Milne's brain operation success

Presenter Kevin Milne is up and about again. Photo / Supplied

Long-time Fair Go host Kevin Milne has had a brain tumour removed - and he's already planning his television comeback.

Milne - who left Fair Go last year after 27 years with the programme - had the tumour removed at Wakefield Hospital in Wellington on Tuesday.

The 61-year-old left hospital yesterday a relieved man.

"I am feeling pretty good. They had to remove a tumour from my pituitary gland which is a very dicey exercise.

"The tumour was jammed between the two carotid arteries and the back of the brain, the optic nerve and the pituitary gland - it's all done by microscopic surgery. So it all goes up through your nose, they drill through the front of your skull."

The operation took two hours, and he has since watched it on video, as you'd expect of any good television man.

"Seeing the brain and the nerves on screen - I mean these surgeons are doing breakthrough work. The quality of the pictures were amazing."

He was impressed with what he saw of his brain, too. "It looked enormous," he laughed, "which surprised me. I can see it going right down to my chest."

The man rated the second most trustworthy in the country by an annual Readers' Digest poll has had to deal with the tumour for the past two years. It was benign and so not life threatening, but its growth threatened his eyesight.

"I thought I might have got away with it when it stopped growing - but then it kept growing and although it was a benign tumour if it gets bigger and bigger ...

"I mean it had already knocked out my pituitary gland and was about to knock out my optic nerve which would have blinded me, so that's why I had to get it out.

"The surgeons said it was about the size of a lychee (a Chinese fruit)."

The pain from the procedure had been bearable.

He would have to monitor his health carefully over the next fortnight. "I won't be staying in bed, but I won't be allowed to weed the garden thank God."

He had so far restricted visitors to family - led by wife Linda - "because up till now you are looking pretty ugly actually.

"Your nose is bleeding and there's a bit of bruising. I am a bit of a Joe Bugner so I have a bit of a boxer's nose."

But one bonus was having to have his nose straightened before the main operation. "The ear, nose and throat guy said to me: 'You should feel pleased 'cause women would pay me a couple of grand to do that'."

The build-up to the operation had been nerve-racking. "I have got a heart valve and because of that they have to take me off Warfarin. So if you have any complications you would be a bit exposed to maybe a stroke or something - but obviously they manage all of that brilliantly."

He is already looking forward to a new television project. "I am talking to a production company ... it's a series they are looking at."

Corporate work and involvement in advertising work were other options.

He said the surgeons were thrilled with their work and he had enormous faith in them.

And the camera work was not too bad either, apparently.

"The operation was beautifully directed. I felt, perhaps, they could have got a few more wide shots."