(Rep. Gabrielle) Giffords taken outside for first time since shooting

[PBS Poll-435]

'She is a fighter like nobody else that I know,' husband says

msnbc.com staff and news service reports
updated 2 hours 59 minutes ago 2011-01-21T04:12:14

TUCSON, Ariz. — U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords can now stand with assistance, has tried to speak, and on Thursday got her first breath of fresh air since she was shot in the head 12 days ago, doctors and her husband said.

In a key turning point for her recuperation, the congresswoman is to be moved on Friday from the University Medical Center in Tucson, where she has been hospitalized since the shooting, to a special rehabilitation facility in Houston, Texas.

On her last full day at UMC, she was taken on a brief stroll in a wheelchair to the hospital's helipad for some sunshine and fresh air to lift her spirits, accompanied by physical therapists and her husband, said Jo Marie Gellerman, a spokeswoman for the medical facility.

"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 University Medical Center in Tucson, said Thursday.


more at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41175345/ns/us_news-life

:applause:

[Very_Boring_Name]

1. What do they mean "tried to speak"?

Is it because the breathing tube has been in too long that her throat needs time to recover, or is it due to the brain damage?

[Warren DeMontague]

3. I read that the speech part of the brain was an area of concern.

Really amazing recovery so far, though. I'm sure she knows she has a ton of people pulling for her.

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. Not access to her case

But the path of the bullet may have grazed that.

On the bright side, she's a woman. Women have a primary and a secondary, why women recover speech better than men.

[PBS Poll-435]

4. She has a trache

Air to her lungs is being delivered below the vocal cords.


She is not on a vent, but it still the risk of prevents infection and pneumonia.

[pinboy3niner]

8. It's possible to speak, even with a trache

When I came back from Vietnam, the Red Cross was there to give all of the wounded troops free phone calls home.

I was trached and couldn't talk, so a Red Cross woman made a phone call home for me. Then one of the guys showed me how, if I put my finger over the trache hole, I could talk.

The Red Cross woman came back and said, "You're getting another phone call." She put me on the phone to talk to my mom--with a trache.

[PBS Poll-435]

9. With a tubed trache?

Not just the hole, but a tube inserted into the hole.

[pinboy3niner]

10. Yes

The only reason you can't talk when you're trached is that air doesn't pass over the vocal cords. Plugging the trache hole allows air to pass normally, enabling speech. I learned the hard way, but it works!

[PBS Poll-435]

11. Thanks for that info.

And always, thanks for your service.

:yourock:

[pinboy3niner]

13. Thanks, PBS Poll

That was a long time ago for me. I healed and recovered, as I hope Gabby will,

I didn't have a brain injury, so I was lucky in not having to face the challenges she faces. But I'm confident that she'll come back from this and will continue to lead a productive life. She may be a Blue Dog, but that's the only way a dem gets elected in Arizona.

Gabby Giffords is a wonderful person, and I hope she'll be able to resume her duties soon.

[bluestate10]

6. Speech should be difficult for Giffords at this time due to the device

in her throat. I would much rather see her write something. Her scrolling through an iPod is encouraging, it shows some form of cognitive function. Her giving her husband a neck massage seem to show a very high level of cognitive function, or at least reflexive memory.

[AtomicKitten]

2. Brava Gabby!!

[PBS Poll-435]

7. Indeed

Thanks for the gesture.

:thumbsup:

[pinboy3niner]

12. Nice graphic!

Yes, all of us here at DU are wishing Gabby the best. We're all pulling for her to continue in the wonderful progress she's making.

Go Gabby!