President Bush Admitted To Hospital With Blood Infection
HOUSTON (CBSDFW.COM) - President Bush was admitted to a Houston hospital Sunday morning.
A statement from the office of George H. W. Bush said the 41st president was admitted after contracting an infection that spread to his blood.
He is in intensive care according to a CNN source.
"He is responding to treatments and appears to be recovering," spokesman Jim McGrath tweeted Monday afternoon.
"We will issue additional updates as events warrant," he added.
Former First Lady Barbara Bush died last week. President Bush and Barbara Bush had been married for 73 years.
Barbara Bush's funeral was on Saturday. President Bush was admitted to the hospital the next day.
President Bush was suffering from an infection that led to sepsis according to a source close to the former President. He was in critical condition, the source told CNN.
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.
First Lady Melania Trump tweeted, "Sending healing thoughts of strength, along with prayers, for President George HW Bush tonight."
Sending healing thoughts of strength, along with prayers, for President George HW Bush tonight.
— Melania Trump 45 Archived (@FLOTUS45) April 24, 2018
"Sepsis is very serious," said Dr. James Pinckney, the CEO and Founder of Diamond Physicians.
He said sepsis can develop quickly after a patient is diagnosed with a blood infection.
"So the immune system wants to fight off the bacteria that it is in President Bush's bloodstream and when the immune system is overstimulated, you get sepsis and the immune system actually starts attacking your own body and then you can have organ failure, heart, kidneys, lungs can shut down," said Dr. Pinckney.
The former President's hospitalization comes after an emotional funeral and burial of his wife of 73 years, former First Lady Barbara Bush.
Mr. Bush surprised well-wishers Friday, by greeting them during the public viewing.
"I think it just shows how much he loved his wife and I think it's taken an emotional toll on him," said SMU graduate student Ryan Dumais.
Dr. Pinckney says there is truth to that.
"When you lose a loved one, just the grief and stress of that event can actually lower the immune system's ability to fight any infection," said Dr. Pinckney.
"I just send my prayers to the family," said Dumais.