Reid says he’s ‘sightless’ in right eye
WASHINGTON — Sen. Harry Reid says he is “sightless” in his injured right eye, and has grown to accept that his vision loss could become permanent.
In an interview this week, Reid, D-Nev., said he has undergone 11 hours of surgery to repair the eye and reconfigure bones surrounding it that were broken in an exercise accident in his home on New Year’s Day.
“I am sightless in my right eye,” Reid told interviewer Jorge Ramos of the Univision Spanish-language TV network.
“Are you afraid that you might not regain your eyesight?” Reid was asked, according to a transcript of the interview.
“No, I’m over that, ‘cause I can’t see out of my eye, and that’s the way it’s going to be until something comes along that’ll change it,” Reid said.
“Right now, I’ve had 11 hours of surgery,” Reid added. “They’ve tried. I can’t see out of my right eye. And that’s OK, I can live with that.”
Reid said he has no depth perception, making it difficult to go down stairs. He said climbing stairs is not as bad.
“So I’ve been very careful,” he said. “But it’ll adjust; your brain does good things for you.”
Reid, 75, has undergone two rounds of surgery at George Washington University Hospital in Washington, D.C., most recently on Feb. 11. He has said doctors have advised him to avoid straining the eye for three months following the surgery.
Reid, the Senate minority leader, was exercising in the bathroom of his home in Henderson when a heavy exercise band he was using in a workout snapped back in his face, spinning him and knocking him back into a cabinet.
The Nevada Democrat was hospitalized overnight at University Medical Center, and was confined to his Washington home for several weeks after he returned to the capital. A bandage over his eye has been replaced by dark sunglasses as his bruises have healed.
Reid announced on March 27 that he planned to retire when his Senate term expires at the end of 2016.
He has said the accident was not a reason for his retirement, but that it did give him and his wife, Landra, time to ponder the future.
Contact Review-Journal Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault at stetreault@reviewjournal.com or 202-783-1760. Find him on Twitter: @STetreaultDC.
