Giffords standing up and using iPad

[onehandle]

Source: Reuters

"She is beginning to stand with assistance, she is scrolling through an iPad -- these are all fantastic advances for her. They do show higher cognitive function," Dr. Michael Lemole, chief of neurology at UMC told reporters. "But I do want to caution ... that she has a long road ahead of her," he added.

Giffords, 40, was shot through the head on January 8 when a gunman opened fire on a crowd of constituents gathered to meet her outside a Tucson supermarket. Six bystanders including a federal judge and a 9-year-old girl were killed, and 13 others were wounded, Giffords among them. A 22-year-old college dropout, Jared Lee Loughner, is charged with the shooting.

Giffords' husband, astronaut and shuttle commander Mark Kelly, said at the news conference he is confident his wife ultimately will "make a full recovery."

"I've told her that," he said. "She'll be walking and talking in two months. You'll see her walking through the front door of this building."

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70I0E520110120

---

Go Gabby! We need you back in Congress. The Right's hate cannot keep you down.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. I guess her doctors do have to caution us...

But this sure sounds like a real recovery to me.

Fantastic news!

:woohoo: :woohoo:

[grahamhgreen]

2. I can't wait for her first message to Palin!

[derby378]

11. My prediction...

It will read: Suck it, hose-beast - I'm still here. Kisses!

[grahamhgreen]

16. LOL!

[trud]

22. ha ha ha ha ha

[Dappleganger]

24. Righteous!

[Atypical Liberal]

3. Astounding

It's astounding to me that you can get shot through the head at point-blank range and survive, let alone recover as it seems she is. It's wonderful!

[Sonoman]

6. I saw someone who was shot thru the temples and survived.

The impact forced his eyeballs almost completely out of their sockets.

The guy had impaired motion and speech and he took a long time to make decisions, but he was alive and happy.

Sonoman

[lumberjack_jeff]

12. My dad was shot in the forehead in WWII

complete recovery.

[TheWraith]

9. There's a famous case of a railroad worker who took a 1.25 inch steel pole through his brain.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phineas_Gage

Due to a blasting accident with gunpowder. The bar, measuring 1.25 inches in diameter and 3 foot 7 inches long, went completely through his skull. He suffered severe personality changes afterward, as well as loss of sight in his left eye. But he lived another 11 years.

[tabatha]

4. Latest video

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/41175677#41175677

[nyy1998]

5. Great news!!! nt

[delightfulstar]

7. K&R for Gabby!!!

This is wonderful news! If anyone can come back from something like this, it's her. I want to see what Mark said come to fruition - that would be the most rewarding thing of all. She's fighting, and I believe she will do it, one way or another. Go Gabby, Go! :applause:

[PBS Poll-435]

8. Wow

:wow:


:loveya:



Get well, Gabby.

[pink-o]

10. Seit Gesunt, Gabby! n/t

[PoliticAverse]

13. Sounds excellent, but it's too early to tell for sure what the long term effects are.

Best wishes for her continued progress.

[madokie]

14. Great

Why is it that good news like this makes tears run down my cheeks?
If there is a goddess please let her live, please.

[Raksha]

20. Oh, she is under the protection of the Goddess...

I have no doubt about that. I don't know why, but ever since I heard she was alive after being shot through the head, I have believed she's being preserved for some important role. Personally, I'd be ecstatic to see her live to give Sarah Palin the one-finger salute, but I have a feeling it's something a bit more universal than that.

[jberryhill]

27. The Goddess didn't like the girl?

Man, thus far every deity has had it in for the other victims

[Raksha]

31. This is something I don't understand, but I don't think anyone else does either...

Why is one person is killed, and the person right next to them miraculously spared? I can't believe the Goddess doesn't love that little girl, and all the victims for that matter. That was just a way of saying that Gabby Giffords' recovery seems so miraculous, I can't help but believe it's for some special reason.

[jberryhill]

32. Perhaps the explanation is...

...that we are not surrounded by supernatural beings who are intervening in our daily affairs and events from moment to moment.

The death toll from the 2004 "Christmas Tsunami" was over 200,000. 300 million children go to sleep hungry each night.

The suggestion that some divine entity chooses to ignore those things, while personally intervening in the circumstances of a privileged US politician is, IMHO, obscene.

Where was this deity in the creation of AIDS, measles, malaria, yellow fever, etc. Were these things created so that, once in a long while, if someone is spared the consequences of these mass killers, we can all go "Oooh, aahhh" as if watching some kind of cosmic fireworks show?

Perhaps, as humans, we are all responsible for the well being of our species and we should start acting like it, instead of asking imaginary playmates to take care of things for us.

[drmeow]

37. ++++

:thumbsup:

[Tansy_Gold]

40. + bunches and bunches and bunches

funny story --

This morning I was having a friendly conversation with some friends, all of whom are Catholic and all of whom have children, grandchildren, or nieces/nephews in Catholic schools in the Phoenix area. No one could remember the name of the big Catholic high school in Phoenix. "It's not St. Simon. I can't remember the name," one said. "St. Paul? No, that's not it either," another suggested.

"Leave it to the atheist," I said, meaning myself. "The school is Brophy Prep, for boys. Xavier for girls."

"That's it!" they chimed together.



TG, TT

[Athena66]

15. She is one tough lady

And I send her my best wishes and positive thoughts for a full recovery.

[WingDinger]

17. I gotta dissagree. He has stated he wanted her to retire. Effective immed.

Now, his stance is 180 degree different? And she cant speak yet? NOT. He has been told, to talk getting back to work, so as to place her marker there. To shortstop all kinds of talk to come from rethugs that eye her seat. He still will, at the last minute, announce her retirement. And the Dems will have had plenty of time to adjust. Just my hunch.

[jberryhill]

18. How much brain function loss is normally associated with using an iPad?

Have there been studies about that?

[X_Digger]

19. Only if you're playing 'angry birds'..

I kid! I kid! That app is crack.

[jberryhill]

21. You've been watching me for the last week?

I have an "angry birds problem" myself

[meegbear]

23. Oh SNAP!

[dipsydoodle]

25. Hard to tell

There is a huge difference between writing and speaking. Emphasis on this implies speech difficulties.

Hope she recovers fully soon.

[Nihil]

26. "Welcome to the iPad ...

... the device designed for the brain-damaged!"

:evilgrin:

(On a serious note, I'm very pleasantly surprised that she's progressing
so well - that's one plucky woman backed by a hell of a talented team
of dedicated professionals!)

[ananda]

29. And here I thought it was TV that damages brains.

Lol

[lame54]

28. She's strong - that's great - K&R

[DirkGently]

30. Kicked for good news.

[DFW]

33. She was shot less than 2 weeks ago.

I understand Mark's confidence, and it would normally seem a little (or maybe a lot) optimistic,
but anyone who has met and knows Gabby Giffords will understand the will and determination
of the person involved. Not only is Gabby one of the warmest, most personable people I have
ever met, but she is possessed of a quiet determination that goes beyond "making the best of
things." Whatever the "best possible outcome" is here, I promise you, she'll do better. Anyone
who thinks we have heard the last from her had better learn how to sing, "Whoops, there goes another
rubber tree plant."

[mistertrickster]

34. Gifford's new campaign slogan: "Even with half a brain, I'm smarter than a Republican."

And I mean that with all due respect for the challenges she faces and the tremendous courage she's shown.

[FirstLight]

35. ...she has a special mission....

My daughter, 9, asked me about the shooting.
She had heard some news bits and put together that there was a 9 y/o involved and wanted to know more. I recounted the story to her and we spoke of sadness and hatred and that we can be that positive change we wish to see in the world all we want, and sometime senseless things happen......but then I added how well Gabby is recuperating as the bright side to the story.

Both my daughter and I beleive that she is going to get well if for no other reason than to march back into congress and SPEARHEAD REFORM, of gun laws, and FCC rules regarding hate rhetoric....she'll kick ass! :woohoo:


You just watch, this woman has a big role to fulfill, and somehow, somewhere, there is a *more positive* force than hatred that will ensure her recovery
:loveya: we are pulling for you and sending healing prayers your way, Gabby!

[jberryhill]

38. Obviously Judge Roll had no such mission and had exceeded his usefulness, then?

[FirstLight]

39. no need for snark,

we humans try to find meaning in senslessness.
Everyone's path has a reason, even if it means being one of the victims, they will not die in vain either...
The point is that this tragedy has yet to finish playing out, and I would like to think that Mrs. Gifford's recovery has a reason, a certain goodness that will come out of it...

[jberryhill]

41. I agree with you

There IS no need for implying that Ms. Giffords is the subject of the whim of an arbitrary deity who favored her over several who were killed.

She is very lucky. Others were not. That's how it goes, but why rub it in by telling the families of those others that God wasn't as thrilled by the other victims, or indeed the thousands who die horrible deaths every day.

Kids we'll never know starved, dehydrated from dysentery, succumbed to AIDS - in droves today. More will do so tomorrow. Praise God an American politician receives divine intervention.

[ehrnst]

36. She's now functioning on par with Shrub. Should pass him in hours.

http://www.mediabistro.com/ebooknewser/george-w-bush-and-his-favorite-ipad-app_b3103