Giffords "making more spontaneous movements," doctor says

[madmom]

Source: Reuters

Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, gravely injured in a shooting rampage, is "making more spontaneous movements" and is able to feel her bullet wounds with her hands, a doctor treating her said on Wednesday....
...."She is making more and more spontaneous movements ... she is getting better every day," trauma surgeon Dr Peter Rhee told reporters at the University Medical Center in Tucson.

"She was able to actually feel her wounds herself ... we are very happy" with her progress, he said.....

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70B5RG20110112

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this is great news IMO

[demokatgurrl]

1. Wonderful to see but I have a dumb question for medical types

I understood she was only wounded in the head. Is she feeling those wounds? Wouldn't she be really heavily bandaged?

[FarPoint]

4. Yes...she would have bandages

The point is her reorientating to the injury and acknowledged what happened. Same thing if it was a leg wound ...

[onehandle]

7. I read that they removed half of the top of her skull and are 'preserving' it for reattachment.

So the area much be contained somehow.

Wow. I cannot imagine.

[glinda]

13. Have heard nothing about her legs though.

[FarPoint]

24. Bullet did not affect the spinal cord.

No crainal nerve damage. Legs will be weak from limited movement in bed...therapy will help.

[Carolina]

22. entrance and exit = wounds

but with a portion of the skull removed she likely just felt lots of bandage wadding, as you said. So she was probably just feeling around her face and head.

[hlthe2b]

2. I'm hoping that, as miraculous as Bob Woodruff's recovery,

that she sets new records and might actually (though I know this to still be unlikely) return to Congress one day.

[WhiteTara]

3. I think she will return to congress

and when she does, it will be a great symbol.

[Atypical Liberal]

5. Hard to say.

I'm no doctor, but I don't see how someone can have a bullet plow through their brain and not suffer serious long-lasting brain damage problems.

The doctors have been saying they are "optimistic", but optimistic about what? Survival? That's not saying much.

[kestrel91316]

10. IIRC, CSPAN has some excellent pressers with the doctors you can view

to hear in their own words about he injury and the brain and how things can go.

The bullet didn't cross over the center line, and narrowly missed her midbrain. And went straight through, rather than ricocheting or shattering or tumbling.

[ooglymoogly]

23. The brain can reorder itself and re-assign functions.

I'm betting she will return to congress and will become a better congresswoman for it. The love that is pouring over her will help make that happen.

While not specific to this situation, it is none the less, one of the many proofs that are indicative that the brain can retool itself.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article4686238.ece

[kestrel91316]

9. She is young and strong. She WILL return to Congress.

[hlthe2b]

12. Hopefully, but having some experience with closed head injuries

Which may well mimmick the course of her long term recovery, the subtle problems with memory and language, assuming the best of outcomes, can still be so problematic that return to previous jobs often not successful. Bob Woodruff has indicated he didn't feel that he could have resumed the stressful role of tv anchor, which requires rapid thinking and response to changing situations too often.

I hope though that she will be the exception. It would be fantastic to see her return with time and barely miss a beat.

[glinda]

14. What happened to Woodruff? I don't remember hearing about that.

[hlthe2b]

16. The ABC reporter who was hurt in a roadside bomb in Iraq, 2006

From Wiki:
Woodruff was kept in a medically-induced coma for 36 days to assist his recovery, and ABC News temporarily assigned Good Morning America anchors Charles Gibson and Diane Sawyer to alternate duties on the evening newscast as co-anchor with Vargas. Vogt meanwhile was reported to be awake, mobile, and recovering.<7>

As of March 7, 2006, Woodruff's brother reported that the ABC anchor was beginning to walk, recognize friends and family, and speak in several languages. However, he struggled with expressive aphasia for more than a year after the injury.<8> Woodruff was transferred on March 16, 2006 to a medical facility closer to his Westchester County, New York home, a sign of "continued progress in all respects", ABC News President David Westin said in an e-mail to staffers.<9> Westin's email noted that Woodruff was able to get around, talk to and joke with his family, but that "months of further recuperation" were still required.

On April 6, 2006, ABC News released photos of Woodruff recovering at home, along with a letter thanking everyone for their support and kindness during his ongoing recovery. He especially thanked the soldiers, doctors, and nurses who had saved his life.<10> On December 29, 2006, Woodruff's wife, Lee, an editor at Family Fun Magazine appeared on Good Morning America to discuss family activities to celebrate the New Year. During the report, anchor Kate Snow asked Lee about her husband's condition. Lee said that Bob was doing well and was currently filming a television documentary about his experiences. She also revealed that he had been back to Iraq since the incident to visit the soldiers with whom he was traveling at the time of his injury.

n February 2007, Bob and Lee Woodruff published an account of their lives after Bob's injury, In an Instant: A Family's Journey of Love and Healing. It details the beginnings of Woodruff's journalism career and the building of Bob and Lee's family. The book delves into the explosion in Iraq that affected his family and focuses on Bob's lengthy, ongoing recovery. A percentage of the proceeds are donated to the Bob Woodruff Foundation

THis guy (not Bob Woodward, who many confused)-->

[joshcryer]

18. Shame, it's a really heartwarming story, you should check out ABCs special on it.

They followed his recovery and he went from being very injured to almost the way he was before. You can see the scarring on his head/face if you look carefully whenever he's on.

[joshcryer]

17. She can (and likely will) return with an assistant!

[hlthe2b]

20. It is certainly possible.

[ileus]

6. Keeping my fingeres crossed for as full a recovery as possible.

With such an injury I'm amazed at the progress they've already spoke of. Let's all hope and pray for a total recovery....

[HereSince1628]

8. Sorry, I find it heart breaking to think about feeling her wounds...

Reality is a hard master.


The reports suggest she's doing well, and that's just GREAT!

[vduhr]

11. James Brady was shot in the head....

http://cytowic.net/Selected_Articles/Brady/brady.html

I kind of just scanned through the article briefly because it is quite lengthy, and I wanted to post it here as soon as possilbe. I'll go back to read it in full, but it seems to contain excellent information on the effects and recovery of a gunshot wound to the brain. This piece was written in 1981, so I'm sure the techniques have changed and improved since then; however, the descriptions of the recovery and after-effects seems to give some insite into what Ms. Giffords may have to endure during her recovery.

[glinda]

15. There will be damage but to what?

[Very_Boring_Name]

21. The bullet went through the part of her brain that controls speech

[Very_Boring_Name]

19. Why isn't she talking yet?

I'd heard that the bullet went through the part of her brain that controls speech. If she's moving, responding to commands, and the breathing tube has been taken out, is it possible she lost the ability to use speech?

[JudyM]

25. She opened her eyes this afternoon.

per Obama in his U Ariz. speech just now. Michelle and Gabby's husband hugged when he said it and Michelle was all teared up.