Former President George H.W. Bush has been moved out of the intensive care unit to a regular patient room after earlier contracting an infection that spread to his blood, a family spokesman said Wednesday.
The 41st President is “alert and talking with hospital staff, family and friends, and his doctors are very pleased with his progress,” the spokesman, Jim McGrath, said in a statement, adding that Bush is expected to remain at Houston Methodist Hospital for several more days.
“President Bush naturally thanks everyone for their prayers and good wishes. 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.”
Earlier Wednesday, a source close to the Bush family said the 41st President was doing much better, pointing to a tweet from Bush’s Twitter account that thanked Houston authorities for their handling of Barbara Bush’s funeral as a positive indication of Bush’s recovery.
Bush, 93, was admitted to the hospital Sunday morning after contracting the infection, McGrath said, a day after a funeral was held for his wife.
According to McGrath, the 41st President has said he is determined to get healthy and get to Maine this summer. On Monday, McGrath said Bush was “responding to treatments and appears to be recovering.”
According to a source close to the former Republican President, Bush was admitted to the hospital with an infection that led to sepsis, which can be life-threatening. He was in critical condition, the source said.
The source added that Bush’s blood pressure kept dropping and a couple of times there was serious concern about whether he was going to come through, but that he had been stabilized.