NATCHEZ — Rumors a recovering Mayor Butch Brown broke his hip over the weekend are just that — rumors.

Brown said Monday he did fall Saturday night and went to the emergency room Sunday morning at his wife’s insistence, but said he was told he had only bruised his hip.

Brown said he was moving from a chair into his wheelchair when he fell.

“I thought I could get away with moving from my chair to the wheelchair (without assistance), but not with sock feet on a shiny hardwood floor,” he said.

Brown returned home Saturday from a stint in the hospital after he suffered multiple strokes in December.

Since then, Brown said he has been steadily recovering and overcoming paralysis he experienced on the left side of his body.

“My whole left side for probably the first five days was just dangling there … no response from the brain as far as wiggling your fingers or anything like that,” Brown said. “But all that is back now.”

Brown said he has movement in all of his limbs and fingers.

“My doctors say that is very, very good and unusual but good for such a short recovery time,” he said.

Brown said he can walk short distances but has been instructed by his doctors not to do so without assistance. He uses a wheelchair if he needs to move about long distances.

Brown is completing a rehabilitation program in Natchez, doing some therapy at home and some as an outpatient.

“The most difficult part of rehab, and I never knew this, but when you quit using your limbs, you actually lose the use of them and your strength very fast,” he said. “That’s the thing that is impeding me the most, I lost the muscle tone in my left leg, so I am building that back up. But I can get up and make transitions and walk up and down a few steps and such.”

Part of his initial recovery, Brown said, was working with a therapist on cognitive therapy.

“That was mostly making sure I wasn’t going to have in trouble with memory, but I’ve completed all that (therapy),” Brown said.

Brown said he is overall pleased with his recovery and gauges it at approximately 60 to 70 percent complete.

As far as returning to City Hall, Brown said he will likely begin being in and out of his office this week and go from there.

“I have confirmed I can attend any meeting (regular or specially called) by phone, and I suspect I’ll be doing that, too,” Brown said.

“I’ve always been someone who is in a big hurry, but this slows you down whether you want to or not. But it’s all coming back together.”