Giffords keeps defying odds with recovery
'There's no question' she's the same person, staff says
by Amy B Wang - Apr. 7, 2011 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
It has been three months since U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was critically wounded when a gunman opened fire at her constituent event north of Tucson.
Giffords had been shot at point-blank range in the head.
The 9mm bullet had pierced the skull above her left eye and traveled through the left side of her brain and out the back.
Doctors were monitoring her round-the-clock, and they were measuring milestones over hours, not days.
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Three months later, snippets from various interviews with Giffords' doctors have painted a much more optimistic picture.
Miraculous.
Lightning speed.
Leaps and bounds.
The rehab hospital
Since Jan. 26, Giffords has been undergoing intensive rehabilitation at TIRR Memorial Hermann in Houston.
Although suited guards flank the elevators - the only indication that a higher-profile patient or visitor might be at the hospital - here the congresswoman is just "Gabby."
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But therapy in this case - the art, the arduous work of regaining basic life skills after traumatic brain injury - is largely a human-to-human endeavor, with each patient in the room working with someone else who coaxes him or her to take another step or to reach out a little farther.
Giffords' doctors remain tight-lipped about the details of her recovery, citing patient-privacy laws, but did say that she has regained her speech, can walk with assistance and appears to have no memory problems.
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Although there is some speculation that Giffords could run for Sen. Jon Kyl's vacant Senate seat in 2012, her staff brushes off such talk, saying they are focused only on her recovery at this point.
"We don't engage in political speculation," Karamargin said. "The congresswoman is devoted to her recovery, and we are working to serve the people of the 8th Congressional District."
Read more:
http://www.azcentral.com/12news/news/articles/2011/04/07/20110407gabrielle-giffords-recovery-update.html#ixzz1Iw49S8Jmthis is tons more at the link .....