On her Web site, Kingsbury wrote that Don was diagnosed with the same condition suffered by former New England Patriots player Tedy Bruschi--with an additional risk factor called atrial septal aneurysm (ASA), a bulging on the heart wall into one of the heart's atria.

"The thing is his heart is so big and full of God, I can't imagine a hole anywhere," Kingsbury said. "So the initial recommendation from our specialist friend is to have it closed. Closure they call it. I like that idea a lot. For today we rejoice that ... he can walk out of the hospital on his own volition and that we found out the cause."

Kingsbury acknowledged her "Facebook friends," who have been following updates of her husband. "Thank you doesn't come close to how grateful we are for your prayers," she said. "How does anyone go through life without the body of Christ? Glad I'll never know."

Kingsbury, who won the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association's prestigious Christian Book of the Year Award in 2007 for Ever After (Zondervan), has nearly 11 million books in print.