HOUSTON- Former first lady Barbara Bush has been released from a Houston hospital eight days after undergoing heart surgery.

Doctors at The Methodist Hospital discharged the 83-year-old former first lady Friday after her aortic valve was replaced on March 4. A hospital statement said she left with her husband, former President George H.W. Bush.

In the statement, her heart surgeon said Mrs. Bush will have to restrict her activities for at least another three weeks. Dr. Gerald Lawrie of the Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center said she could then resume normal activities.

Lawrie called Mrs. Bush “a remarkable patient” and said her recovery “was very quick for this type of procedure.”