HOUSTON (CNN) — Former President George H.W. Bush has improved, but will remain in the hospital through the weekend, his spokesman said Saturday night.
“President Bush’s condition has improved to the point that doctors have begun discussing dates for his discharge,” Bush spokesman Jim McGrath said in a statement. “He will remain at the Houston Methodist Hospital through the weekend for further observation.”
Bush, 90, was taken to the hospital Tuesday night as a precautionary measure after experiencing shortness of breath.
On Christmas Day, the former president received visits from his wife, Barbara, son Neil and daughter-in-law Maria Bush, McGrath said in a previous statement.
McGrath said Bush “asked that his sincere wishes for a very Merry Christmas be extended to one and all.”
Aides stressed this hospitalization is different from what the former president faced two years ago when he had to spend two months, including Christmas, hospitalized after suffering bronchitis and a persistent cough.
Bush, a Republican, served as the nation’s 41st president and is the father of the 43rd president, George W. Bush.
While suffering from a form of Parkinson’s disease that causes him to use a wheelchair or a scooter, the elder Bush has been active recently. He appeared last month with his son George at an event to unveil the new book, “41: A Portrait of My Father.”
