colonoscopy discovered the perforated colon, when it actually caused it. The story also stated that it was a nine-inch wound when it should have said that Wilson's surgery leave the lawmaker with a nine-inch scar.