Old injuries extend King’s recovery

BANGOR – The pneumonia that has kept author Stephen King in the hospital for more than a week has “pretty much resolved itself,” according to his spokesman. But the author is slated to stay at Eastern Maine Medical Center for several more days while doctors look into lingering injuries from his 1999 accident.

King, 56, is still experiencing right leg pain as a result of being hit by a van driven by Bryan Smith of Fryeburg.

“Since he’s in the hospital, the doctors want to work on his general health and leg issues to see if they can alleviate some of the pain that he’s had,” King’s Bangor attorney Warren Silver said Wednesday.

King was nearly killed in June 1999 when Smith struck the author as he walked on the shoulder of a road in North Lovell, where he has a summer home.

“[The accident] did a lot of damage to his body,” Silver said. “It’s taken a lot to get him back and this is just another complication left over from that accident.”

Smith, who told police his dog had distracted him before the van hit King, pleaded guilty to driving to endanger and his license was suspended for six months. He later was found dead at his home after an apparently accidental overdose of a prescription drug.

As a result of the van accident, King suffered a broken leg and hip, a punctured lung, broken ribs and other injuries. He underwent a number of surgeries to repair his injuries, some of which are still bothering him. Silver previously noted a direct connection between the pneumonia that King was originally hospitalized for Nov. 23 and the injuries sustained in the accident.

King was diagnosed with pneumonia before his recent trip to New York City to receive the National Book Foundation’s 2003 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, presented Nov. 19 for lifetime achievement in writing.

The author’s condition became worse when he returned home to Bangor and doctors diagnosed him with pleural effusion, an abnormal accumulation of fluid in the membrane surrounding the lung. King then underwent a surgery to remove the fluid.

King was taken off oxygen over the weekend and the tube that had been inserted in his chest to help eliminate fluid and scar tissue was removed Tuesday.

“The chest line was a real comfort issue because basically, it really inhibited him lying down,” Silver said. “He’s feeling physically much better [and] he’s able to walk.”

The spokesman spent an hour with King on Wednesday morning and said the author was able to take a walk around the hospital for the first time.

King’s family continues to visit him in the hospital and the author has requested no other visitors and no flowers.

“He has one tube left,” said Silver, who was not exactly sure of the purpose of the remaining tube. “But he’s much more mobile than he’s been.”

King will remain in the hospital while doctors look into what’s causing the leg pain and attempt to resolve it.

“He can walk, but when he walks any distance he starts to limp, and if he has a long day he starts to limp,” Silver said. “The pain is pretty much there all the time, but it gets much worse when he walks any distance.”

Silver said he expected doctors to take several days to analyze the leg pain and decide what procedures to take.