Sen. Kevin Cramer says there’s a “possible need for amputation” after he suffered a serious injury to his hand.
The North Dakota Republican shared his medical news on Wednesday in a statement he posted on Twitter.
“While working in the yard over the weekend, I sustained a serious injury to my right hand, which required immediate surgery,” the 61-year-old lawmaker wrote.
“I continue to remain in North Dakota close to medical care as there is high risk of infection and the possible need for amputation,” he said.
Cramer’s communications director, Molly Block, later clarified that the amputation risk involved her boss’s fingers. Cramer, Block said, was “cracking jokes that his future NFL career is over.”
Cramer said he will miss Senate votes and hearings this week, but will head back to Capitol Hill next month.
The senator said he remained “alert and in good spirits,” and despite his injury, he didn’t appear to lose his sense of humor.
“I plan to return to Washington, D.C. after the Independence Day state work period,” he said, “and expect to be doling out a lot of left-handed fist bumps.”
Cramer later detailed what led to the hand wound in an interview Wednesday with Forum News Service, saying he was getting ready to go swimming with his grandchildren when he attempted to move a large rock that looked unstable near a beach area outside his home.
The rock rolled onto his ring and pinkie fingers.
“Right when I looked at it I knew it was severe,” he told the news outlet. “It was pretty nasty.”
A surgeon was able to stich the tip of his pinkie finger back on, according to Cramer, but that’s the part of his hand that could require amputation.
Cramer quipped that since the rest of his digits are healthy, “Angry Birds is still a possibility.”
—Updated at 2:40 p.m.