PHILADELPHIA — Sen. John Fetterman was discharged from a hospital in Pittsburgh on Saturday after experiencing a heart problem that caused him to fall on a walk near his home in Braddock.

Fetterman posted a photo of himself to social media platform X on Saturday afternoon, showing his bruised — but smiling — face.

“20 stitches later and a full recovery, I’m back home with @giselefetterman and the kids. I’m overwhelmed + profoundly grateful for all the well-wishes,” Fetterman wrote in the post.

He thanked University of Pittsburgh Medical Center for the “incredible medical care that put me back together.”

Fetterman fell to the ground while walking near his home in Braddock after feeling lightheaded due to a “ventricular fibrillation flare-up,” according to a Thursday statement from an unnamed spokesperson on Fetterman’s X account. Fetterman hit his face, sustaining “minor injuries,” according to the statement.

It’s the latest in a string of serious health incidents that have marked the Democratic senator’s time in the public eye. The fall comes three years after he recovered from a near-fatal stroke just days before he won the 2022 Senate primary, which was caused by a blood clot that had blocked a major artery in his brain.

Ventricular fibrillation is the most severe form of arrhythmia — an abnormal heart rhythm — and the most common cause of sudden cardiac death.

The spokesperson said Fetterman was brought to a Pittsburgh hospital “out of an abundance of caution” and was “doing well and receiving routine observation at the hospital.” He decided to stay in the hospital “so doctors can fine-tune his medication regimen,” the statement said.

“If you thought my face looked bad before, wait until you see it now!” joked Fetterman, according to the statement.

Fetterman could have been assisted by a defibrillator he had implanted after his 2022 stroke, doctors who specialize in heart conditions but were not involved in the senator’s care told The Inquirer.

Politicians across the aisle flooded Fetterman with warm wishes following the news of his fall and hospitalization. Sen. Dave McCormick, a Pennsylvania Republican, told a crowd at a Veterans Day event on Friday that Fetterman is “a great force of good for the Democratic Party, a great commonsense vote for Pennsylvania.”

Fetterman has a particular willingness to break with his party and work across the aisle.

The same week as his fall, Fetterman was one of eight members of the Senate Democratic caucus who voted with Republicans to end the federal government shutdown.

The busy week also coincided with the release of his new book "Unfettered," which reveals details of his struggles with his physical and mental health. Fetterman received inpatient treatment for six weeks for major depression beginning in February 2023, shortly after he began his term.

“Once, as I lay in bed, I asked myself, ‘What would you do if there were a pill on the nightstand you could take and not wake up?,’” he wrote while detailing his depression in the months leading up to the start of his term. “I would have taken it.”

Fetterman also discussed his distaste for the idea that lawmakers should always vote with their party.

“We need to get away from the progressive and liberal notion that everything the Democrats do is right and above reproach and everything the Republicans do is wrong and evil,” he said. “We need to start talking to one another.”

McCormick and Fetterman have taken a friendly tone with one another and joined forces like on a resolution condemning antisemitism.

In the spirit of Fetterman’s sense of humor, McCormick joked on Friday about the timing of the fall coming so soon after Fetterman’s book launch.

“I said to him, ‘you’re shameless, you will do anything to sell books man,’” he joked.

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