[url]http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/01/14/arizona.shooting/index.html?hpt=T1[/url]
[quote]Tucson, Arizona (CNN) -- Doctors could remove the breathing tube for U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords Friday as she continues on her "miracle" journey to recovery after an assassination attempt and mass shooting, her husband said.
Though the congresswoman had been shot in the head less than a week ago, she continues to make progress, her husband and doctors told CNN.
Her husband, Mark Kelly, told Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent, that his wife is aware to some degree of what is going on around her. It was Kelly's first interview since the tragedy.
When asked if she knew that President Barack Obama had visited her hospital room, Kelly said yes.
"I think she did know ... though, I think she was trying to figure out what he was doing there."
Kelly also said his wife's breathing tube could be removed Friday -- a sign that she may be gaining strength.
Giffords' husband also told CNN in the Thursday interview how he first heard the terrible news. He was in Houston, he said, when he got a call saying that his wife had been shot. Worried that a commercial flight would take too long, Kelly, a NASA astronaut, flew in a friend's plane to Arizona and went to the intensive care unit after surgery.
One doctor was very optimistic that Giffords would survive, he said, while another took a more "long-term view of the future,"
"I do think about her neurological function, and it is just too early to tell what that will be," Kelly said.
The congresswoman's doctor, meanwhile, recounted her first moments in the hospital.
"My first response was I grabbed her hand, leaned into her and said 'Ms. Giffords, you're in the hospital, we're going to care for you, please squeeze my hand' and she did," Dr. Randall Friese, a trauma surgeon, told CNN in an exclusive interivew.
"I got the impression that she was trying to communicate but was frustrated by the fact that she couldn't communicate," he said.
Now, nearly a week later, she has made impressive progress.
The chief of neurosurgery at Tucson's University Medical Center said Giffords' eye movements suggest the congresswoman is experiencing "glimmers of recognition."
"That tracking of the eyes tells you a whole lot more, that she's aware of her surroundings to some extent," Dr. Michael Lemole said. "She's trying to engage that reality."
Giffords opened her eyes briefly for the first time Wednesday, with her husband, her parents and other members of Congress in the room, and continued to open them on Thursday.
"It was extraordinary," said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New York, who was holding Giffords' hand when she opened her eyes on Wednesday. "It was a miracle to witness."
The incident occurred shortly after Obama had visited Giffords.
Less than an hour after his Wednesday visit, given permission to disclose the information by Kelly, Obama electrified a memorial-service crowd and a national television audience by revealing one of the most promising pieces of news about Gifford's condition to emerge since an assassination attempt against her on Saturday.
Giffords was squeezing and stroking Gillibrand's hand, as doctors previously said she had been able to do.
Giffords "absolutely could hear everything we were saying," Gillibrand said. "And Debbie (Wasserman Schultz, D-Florida) and I were telling her how much she was inspiring the nation with her courage, her strength, and we were talking about the things we wanted to do as soon as she was better."
Gillibrand mentioned having another night out with Giffords and her husband for beer and pizza. And Wasserman Schultz recounted telling her, "Come on, you've got to get better, because we expect you up in New Hampshire this summer" at Wasserman Schultz's vacation home.
"And just as I said that, that's when she suddenly was struggling to open ... her eyes," Wasserman Schultz said. "First just a little bit. And the doctors couldn't believe it. They said, 'This is such a good time.' "
Kelly saw her struggling, Gillibrand said, and he and the others began to encourage her, saying, "Open your eyes, Gabby. Open your eyes."
And Giffords did. Her right eye remains bandaged, but Giffords is opening both of them, doctors said Thursday
"She took a moment to focus, you could see she was focusing," Gillibrand said. "And then Mark said ... 'Gabby, if you can see me, if you can see me, give us a thumbs-up ... She didn't only give a thumbs-up, she literally raised her entire hand."
But Giffords didn't stop there, Gillibrand said. She reached out and grabbed her husband "and is touching him and starts to really choke him like she was really trying to hug him."
Kelly recalled the moment in the interview with Gupta.
"At first I thought she was trying to strangle me," he joked.
Kelly had asked his wife to touch his wedding ring that night, "and she touches his ring, then she grabs his whole watch and wrist and then the doctor was just so excited, he said, 'You don't understand ... this is amazing what she is doing right now and beyond our greatest hopes.' "
"It was, as you can imagine, a glorious moment," said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who was also in the room.
Giffords remains in critical condition because doctors are worried about her losing ground, Lemole said.
The shooting killed six people, including a 9-year-old girl, Christina Green, and Arizona's chief federal judge, John Roll, along with Gabe Zimmerman, a Giffords staffer. Thirteen people were wounded by gunfire.
Gupta visited several wounded patients on Thursday, including Ron Barber.
"It was jarring when Barber started to describe the horrible scene that unfolded," Gupta wrote. "He heard the noise and saw Giffords take a bullet in the head. As he spun around toward the shooter, he also was shot, first in the face and then in the leg.
"He slumped to the ground and found himself lying right next to Giffords, who had her back to him. As he struggled to make sense of it all, suddenly their colleague, Gabe Zimmerman, fell face-first right between them.
"He was so still," Gupta quoted Barber as saying. "I knew he was dead."
A funeral mass was held for Green on Thursday. Roll's service is scheduled for Friday.
Also Thursday, first lady Michelle Obama released an open letter to parents about the shooting.
"In the days and weeks ahead, as we struggle with these issues ourselves, many of us will find that our children are struggling with them as well," she wrote. "The questions my daughters have asked are the same ones that many of your children will have -- and they don't lend themselves to easy answers."
"But they will provide an opportunity for us as parents to teach some valuable lessons -- about the character of our country, about the values we hold dear, and about finding hope at a time when it seems far away," the first lady continued.
Authorities say Giffords was the target of the shooting. At least a dozen others suffered gunshot wounds, the Pima County Sheriff has said, while others were injured trying to flee the scene.
Tucson resident Jared Lee Loughner, 22, faces federal charges in the attack.
A bag that is believed to belong to Loughner contains the same kind of ammunition as was used in Saturday's massacre, authorities said Thursday.
Even when Giffords' prognosis was grim, she has consistently defied the odds and met or exceeded expectations.
The next step, doctors told reporters Thursday, is the removal of Giffords' breathing tube. She is breathing on her own "with very little support," Rhee said, but he wasn't sure when the tube might come out.
Giffords is "becoming more and more alert at this time," he said, telling reporters she acts like someone waking up in the morning -- yawning and rubbing her eyes.
She has been opening her eyes more often since Wednesday, Lemole said. "This is all very encouraging," he said. "... It is a significant move forward."
Safeway, which owns the grocery store where the shooting took place, took out a full-page ad in Tucson's Arizona Daily Star newspaper Thursday, saying it is proud to be part of a community that cares so deeply about one another. The company is working to reopen the store, it said.
Doctors have cautiously described Giffords' recovery as going according to plan, so far absent of any complications or issues, and have said throughout that she has been able to communicate when they lessen her sedation and allow her to awaken.[/quote]
This article left be [i]breathless[/i]
Oh god, I thought this was going to be removing the breathing tube in a bad way, I was like :smith:
It's amazing to see how fast she is recovering, given that she was shot in the face. This news brought a tear to my eye.
I really thought that meant they were giving up on her. Glad to hear it's the opposite.
Like seemingly everyone else, when I saw the thread title I was worried :ohdear: So glad to hear she's on the way to a full recover (or so it seems).
good for her
I thought she died immediately, at least that's what I was told.
Ah well, it's pretty amazing how she seems to have recovered so well even when she's been shot in the face.
[QUOTE=Passerby Silver;27410002]Like seemingly everyone else, when I saw the thread title I was worried :ohdear: So glad to hear she's on the way to a full recover (or so it seems).[/QUOTE]
I worry about just how much neurological function she will retain when she "recovers", but I am utterly amazed to see how much she is displaying already.
Keep fighting Ms Giffords.
Science is amazing, absolutely amazing. The human body is too.
They got some super-antiaids for politicians.
[QUOTE=BloodYScar;27410444]They got some super-antiaids for politicians.[/QUOTE]
She had aids?
Breathtaking.
This reminds me of a certain post apocalyptic RPG also set in the west involving being shot in the head and surviving
[QUOTE=Tacosheller;27410577]This reminds me of a certain post apocalyptic RPG also set in the west involving being shot in the head and surviving[/QUOTE]
Stalker?
:downs:
[QUOTE=MasterFen007;27410038]I thought she died immediately, at least that's what I was told.
Ah well, it's pretty amazing how she seems to have recovered so well even when she's been shot in the face.[/QUOTE]
Initial reports said that she died instantly. Her wikipedia page even said so an hour after the shooting. I didn't realize she had lived until two days later when I saw an article about her.
Holy fuck I thought they were like, pulling the plug.
Anyway, she's going to get some votes I bet.
[QUOTE=Passerby Silver;27410002]Like seemingly everyone else, when I saw the thread title I was worried :ohdear: So glad to hear she's on the way to a full recover (or so it seems).[/QUOTE]
You'll never fully recover from a gunshot to the head.
[editline]14th January 2011[/editline]
[QUOTE=RayDark;27411144]Holy fuck I thought they were like, pulling the plug.
Anyway, she's going to get some votes I bet.[/QUOTE]
Everyone thought that the Polish's presidents twin would get sympathy votes, too, but he wasn't even elected.
Keep on fighting Gifford :D
I fucking love science. You can get shot in the head and live to tell the tale.
I wouldn't hold my breath about this.
Jeez, I remember when we all thought she was dead.
[i]She reached out and grabbed her husband "and is touching him and starts to really choke him like she was really trying to hug him." ... Kelly had asked his wife to touch his wedding ring that night, "and she touches his ring, then she grabs his whole watch and wrist and then the doctor was just so excited[/i]
That part made me tear up a little. I hope she continues to improve, because apparently she's loved by a lot of people.
[QUOTE=Tacosheller;27410577]This reminds me of a certain post apocalyptic RPG also set in the west involving being shot in the head and surviving[/QUOTE]
I hope she chooses the wild wasteland trait, it will make politics so interesting
[quote]But Giffords didn't stop there, Gillibrand said. She reached out and grabbed her husband "and is touching him and starts to really choke him like she was really trying to hug him."[/quote]
Hmmm...
Getting shot in the face must suck so much. She probably with have alot of difficulties later on in life (unless she is lucky)
Great that she's recovering, but it's probably likely she'll never have the same mental capacity again...
[QUOTE=furious_d;27410004]good for her[/QUOTE]
What sort of degenerate cunt actually rates this sort of post dumb or disagree, how broken must your humanity be?
I'll tell you how broken, So broke it made frodo's ring look perfectly healthy and intact after the bum rape he recieved from golem.
[QUOTE=bravehat;27424743]What sort of degenerate cunt actually rates this sort of post dumb or disagree, how broken must your humanity be?
I'll tell you how broken, So broke it made frodo's ring look perfectly healthy and intact after the bum rape he recieved from golem.[/QUOTE]
you always make threads interesting
Is it too late to make Fallout : New Vegas references?
[QUOTE=Miskav;27410595]Stalker?
:downs:[/QUOTE]
:frog: Get out of here Stalker.
They can save a politician after she was shot in the head and parts of her brain were destroyed.
But they couldn't save my mom after her brain swelled due to an aneurysm.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.
