She can talk, even saying short sentences. With some help, she can walk. Her awareness has grown to the point that she knows she was shot.
However, for doctors, some of the greatest moments in treating Representative Gabrielle Giffords occur when her true personality shines through and she shares with them big grins and excitement over milestones in her recovery from a devastating gunshot wound to the head.
“That’s Gabby. It’s a constant, wonderful thing,” said Dong Kim, a neuroscientist.
Photo: AFP
Doctors provided the new details about Giffords’ condition on Friday, their first official update since she began intensive rehabilitation in Houston on Jan. 26. Until now, tidbits of information came from friends and family, but the doctors, those with the -understanding and knowledge of what each setback and step forward means for long-term recovery, remained tight-lipped.
“I’m very happy to report that she’s making leaps and bounds in terms of neurological recovery,” said Kim. “She’s doing spectacularly well.”
Kim and two other members of her medical team described several breakthroughs in Giffords’ recovery.
Her breathing tube was removed last week, a “fist-pump” moment, said Imoigele Aisiku, a neurosurgeon.
She also can express desires, such as: “I’m tired. I want to go to bed.”
Giffords can’t remember the shooting, but her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, has told her about the incident, though it remains unclear whether she knows six people were killed and 12 others injured at the Jan. 8 political event outside a supermarket in Tucson, Arizona.
The demeanor of the news conference was largely subdued — until the doctors were asked whether Giffords’ personality was starting to surface. Then, the three men grinned and nodded simultaneously. They snickered with affection.
“She has a personality that’s already showing through,” Kim said. “She’s very upbeat, focused on getting better. She hasn’t shown us depression, and she’s just been very forward-looking and even with the speech she’s not showing much frustration.”
“I feel like I know her very well. She’s able to express her personality, she’s able to express what she wants and doesn’t want,” said Gerard Francisco, the head of Giffords’ medical team.
That Giffords is showing -emotion is especially encouraging because the bullet pierced the front of her head, an area that controls personality. Some people shot in the front may recover their ability to speak, but never truly show emotion again, said Steve Williams, chairman of rehabilitative medicine at Boston University.
“So the fact that she actually is able to show emotion is good because many people have very flat personalities,” after being shot in the front of the head, Williams said.
While doctors were enthusiastic about Giffords’ progress and Francisco said it was better than they had expected, they refused to commit to her being well enough to travel to Cape Canaveral, Florida, to watch her husband rocket into space as the commander of the Endeavour space shuttle when it launches on its last mission next month.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was