Randy Travis remains in critical condition at the Heart Hospital Baylor Plano in Texas, but his condition has stabilized.

Travis was hospitalized July 7 with a heart condition. Doctors now say he is suffering from idiopathic cardiomyopathy, which means his heart muscle is weakened due to scar tissue, not viral myocarditis as they originally suspected. 

Dr. Michael Mack, a cardiac surgeon and the medical director of cardiovascular disease at Baylor Health Care System in Dallas says the heart condition is related to the singer’s family history, and not caused by drugs or alcohol.

Travis also suffered a stroke while in the hospital and underwent surgery to relieve pressure on his brain.  He has since awakened from that surgery and is responding to people. Travis’s fiancée, Mary Davis, says, “He’s miles beyond where any of us thought he would be a few days ago.”

Dr. Jed Erwin, an intensivist at the hospital, says the singer is “awake and alert interacting with his family and friends and beginning to start doing some early physical therapy.”

Travis is breathing using a ventilator, but doctors anticipate he’ll be breathing on his own very soon. They expect to keep him hospitalized for the next two to three weeks before transferring him to an inpatient facility for ” aggressive” physical therapy. The recovery from the stroke is expected to take months.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

 

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