HOUSTON (AP) – Former first lady Barbara Bush was making “an excellent recovery” following 2½-hour heart surgery to replace her aortic valve and was joking with hospital staff, her lead surgeon said Thursday.

Mrs. Bush, 83, was expected to be released from the intensive care unit at The Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center on Saturday, Dr. Gerald Lawrie told reporters.

He said Mrs. Bush awakened earlier than most elderly patients do after undergoing the “very routine procedure” and started joking with the doctors.

“She recognized all of us immediately and then she started cheering us up with some humorous comments as soon as we took that tube out,” Lawrie said, referring to the intubation tube in her throat, noting that she gently cajoled him for having “misled” her about post-operative pain.

“She continued to do very well,” he said.

Her husband, former President George H.W. Bush, said “she looks well to me, and beautiful,” as he choked back tears, describing the operation as one of the most stressful days of his life.

He said Mrs. Bush discouraged any of her five children, including former President George W. Bush, from visiting her during her hospital stay, and that the intensive care unit was no place for “children, even if they are 45 to 60 years old.”

Bush said he spoke to President Barack Obama and former presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and his son.

Rob Saliterman, a spokesman for George W. Bush in Dallas, said he was “in close communication with family members in Houston, is glad Mrs. Bush is recovering quickly and is grateful to everyone keeping her in their thoughts and prayers.”

Lawrie said Mrs. Bush was to stay in the hospital for a week for observation after being released from the intensive care unit.

The surgery was scheduled last week after Mrs. Bush experienced a shortness of breath, Lawrie said. He said doctors determined the aortic valve had started to harden.

Replacement valves are either manmade or made from living tissue from human or animal sources. Lawrie said Mrs. Bush received a valve from a pig.

When left untreated, a hardened aortic valve can result in heart failure or sudden cardiac death, the hospital said. The valve, on the left side of the heart, can harden with age and become less effective. Symptoms of aortic valve disease include shortness of breath, chest pains and dizziness.

Houston television station KRTK reported that Mrs. Bush almost didn’t want her children to know about the surgery because she didn’t think it was a big deal. She is the mother of the former president and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. The other Bush children are sons Neil and Marvin and daughter Dorothy.

Barbara Bush underwent surgery in November for a perforated ulcer. The hospital said the two were unrelated.

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 their first child, George, while still at Yale in 1946. A daughter, Robin, died in 1953 of leukemia a few weeks before her 4th birthday.

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.