Ex-President George H.W. Bush is now in intensive care at a hospital in Houston.
Bush, now 88-years-old, has been in and out of the Methodist Hospital since November with a severe cough. A spokesman for the former president said today that Bush has had a persistent fever over the last few days and is now in the intensive care unit at the hospital.
Spokesman Jim McGrath said that doctors are “cautiously optimistic” about Bush’s condition.
McGrath said:
“Following a series of setbacks including a persistent fever, President Bush was admitted to the intensive care unit at Methodist Hospital on Sunday where he remains in guarded condition. Doctors at Methodist continue to be cautiously optimistic about the current course of treatment. The President is alert and conversing with medical staff, and is surrounded by family.”
The BBC notes that doctors were hopeful to get Bush home for Christmas. The fever, however, prevented the former president from leaving. Instead, the Bush family ate Chinese food at the Methodist Hospital in Houston on Christmas Day .
McGrath added:
“It’s a stubborn fever that won’t go away. His family was with him, and he’s conscious and he’s able to engage in humorous banter with his doctor.”
The Washington Post reports that the cough that brought Bush to the hospital has gotten better but the persistent fever will keep the former president in the hospital for a few more days.