April 25 (UPI) — Doctors at a Houston hospital moved former President George H.W. Bush out of intensive care, though he remains at the facility for further treatment for a blood infection, his spokesman said Wednesday.
The 93-year-old was admitted to Houston Methodist Hospital on Sunday morning for an infection that spread to his blood.
Jim McGrath, Bush’s spokesman, said the former president would likely stay at the hospital for “several more days.”
“He is alert and talking with hospital staff, family and friends, and his doctors are very pleased with his progress,” McGrath said.
Bush fell ill less than a day after the funeral for his wife, former first lady Barbara Bush, who died April 17 at page 92.
More than 1,500 friends and family members attended the private service at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston to pay their respects Saturday. The former president shook the hands of dozens of well-wishers at her viewing the day before the funeral.
Both Bushes had been hospitalized off and on over the past couple years. The former president was hospitalized in January 2017 and again April 2017, both times for pneumonia.
Bush, the oldest-living former president — and longest-lived president in U.S. history — has vascular parkinsonism, a form of Parkinson’s disease.
“President Bush naturally thanks everyone for their prayers and good wishes,” McGrath said. “He also wants to assure everyone that, as good as he feels now, he is more focused on the Houston Rockets closing out their playoff series against the Minnesota Timberwolves than anything that landed him in the hospital.”
