Dan Rutherford

First, State Sen. Dan Rutherford felt short of breath. Then dizzy. Next he blacked out and slammed his face chin-first into the sidewalk.

Rutherford, a 52-year-old Republican state senator from Chenoa, fractured his jaw Saturday evening while in Colorado on business -- a result his doctor's say of altitude sickness.

For the next 21/2 weeks, his jaws will be wired shut. Then he will undergo therapy after the wires are removed, he said.

Via e-mail from his hospital room, the senator said he would return to Illinois in a few days and work from home at his Pontiac office with modified public appearances. According to Rutherford, he is able to speak but his speech is limited.

"Fully functional, just no speaking engagements for a while!" he wrote.

He missed the first two days of the regular 2008 legislative session held in Springfield Wednesday and today. Rutherford's aides say he will be back when the General Assembly reconvenes in February.

Cindy Davidsmeyer, press secretary for Senate President Emil Jones, said her office will accommodate the senator when he returns.

The senator fell while in Vail, Colo., a ski resort town west of Denver.

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