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Doctor: Bret Michaels released from hospital

AP, May 4, 2010 4:49 pm PDT

Poison frontman Bret Michaels has been released from a Phoenix hospital and is expected to make a full recovery after suffering a brain hemorrhage last month, his doctor said Tuesday. Dr. Joseph Zabramski, chief of cerebrovascular surgery at the Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center, said he recommended that Michaels wait at least four to six weeks before resuming normal activity. He declined to say when Michaels could resume touring. Doctors will examine Michaels every two weeks until he's recovered.
"This produces a great deal of stress on the body," he said. "This is like being involved in an accident from inside."
Zabramski said Michaels is fully conscious and aware and talking fine, but he has back spasms and headaches when he tries to walk. He could continue getting back pain and headaches, but Zabramski doesn't expect any other long-term effects. He wouldn't say when Michaels was released or whether he was sent home or to a rehabilitation facility.
The 47-year-old contestant on "The Celebrity Apprentice" is receiving therapy and will probably continue to suffer from severe pain for another seven to 10 days as blood pooled under his brain dissolves. Michaels is a Type 1 diabetic, which limits the available options to ease discomfort.
Michaels' was admitted into the hospital April 22 after suffering a severe headache. He was diagnosed with a subarachnoid hemorrhage, which causes bleeding in the fluid-filled spaces around the base of the brain.
Two tests showed that Michaels did not suffer an aneurysm, so doctors are unsure what caused his condition. They did not perform surgery or other invasive procedures, but they plan a third test to check again for an aneurysm, a bulge in a weak part of a blood vessel that makes it more likely to have a second hemorrhage.
It is unlikely that Michaels' hemorrhage is related to an appendectomy conducted on April 12 or to Michaels being hit in the face by a descending set piece at last year's Tony Awards, a mishap that left the rocker with a broken nose and a busted lip. Hard hits to the head can cause hemorrhages, but not almost a year after the incident, Zabramski said.
Michaels, who filmed most of NBC's "The Celebrity Apprentice" last fall, is one of five remaining stars vying to win Donald Trump's business-themed reality TV competition. The other contenders are celebrity chef Curtis Stone, reality TV diva Sharon Osbourne, former WWE wrestler Maria Kanellis, pop singer Cyndi Lauper and actress Holly Robinson Peete.
If he avoids being fired by Trump in upcoming episodes, Michaels' prognosis means he could possibly attend "The Celebrity Apprentice" finale May 23 at New York University's Skirball Center. The finale features the last two contestants performing a final task, typically organizing a charity event, then debating each other live in front of Trump.
Michaels' representatives previously announced that his tour appearances scheduled through May 21 have been postponed, but that his other concert dates through October, including a summer tour with Lynyrd Skynyrd, are going ahead as scheduled.
Michaels already has ample experience at staging comebacks. After glam-rock was edged out in the 1990s, the "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" singer found fame again on reality TV, starring as a judge on USA's singing contest "Nashville Star" in 2005, then as the bad-boy bachelor looking for lust on VH1's tawdry dating show "Rock of Love" from 2007 to 2009.
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AP Entertainment Writer Derrik J. Lang in Los Angeles contributed to this report.