'Today' Star Hoda Kotb Finally Addressed Savannah Guthrie's Absence

From Country Living

Today show fans didn't see Savannah Guthrie's face Wednesday morning. Instead, Hoda Kotb and Craig Melvin were manning the desk and reporting on the latest headlines. This had many people wondering: Where is Savannah Guthrie and when will she return to the Today show?

As Hoda announced right away Wednesday, Savannah took the day off to have eye surgery for the retina in her right eye. “She’d had some laser treatments, so now she’s actually going through the surgery. And she’s going to keep us posted, so we wish for her a very speedy recovery.”

Specifically, Today.com reports that Savannah is having retinal detachment surgery. According to Mayo Clinic, it can take several months for your vision to improve after having the surgery and another procedure may be necessary. Dr. Annie Negrin, a board-certified ophthalmologist, explained on the NBC program that the surgery may require a patient to be face down at all times for up to three weeks. At the moment, it's unclear if this will be the case for Savannah and if she'll be absent for that long.

Doctors deemed the surgery necessary after Savannah accidentally injured her retina last month while playing with her 3-year-old son, Charley. Back on November 27, Savannah revealed on the show that Charley unintentionally hit her eye with a sharp part of a toy train.

Initially, Savannah's doctors were hoping to avoid surgery and tried to use laster treatments for her torn retina. But after five laser treatments, Savannah ended up needing the procedure after all.

About a day after the toy train incident, Savannah claimed that she lost vision in her right eye. She missed two days on the show immediately following the accident.

“It turned out to be kind of serious. They were afraid my retina would detach," she explained on the Today show. "They told me to just take it easy and they’ve been doing a bunch of laser procedures to avoid having to do the whole surgery.”

She added, "It was so blurry from — not to get too gross — but there was so much blood in my eye that it completely blocked my vision.”

While Savannah will definitely be missed, she did appear to be in high spirits recently. She was all smiles while celebrating Charley's birthday earlier this week with her family. "Three years old and ready to paaaarrrrty 🎉 🎈," she wrote on Instagram.

Rest up and feel better, Savannah!

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