Ex-President George H.W. Bush in intensive care - 13abc.com Toledo (OH) News, Weather and Sports

Ex-President George H.W. Bush in intensive care

Posted: Updated:

HOUSTON (AP) - Former President George H.W. Bush remained in guarded condition overnight in the intensive care unit at a Houston hospital after a day marked by "a series of setbacks including persistent fever," according to his spokesman.

In a brief email Wednesday, Jim McGrath, Bush's spokesman in Houston, said the 88-year-old former leader had been admitted Sunday to the ICU at Methodist Hospital. McGrath said Bush, the oldest living former U.S. president, was alert and talking to medical staff, adding that doctors are cautiously optimistic about his treatment.

No other details were released about his medical condition, but McGrath said Bush is surrounded by family.

Bush has been hospitalized since Nov. 23, when he was admitted for a lingering cough related to bronchitis after having been in and out of the hospital for complications related to the illness.

Earlier Wednesday, McGrath said, a fever that kept Bush in the hospital over Christmas had gotten worse and that doctors had put him on a liquids-only diet.

"It's an elevated fever, so it's actually gone up in the last day or two," McGrath told The Associated Press. "It's a stubborn fever that won't go away."

But he said the cough that initially brought Bush to the hospital has improved.

Bush was visited on Christmas by his wife, Barbara, his son, Neil, and Neil's wife, Maria, and a grandson, McGrath said. Bush's daughter, Dorothy, was expected to arrive Wednesday in Houston from Bethesda, Md. The 41st president has also been visited twice by his sons, George W. Bush, the 43rd president, and Jeb Bush, the former governor of Florida.

Bush and his wife live in Houston during the winter and spend their summers at a home in Kennebunkport, Maine.

The former president was a naval aviator in World War II - at one point the youngest in the Navy - and was shot down over the Pacific. He achieved notoriety in retirement for skydiving on at least three of his birthdays since leaving the White House in 1992.

  • Top Stories

  • Wednesday, June 19 2013 9:10 AM EDT2013-06-19 13:10:57 GMT
    BERLIN (AP) - Trying to tamp down concerns about government over-reach, President Barack Obama on Wednesday defended U.S. Internet and phone surveillance programs as narrowly targeted efforts that have
    Trying to tamp down concerns about government over-reach, President Barack Obama on Wednesday defended U.S. Internet and phone surveillance programs as narrowly targeted efforts that have saved lives and thwarted at least 50 terror threats.

  • Wednesday, June 19 2013 8:11 AM EDT2013-06-19 12:11:36 GMT
    Toledo firefighters are on the scene of a house fire in Toledo. The fire broke out at a home on the 1100 block of Avondale just after 11:30pm Tuesday. Dispatchers tell us heavy flames are showing.
    Toledo firefighters were called to the scene of a house fire in Toledo late Tuesday night.  The fire broke out at a home on the 1100 block of Avondale just after 11:30pm Tuesday. 

  • Tuesday, June 18 2013 7:55 PM EDT2013-06-18 23:55:39 GMT
    Sylvania Township police are investigating the third incident of vandalism at Olander Park in the past two months. Firefighters arrived at the park Monday night to see a small building completely engulfed
    Sylvania Township police are investigating the third incident of vandalism at Olander Park in the past two months.
    •   

Area Events Calendar

See It, Shoot It, Send It!