ASHEVILLE - Evangelist Billy Graham may be able to return home this week from the hospital where he has been treated for more than a week for intestinal bleeding, doctors said Wednesday.

Graham, 88, is continuing his program of exercise, physical therapy and full meals to rebuild his strength, said Merrill Gregory, a spokeswoman for Mission Health & Hospitals in Asheville.

His doctors said he may be able to return this week to his home in Montreat, Gregory said.

Graham, who has been a patient since Aug. 18, is in fair condition, Gregory said. Doctors cauterized the bleeding in his colon on Aug. 22.

Physicians originally believed that a diverticulum, a pouch on the colon's wall, was responsible for the bleeding. But a colonoscopy last week revealed the bleeding was most consistent with a tangle of small blood vessels in the lining of the colon called an arteriovenous malformation, the hospital has said.

Although bleeding from an AVM can be chronic and cause anemia, it also can be rapid and brisk, which was the case with Graham, the hospital has said. Graham underwent the usual treatment of cauterization with no further evidence of bleeding since then.

Graham took several walks Sunday, including his longest since being hospitalized, and visited with family members.