Crenshaw returns after eye surgery
WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw is back to work after emergency eye surgery sidelined the Houston Republican for several weeks.
Crenshaw said in a video posted to Twitter on Thursday night that he has started attending committee hearings again and that doctors are optimistic he’ll be back to normal soon.
“I will be back with you soon enough,” Crenshaw said in the video. “I’m already doing my official duties. I’m doing committee hearings no problem. Even a blind knuckle-dragger can do committee hearings.”
The former Navy SEAL, whose right eye was blinded by an explosive blast that nearly killed him in Afghanistan in 2012, underwent surgery this month after doctors discovered his reti
na was detaching in his left eye. He said that for more than a week, he could see little more than lights and shadows.
“I’m still alive. Still doing OK. Still can’t see yet very well,” Crenshaw said. “Imagine putting on a dive mask, and of course blocking out half of it, and inject some kind of bubbly soapy solution into it so you’re seeing through bubbles, and add Vaseline to the outside for good measure — that’s sort of what I see.”
But it will be a while before Crenshaw, who represents a district that stretches from western sections of Harris County up to Spring and over to Humble, will be back in D.C.
To fix his eye, doctors put a “silicone buckle” around his retina and used a laser to glue around the edges of it. To keep his retina in place, they injected a gas bubble into his eye to act as a bandage for his retina. Crenshaw is unable to fly on airplanes for at least six weeks because the pressure changes could cause the gas bubble to expand.