Doctors consider removing tube from George H.W. Bush
Former president in intensive care unit at Houston hospital.
HOUSTON — Doctors treating former President George H.W. B u s h f o r p n e u mo - nia considered Thursday whether to take out a breathing tube while his wife, Barbara, said she was feeling much better after undergoing treatment for bronchitis.
Family spokesman Jim McGrath said physic ians for the 92-year- old Bush were evalu ating him for removal of the tube, which was inserted Wednesday in a procedure to clear his airway.
The 41st president has been in the intensive care unit at Houston Methodist Hospital since Wednesday, relying on a ventilator to breathe. Removing the tube — a procedure known as extubation — would allow Bush to breathe on his own. He was struggling to breathe when he was admitted to the hospital Saturday.
Bush “had a good night’s rest” and remained in stable condition, McGrath said. “We are hopeful he will be discharged from the ICU in a few days.”
Barbara Bush, 91, was admitted Wednesday and diagnosed with bronchitis after feeling fatigued and coughing for weeks. She reported feeling “1,000 percent better” on Thursday.
“Antibiotic s and some go o d r e s t s e e m t o h av e r e s t o r e d h e r t o b e t t e r health,” McGrath said.
T h e c o u p l e r e c e i v e d “an upli f t i ng vi s i t ” f rom long time fr iends former Sec ret ar y of St ate James Baker and his wife, Susan, who also live in Houston, McGrath said.
President-elect Donald Trump and President Barack Obama have sent their well wishes, via Twitter and a news conference, respectively.
Former President Bill Clinton also tweeted: “41 and Barbara — thinking about y o u b o t h a n d s e n d i n g wishes for a speedy recovery. Love, 42.”
Former President George W. Bush offered thanks on Instagram Thursday for messages “of love and support for Mother and Dad.”
“Your prayers are working: 41 and Mom are doing much better today and fighting on,” he said in his first p u b l i c c o mments a b out their illnesses.
Bush said he and former first lady Laura Bush “look for ward to re pre s e nt i ng them” at Trump’s inauguration today in Washington “while they continue to recover in Houston.”
Even though he was hospitalized, the elder Bush’s Twitter account was active Thursday, offering “hearty congrats” to former Houston Astros baseball player Jeff Bagwell on his election to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
McGrath said while Bush did not physically type the t weet , he did approve it from his hospital room, calling the Astros’ former slugging first baseman a “good friend and great player ” and praising his elec tion Wednesday to Cooperstown.
Bush was a first baseman when he attended Yale, and was captain of the Yale team that played in the first College World Series in 1947. As president, he kept his first baseman’s glove in his desk in the Oval Office, and he and his wife have frequently attended Astros games since leaving the White House.
British Prime Minister Theresa May sought to convince business leaders Thursday that the country remains committed to free trade and globalization despite last year’s vote to leave the European Union.
Just two days after indicating that Britain would be leaving the European single market as well as the EU, May told an audience at the World Economic Forum at the Swiss ski resort of Davos that the Brexit vote was not a rejection of “our friends in Europe,” or an attempt to cease cooperation. Conceding that the road ahead will be “uncertain at times,” May said Brexit was a vote to “take control and make decisions for ourselves” and to become “even more global and internationalist in action and spirit, too.”