Barry Manilow - Barry Manilow Walks Again After Surgery

The 68-year-old star underwent an operation to treat inflammatory condition bursitis and repair torn leg muscles.

He is set to spend up to six weeks recovering from the procedure, but Manilow has assured fans he is well on the way back to full health.

In a letter posted on his Facebook.com page, Manilow gives fans an update on his progress and thanks all the medical staff who have looked after him since the surgery.

He writes, "I tell you, going though something as rough as this makes you very grateful for a lot of things. Grateful for the genius doctors who can perform this incredibly complicated surgery; grateful for the caregivers who treated me like their own family and most of all grateful for good health. I will never, never take being healthy for granted again.

"Not being able to do anything without a team of people helping me was an eye opener. And I mean anything. Like getting out of bed or getting to the john to brush my teeth..."

The Mandy singer also reveals he is slowly starting to walk again and hopes to be feeling much better by New Year's Eve (31Dec11).

He adds, "The good news is that after three nightmarish weeks, I'm coming back from the dead. I'm slowly beginning to walk - still with a walker - but I think that will be over soon... The doctors say that everything should start to ease up by the end of this week. If that's so, what a great New Year's Eve I'm going to have!"