Executive Council is meeting for three days at the American Airlines Training and Conference Center near DFW Int’l Airport. Today the Presiding Bishop spoke to the General Council regarding his previous surgery and his recovery. His general assessment is that he is now “reasonably back to normal … I think I am back about 90 percent.”
+Michael reported that his ordeal began on Sunday morning in Washington DC on the day of his installation as Presiding Bishop, 1 NOV 2015. He had gone to a gym and then visited a nearby Starbucks. He was hurrying back to his hotel and tripped on a curb. He bumped his head and scraped his arm, but he didn’t think he was badly injured. He reported, “I didn’t think twice about it, but they said the symptoms are delayed four or five weeks,”
Just over 5 weeks later was when the seriousness of his injury began to manifest itself. Sunday 6 DEC 2015 he was visiting Bruton Parish in Williamsburg VA and while delivering his sermon he began having problems with his memory. In his words, “I couldn’t remember anything – everything was gone – but, being a preacher, I kept talking.” Later that Sunday he was taken to a hospital in Richmond VA and was diagnosed with a subdural hematoma, bleeding that puts pressure on the brain. On Tuesday, 8 DEC, he had surgery to relieve the hematoma. He was hospitalized for 6 days.
The Presiding Bishop reports that he has been having speech/cognitive therapy sessions to help with his recovery. He says that he feels he is back to about 90% of his former self. He is back to preaching, but chooses not to venture away from his manuscript. He is currently scheduled for one more therapy session, a CT scan and a neurological evaluation. He said, “I think my memory recall is probably close to what it was before, if it’s not exactly there, it’s close.”
Information for this story was gathered here and here.
The main photo is from the villagefreepress.com