Sen. Chris Murphy out of hospital, will miss votes after stroke

Murphy’s doctor said he expects the senator to “make a full recovery following rehabilitation.”

Washington — Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut was released from the hospital Friday after experiencing a stroke nearly a week ago, but will miss several weeks of votes as he continues his recovery at a rehabilitation center. "I want to be direct with you, so here is my diagnosis," Murphy said in a statement. "Last Saturday afternoon, I felt something was not right with my body and called 9-1-1 out of an abundance of caution, and I'm glad I did." Murphy, who is 53, said he was diagnosed with a small bleed in the thalamus region of his brain. The thalamus sits above the brainstem and relays sensory information between the spinal cord and the brain, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

Dr. Jose Suarez, the chief of neurosciences critical care at Johns Hopkins, where Murphy was hospitalized, said the senator experienced a small hemorrhagic stroke. "He has shown tremendous progress, and at the current rate of improvement, we expect that he will make a full recovery following rehabilitation," Suarez said in a statement released by Murphy's office. Murphy said he is taking his recovery seriously and will be spending several weeks at a rehabilitation center in order to "get back to work on the quickest timeline possible." "This has been a scary experience for me and my family, and