CARACAS (AP) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said he soldiered through his first week of chemotherapy in Cuba with only minor discomfort but that a long process of additional treatment lies ahead as he confronts cancer.

Chavez, 56, made an unannounced return to Venezuela late Saturday after spending a week in Cuba undergoing treatment. He strode away from the plane down a red carpet while troops stood at attention.

“This body of mine, of a cadet and a soldier, held up,” Chavez said on television after his arrival, adding that he had “some small discomfort.”

“It‘s a hard treatment. It finished yesterday. Today a little bit of rest and here we are,” he said. Chavez said he is ready to “continue the battle.”

State television broadcast footage of Chavez being greeted at the airport by Vice President Elias Jaua and other ministers.

Chavez said the chemotherapy in the past week went well but that risks remain and he expects his treatments to continue for an extended period. He did not say how long.