Bret Michaels Out of Hospital After Hemorrhage

May 4, 2010— -- Rocker and reality TV show star Bret Michaels left the hospital today, less than three weeks after a brain hemorrhage threatened his life, his doctor said at a press conference.

Dr. Joseph Zabramski led the team that treated Michaels at Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix for a subarachnoid hemorrhage -- in Michaels' case, a bleed at the base of his brain stem. Zabramski said Michaels would continue to receive care outside the hospital, as he is not yet fully recovered.

"He can walk, but he's not walking very well," he said.

However, he fact that Michaels was able to weather the hemorrhage as well as he did impressed his doctors. The condition, which occurs suddenly, kills 15 percent of its victims before they reach the hospital. Another 20 to 40 percent of sufferers do not survive the resulting complications of the hemorrhage.

Michaels also suffered a complication called hyponatremia as a result of the hemorrhage, and he had undergone an emergency appendectomy just a week before the hemorrhage struck. What's more, he has Type 1 diabetes -- a condition that some neurologists said would make his treatment more complicated.

"Bret's sheer will to live and fully recover is undeniable," an e-mail statement released on April 30 by Michaels' publicist quoted Zabramski as saying. "He has an unbelievable fight in him.

"It was a combination of Bret's fight to stay conscious during the hemorrhage and get to the emergency room and the immediate medical attention provided by our staff at Barrow that enabled us to stabilize his condition," Zabramski said.

Zabramski said during the press conference that he recommended Michaels wait at least four to six weeks before resuming normal activity.

The location of the 47-year-old former Poison frontman's treatment had been a secret but was identified last week by Michael's publicist and posted on bretmichaels.com.

Bret Michaels' Brain Bleed; Underlying Cause Still a Mystery

"Due to the severity of his life-threatening condition, the instantaneous way in which the hemorrhage presented itself, and respect for his family, his location [initially] was not confirmed to the media," the statement said.

Doctors have yet to detail exactly what caused the bleeding in the first place. While they orignally suspected an aneurysm -- a balloonlike bulge in a brain artery that has the potential to rupture and bleed -- two tests have already suggested that his was not the underlying cause, according to Associated Press reports. Michaels will undergo a third test to look for a possible aneurysm, as this condition can make subsequent brain bleeds more likely.

A number of neurologists said at the time of Michaels' hospitalization that they were optimistic Michaels would survive the ordeal, based on the news that Michaels' father reported that his son could talk the day after the hemorrhage.

"If he is hospitalized and speaking, he is in a much, much better category with regard to the possibility of a good recovery," said Dr. Daniel Barrow, chairman of neurosurgery at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, at the time of the news. "The best outcome is that he will be able to resume all of his previous activities with no complications. That is conceivable."

Michaels' father had also said his son's speech was slurred and his vision was blurry when he spoke to him shortly after he was hospitalized. However, Zabramski said in Tuesday press conference that upon leaving the hospital, the rocker had no problems with slurred speech, but that he was still experiencing severe back pain.

In addition to his musical career, Michaels can be seen each week as a top contender on Donald Trump's NBC reality show "The Celebrity Apprentice," competing against singer Cyndi Lauper and media maven Sharon Osbourne, to name a few of the remaining competitors. He previously starred in VH1's "Rock of Love With Bret Michaels."

ABC News' Sheila Marikar contributed to this report.