Barbara Bush home after surgery

HOUSTON - Former first lady Barbara Bush was released from a hospital yesterday, a week after she underwent surgery for a perforated ulcer.

Former president George H.W. Bush said the "silver fox" was in good condition.

"I can report that Barb is feeling much, much better, and I'll be glad to get her home and she is doing well," he said at a news conference.

Her lab test results and vital signs were normal, said her surgeon, Dr. Pat Reardon.

"She's having an excellent recovery, and is as vigorous as ever. She was excited to go home," Reardon said.

Bush, 83, was sent to the hospital a week ago with abdominal pain. On Nov. 25, surgeons closed a dime-sized hole in her small intestine that was caused by the ulcer.

After the operation, she had to stay in the hospital because she was being fed intravenously while the ulcer healed.

"Mrs. Bush was started on a liquid diet Monday morning after all her test results came back normal," Reardon said. "She did very well on the diet, and we determined she was ready to go home. She will slowly introduce regular foods back into her diet, and will gradually resume her normal activities."

Ulcers can be a side effect of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, which she was taking. She'll stop taking them for now, Reardon said.

He said Bush declared that "this was the worst pain she ever had, worse than childbirth."

"I don't want to overdramatize this, but she was in extraordinary agony," former President Bush said.

When she was first lady, Bush disclosed she was suffering from an overactive thyroid ailment known as Graves' disease.

ASSOCIATED PRESS