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Bush Daughter Recovering From Surgery

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From Associated Press

With her mother by her side, one of President-elect George W. Bush’s twin daughters was released from the hospital Tuesday after an emergency Christmas night appendectomy.

Jenna Bush, 19, was released from St. David’s Medical Center late Tuesday, said Bush spokesman Gordon Johndroe.

Jenna spoke to her father by telephone before going home with Mrs. Bush, who had not planned to join her husband and other family members on a quick vacation trip to Florida.

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Johndroe said he was unsure whether Jenna would join her relatives in Florida.

“She’s doing fine,” Johndroe said.

The illness wasn’t expected to affect Jenna’s attendance at the University of Texas at Austin, where she’s a freshman. Spring classes don’t begin until Jan. 16.

“The doctors say everything’s going just fine,” Johndroe said.

Earlier Tuesday, when leaving to join the rest of his family in Florida, Bush said Jenna was recovering well.

“She’s feeling great. My daughter’s great,” Bush told reporters. He joked that if she cannot join the rest of the family for a Florida vacation, “she can clean out her room.”

Jenna Bush underwent surgery Monday night after experiencing abdominal pains earlier that day.

Bush visited his daughter for about 45 minutes after the procedure. Bush himself had his appendix removed when he was 10 years old.

The president-elect said the family was having lunch at a friend’s home when the attack occurred. The family returned to the Governor’s Mansion, where Jenna’s pain grew more severe.

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Doctors removed the appendix, which is a small, finger-shaped pouch of intestinal tissue. The hospital refused to release details about the operation, referring all question’s to Bush’s office.

Bush said the appendix had not ruptured.

When an appendix bursts, it spreads potentially fatal infection throughout the abdomen, and requires intravenous antibiotics during a hospitalization stay that can last for weeks. A burst appendix also can cause infertility in girls and young women.

Jenna and her twin sister, Barbara, graduated from the public Stephen F. Austin High School last spring, where classmates voted Jenna “most likely to trip on prom night.”

She was senior class president and a member of the student council.

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