Gabrielle Giffords leaves hospital after appendicitis

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was forced to give up her promising political career when she was disabled in a 2011 assassination attempt, announced Saturday she was leaving an Arizona hospital after being treated for appendicitis.

“I’m getting better — let’s go,” Gifford said as she made a fist and gestured with her left arm in a five-second video clip that she posted on Twitter.

“Eleven years ago, I left the hospital facing a lifetime of recovery. Today, I’m leaving the hospital glad it’s only appendicitis, and grateful for friends, family, my incredible medical team, and of course, @CaptMarkKelly, who gives true meaning to ‘in sickness and in health,’” she said in a statement.

The office of Giffords’ husband, U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, a Democrat from Arizona, had announced Wednesday that Giffords had checked into a hospital and that he was returning to Tucson to be with her.