Barbara Bush discharged from Texas hospital

Former first lady Barbara Bush was discharged Saturday from a Houston hospital where she spent nearly a week being treated for pneumonia.

The wife of former President George H.W. Bush went home Saturday morning, according to a statement from Bush spokesman Jim McGrath.

The 88-year-old Bush family matriarch had been at Houston Methodist Hospital since Monday.

"I cannot thank the doctors and nurses at Houston Methodist enough for making sure I got the best treatment and got back to George and our dogs as quickly as possible," Mrs. Bush said in the statement.

She and her husband, the 41st president, live in Houston. The nation's longest-married presidential first couple will celebrate their 69th wedding anniversary Monday.

On Thursday, the former president tweeted President Obama and former President Clinton, thanking them on his wife's behalf for their tweets of support the previous day and saying she was "heeding their advice."

"Doesnt happen w every President she knows!" Mr. Bush wrote.

The former first lady had a reputation for bluntness when her husband was president. Her son, George W. Bush, was the nation's 43rd president.

Mrs. Bush had heart surgery in March 2009 for a severe narrowing of the main heart valve. She also was hospitalized in November 2008, when she underwent surgery for a perforated ulcer. In 2010, she was admitted to the hospital after having a mild relapse of Graves disease, a thyroid condition for which she was treated in 1989.

But health concerns had been more common of late with her 89-year-old husband, the nation's oldest living former president. He was released in January 2013 after spending nearly two months at Houston Methodist Hospital, being treated for a bronchitis-related cough and other health issues.

The former first lady and her husband still make public appearances. Last week, they appeared at an event at the former president's office to honor a Houston businessman and philanthropist with a Points of Light Award, a volunteer service award started by the older Mr. Bush.