New Congress convenes, injured Reid stays home

WASHINGTON — The 114th Congress convened on Tuesday with one new representative from Nevada and one noticeable absentee.

Sen. Harry Reid missed the largely ceremonial opening day of the session, remaining at his home in Washington, D.C. A spokesman said the state’s senior senator was under doctors orders, revealing that injuries he suffered in an exercise accident on New Year’s Day were more severe than originally announced.

“Senator Reid is in Washington but on orders from his doctors he will not come into the office so that his injuries can continue to heal,” communications director Adam Jentleson said in a statement.

Reid, 75, suffered a concussion in addition to three broken ribs and broken bones in his face, Jentleson said.

Aides could not say Tuesday whether the concussion was diagnosed when Reid was hospitalized overnight Thursday at University Medical Center in Las Vegas or whether it was diagnosed only after he visited a doctor Monday in Washington. They said he did feel disoriented in the days following the accident.

In the intervening period, the Nevada Democrat flew from the state to Washington and prepared to take his place on the Senate floor, although as the leader of a diminished minority caucus after Republicans gained control in the November elections.

Staffers declined to make Reid available at his home for an interview and photos. His office distributed a picture of Reid, wearing a loose shirt and a bandage over his right eye, meeting at his residence Tuesday morning with Democratic leadership deputies Charles Schumer of New York, Dick Durbin of Illinois and Patty Murray of Washington.

Reid, who boxed as a young man, released a video later in the day in which he sought to explain his bandaged and bruised face.

“As most people know I fought for a couple of years, after any one of those fights I never looked like I do now,” he said. “However, I didn’t get this black eye by sparring with Manny (Pacquiao), by challenging Floyd Mayweather, I didn’t go bull riding, I wasn’t riding a motorcycle. I was exercising in my new home and my doctors have told me I’d better take it easy.”

Reid was taken to St. Rose Dominican Hospital, Siena campus near his Henderson home early in the afternoon on Thursday after an elastic exercise band he was using during a workout snapped back in his face and caused him to fall. He was later transferred to UMC, and released around midday Friday.

Reid has not detailed how he got hurt and has declined to make his doctors available. Durbin offered some details to reporters following the Democratic leaders meeting.

“So, he was stretching these straps, and one broke and tossed him like a slingshot against cabinets, built-in cabinets,” Durbin said. “He crashed into it with his face and the side of his body.

“He’s pretty banged up,” Durbin said, according to The Associated Press. “Imagine going through the windshield of a car what your face might look like. The right side of his face is pretty badly beaten with a lot of broken bones and bruising and discoloration and then add three or four broken ribs to it.”

Despite the grisly accident, Durbin said, Reid was “lucid, on his game” and “completely engaged” during the meeting.

Durbin took Reid’s place on the Senate floor as the body opened its 2015 session. He reported Reid’s “face and ribs are very sore” but “we expect him back in the Senate very soon.” New Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Reid “is a former boxer. He’s tough.”

“I know he’ll be back in fighting form soon,” McConnell said.

Jentleson said Reid was “day to day” as far as a return to the U.S. Capitol. The accident comes as Reid is preparing to run for a sixth Senate term in 2016.

“Despite his injuries, he has been working every day, holding meetings with fellow senators and staff. Senator Reid has spoken with President Obama multiple times since his injury and will continue to keep a busy schedule,” Jentleson said in the statement. He said Reid was taking Tylenol and some form of medicated drops for his eye.

A concussion is a traumatic brain injury causing effects that usually are temporary such as headache, dizziness, fatigue, sleep and mood changes, or difficulty with focus. Concussions usually are caused by a blow to the head, but they also can occur when the head is shaken. Because such injuries rarely cause a loss of consciousness, many people have concussions without knowing it.

In addition to immediate symptoms of concussions, some symptoms can occur later, according to Dr. Charles Bernick, associate medical director of the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas. Individuals who suffer a concussion might not get any of those symptoms or might experience some combination.

“The diagnosis of concussion is a clinical one and depends on getting an adequate history of the event,” Bernick said. “There is no direct relationship between the apparent severity of the blow to the head and the occurrence and recovery from specific symptoms of concussion.”

While Reid was recuperating at home Tuesday, newly elected Senate and House members took the oath of office for the new session.

Among them was Republican Cresent Hardy, 57, of Mesquite, elected to represent Nevada’s 4th Congressional District. The district consists of most of northern Clark County, part of Lyon County, and White Pine, Esmeralda, Lincoln, Mineral and Nye counties.

On Tuesday morning, workers still were measuring the walls in Hardy’s yet-to-be-decorated office, and tulips delivered that morning had yet to bloom. A House official dropped off a “new member packet” containing a reference guide and Hardy’s official letterhead.

The office brightened when Hardy’s wife, Peri, arrived to celebrate with their four children — Kagen, Stacha, Archer, and Vonae Swensen; son-in-law Jens Swensen, daughter-in-law Laura Hardy, grandchildren Holland and William, and Hardy’s brother Vernon.

“The biggest part of my celebration is having my family here,” said Hardy, a businessman and former Nevada assemblyman whose family has lived in Mesquite for five generations. “I’m looking forward to getting to work.”

Reps. Dina Titus, D-Nev., Mark Amodei, R-Nev., and Joe Heck, R-Nev., reassumed their offices after winning re-election.

Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., is in the midst of a six-year term and was not involved in opening day activities. He raced to Washington after attending Gov. Brian Sandoval’s second inauguration in Carson City on Monday.

Heller arrived Tuesday afternoon shortly after the Senate convened, spokesman Neal Patel said.

Review-Journal writer Steven Moore contributed to this report. Contact Stephens Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault at stetreault@stephensmedia.com or 202-783-1760. Find him on Twitter: @STetreaultDC.