HILO, Hawai'i — Harry Kim has had to learn to walk again.

The former Hawai'i County mayor is coming off months marked by virtual paralysis of his legs, back surgery, then weeks of painfully relearning to stand, to walk a few steps, then out to the mailbox, a little farther each day.

Two months after surgery to shave and realign a slipped disc, Kim took a four-day trip to a cousin's wedding in Los Angeles last week. He's now walking a mile a day and using an exercise bike and small free weights. He plans to move up to heavier weights and people should soon see him navigating the streets on his bicycle.

But recent months have been nothing short of the very hardest of his life.

Discs have ruptured or herniated in several areas of Kim's back over the years. Just before Thanksgiving 2008, he found himself unable to stand.

"I had to sleep literally on my knees and elbows for a half-hour at a time, for a month and a half," Kim said.

Kim had supposed a ruptured disc was to blame. But at The Queen's Medical Center in Honolulu, Dr. William Obana reviewed Kim's MRI scans and spent a long time listening to him describe the pain.

Then, the day after New Year's, the physician went on a hunch.

"He thought it may be that a lower disc had slipped out of alignment and the MRI didn't pick it up," Kim said. "He took the chance, and my goodness, I'm glad he found it."

After four hours of surgery, Kim asked if he could stand up that night. Sure, the doctor said, if he felt he could handle it. Kim went home. He stood up that night. But his leg muscles had atrophied and the following weeks would be a painful quest for mobility, one shuffle at a time.

Already slim, he'd lost 20 pounds. A full recovery couldn't be expected for five to six months, his doctor said.

In late January, he made it out to the mailbox and back.

Being laid up for the last few weeks of his administration may have been the bitterest pill of all.

The inauguration of Mayor Billy Kenoi had come and gone with Kim focusing on his own problems. He'd planned on spending a lot of November — his final days in office — going around the island and thanking the county workers who had served during the eight years of the Kim administration.

"That's the one thing I really regret," Kim said. "Once I'm OK, I'm going to go out and say thank you to them. I'm going to get better than I've been in a long time."

Kim, who has undergone bypass surgery and a fused neck, has had multiple bouts of meningitis, hepatitis and a mysterious 107-degree fever. He has also suffered three heart attacks.

"We always worried about the heart. But obviously it wasn't the heart; it was the nerves in his back causing this intense pain," said Kim's wife, Bobbie. "It was like a miracle. The first night, he was able to stand up. He hadn't been able to stand since November."

Bobbie Kim said her husband has been listening to his doctor and also taking things slowly, which isn't like him.

"The problem has been that he looks good and has a lifestyle that should be healthy," she said. "People look at him and think he looks really well, but he's had these other things going on."