New pictures of Gabby Giffords have been released, and while she is still recovering and will never be the same person, where she is right now considering the brain trauma she experienced is pretty amazing.
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aimai
My heart goes out to her and her family. I am an atheist so I can’t say I expect my prayers to be answered but I am “holding her in the light” and wishing and hoping for her and for her family that the rest of her recovery is as remarkable as her physical recovery. I grieve, and will always remember, the others who were killed during that attack. Nothing can replace their lives in the lives of their family members and friends.
aimai
Betty Cracker
She looks terrific. It really is amazing that she survived the shooting, and I hope she recovers as fully as possible.
Trentrunner
Thank GOD the mentally ill have unfettered access to high-capacity clip weapons!
I believe this is the right Paul Revere was defending, according to St. Sarah.
And just look at the results!
c u n d gulag
Ditto what aimia said above.
I too am not a believer, but I hold her and the poeple killed and wounded there in my thoughts.
In a more enlightened country than the one many of now reside in, you might think that something like this would at least bring up a serious conversation about, if not real, actual gun control, then at least the sale on magazines with more than 5 or 6 bullets.
Of course, you might suspect that in a more enlightened country, when terrorist leaders tell their followers that they can buy all of the arms they’ll ever need at a US gun show, that nation might close that loophole.
But, then, we don’t live in an enlightened nation, now do we?
Gregory
This is another edition of “what aimai said.”
Derelict
Gabby looks great! Here’s hoping for a full recovery!
Restrung
what a touching photo. She’s really beautiful. Sending good thoughts like everybody else.
Keith G
What a great smile. That is a picture of an actual Democrat who is made of strong stuff and is willing to put up a vigarous fight.
Can we order atleast 200 more?
SiubhanDuinne
Her smile is stunning. That could never be faked, especially after the assault she endured. She must be a truly deep-down good person.py
And, of course, what Aimai said.
Linda Featheringill
Lovely smile, beautiful woman.
No, she’ll never be the same person as she was. But here’s hoping that she goes on to have a rich, full life.
And I’ll bet that she’s still more intelligent than many very healthy members of the House of Representatives.
Live long and prosper, Gabby.
bjacques
A sorely needed bit of good news.
Jim Pharo
Bee-utiful!
If only we were celebrating more survivors’ success.
kdaug
@Derelict:
No such thing, mate. Hoping for as close as possible.
But be realistic – point-blank bullet to the brain don’t heal up with a Band-Aid.
Sorry if this comes off as assholish, and her recovery’s been remarkable, but let’s be realistic about the prognosis.
I seriously, truly wish her the best. But I also understand the magnitude of her injury.
AxelFoley
Wonderful to see her beautiful smile. May she continue to make progress everyday.
demz taters
@c u n d gulag: Instead, less than a month later, the Arizona legislature went to work on designating an official state gun.
Villago Delenda Est
@c u n d gulag:
200 years ago, perhaps.
But today? Too much Jeebus and Mammon have overridden all that enlightenment.
JPL
@kdaug: I agree with you. According to a statement released by her office, she understands but can’t express her ideas clearly. When I heard that she was being released, it was bittersweet because that means they did what they could. Outpatient therapy will help but her injury was so severe.
piratedan
@kdaug: true, every word yet there’s an incredibly selfish part of me that holds out hope that she’ll return to office and continue to serve. Unrealistic hopes , quite possibly; yet considering the “depth” of the quality of current Republican representation, even a “diminished” Gabby Giffords might have the capacity to shame a few of these troglodytes into actually working together to solve problems rather than the lemminglike behavior that they have exhibited to the benefit of their feudal lords.
jfxgillis
One word:
Fuckin’ A.
Cacti
@c u n d gulag:
Or the fact that the Mexican drug cartels have employed US straw-purchasers to buy tens of thousands of guns for them in border state gun shops.
Amir_Khalid
It’s certainly encouraging to see her smiling again. But a major test will come when she returns to her office and tries to resume work. I was just reading the paperback of Keith Richards’ memoirs: Keith made his first return to the concert stage six weeks after surgery to remove a large cerebral haematoma. Keith’s neurosurgeon was terrified that he might not remember how to play guitar, maybe even have a fit onstage from the stress — and this was after an injury far less traumatic than Giffords’. (Fortunately, Keith came through the show just fine.)
That Giffords still has problems articulating her thoughts and stringing sentences together seems like a big problem for a legislator. It’s going to take some more time and improvement before she can attempt going back to work. She’s come a long way already, and we all hope she does improve further, but no one can know whether she will.
Villago Delenda Est
@JPL:
She’s still ahead of Sarah Palin, then.
PurpleGirl
Her progress to date has been remarkable. I hope she continues to recover more and more of her health and intellectual abilities. I guess we have pictures of her now because the ceramic plate means she doesn’t have to wear the protective helmet anymore. I agree with Aimai’s comment.
I think she will resign at some point, but I think that she will not resign until the recovery care bills are much less than what they must now be. No, I do not want to deny her the care she needs, but only want to point that if this happened to an average person, the medical and rehabilitation care would be rationed by their ability to pay.
Maude
@kdaug:
She is doing so well. She will get better than she is now with continued therapy and effort. No one knows how far she can go.
As for ever being like she was, no. To say that she will be 100% seems untrue. I bet she is just so glad to be alive.
Bob Woodruff is working again.
Elmo
Such is the toxic political environment we live in that my first thought was, “ok, now which of the wingerati is going to be the first to make a snide comment that pre-shooting Giffords wasn’t a real blonde?”
Or maybe that’s my toxic mental environment instead.
geg6
What aimai said. Gabby Giffords is a truly beautiful person and I think of her and all the victims, those with us and those who, sadly, are not, often and with my most positive vibes. I don’t believe in a god but I do believe in the power of positive thought.
Amir_Khalid
@Elmo:
As far as I can recall they have never gone there with Hillary Clinton, who isn’t a real blonde either. And I’m sure there’s no shortage of male politicians, D and R alike, who dye the gray out of their hair or resort to man-made scalp coverage.
Mike in NC
@piratedan:
Nah, they’re pretty shameless, as we’ve come to see so many times.
kdaug
@Maude:
Alive is fucking amazing. Any progress beyond that is a blessing.
PurpleGirl
@Elmo: Any number of Republican women aren’t real blonds — for instance Callista Gingrich and Cindy McCain. The platinum shade that Callista likes is only seen in nature on an albino. Even Sarah Palin is having highlights and frosting done to her hair.
I like Gabby with her natural brunette, but then I used to have really great brunette color too. After what she’s been through I doubt the doctors want her to have the coloring chemicals anywhere near her wounds.
Cermet
Really, really great news – her recovery from such a massive trauma is far faster than I had could have ever believed – can’t get better than that!
Cermet
Man, this site has gotten crazy – my comment (all of amazed praise for Ms. Giffords is in moderation – John, you have gotten really, really strange with that mod stuff … .
Cermet
All my posts are in moderation?
Cermet
John, I really would like to know why this is being done – thanks
Steve
I think she looks great. Wishing the very best for her. She is an inspiration.
Elie
@PurpleGirl:
I believe that as a member of Congress, her retirement benefits are pretty generous and should cover her… I am sure that there will be things that are not covered, but it seems that workman’s comp should take over some too — she was on duty when this happened, working for her constituents and the govt.
I wish her (and her husband too), all the bast and know that science and medicine don’t always have all the answers, though I acknowledge the seriousness of her injury. May she experience joy and a full life. I second the many many great comments preceding my thoughts here. Aimai probably said it the most eloquently…
Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal
i think its great that she is doing well. i think its a well-meaning hope that she fully recovers, but from what i have read of brain-injuries, i don’t think its realistic. the woman has served her constituents, and done her duty and beyond, my hope is she is able to enjoy the rest of her life in peace.
Jeff
@JPL: I wouldn’t say that her discharge is a sign that the rehabilitation center has “given up” or that there is no more recovery expected. As someone who worked in brain injury rehab for seven years, I know that healing from the brain injury can continue for up to 18 months after the injury. At some point the inpatient rehab was going to have to transition to outpatient rehab so that recovery can continue in setting more like the life the person will be living. She will continue to have physical, occupational and speech therapy for a long time, and she will have to get used to a new way of living. She may need anticonvulsants for the rest of her life to prevent seizures, medications to help her damaged frontal lobe focus and attend to her environment, and medications to help her sleep, without unduly clouding her mind. And she may need braces on her legs to help her body move correctly. It will be a new life for her and her family. But it will not make her any less Gabby Giffords.
Villago Delenda Est
@Amir_Khalid:
As for dyeing of the hair, three words: Ronald Wilson Reagan.
TooManyJens
@Linda Featheringill:
Her intelligence doesn’t seem to have been affected, as far as anyone can tell. The main problem is that she has severe difficulty communicating.
@JPL:
No, I don’t think it means that. The article I read about her the other day said that the first year is critical for brain-injury patients, and that they are very encouraged with her progress so far and still working hard. I didn’t get any impression that she was released because she’d gone as far as she could; at some point, it’s time to be in your own home if possible.
It is just lovely to see her smiling.
spark
Short hair suits her. What a qt!
aimai
We have a close friend whose son was in a horrific skateboarding accident a few years ago. He lost an eye, had part of his head was crushed. They had no insurance since he was an oyster fisherman, self employed, and quite young. Months of rehab. Years of struggle. People are delusional if they think that injured people come back from these traumatic brain injuries. My heart goes out to Gifford’s family because she can never be the same person she was and her life as that mother, that wife, that daughter is as over as her life as a Congresswoman. Loughner murdered all those people (all those Gabbys) when he shot Giffords in the head, even if she survived.
Fred
@Trentrunner: Yes, Arizona’s almost non-existant gun control laws are a beacon of freeDUMB and liberty.
Fred
@JPL: If she cannot express her ideas clearly that doesn’t bode well for her political career..unfortunately. She could still probably win but…just sayin.
Brachiator
I just wish the best for her and her family.
Jeff
@aimai: She will have cognitive changes, emotional changes speech changes, and difficulty with moving one side of her body the way she was before,but that doesn’t mean wont in some sense still be Gabby.
You are the sum total of the changes in your body through your life.
aimai
@Jeff:
Yes. And yet. My grandmother with Alzheimer’s (speaking hypothetically) is not really my grandmother anymore. Certain injuries, whether mental or otherwise, radically alter the individual’s ability to carry out their social relations in the way they did before. This is definitely something that Americans, with our emphasis on independence, autonomy, and eternal youth have a hard time grappling with. When people have severe brain injuries, or personality disorders, they remain physically who they were before the acciden or the illness but they may simply be unable to carry out their former social persona. Mother, lover, wife, daughter, caretaker, decisionmaker, congresswoman. That’s just the reality of it. Its crushingly hard on those, like the spouse or the children, who are used to dealing with a fully autonomous individual. Less difficult, though no less traumatic, for parents and older siblings or for new friends made post trauma.
aimai
Mark B
Just for her to be alive and, as we can see in the picture, able to enjoy life, is incredible. I don’t feel it would be right to ask her go give any more to the country or her constituents since she’s given so much already. I personally don’t care if she ever goes back to congress, because he happiness is all that matters.
I’m sure someone in her district can pick up the torch for her, she’s already carried it far enough. But if she wants to go back, I expect she will and I expect her constituents to re-elect her.
I heard there were some scum running around trying to spread a conspiracy theory that the shooting was some sort of hoax. What I wouldn’t do to stick a finger in the eye of one of those losers.
chopper
i said it before and i’ll say it again, that is one tough fuckin’ broad. i wish i could be that bad-ass.
Yutsano
@chopper: Mark Kelly married well.
AAA Bonds
Okay can we not do the snuff thing here please
Brachiator
@aimai:
What you say is very true.
And it has taken former White House press secretary James Brady, an earlier victim of a politically related shooting, decades to regain anything close to his former cognitive abilities.
Again, one can only hope for the best of all possible therapeutic outcomes for Giffords.
asiangrrlMN
Cosigning aimai’s multiple statement. It’s amazing that she’s alive and has recovered this much. Badass, indeed.
kestral
Gabby! What a relief it was to be at the grocery store and see her face on the AZ Daily Star’s front page. It won’t ever be the same, I know, but seeing her smiling again… that’s the only thing that matters.
She’s still herself. She’s still here. Tucson wishes you all the best in your recovery, Rep. Giffords.
Tracy
@PurpleGirl: Since she was injured on the job her medical bills are all covered under Worker’s Compensation as would be true of any worker whether or not he/she had insurance.
Jon H
Note that this was taken before the surgery to fix the hole in her skull. Once that surgery has healed, she’ll look even better.
Which is a separate issue from the cognitive deficits, of course, but still.
Jon H
@Fred: “If she cannot express her ideas clearly that doesn’t bode well for her political career..unfortunately”
Certainly not, being a Democrat.
robertdsc-PowerBook
Wishing her all the best in her recovery.
Greyjoy
She looks great. You go, lady.
Yutsano
@Greyjoy: Her reconstructive surgeon deserves a fucking medal. She does look almost exactly the same as before. And I’m waiting for her to keep surprising people.
A Humble Lurker
All considering, she looks pretty damn good. And even better than that, she looks happy. I hope she recovers as fully as is possible for her and that she has a long fulfilling life ahead of her.
Jeff
A@aimai:
This is absolutely true, and in some ways the most difficult thing to deal with. There are braces for the feet, plastic surgery for the bullet wound, and all the therapy you could want , but there will still be that loss, and it will be hard for her, and for every one around her.
Some of those roles will be harder to fill than others.
She will still be a wife, a daughter, and lover, albeit there will have to be new ways of filling some of those roles. The caretaker will have to accept being cared for to some degree.
The outward social roles will be by far the most challenging. Will she have the not merely the intellect, which by reports is fairly intact, but the executive skills, such as planning, ordering , setting priorities, the ability to stop what she is doing and do something totally different, which can, in brain injured people,be extraordinarily difficult. These questions will be answered in time, and will probably determine whether she can fulfill her role as a Representative.
And if she cannot continue as a Representative, I’m hoping she will find some other role to fill in our public life.
Keith G
If only a certain Congressman from NY were to have the same courage and sense of self as Congresswoman Giffords seems to have.
JS
30 years ago, with a wound that traveled from one brain hemisphere to the other. There’s been a lot of advances made in battlefield trauma since the assassination attempt on Reagan.
Hope. Never give up hope.
Varanus
Like everyone with a working sense of decency, I wish Giffords and her family the best that can possibly come of this situation. Like everyone with any sense of reality, I imagine that Giffords will likely have some pretty serious traces of this injury for the rest of her life.
However, six months after an injury is far too soon to be debating which deficits may or may not be permanent, or whether any given sphere of her life can be reconstructed. I am absolutely certain that her family and medical team will get a very realistic sense of what she can and cannot do in good time. Until that plateau is reached, speculation about her prospects or her quality of life or even how much of “the same” person she is/is not seems to me to be pretty inappropriate.
Remember, “no one” survives being shot by a Glock in the temple at point blank range. There are way too many mysteries about TBIs, cognitive deficits, and the workings of the brain for any of us sitting here on the internet to have any idea of what is possible. Acting like we do adds to all the other challenges that brain-injured people have to face as they try to put together whatever they can of their lives.
tkogrumpy
It’s a shame we’re both married cuz I think I’m in love.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Varanus:
Thank you for this.
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