Posted on 12/11/2004 10:40:56 AM PST by Former Military Chick
BETHESDA, Md. (AP) -- President Bush was found in good health and pronounced "fit for duty" by his doctors after his annual physical on Saturday. The checkup was delayed for four months because the 58-year-old president had a hectic travel schedule during the campaign.
"They determined he is in superior health overall for a man his age," White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said.
The White House put out a short letter signed by the 10 doctors who participated in exam and planned to release further details late Saturday about what the team found. Buchan would not comment on any problems discovered during the exam, which last about three hours.
"I have interviewed and examined President George W. Bush and have reviewed his medical record," the doctors' statement said. "Within the scope of my specialty, I find him to be fit for duty and have every reasonable expectation that he will remain fit for duty for the duration of his presidency."
Bush won a second four-year term on Nov. 2. His inauguration is Jan. 20.
Presiding over the medical exam at the National Naval Medical Center outside Washington were White House physician Richard Tubb and Dr. Kenneth Cooper, the president of the Cooper Aerobics Center. Also involved were a radiologist, optometrist, sports physician, hearing specialist, skin specialist and cardiologist.
It was the fourth physical of Bush's presidency. He usually has his annual exam in August. This year, however, Bush found it more convenient to wait and his doctor had no problem with that, White House press secretary Scott McClellan said.
After the checkup, Bush stayed at the medical facility to visit privately for about two hours with Marines, sailors and one soldier recovering from injuries suffered in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The hospital is treating about 50 military members, most of whom were hurt in Iraq, Lt. Cmdr. Chito Peppler said. Bush saw about 45 of them, including two in the intensive care unit, and was awarding 14 Purple Hearts, Buchan said.
Bush asked if they had everything they needed and expressed appreciation for their sacrifice, Buchan said. For most of the visits, the president was accompanied by Michael W. Smith, the Christian pop singer who is a Bush family friend.
The naval facility has treated more than 1,100 Marines and sailors since the beginning of the two conflicts, Peppler said.
Bush has visited with wounded troops at Bethesda once before. He has made six trips to see injured soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.
In his past three annual exams, the president was pronounced extremely fit.
At nearly 6 feet tall, Bush was found in his 2003 physical to weigh 194 pounds, with a 14.5 percent body fat, a healthy resting blood pressure of 110/62 and a resting pulse rate (45 beats per minute) that puts him in the range of a well-trained athlete.
The president's only reported health problems have been minor: a mild high frequency hearing loss that does not affect everyday conversation, an optic condition that has the effect of farsightedness, and a now-healed minor muscle tear in his right calf last summer.
Last winter, with his knees causing him increasing pain after nearly three decades of running, Bush switched to riding a mountain bike for exercise. Those who have biked with him say the president is as aggressive on the trails as he was on the track as a jogger.
The president made headlines in May when he was cut and bruised in a spill off his mountain bike while riding around his Texas ranch.
Bush has had several small skin growths treated as a preventive measure, including lesions around his nose that are common in people with sun damage. He has had four small lesions removed from his cheeks and arm with liquid nitrogen.
The president smokes an occasional cigar. He quit drinking alcohol when he was 40.
meant DOUBT
He must be quite impressive to meet in person.
I know...I didn't know he was nearly 6 feet tall...for some reason, he looks much shorter.
"He must be quite impressive to meet in person."
I can verify your assumption -- President Bush is INCREDIBLY impressive when you meet him in person!!!
Goodness. He ought to live to be 100.
I can see it now- "Why did he wait until now when he was scheduled for August? What was the president hiding?"
Because the Pres regularly exercises, which reminds me about my scheduled run today.
Bush was on FOX News saying he was a bit overweight and declared his New Year's Resolution to be losing weight and inches from the waistline. It didn't sound like he was gonna wait until the New Year, either.Gotta Lubya Dubya!!
DUmbasses are deeply disappointed.
What ever happened with that incident where Bush passed out while watching TV????
That'll give the democrats fits.
I wonder if Bill Clinton's full medical records will ever be released?
Or Kerry's. But I guess that's a moot point now.
I hear that Kerry is demanding a second opinion. :)
As a joke, he gave the entire press corp on Airforce One a bag of pretzels.
It had a note that said, "chew slowly" or something like that on it, that he wrote.
Laura told Leno that the President was now practicing "safe snacks".
What a nice sense of humor!
Yes, they made a joke out of it themselves. I was replying to a poster who appeared to me to be trying to make something bigger out of the incident...like there was some secret health problem Bush has that was never accounted for. Ahhhhh...in a word - NO!
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