Ex-President Bush to Spend Christmas in Hospital

Doctors 'cautiously optimistic,' but want him to gain strength
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Dec 24, 2012 4:13 PM CST
Ex-President Bush to Spend Christmas in Hospital
In a Tuesday, June 12, 2012 file photo, President George H.W. Bush, and his wife, Barbara Bush, arrive for the premiere of HBO's documentary on his life.   (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)

Former President George HW Bush will spend Christmas in a Texas hospital after developing a fever and weakness following a monthlong, bronchitis-like cough. A Bush spokesman said today that doctors remain "cautiously optimistic" the 88-year-old will recover, but they want to keep him in the hospital. A hospital spokesman had said last week that doctors expected Bush to be released in time to spend Christmas at home.

The spokesman says Bush came down with a fever last week, but that he's largely overcome the painful, lingering cough that initially put him in the hospital on Nov. 23. No word on the cause of the fever or weakness. (More George HW Bush stories.)

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