Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid told Nevada public radio station KNPR on Friday that he might not regain sight in the eye he injured during an exercising accident on New Year’s Day.
He also said he would miss next week’s Senate Democratic retreat as he continues to recover at his home in Washington.
The former Senate majority leader broke several ribs and bones in his face and was also diagnosed with a concussion, his office said after the accident.
Reid explained that he had been exercising with a resistance band that broke, flinging him into several cabinets and badly injuring his right eye. Asked if he would recover full vision in the eye, Reid said his doctors were hopeful.
“Well they’re very hopeful but, you know, this isn’t anything that is a slam dunk,” Reid said. “I had serious injury in my eye. There’s blood accumulation there and they’re hoping that resolves itself. As long as the blood is in the eye it’s hard to see the eye every place, because all the instruments they use, you can’t see if there’s blood in the way.”
Reid said he was following his doctors’ order to rest his eyes.
“I’m more dependent on my staff now, because I’m not to be reading a bunch of emails and stuff like that,” he said. “Because if you have one bad eye and one good eye and you overwork the good eye, it puts too much pressure on the bad eye so, you know, they’ve basically told me to be very careful in how I strain my eye.”
Reid did not return to Capitol Hill this week for the opening session of the 114th Congress. In a video released Tuesday, he said his doctors had ordered him to stay home to rest and recover. Reid told the radio station Friday that his doctors had told him he should not go to the Senate Democratic retreat in Baltimore next week. He plans to continue to work from home instead.
It is unclear when he’ll be returning to the office.
Reid told KNPR he had been spending many hours listening to public radio over the last several days, as he rests at home.
“It’s no secret that I love public radio,” he said.