What's Next for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords?
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords seems to be on the slow path to recovery. Her condition has been upgraded from "critical" to "serious," and in a tweet this morning, Fox News had an unconfirmed report that "Giffords will be moved to Houston Friday to begin rehab."
Watch her husband, Mark Kelly, discuss her recovery with Diane Sawyer below (40 seconds into the clip). Kelly says that Giffords gave him a neck rub for about 10 minutes.
One item I've been curious about in the aftermath of the shooting is what recovery will look like for Giffords--in very specific and concrete terms, how will her life be changed as a result of all of this? The bullet that hit her went through the left part of her brain, entering from behind and exiting from the front. I had assumed that that would cause life-altering damage.
The LA Times reported last week:
[Dr. Peter] Rhee said he was hopeful that Giffords would one day walk and talk normally, but he could not guarantee it. The congresswoman could have some "deficit" from the bullet that tore through the left hemisphere of her brain on Saturday, but it's unknown how severe it would be.
"There is without a doubt some permanent damage that's going to occur from that bullet," he said. "Will she be functional, viable, normal? I can't say for sure, but I'm very hopeful that she will be."
I found a good explanation in The Daily Beast for what that "permanent damage" could be:
Though it’s impossible at this early stage to assess the extent of damage to Giffords’ functioning, the two most obvious questions, based on the location of the injury, are whether her ability to speak has been disrupted and whether she is paralyzed on the right side of her body. Movement in the body is controlled by the opposite side of the brain. According to reports, Giffords gave doctors a thumbs up with her left hand—not her right.
But this recent report suggests that she has moved the right side of her body:
Giffords, who was shot in the head, has opened her eyes, is able to do such things as respond to requests to lift her arms and legs, and has reached out to touch her husband and give him a neck rub.
NPR's Jeff Brady reports that Kelly told Arizona Public Media his wife has also pulled his wedding ring off his finger. She then put it back on him, "fortunately," Kelly joked.
And her husband says that "She will make a full recovery. She's going to come back stronger and more committed than ever."
Will Giffords emerge from this trauma with all of her mental and motor faculties in tact? If so, then that's truly a miracle.
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Sep '10
Re: What's Next for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords?
I am not a neurologist (as if there were some doubt on this forum) but just based on my reading of popular books written by neurologists and clinicians who work with the brain I do know that the brain does have some rewiring or "plasticity" and can actually transfer certain functions from one hemisphere to the other in the event of brain injury. There are some cases of areas of the brain being destroyed that should mean the loss of particular functions and somehow the brain rewires itself to replace the function using the other hemisphere. So, there is some cause for hope.
Jul '10
Re: What's Next for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords?
Truly this is a triumph of the human spirit over medical cynicism. I have often told people with M.S. that there is no such thing as false hope, only hope. (I have a friend who overcame the debilitating effects of M.S. simply because he decided to.)
But from the demonstration handed to us in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy I also see the downside of her miraculous recovery...
She will become an Iconic Foil to everything Republican.
As we saw with Cindi Shehan, her words will be indisputable by mere Republican Hate Mongers. To dispute her positions will become tantamount to abuse of the intripid hero of the Tuscon Masacre. She will become the spokesperson for every unpopular spending program that the Mean Spirited Republicans want to cut.
Nov '10
Re: What's Next for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords?
If the damage was subcortical, it might not seriously compromise her motor skills, but it would almost certainly lead to measurable cognitive deficits from which it would be unlikely/impossible to recover.
Re: What's Next for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords?
The body never ceases to amaze me.
Re: What's Next for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords?
Jaydee_007: Truly this is a triumph of the human spirit over medical cynicism. I have often told people with M.S. that there is no such thing as false hope, only hope. (I have a friend who overcame the debilitating effects of M.S. simply because he decided to.)
But from the demonstration handed to us in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy I also see the downside of her miraculous recovery...
She will become an Iconic Foil to everything Republican.
As we saw with Cindi Shehan, her words will be indisputable by mere Republican Hate Mongers. To dispute her positions will become tantamount to abuse of the intripid hero of the Tuscon Masacre. She will become the spokesperson for every unpopular spending program that the Mean Spirited Republicans want to cut. · Jan 19 at 7:42am
I'm eager to see what Giffords' first major public statement or act will be once she's well enough to undertake something like that. Her husband thinks that her first order of business will be to hold another Congress on Your Corner event at the same Safeway where the shootings occurred.
Jul '10
Re: What's Next for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords?
Emily Esfahani Smith, Ed.
I'm eager to see what Giffords' first major public statement or act will be once she's well enough to undertake something like that. Her husband thinks that her first order of business will be to hold another Congress on Your Corner event at the same Safeway where the shootings occurred. · Jan 19 at 8:03am
Please understand, I'm not referring to her, I"m referring to the Media and Dem leadership above. She is going to become a tool to undo November 2nd in thier hands.
May '10
Re: What's Next for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords?
NPR ran an interesting interview a few days ago with Jay Gordon, Chief of Litigation in the Maritime Administration. He was shot in the head in 1986, and bullet fragments remain in his brain. Pretty cool guy:
NORRIS: What is the process of recovery like on the other side of brain surgery where they actually literally have to take a piece of your skull out to access your brain - in your case, remove a bullet?
GORDON: Well, in my case, I had a neurological exam, and I also had - I went to a therapist who assessed me for cognitive functions. And I mean, I haven't had really any real problems.
NORRIS: So you didn't have to go through speech therapy, physical therapy? Did you lose any movement of your, you know, ability to move your arms or your legs?
GORDON: No, not - I mean, I did a certain amount of exercise, but no more than anyone would do coming out of a hospital who hadn't done exercise for a while.
NORRIS: That's just miraculous.
GORDON: Yeah. Well, I'm very fortunate to not have any - knock on wood -thus far, not have any problems.
Oct '10
Re: What's Next for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords?
As a squishy moderate on the right, I really hope Representative Giffords recovers. She's a squishy moderate on the left, and we need people like her if House Republicans are to succeed (assuming she manages to escape the black hole of Nancy Pelosi, that is).
The most obscene part of the left's attacks: Giffords isn't a progressive. She's a centrist, and the progressives abused her while she lay injured and helpless.
May '10
Re: What's Next for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords?
I watched a documentary in a psych class once about brain damage. It included the story of a young boy who lost 70% of his brain in a car accident. Miraculously, the remaining 30% around his brain stem, where primitive functions are handled, was able to adapt to handle higher reasoning skills like speech. The boy eventually recovered enough to be fairly normal.
The video also told a story about a man who bumped his head in a car accident and the damage to his frontal lobe erased all emotional capacity. He divorced his wife because he no longer felt any connection to her.
So you never know, but there's certainly grounds for hope.