Giffords Heard Cheers, Teared Up

Rep looks 'spectacular,' has 'great rehab potential,' say new team
By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 22, 2011 8:05 AM CST
Giffords Heard Cheers, Teared Up
Houston's TIRR Memorial Hermann Rehabilitation Hospital is shown Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2011. U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is expected to be moved Friday to the Texas Medical Center hospital to begin the next phase of her recovery from a gunshot wound.    (Pat Sullivan)

Gabrielle Giffords' Tucson doctors handed her over to Houston rehab officials in a "flawless transfer" yesterday, and the congresswoman responded to Arizona crowds cheering along her route by "smiling and even tearing up a little bit," says one of her doctors. Giffords' plane flew 14,000 feet lower than normal to keep cabin pressure down, and the AP notes that she wore a specially designed helmet with the Arizona flag on it.

Giffords' new Houston team was impressed: "She looks spectacular in all ways," a top neurosurgeon tells the Chronicle. "She's alert, awake, calm. She looks comfortable." Giffords has "great rehabilitation potential," added another doctor, and she was in Houston all of three hours before undergoing her first rehab session.
(More Gabrielle Giffords stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X