T. Boone Pickens Writes Post on Health and Mortality After Recent Fall

After suffering a series of several mini-strokes last year, Oklahoma native and legendary oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens was briefly hospitalized following a sudden fall early in the morning on July 11.

“Last week, I had a Texas-sized fall — one that required hospitalization,” wrote Pickens, in a post on Linked In. “I am still mentally strong, and I comprehend and process information like I did before the incident. It’s just a little hard to find the words I’m looking for to speak clearly.”

In his post titled “Accepting (or Embracing) Mortality,” the 89-year-old wildcatter admitted his health is deteriorating.

“I refused to call my 2008 autobiography ‘Life in the Fourth Quarter’ because, well, hell, I wasn’t in the fourth quarter,” wrote Pickens. “But things have changed for me since the strokes. I clearly am in the fourth quarter, and the clock is ticking and my health is in decline, much as it is with others in my stage of life.”

Pickens is not the type to throw in the towel though. Following the strokes in December, the oil magnate regained 90 percent of his speech through rigorous therapy. He will also need daily physical therapy to return from this recent setback.

“Now, don’t for a minute think I’m being morbid,” he wrote. “Truth is, when you’re in the oil business like I’ve been all my life, you drill your fair share of dry holes, but you never lose your optimism.”