Bush leaves intensive care unit
Former President George H.W. Bush, with wife Barbara at his bedside, has improved enough to be transferred from an intensive care unit at Houston Methodist Hospital, but the 92-year-old is still fighting some symptoms of pneumonia. Doctors say he could be discharged as early as Friday if he continues to recover. He was admitted Jan. 14.
Former President George H.W. Bush was transferred from a Houston Methodist Hospital intensive care unit to a regular room Monday, still fighting some symptoms of pneumonia but “doing really well,” according to his doctors.
The former president, who was on a ventilator for 48 hours last week because of trouble breathing, is still “coughing a fair amount,” said Dr. Clint Doerr, his pulmonologist. But he could be discharged from the hospital by Friday or over the weekend if he continues improving at his current rate, added Doerr.
“He’s sitting up, watching TV and waiting anxiously for his favorite oyster stew for lunch,” Dr. Amy Mynderse, Bush’s hospitalist, said at a morning news conference at Methodist. “He’s on minimal oxygen, joking and laughing with the nurses and doctors.”
Bush’s wife Barbara, 91, was discharged from Methodist on Monday. She’d been admitted to the hospital Wednesday, mostly as a precaution, with what turned out to be viral bronchitis. She went home Wednesday to take care of some matters — Mynderse said she’s “back to her normal self ” — and returned to Methodist later in the day as a visitor.
The former president was admitted Jan. 14. He initially thought he’d be out quickly, but last Wednesday his health took a turn for the worse and he was transferred to the ICU, where doctors put in a tube through his windpipe that connects to a ventilator and helps the lungs breathe. They used another tube to suction secretions from the lungs.
The breathing tube was removed Friday.
Mynderse acknowledged that the use of a breathing tube in a 92-year-old patient with pneumonia is “a very serious situation.” She said the fact that he’s doing so well is a testament to not just the team taking care of him but “also to him. He’s not your average 92-year-old.”
Doerr described Bush as “recovering from pneumonia.” He said Bush still has some inflammation in his lungs that’s causing the coughing and requiring some oxygen through the nose. He’s also getting a fairly aggressive combination of breathing medications and a full course of antibiotics, Doerr said.
Bush watched Friday’s inauguration of President Donald Trump from the ICU, but Doerr and Mynderse told reporters that he offered no commentary. He’d note when he saw his son, former President George W. Bush, said Mynderse, but “he hasn’t made any big political statements or anything like that.”