Arizona – Doctors say Rep. Gabrielle Giffords continues to make such “miraculous” progress that she could be released from the hospital soon.
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“It could be a matter of days to weeks,” said her neurosurgeon, Dr. Michael Lemole.
“The key milestone we are trying to get her to is rehabilitation The day she leaves this hospital – that’s her graduation,” he said.
Giffords, who was shot clear through the head at point blank range in Tucson Jan. 8, has made such rapid progress that Lemole called it a miracle.
“We are very pleased about the outcome one week after this tragic event,” said Dr. Rainer Gruessner, chairman of the Department of Surgery at the University of Arizona.
The congresswoman still can’t speak, because she has a breathing tube stuck in her neck, and doctors aren’t sure how well she can see after both eye sockets were damaged, requiring ophthalmic surgery.
But they are optimistic. She was taken off the critical list over the weekend.
Her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, told ABC’s Diane Sawyer in an interview set to air Tuesday morning that Giffords gave him a neck rub.
“It is so typical of her. She’s in the ICU, gone through this traumatic injury. And she spent 10 minutes giving me a neck massage,” Kelly said. “I keep tellin’ her, I’m like, ‘Gabby, you’re in the ICU. You know, you don’t need – you know, you don’t need to be doing this.’
“But it’s so typical of her that no matter how bad the situation might be for her, you know, she’s lookin’ out for other people.”
Doctors said the neck rub was another good sign.
“She’s interacting in an old familiar way with him,” Lemole said. “Those higher cognitive functions are at least somewhat preserved here.”
Kelly said he knows that even when his wife is released to rehab, she still faces a difficult recovery.
“Gabby’s got a long road ahead of her,” he told ABC. “The recovery from these kinds of injuries isn’t measured in days and weeks. It’s more like weeks and months. And so she’s got a long, tough road ahead of her. But, you know, she’s a really, really tough woman,” he said.
Kelly is scheduled to be the commander of the Space Shuttle Endeavor’s final flight in April but has taken a break from training to remain by his wife’s side following the Jan. 8 shooting that left six dead and 13 wounded.
Surprisingly, Kelly said he was open to the idea of meeting with gunman Jared Lee Loughner’s parents, whom he says should not be blamed for their son’s actions.
“I don’t think it’s their fault.” he said. “They’ve got to be hurting in this situation as much as anybody.”
“I’m sure they love their son. And they must be, you know, as distraught over this as all of us are.”