| Submit your comments on this article | |
| Home Front: WoT | |
| Rep. Giffords leaves Tucson for Houston | |
| 2011-01-22 | |
| As residents lined the streets to bid a bittersweet farewell to Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was moved to a renowned rehabilitation hospital in Houston on Friday, she responded to their cheers with a smile and even tears, her doctor said. "She could hear it," said Dr. Randall Friese, a trauma surgeon who accompanied Giffords to Texas. "She smiled, and then she actually teared up a little bit. It was very emotional, very heart-wrenching." The Arizona Democrat, who was shot through the head, left her hometown with the kind of police motorcade and live TV coverage often reserved for a head of state. Led by a dozen police motorcycles, an ambulance carrying Giffords drove to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, where she was transferred onto an air ambulance for the flight to Houston. A medevac helicopter (then) ferried Giffords to the trauma center at TIRR Memorial Hermann hospital. Doctors there said that the transfer went flawlessly and that Giffords would get her first rehabilitation session Friday afternoon. "She looks spectacular," Dr. Dong Kim, chief neurosurgeon, said at a news conference. "She looks awake, calm and comfortable." Dr. John Holcomb, who heads the medical team, said Giffords would remain in the intensive care unit at least until next week to ensure no infections develop. Doctors then will move her to the hospital's Institute for Rehabilitation and Research, which specializes in the treatment of brain injuries. Giffords has "great rehabilitation potential," said Dr. Gerard Francisco. Kim said Giffords may require four to six months of speech and physical therapy, although some of it may be as an outpatient. U.S. Capitol Police have set up extra security at the 119-bed hospital.
| |
| Posted by:Steve White |