Barbara Bush Has Heart Surgery

HOUSTON — Former first lady Barbara Bush was resting comfortably after undergoing successful open heart surgery Wednesday to replace her aortic valve, a family spokesman and hospital officials said.

The surgery at The Methodist Hospital lasted about 2 1/2 hours and was scheduled last week after Bush, 83, experienced a shortness of breath, family spokesman Jim McGrath said.

He said doctors determined the aortic valve had started to harden.

Dr. Gerald Lawrie, a heart surgeon at the Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center, replaced the valve with a biologic valve, which is made of natural living tissue, the hospital said in a statement. Lawrie said the surgery went "extremely well."

"I expect her to recover fully and soon resume her normal activities," Lawrie said.

When left untreated, a hardened aortic valve can result in heart failure or sudden cardiac death, the hospital said. The valve, on the left side of the heart, can harden with age and become less effective. Symptoms of aortic valve disease include shortness of breath, chest pains and dizziness.

Former President George H.W. Bush was at the hospital with his wife, who McGrath said was resting comfortably in the intensive care unit. The hospital said the former first lady was expected to be released in seven to 10 days.

"I am very impressed with and grateful to the wonderful team of doctors and nurses at The Methodist Hospital who have helped Barbara," the former president said. "We have every confidence she is in the best hands."

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McGrath said Bush was already up and talking Wednesday night.

The hospital said surgeries such as Mrs. Bush's typically can take four hours.

Houston television station KRTK reported that Bush almost didn't want her children to know about the surgery because she didn't think it was a big deal. She is the mother of former President George W. Bush and former Florida governor Jeb Bush. The other Bush children are sons Neil and Marvin and daughter Dorothy.

Barbara Bush underwent surgery in November for a perforated ulcer. The hospital said the two were unrelated.

The former Barbara Pierce, daughter of the publisher of McCall's magazine, married George H.W. Bush in 1945 when he returned a hero from World War II.

They had their first child, George, while still at Yale in 1946. A daughter, Robin, died in 1953 of leukemia a few weeks before her 4th birthday.

Barbara Bush disclosed she was suffering from an overactive thyroid ailment known as Graves' disease when she lived at the White House. The disease causes teary eyes and double vision, according to her doctors.

Comments

[Amanda Wolfe]

By the way, thanks on behalf of Methodist for all the good wishes. :) All personal politics aside, we're excited for our recovering patient and her family.

[Amanda Wolfe]

pahpah25, I work for Methodist, and I can assure you that everyone receives the same treatment as Barbara did there - including the homeless and uninsured. (Found that out from a homeless man I met at Methodist, during my first week there.) Yes, it is the top heart hospital in the country, and it's also a place that welcomes everyone - that's been an eye-opening experience. Nobody was left behind today when Barbara was there; every patient was equal, as always. It still blows my mind that they have such old-fashioned, compassionate values, and treat their patients, visitors (and employees - we were #8 on Fortune's list this year) so lovingly. Most of us have had miserable experiences with hospitals, which is what makes Methodist such a wonderful kick in the head. I want everyone I know to go there.

Since I'm just a contractor and have nothing to gain from talking up Methodist, I feel like I can speak freely and say that their level of truly compassionate care should be setting the standard for all other medical institutions in this country. To me, it is the finest medical institution on earth, and it overwhelms me to be a part of it right now. I will miss that place deeply when my contract runs out, but will continue to receive my own care there, since they actually take my crappy insurance and my doctor is the best I've ever found in my 32 years of life.

Amanda

[Alvin4NY]

Is she having one installed?

[mendelcrosses]

For once,I like to take on Limbaugh's advice,Speak my mind.

But I wish her well just so that at this particular time of the health care debate,republicans can be confronted with it.Next time a republican pretends to be mad about health care,just remind them that it saves the life of theirs.

[Rule Of Law]

She

[Rule Of Law]

has

[Rule Of Law]

no

[Rule Of Law]

heart...

[Scott Vakerics]

I have great healthcare and I am not a high paid anything. I went about the right way I EARNED it. All I had to do was VOLUNTEER and do twenty years in the military, about ANYONE can get gret healthcare if they are willing to give ALSO. JUST being born does not give you entlement to everything.

[Rule Of Law]

Hey, it worked for Dubya! Born on 3rd, thought he'd hit a triple...failed at everything, until Cheney slipped his hand up his nether regions and turned him into a right wing puppet. Then he was only good at destroying our country for the 1%ers his family belongs to.

[LITU]

More circular logic from the self-serving.

So, what is YOUR solution to the tens of millions of citizens who do not volunteer to join our armed forces, and hence don't EARN their great healthcare? And since there are caps on military billets, tens of millions would automatically be denied the same reward.

BTW, 20 years service in a military branch invariable means you're a slacker. It's just not that demanding, and unless one is at the top of the chain, it certainly doesn't lend itself to critical thinking formation.

Vietnam vet and proud of it.

[pahpah25]

REALLY! WHO CARES!

[ggorilla]

Hey your caps lock is on or do you feel you have to scream to make a point?

[pahpah25]

I AM SO GLAD WE THE TAX-PAYER ARE ABLE TO PROVIDE THIS WOMAN WITH THE TOP HEART SURGEONS AT THE TOP HEART HOSPITAL , IN THE COUNTRY.....NOW LETS GET THIS SAME CARE AVAILABLE TO THE REST OF US............IS SHE GOING TO NEW ORLEANS NURSING HOME TO RECUPERATE?

[ggorilla]

We do the same for the Dems in washington too. Doubt you'd be complaining if Clinton had surgery.

This care is available to the rest of us. If you are talking about universal/socialist health care then you are talking out your back-side.

This kind of service would not be available to the rest of us. You'd have a bunch of bureaucrats telling you what you need and when you can get it. It does not work in Canada nor in Europe - unless you are willing to wait for up to a year to see a doctor.

Wake up.

[mendelcrosses]

I posted on here once that,You dont speak just because you have a mouth or type just because u know the position of letters on a keypad.

Dems and the Clintons DONT refuse that everyone needs good and secured HEALTHCARE coverage. Thats the difference.

[ladylove114]

Clinton DID have it. Didn't hear the outcry from Dems then. People seem very misguided about this health care thing. Like I posted before, the level of care Mrs. Bush got would not be available to average people under "universal" health care.

[Mij13]

Ohhhh no!! The socialists are coming!! It will be the end of life as we know it!!! Seriously, you guys need some new material. 1959 this aint. (I'd lost the hip hop theme too. Seriously!!)

[oneeyedodin]

who knew?

[Bettysdad]

If you know what she said about her boy's war and Katrina survivors, it's an impossibility she had heart surgery.

[ConservativeTim]

She was absolutely correct with what she said. Perhaps she should not have said it, but it was true.

[Bettysdad]

And pray, dear right-wing child, what did she say that was true?

[Pupadup4oBama]

Do you even know what she said, or are you just agreeing with it because you are a ditto-head? (pledge allegiance to the Rushpublic)

[AlexNYC]

It's difficult to have compassion for a person who has no compassion for others.

[Tilling]

Open heart surgery is massive, so why does the press or even the family portray this like she had a mole removed/? I assure you, she is not "resting comfortably." She is in massive pain, they sawed open her chest, pried open her ribcage and opened her heart. Please give the surgery its due--it's major and it's invasive. That she was walking that night says a great deal about her physical strength. Most people are in intensive care and not walking until a day or two later. Not to mention she was on a breathing apparatus and a blood rerouter during the operation. She'll be weak and in discomfort for weeks, but she seems strong so should recover fine. I am shocked that this article seems to say all is fine, this is just a little operation, all so minimized.

[Zoe1]

This is not minor surgery. My father had the same operation so I know what I'm talking about. He was up walking, too, but with massive doses of pain killers. After he came home, there were complications of fluid build up so he had to go back to the hospital for a few days. He survived 8 year after the surgery.
I wish Mrs. Bush well and hope her recovery goes smoothly. I am a Liberal democrat, but this has nothing to do with politics.

[deke4]

Are you sure she had the kind of invasive surgery you describe? Usually the one you describe is for mere mortals. There is non invasive heart surgery which is available to those who look down on the rest of us. I have found no statement from Drs. that describe the type of surgery she had. Being a skeptic I suspect she had the non invasive surgery and they don't want mere mortals to know she did not have her rib cage sawed open, her heart removed, and worked on while she was on a life support system and then replaced in its cavity, and the ribcage wired together.

[Cheapthrills]

Wonder what her health care premiums cost??? Oh right, silly me, she's on elite welfare from the government.

[ladylove114]

Just like Ted Kennedy. Didn't Bill Clinton have heart surgery after he left office? The same elite welfare from the govt paid for his.

[LHoney]

Yes, the difference is - Kennedy and Clinton want us to have universal care, you know, like the multibillionairre Bushes have!

[Diana]

The point is, the bushes and their ilk are OPPOSED to anyone else having affordable healthcare--call it an ' entitlement.' Who's the entitled one here? Give me a break with your 'they do it too' nonsense!

[JoeHurley]

Good... good... I can feel the hate flowing through you.

[takeyourballandgohome]

ps. With that said, perhaps she would be a candidate for an artificial heart until hers repairs...some are made of metal and would be warmer than her own organ.

[Spud777]

Bab's has a heart? Amazing, it was questionable with her comments about the poor especially after her son's Katrina incompetence.

[AlexNYC]

My sentiments exactly. She's actually made a lot more vile comments than that about common folk, but it's better not to get into that now.

[peppermint]

Do you people ever give up and forget about trash politics when it comes to open heart surgery? Typical Lib mentality....... you no doubt wish it had not gone well.

How's that brain cancer coming along with the Cape Cod Orca?

[RadGash]

Doctor: "Coal.... again Coal! What is with this bush family?"

[takeyourballandgohome]

May Barb return to good health and enjoy the pension and health coverage WE have provided this family for generations. I do really wish her well and speedy recovery. I pray every night that all of us can at least have healthcare...if the big O. accomplishes nothing else. Yes, Canada has universal healthcare, and yes, they have to pay for it in their sales taxes, but at least when a family is faced with catastrophic ailments, they can focus on their dear Mother, Father, Children. Pls RNC stop the babble by Hannity which is so outdated and signs of those who have coverage. Just for once, walk in our shoes.

[SantaFeConservative]

In Canada someone with the same condition probably would not get the operation due to their age ... not enough "return" on the governments "investment". Same with transplants ... if the government decides you are too old, no transplant. Thisd is what you want, right?

[daedelus]

Wrong.

[ladylove114]

I am familiar with a young athlete from Canada - injured her knee and needed surgery. She is on a waiting list and expects her knee to be repaired within the next 6 weeks if no one else bumps her out of the way. Same injury to an athlete here in my town - injury happened Friday night, surgery to repair knee Monday morning. Sounds like a great deal to me.

[bruja]

And you think someone with no health insurance would get this treatment here in New Mexico!! Dream on!!