HOUSTON (AP) — Former President George H.W. Bush could be discharged from a Houston hospital within days after nearly two months of treatment for illness that began as a bronchitis-related cough.

Spokesman Jim McGrath said Monday that the Bush family is hopeful he will be released early this week from Methodist Hospital. McGrath says the final word will come from Bush’s doctors.

McGrath couldn’t say if the 88-year-old will be allowed to return to his Houston home or will be sent to a rehabilitation facility. McGrath says those details will be provided “at the appropriate time.”

The nation’s oldest living ex-president and his wife, Barbara, spend winters in Houston and summers at their home in Kennebunkport, Maine.

Bush has been hospitalized since Nov. 23, including a week in intensive care last month.

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