Phillip Phillips Reportedly Has Surgery – Finally

By On 06/07/2012 · 100 Comments · In American Idol, Phillip Phillips

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UPDATE: The Hollywood Reporter is confirming the report.

“Surgery went well, he’s resting and will be ready for the Idol tour kick off in July!,” Leslie Fradkin, a representative for Idol producers 19 Entertainment, tells THR. She had no further comment.

TMZ is reporting that American Idol winner, Phillip Phillips FINALLY had his surgery yesterday. Reportedly the procedure was 6 and 1/2 hours long!

Phillip Phillips finally went under the knife to remove the enormous kidney stones that almost derailed his run to the “American Idol” title … TMZ has learned.

We’re told Phillip had the 6 and a half hour long surgery in L.A. yesterday — and he is recovering well today. The stones that were removed were so huge there was no chance he could’ve passed them on his own.

As TMZ first reported, Phil was scheduled to have the surgery last week … but it was delayed because he had a fever and sinus infection.

Phillip suffered through excruciating pain during the entire season of ‘Idol.’ It obviously paid off.

Oh what a relief.

The secrecy and conflicting reports around Phillips health have made this story pretty weird to follow. If TMZ’s report is true, hope Phillip has a speedy recovery. Health first, even if he has to miss the beginning of the tour.

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  • Kirsten

     

    I am glad the surgery went well.  I am also glad they announced it after
    the fact – to give Phillip and his family some privacy.

    Meh. They were all about publicizing his medical issues while he was on the show (please pray for our son). Now that he’s won, they want the public to keep their noses out of their private business.  Call me cynical.

    I’m glad he’s back on the road to health (that’s what is important), but if you court the press, don’t be outraged when they show up at your door. You can’t turn them off like a spigot.

  • Karen C

    I’m glad he had the surgery, and hope he feels better soon.  That sounds like it was painful. 

    I kind of wonder if there was an alternative treatement but it was still the surgery he had, I think sometimes they can do different types of surgery for some conditions, and some have a quicker recovery than others.  Either that or it was just misdirection.

    And if the family did put out  information about Phillips condition then stopped, I could understand that they are very new to being in the public eye, and having the media follow everything that is going on with them. 

    I also don’t believe that this is made up or anything, because he is missing out on so much press.   I did kind of wonder last week when they said he had the alternative treatment why he still wasn’t doing any press, if he was better.  

  • Anonymous

    I wish this were true.  Kidney stones normally mean Osteoporosis, which means he is not getting enough absorbable calcium

    That’s not exactly true. The person’s underlying disease depends a lot on the crystal composition of the stone. This is why stones are always sent to the lab for analysis when first removed. Osteoporosis is only one of the many diseases than can potentially be associated with the calcium stones and most people with stones do not have osteoporosis. In fact, anything that results in high concentrations of urine calcium can lead to calcium stones.

    If anyone is interested, here’s a rough summary of the some of the most common and significant kidney stones and the related diseases: 

    1.Calcium oxalate stones: By far, the most common stones.  They’re often found in healthy people, but can also be associated with hyperparathyroidism, osteoporosis, malabsorption, obesity, high dietary vitamin C, low dietary calcium, high protein in diet, kidney defects, dehydration, etc.

    2. Calcium phosphate stones: These are associated with the same conditions as calcium oxalate stones, but are not as common. Also, if found, they tend to be more concerning for an underlying disease than the oxalate stones. 

    3. Uric acid stones ( 5-10% of stone cases): They’re associated with an acidic urine and other conditions that cause  high levels of urine uric acid: eg. gout, malignancies (eg. leukemia), low vitamin B12,  dehydration.

    4. Struvite stones (ammonium magnesium phosphate crystals): Seen in patients with upper urinary tract infections due to  urease-producing bacteria like proteus and klebsiella.

    5. Cystine stones: Uncommon, but when found, are associated with a genetic disease called cystinuria. These stones often appear first appear in childhood. 
    (I hope this isn’t TMI!)

  • Anonymous

    I’m so glad Phillip get this done, not his fault to be sick at same time he was running for AI11 ….. he handled this with grace and dignity and i totally understand their wish of privacy at the moment of the surgery …i really , really think that they handle this the best they were able to do ;) ….so for now i wish him a fast recovery , he’s young but he need a full recovery before to hit the real life on the music industry ….. that obviously can be VERY stressing . :/

  • http://twitter.com/Loretta31 Loretta

    Well wishes sent Philips way.

    6 1/2 hours is a long time to just remove stones.  I am of the mind that more procedures were performed.

  • Anonymous

    I hope he recovers quickly and gets to do all of the fun and exciting things that are in store for him.

    Fuzzywuzzy, lol, the pics are ick!!!! Apparently those pointy little things try to pass throught tiny little tubes??? I just want to know how to avoid getting them.

  • TheOther

    Meh. They were all about publicizing his medical issues while he was on the show (please pray for our son). Now that he’s won, they want the public to keep their noses out of their private business. Call me cynical.

    I don’t agree. I don’t remember his mother courting the press. It was a facebook message. At the time, his parents were not in CA. And she probably was scared and overwhelmed – as any parent would be when their child is sick and they are far away. Phillip comes from a working class family; small town America. His family did not have the means to fly back and forth from Georgia each week to see him on Idol. Heejun had also tweeted at the time regarding Phillip’s situation.

  • http://twitter.com/KariannHart Kariann Hart

    DB987, my brother had open heart surgery 2 weeks ago and it took 5 hours.

    My fear is that they will rush him to recover.  It seems he should just sing his 5 songs and not do group numbers.  Maybe even skip meet and greet for a few weeks or more.  Give the fans a little but allow him to rest as much as needed.  IMO, Phillip’s health is more important than $$$.  Wishing him the best!

  • Kirsten

    I don’t agree. I don’t remember his mother courting the press. It was a facebook message.

    Was it a private facebook message? I think not. People aren’t that naive. She had to have known that fans were reading her facebook page by then.

    Look, for whatever reason, Phil agreed to publicize his medical issues during the show. There are Idols who have chosen not to do that sort of thing and Idol respects that.  The press got interested as anybody with a functioning brain would figure they would. After that happened, Phil and his family would have to be clueless not to realize that continuing to make statements about it would cause the press to continue to report on it.

    When it’s no longer convenient to have the press, I have little sympathy if the press continues to invade your privacy. They are like vampires. Once you invite them in the house, they are going to stay. Don’t invite them in if you don’t want them picking through your life. I don’t fault the press at all for continuing to conclude a story they were hand-fed.

    I have sympathy for his condition. I have sympathy when people’s private lives that they have kept private gets invaded. This is not the case here.

    I hope Phil gets better. If he wants to keep parts of his life private, I hope he learns not to publicize them first.

  • Anonymous

    I will see Phillip on tour in Sept so he should be in tip-top shape by then. But i’m sorry for anyone who is a fan of his who may get jipped in any way because he hasn’t recovered fully by the first few dates of the tour. These days though, most surgeries have extremely speedy recovery times and i hope this is the case with this one. 

     Wishing you an easy and quick post-op period, Phillip!

  • OffLeash

    I agree with you. She’s a mom and she got scared. 

  • TheOther

    Look, for whatever reason, Phil agreed to publicize his medical issues during the show. There are Idols who have chosen not to do that sort of thing and Idol respects that.

    Phillip had a chronic condition.  People were going to ask and speculate what was going on, since he was missing the Ford commercials. I don’t even remember him offering any information unless Ryan or Jimmy asked.  No different than what happened with Casey Abrams, Crystal Bowersox, Lauren Alaina when they had health problems during the show. They even had a doctor come on TV and examine Lauren.

  • OffLeash

    From what I understand they also had to reconstruct the kidney because of the congenital problem that was causing his kidney to not function normally.

  • clearone

    Exactly.  It’s not like he stood there on stage every night whining about how much pain he was in ……. he only ever mentioned it when asked.  Idol worked around his issues but they certainly haven’t respected his privacy.  IMO they have used his condition for PR purposes.

    His mother was concerned and wasn’t with him.  I think it was her way of having a prayer circle to send out good vibes to him.  She wasn’t the only one…….Heejun also tweeted asking for prayers because Phillip was in pain.  People were concerned for his well being.  I don’t see any diabolical plan to gain votes and beat out Joshua and Jessica for the title. 

    I guess I’m at a loss as to where Phillip has complained about the invasion of privacy? I daresay he is fully aware it’s part of the ‘job’.

  • Kirsten

    Phillip had a chronic condition.  People were going to ask and speculate
    what was going on, since he was missing the Ford commercials.

    He started talking about his kidney stone problems in Hollywood long before he was skipping the Ford commercials.

    I don’t
    even remember him offering any information unless Ryan or Jimmy asked.

    Just because people ask you something, doesn’t mean you have to tell them. Other Idols have quietly asked, offline,  that things not be discussed on television and TPTB have respected that. It kind of surprises me that TPTB aren’t completely evil trolls, but they are willing to be respectful. We know this. There are many examples of this that eventually came to light. Many Idols have complimented them for this.

    No different than what happened with Casey Abrams, Crystal Bowersox,
    Lauren Alaina when they had health problems during the show. They even
    had a doctor come on TV and examine Lauren.

    Casey, Crystal and Lauren also agreed to have it publicized and they didn’t suddenly behave as if the press were vultures who were invading their privacy. Casey and Crystal have gone on to be spokespersons for their medical conditions. All three responded to questions about their health. 

    I’m not calling Phil evil for revealing his medical condition. I’m just not feeling sorry for him that he can’t have an operation (an operation that he, his family and his girlfriend have helped to publicize) in private. The genie was let out of that bottle long ago. The horse has left the barn.  You can’t un-ring that bell.

    It’s quite possible that Phil doesn’t even want privacy and requires no sympathy about his privacy being invaded from anybody.  Which would be good, because he isn’t getting any from me (I’ll give him sympathy for his condition). I’m just completely unconcerned with his privacy regarding this issue.

    If you invite the press to cover your wedding, don’t be surprised when they cover your divorce.

  • Anonymous

    This is not the kind of exposure P2 should be getting. Albeit his health comes first, but 19/TPTB should not benefit from his current condition. Spare us the grimey details and stick to the truth. But that’s too much to ask for. The truth don’t get web traffic. Sucks.

    All the best for P2 whether he really had that surgery or not. m/

  • TheOther

    Casey, Crystal and Lauren also agreed to have it publicized and they didn’t suddenly behave as if the press were vultures who were invading their privacy

    And when has Phillip behaved this way? Having a 6.5 hr surgery is pretty major. Part of the healing process is just giving the patient some space. I don’t think his family has “publicized this”. They addressed it because concerned fans were asking. I don’t think his mother was scheming to get him votes with her face book message.

    Phillip can’t seem to win. If there is any mention of his medical condition, he is using for publicity. But on the other hand, if he chooses not to go into a lot of detail, then he is trying gain sympathy that the press won’t leave him alone.

  • Anonymous

    I don’t feel sorry that he’s getting press over this, it is what it is. Yes it is a storyline that Idol used to drum up some drama. It happens every single year and some contestant has to deal with the “health issues” angle. Just so happens Phillip’s was severe enough to need surgery and cause him to miss some of his press run. He is not a media whore because the media is choosing to cover this story. If anything I don’t mind he’s getting *some* publicity because he should have been on his press tour. I’m sure he would much rather had been on his press tour than have his name in the press for getting surgery. If any other Idol winner at any time was getting surgery it would be a story. And really, in the grand scheme of things any Idol getting publicity for anything is pretty much a win because they desperately need to raise their profile in the mainstream media to have any shot at a long time career. For me this whole thing is a non issue other than I’m glad Phillip is hopefully going to feel better soon. 

  • clearone

    I’m curious where he has behaved this was as well.  I’ve seen a good number of his interviews and have yet to see him be anything but gracious.

  • http://twitter.com/CanadianLady2 CanadianLady

    I believe it was Heejun who first mentioned it. From anything I’ve seen, Phillip only downplayed it from day 1, never brought it up, and only responded when asked. I’ve seen no indication that he or his family has tried to use it in any way to get sympathy or PR. I’m quite sure they would much rather it had never come or or been needed. Hopefully he has a good recovery and can now focus on his music.

  • LaurelG

    Yeah, I don’t think P2 courted the press or tried to publicize his condition either. Given the seriousness of his condition and the fact that it kept him out of the Ford commercials and other Idol events during his season, I’m not sure how he could have been totally private about it.

    Fame, notoriety and handling the press is a learning process for anyone, so I’m not gonna criticize. I thought he was very low-key about everything. Hope the surgery was a complete success and he can now enjoy his Idol win pain free. Even though he wasn’t my favorite, he seems like a nice guy.

  • getaway1

    First off, it looks like TMZ got the story right.  Not E-Online, lol.

    Phillip playing the sympathy card with the press?  I will file that with the claim he was going to be the shock boot every week as well as with the claim that he will be the worse selling winner in AI history.

    Obviously there is enough people out there interested enough in Phillip’s journey for the media to report on it.

    Congrats to Phillip for scoring his first #1 on Billboard.  Congrats to Home for selling 380,000 copies in just 2 weeks.

  • Hazehel

    I believe it was Heejun who first mentioned it.

    It wasn’t Heejun who first mentioned it, Phillips was explaining why he had to go back to his room (he was feeling sick, and explained that he had surgeries for kidney stones), although it sounded more like he was downplaying it, Seacrest apparently thought it was a medical issue that’s already sorted.  Anyway, most people probably remember that episode more for the mass outbreak of sickness, and the bit about kidney stone was probably put in so that Heejun can have a little quip about cowboy with his “brain stone”.  Most people don’t really remember Phillip and his kidney stones in that episode, TMZ even said gall stones in their first story on him.

    It’s really a non-story, people who don’t like that Phillip won the show will spin his operation any way they like,  it’s just something that comes with the territory of being an Idol winner.   Even if he is a master diplomat or a complete saint, he can’t avoid any brickbats coming his way, so his fans will need to get use to it.

  • sdmama

    I feel relieved to learn that he was able to get the full procedure done, not just temporary measure before the tour, and I pray for a speedy recovery from it.

    There is a huge difference between “publicizing it” and “acknowledge/admit it”. Phillip acknowledged that he had a kidney problem, only when he was asked. And down played how much pain he was in every time. Publicizing it is when you start taking about the family tragedy or illness that is not apparent when nobody asked.
       
    It is unavoidable that a family member, who is worried sick, making comments when asked how they feel about their kid. I would admit how proud and how worried at the same time, too.

  • Anonymous

    i’m late but just saw your answer. I do agree with you that MDs do not think in terms of nutritional deficiencies. Medice is for me emergency medicine. To keep and increase my health i look elsewhere than there

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