FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) — If Bobby Jenks’ first season with the Boston Red Sox was difficult, his offseason was worse.

In 2011, the first of a twoyear, $12 million contract with Boston, Jenks was limited by several ailments, including a right biceps strain, left back tightness, and a pulmonary embolism. He finished with just 19 appearances, 15 2-3 innings, a record of 2-2 and an ERA of 6.32.

He was scheduled for offseason surgery on his back, but had to wait for the embolism to clear on its own before he could do so.

Jenks then had the surgery on his back at Massachusetts General Hospital on Dec. 12. But serious complications from that procedure led to an emergency follow-up surgery on Dec. 30 in Scottsdale, Ariz., near his home.

“Obviously,” Jenks said, “my winter didn’t go very well.”

Jenks is not certain what went wrong in the first surgery, but a potentially life-threatening infection developed.

Fortunately, he’s back in camp with the Red Sox, and eager to move forward.

But it hasn’t been an easy road.

“I don’t know whose fault it was, but there was an error done inside,” said Jenks, who had four bone spurs on his spine and doctors hoped to take the top two out. “The third one was started and not finished. So basically, there was like an edge, and it sliced me open in two different spots, and I was leaking spinal fluid and it just pulled up the bottom of my incision and kind of blew up on me, which caused an infection.

“It was just a combination of everything that could have gone wrong went wrong.”

Jenks, who turns 31 on March 14, had the first surgery on Dec. 12 and stayed in Boston for about 10 days to recover, before flying home to Arizona. It was on Dec. 28 when he started to feel ill. He noticed, in fact, the incision was leaking. He watched it for a couple of days, but after experiencing “excruciating” headaches, he had it checked on the morning of Dec. 30.

He had the second procedure that afternoon.

“If I didn’t have it done immediately, the infection could have gotten into my spinal fluid and into my brain,” he said. “Who knows what happens then. I’d obviously not be here right now.”

Jenks, entering his eighth season, is several pounds leaner than last season. He wouldn’t specify how much weight he has lost, other than to say “a lot … enough.” The weight loss was part of his pre-surgery plan, and not a result of the infection. He pitched at 275 pounds last season.