11 News reporter Wendell Edwards' 5 p.m. update | Wendell Edwards' Noon update

HOUSTON—Former first lady Barbara Bush was released from a hospital Tuesday, a week after undergoing surgery to close a dime-sized hole in her small intestine caused by an ulcer.

Her husband, 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 where he thanked The Methodist Hospital staff for taking care of his wife.

Dr. Pat Reardon, the surgeon who operated on Barbara Bush, said her lab test results and vital signs were normal.

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

Bush, 83, was hospitalized a week ago for abdominal pains and underwent surgery for a perforated ulcer late in the evening on Nov. 25. During the surgery, doctors closed a nearly 1.5-centimeter hole caused by the ulcer.

She had to stay in the hospital because she was being fed intravenously. While her ulcer healed, she was not allowed to eat anything for fear it might reopen the hole.

“Mrs. Bush was started on a liquid diet Monday morning after all her test results came back normal. She did very well on the diet, and we determined she was ready to go home,” Reardon said.

Bush will remain on a liquid and soft food diet for several more days, Reardon said.

“She will slowly introduce regular foods back into her diet, and will gradually resume her normal activities,” he said.

The ulcer can be a side effect of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, which Barbara Bush was taking. She’ll stop taking those drugs for now, Reardon said.

According to the doctor, Barbara 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.

After her surgery, Barbara Bush spent a day in the hospital’s intensive care unit as a precaution. She was moved out of there by Thanksgiving Day.

The former Barbara Pierce, daughter of the publisher of McCall’s magazine, married George H.W. Bush in 1945 when he returned a hero from World War II.

They had had their first child, George, while still at Yale in 1946. A daughter, Robin, died in 1953 of leukemia a few weeks before her 4^th birthday. The other Bush children are sons Jeb, Neil and Marvin, and daughter Dorothy.

Barbara Bush disclosed she was suffering from an overactive thyroid ailment known as Graves’ disease when she lived at the White House. The disease causes teary eyes and double vision , according to her doctors.