Harry Reid released from hospital following eye surgery

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, has been released from the hospital following surgery on his right eye Monday in an attempt to fully recover his vision after a freak exercising accident.

Reid spokesman Adam Jentleson said the three-and-a-half hour surgery was successful in removing a blood clot in Reid's right eye, additional blood from the front of his right eye, and repairing the orbital bones in his right brow, temple and cheek. He was under full anesthesia and doctors have said they are optimistic he will regain vision in his right eye that was lost following the accident, although there is no definitive verdict yet.

Reid "is currently sitting in his living room with Mrs. Reid, cracking jokes and asking about the whip count for this evening's vote on the Keystone pipeline legislation," Jentleson said.

The surgery was performed at George Washington University Hospital in Washington, D.C.

Reid, 75, was working out at his home in Nevada on New Years Day when his exercise equipment broke. The top Senate Democrat fell, breaking four ribs and several bones near his right eye, his office said in a statement at the time. In a recent radio interview with KNPR, Reid had suggested there was a possibility the vision in his right eye will not be fully restored.

Last week, in his first news conference of the new year, Reid said he expects to return to work a week after the surgery. Additionally, he said that the accident hasn't changed his plans to run for re-election in 2016.

"At this stage, I'm fully intending to run," he said. "We have quite an operation in Nevada that hasn't lost a step. We're off and running."