Graham Released From Hospital

Aug 30, 06:10 PM

Current Headlines: CHARLOTTE, N.C. _ After almost two weeks of treatment, Billy Graham left an Asheville, N.C., hospital Thursday afternoon and returned to his mountain home in nearby Montreat, according to a statement released by Mission Health & Hospitals.

The evangelist was admitted to the hospital, 20 minutes from his home, in the early hours of Aug. 18 because of intestinal bleeding. He had two more episodes while at the hospital, but none since doctors cauterized the bleeding in Graham's colon Aug. 22.

"We have been pleased that he has been able to come back from this incident as well as he has," Dr. Lucian Rice, Graham's personal physician, said. "He will continue to have therapy at home, and I feel that he can have a very good recovery."

During his hospital stay, Graham, who will turn 89 in November, had physical therapy every day and took frequent walks to rebuild his strength.

Rice, an internal medical specialist, and Dr. Will Harlan, a gastroenterologist, initially thought Graham's bleeding was related to his history of diverticulosis. But a colonoscopy revealed a non-diverticular bleeding source in the colon most consistent with an arteriovenous malformation, or AVM.

An AVM is a tangle of small blood vessels in the lining of the colon. Bleeding from an AVM may be chronic, causing anemia, or it may be rapid, as it was in Graham's case. Treatment is usually by cauterization.

Doctors also performed an upper endoscopy and a capsule endoscopy, a new non-invasive method for studying the small intestine. The study ruled out any additional areas of bleeding in the small intestine.

Graham's staff reported that, during his stay, four of his five adult children _ Franklin Graham, Anne Graham Lotz, Gigi Graham-Foreman and Ruth Graham _ visited him. The fifth, Ned Graham, who lives in Washington state, stayed in touch by telephone.

The world famous preacher also took a call from President Bush, and read cards and notes from friends and associates. A big fan of TV news and CNN's "Larry King Live," Graham kept up with current events on television and in the newspapers, his staff said.

Graham, whose wife Ruth died in June, also stopped to talk with hospital staff members and other patients and their families in nearby rooms, according to his staffers.

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