PORTLAND, Maine - Former President George H.W. Bush, 91, will not need surgery to repair a broken bone in his neck. Bush fell at his summer home in Kennebunkport Wednesday. And for the time being, he will remain at Maine Medical Center in Portland, where he'll undergo treatment.
Addressing reporters outside Maine Medical Center in Portland Thursday afternoon, attending physician Dr. William D'Angelo says "Bush 41" was lucky not to be more severely injured in the fall.
"He's a tough guy. I'm impressed," D'Angelo said. He says the president never lost consciousness, and the injury he sustained neither impinged on his spinal cord nor resulted in any neurological deficit. He continues to have normal use of his limbs.
"President Bush will remain at Maine Medical Center to be be fitted with a brace to immobilize the injured area," D'Angelo said. "He will also be here to continue physical therapy, and for further evaluation."
Bush fractured the C2 vertebrae at the base of his skull, which D'Angelo describes as a "significant injury." Still, he says the president is in excellent shape and he expects him to make a full recovery.
D'Angelo says the hospital does not discuss timelines for discharge, but he doesn't believe this will be a prolonged recovery period at MMC. The overall recovery, though, will likely take several months.
"Speaking generically in a person in their 90s who has this type of fracture, it usually takes three to four months for this type of fracture to heal," D'Angelo said.
D'Angelo says Bush 41 was joined at the hospital by his wife Barbara and daughter, Dora. He quotes Barbara Bush as saying that, for a man shot down over the Pacific in World War II, this is just small bump in the road.