OMAHA, Nebraska — Governor Jim Pillen spent Christmas in surgery to repair fractured ribs sustained in a horseback riding accident. Doctors used a method to stabilize and heal his ribs.
Pillen is still in the hospital at Nebraska Medicine in Omaha after being thrown from a horse a few days before Christmas.
“He has seven rib fractures on the left side, which can be a very painful injury and can cause people to be unable to move due to pain,” Dr. Hillman Terzian stated earlier this week.
Doctors warned at the time that more surgery was conceivable, and the governor has now decided to have it done to speed up his recuperation.
Terzian stated, “Ribs often take three months to fully heal. You do not experience the same symptoms for the entire three months; instead, they improve over time.
We have options to consider if he is experiencing continuous pain that is impairing his capacity to operate properly.”
Doctors performed a rib fixation operation. Nebraska Medicine is a nationally certified level I trauma hospital with surgeons who are familiar with the technique.
Nebraska Medicine’s website states that surgeons often make a minor incision and place titanium plates while also freezing nerves to minimize discomfort and promote movement.
The governor’s office stated that surgery was expected to take several hours, and around 2 a.m. on the day after Christmas, the governor’s office sent an update:
“The procedure was a success, and Governor Pillen was returned to the step-down unit, where he will continue his recovery from the horse-riding accident that occurred Sunday.”
This comes two weeks before the legislative session begins, and the governor has already sketched out his agenda, which includes issues ranging from taxes to transgender athletes.
The governor’s chief of staff was in the hospital, and physicians said he would continue to work. Their goal was to help him recuperate as rapidly as possible.
“We want him to have adequate respiratory function and the other thing he’s an active person and we want to return him to an active lifestyle,” the doctor, Charity Evans, said.
At times, Lt. Governor Joe Kelly has served as acting governor, just as he would anytime the governor is out of the state.