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| FILE - In a Tuesday, June 12, 2012 file photo, former President George H.W. Bush, and his wife, former first lady Barbara Bush, arrive for the premiere of HBO's new documentary on his life near the family compound in Kennebunkport, Maine. Bush spokesman Jim McGrath said Wednesday, Dec. 26. 2012 that doctors at the Houston hospital where Bush has been treated for a month remain “cautiously optimistic” that he will recover. Still, no discharge date has been set, and McGrath says that doctors are being cautious because at Bush’s age “sometimes issues crop up that are beyond anybody’s ability to discern or foretell.” |
HOUSTON (AP) -- Former President George H.W. Bush's family sought privacy and provided no new details Thursday about his medical condition, a day after his spokesman said he's in intensive care after being hospitalized for treatment of a bronchitis-related cough.
Bush
spokesman Jim McGrath said he would put out another statement "when
events warrant it," citing the family's right to and desire for privacy.
Bush,
88, entered Methodist Hospital in Houston on Nov. 23 for treatment of
what McGrath has described as a "stubborn" cough. He had spent about a
week there earlier in November for treatment of the same condition.
It
was hoped Bush would be well enough to spend Christmas at home. But
while his cough improved, he developed a persistent fever. McGrath
disclosed Wednesday that Bush, the oldest living former president, had
been transferred to the intensive care unit Sunday and his condition was
downgraded to "guarded."
"He needs to rally," McGrath said. "We continue to be cautiously optimistic."
The
former president has had visits from family and friends, including
longtime friend James Baker II, his former Secretary of State. Bush's
daughter, Dorothy, arrived Wednesday from her home in Bethesda, Md.
Other visitors have included his sons George W. Bush, the 43rd
president, and Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor.
Bush and his wife, Barbara, live in Houston during the winter and spend their summers at a home in Kennebunkport, Maine.
Bush
had served two terms as Ronald Reagan's vice president when he was
elected in 1988 to succeed Reagan. Four years later, after a term
highlighted by the success of the 1991 Gulf War in Kuwait, he lost to
Democrat Bill Clinton amid voters' concerns about the economy.
Bush
was a naval aviator in World War II - at one point the youngest in the
Navy - and was shot down over the Pacific. He's skydived on at least
three of his birthdays since leaving the White House, most recently when
he turned 85.
He left New England for an oil
business job in West Texas in 1948. He's also been a Republican
congressman from Texas, U.S. ambassador to China and CIA director.
Bush
suffers from a form of Parkinson's disease that forced him in recent
years to use a motorized scooter or wheelchair for mobility.
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