NEW YORK, Oct 3 (AFP) - Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry is in robust health, despite a cancer operation last year and a hectic campaign schedule, The New York Times reported Sunday after interviewing the senator's doctors.
Regular blood tests checking for a recurrence of prostate cancer have been clean, doctors said. Kerry, whose father died of prostate cancer at age 85, had his prostate gland entirely removed in February 2003 after detection of early-stage cancer. His doctors say he is cured.
If Kerry had a recurrence, "he would be astonished, and so would I," said Dr Patrick Walsh, who performed the operation.
A review of X-rays by Kerry's personal physician confirm that he has two pieces of metal shrapnel deep in his left thigh, one the size of a bullet and other a bit smaller. Kerry, who has been accused of exaggerating his injuries in the Vietnam war, was treated for shrapnel wounds in 1969.
Kerry, 60, has had five surgeries for sports-related injuries, the most recent in March to repair an old biking injury aggravated during the campaign.
Kerry's personal physician said he might prescribe a cholesterol-lowering drug after the election, but meanwhile urged the candidate to eat peanut butter sandwiches and ice cream to make up for meals missed while campaigning.
"To hell with the cholesterol," Doctor Gerald Doyle was quoted as saying. "You can't have a gaunt-looking person running for president because people will draw conclusions that are erroneous."
Kerry stands 1.95 metres (six feet four inches) tall and his normal weight is 83.9 kilograms.
He takes no medications on a regular basis and has never been in trouble with the law for alcohol or drug abuse, the report said.
Doctors said Kerry had instructed them not to withhold anything from his medical records, as past US presidents and candidates have sometimes done.