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"She looks well to me, and beautiful," an emotional former president Bush told reporters at a press briefing in Houston's Methodist Hospital aired by local media, after his wife regained consciousness and began talking and joking with doctors and her husband.
The 41st president added that the Bushes heard Thursday from President Barack Obama as well as former presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and the couple's son George W. Bush.
Heart surgeon Gerald Lawrie said he expected Bush to "recover fully and soon resume her normal activities," but her husband of 64 years said he experienced one of the most stressful days of his life.
"It didn't seem routine to me when you go in there and put a pig's valve in your wife," he said. "When I heard about it I was worried sick."
Aortic valve replacements can be either from man-made materials or biologic tissue. In Bush's case doctors replaced her aortic valve with a pig's valve.
The aortic valve provides crucial life function, and when left untreated a hardened aortic valve can result in heart failure and death.
The valve opens to allow blood to be pumped from the heart out to the body, and then closes to prevent blood from flowing back into the heart.
Lawrie said the surgery was timely, as Bush "was right at the beginning of trouble" when they decided to operate.
The former president said the couple emailed their five children shortly before the surgery, and that Barbara Bush had been "discouraging" their children from visiting her in hospital, preferring a reunion once she is released in six to nine days.
Bush, who was first lady from 1989 until 1993, underwent successful surgery for a perforated ulcer in November at the same Houston hospital. Doctors said the two medical issues were unrelated.
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Image of George H.W. and Barbara Bush
The 41st president added that the Bushes heard Thursday from President Barack Obama as well as former presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and the couple's son George W. Bush.
Heart surgeon Gerald Lawrie said he expected Bush to "recover fully and soon resume her normal activities," but her husband of 64 years said he experienced one of the most stressful days of his life.
"It didn't seem routine to me when you go in there and put a pig's valve in your wife," he said. "When I heard about it I was worried sick."
Aortic valve replacements can be either from man-made materials or biologic tissue. In Bush's case doctors replaced her aortic valve with a pig's valve.
The aortic valve provides crucial life function, and when left untreated a hardened aortic valve can result in heart failure and death.
The valve opens to allow blood to be pumped from the heart out to the body, and then closes to prevent blood from flowing back into the heart.
Lawrie said the surgery was timely, as Bush "was right at the beginning of trouble" when they decided to operate.
The former president said the couple emailed their five children shortly before the surgery, and that Barbara Bush had been "discouraging" their children from visiting her in hospital, preferring a reunion once she is released in six to nine days.
Bush, who was first lady from 1989 until 1993, underwent successful surgery for a perforated ulcer in November at the same Houston hospital. Doctors said the two medical issues were unrelated.
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Image of George H.W. and Barbara Bush
