ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, August 27, 1996 TAG: 9608270100
SECTION: NATL/INTL PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CALCUTTA, INDIA
SOURCE: Associated Press
Mother Teresa sat up in bed and showed other signs of recovery Monday following six days of treatment in a Calcutta hospital for a faltering heart and lung infection.
``We are very hopeful, though she is still not out of danger,'' said Dr. Sandeep Lahiri, part of a team of six physicians treating the Catholic nun.
Mother Teresa found the strength to gather herself up in bed for a few minutes to scribble a note saying: ``I want to see sisters.''
Over the weekend, her condition stabilized, but her heartbeat remained irregular and she was required to be on a respirator. By Monday evening, doctors had cut her time on the respirator by about half, said J.C. Ghosh, a cardiologist at the Woodlands Nursing Home in Calcutta.
Calcutta Archbishop Henry D'Souza visited Mother Teresa to wish her a happy birthday. She turns 86 today.
``She held my hand as I greeted her,'' D'Souza said. ``She said she was feeling pain from the respirator, but was otherwise feeling better.''
Monday, at the headquarters of the order she founded, more than 400 nuns, priests and visitors sang hymns during a birthday observance. In 1993, then-Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao erroneously sent birthday greetings to Mother Teresa a day early, and many people since have marked the occasion on both days.
In a nearby chapel, 30 boys and girls of the Shishu Bhawan, a center for homeless children, prayed for the woman who has changed the lives of many orphans in Calcutta, the city she adopted as her home 67 years ago.
Mother Teresa was hospitalized Aug. 20 with a 100-degree fever brought on by malaria. Doctors say the fever aggravated existing cardiac troubles that caused her heart to fail three times since Thursday.
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate was put on a respirator, but developed a lung infection from prolonged use.
``Her lung infection today is better,'' said Lahiri. He said he was concerned the infection could develop into pneumonia.
LENGTH: Short : 45 linesby CNB