Ex-President George H.W. Bush Leaves The Hospital

Former President George H.W. Bush was released from a Houston hospital and went home Monday after spending nearly two months being treated for a bronchitis-related cough and other health issues, a family spokesman said.

Bush, 88, the nation’s oldest living former president, was admitted to Methodist Hospital on Nov. 23. His stay included a week in intensive care last month.

“I am deeply grateful for the wonderful doctors and nurses at Methodist who took such good care of me,” Bush said in a statement released by spokesman Jim McGrath. “Let me add just how touched we were by the many get-well messages we received from our friends and fellow Americans. Your prayers and good wishes helped more than you know, and as I head home my only concern is that I will not be able to thank each of you for your kind words.”

Bush had been in the hospital for about a month before his office disclosed in late December that he was in intensive care because physicians were having difficulty controlling a fever that developed after the cough improved.

Bush and his wife, Barbara, live in Houston during the winter and spend their summers at a home in Kennebunkport, Maine. On Jan. 6, they celebrated their 68th wedding anniversary. They are the longest-married presidential couple.

Bush suffers from a form of Parkinson’s disease that has forced him in recent years to use a motorized scooter or wheelchair to get around.

This article appeared in print on page 3 of the January 15th, 2013 edition of Hamodia.