Former New York Mayor Ed Koch was released Saturday from the hospital after a weeklong stay for treatment of fluid in his lungs and swollen ankles -- his third hospitalization in recent months.
Koch, 88, had expected to remain at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia hospital through the weekend, but doctors decided to let him out Saturday, The Associated Press reported, citing a spokesman.
Koch was admitted last Saturday night. He lost 16 pounds of water weight in the hospital, the AP reported, and was told to limit his salt intake. At a short press conference at his release, Koch sat in a wheelchair with an oxygen tube in his nose and said he would continue treatment at home.
A physician with him, Dr. Joseph Tenenbaum, said Koch still had a way to go to restore his energy level. Koch was hospitalized in December with a respiratory infection and in September with anemia.
Koch was mayor from 1978 to 1989 and a congressman from New York from 1969 to 1979. A decade after leaving the mayor's office, he spent two years as a television show judge on "The People's Court." He has remained active on Twitter, where he occasionally tweets as @mayoredkoch.