Wound path seems to be below the motor cortex, which controls movement
Article Source: msnbc.com
from:msnbc.comGiffords to relearn basic skills in Houston rehab
Seeded on Wed Jan 19, 2011 7:58 PM EST (msnbc.com)
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Best wishes to this lady and her family. Also, best wishes and rapid recovery for all the others who were harmed during this terrible event. May we all learn from it and move towards a more peaceful and cooperative atmosphere.
"No legs" is real common for someone who has laid in bed for a week or more. In her case, it may be a lot more severe as a result of her injury. After about 6 days in bed, I needed a walker to get going again. At some point, they'll determine if she can breathe 100% on her own and if she can eat anything at all? I've had GI tubes in my stomach for 4 or 5 days and you loose your ability to swallow for a little while. It's scary, but it'll come back. I hope all goes well for her, but as her mother said, it's game time.
If she is mixed dominance (right hand, left eye, etc.), her chances of a nearly full recovery are much improved because both brain hemispheres are nearly equally developed and share tasks. Based on her remarkable recovery so far, my bet is that she is.
My brother, who is ambi-dextrous, had a major stroke last year. The first prognosis was that he might never walk or speak again. Within a week they changed that to limited recovery, with 8 months of rehab. Within another week, they changed it to 4 months. He went home after 5 weeks, and continued with out-patient speech therapy for a few months. The doctor said he could have been discharged from the hospital a week earlier if he didn't live alone. His recovery stalled at about 85% of normal. He sometimes has problems coming up with a word, or getting a wrong word--but since he was a genius to begin with, it just puts him more on a par with the rest of us mere mortals.
Either way her recovery will be a hard one. I spent a year in therapy after a car accident left me in a coma for a period of 3 months. I still have issues, that only I can tell, that will last the rest of my life...due to extensive brain trauma.
The best thing is to get her up and moving and repeating tasks she did prior to the injury as soon a possible. The brain will rebuild connections and physically compensate for the damaged portions, it just needs to be done soon and repeatedly.
The best thing her husband can do is drill her for simple questions. Name fruits that begin with the letter A. Where is Germany located. Simple questions like that allow the brain to access different areas for thinking. Physically the brains will recover, even if there is permanent damage.
As the brain recovers it goes through well documented phases. Depression, guilt and then anger. The time for each phase varies.
I wish her the best of luck. It will be a long and hard road for her.
Is it there any problems between the nasal area to the secton of tracheostomy site? If there is no brokeage and no injury from the nose to throat and neck, she may not need trach, especially when she has normal respiratory function and she has been off ventilator.
Is it there is any injury of vocal cord? Is it there is any movement of the jaw, face, teeth, and tongue? Has she had any oral hygiene and how has she responded to it?
Can she smell things? Can she taste things?
For the trach care, she also needs oral care. For patient with trach, suction, breathing treatment, and CPT are kind of automatic care.
Do the speech therapy evaluation and assessment.
Honestly I do not care - that is way too personal and none of my business... You need to move on and focus on your own lives...
Get Real
You care about something as you read the posts, it may be that you care less as it is not about you but another human being who has nothing to do with you.
Me, I want to know each day that she is getting better which is why I read everyday, but that is just me and perhaps the majority of the human race
Hearing she is getting better every day -- and that is great news -- and the intimate details of her recovery are two different things.
There is a certain amount of privacy that she is entitled to and I agree with "get real" that these questions are way too personal and don't need to be answered for the public's titillation.
We don't NEED to know if she can smell or taste. Frankly, it's none of our business. Keep the updates general -- and that is more than enough.
Um, What?
Best wishes to the Congresswoman. My mother survived traumatic brain injury in about the same area as Ms. Giffords for 32 years, having recently passed away at the age of 83. Ms. Giffords does have a long hard road ahead of her, but if she is as strong willed and determined as my mother, she can make remarkable progress. My mother did have permanent paralysis on her right side and aphasia, but I'm hoping that the medical progress over the last 30 years will be on her side. She did go through months/years of physical rehab, speech rehab and vocational rehab. It is probably pie in the sky to think she'll have a complete recovery, but you never know. Somewhere between where she is now and 100% recovery, there will be a progression, and hopefully her family will be as thankful as ours was for whatever recovery takes place.
Your story is inspiring. Thanks for a thoughtful post.
Not to sound heartless, but even if she recovers enough to eventially sit in congress again, it will be months or even years from now. A new congressperson needs to be appointed, or a special election held to fill that seat in congress. I'm a consrvative, but I would prefer to see the seat filled by someone who's politics match up with congresswoman Giffords. It would be wrong for one party to gain an advqantage because of this tragedy.
JEV - Agree Completely. However, I'll be pleasantly surprised if the Republican Governor of Arizona (Brewer) does'nt temporarily appoint a Republican to Giffords legislative seat.
I'm unsure what the Arizona or Federal law is regarding pro-longed absences. My guess is the Governor will appoint the Tea Party Republican opponent who lost the election to her in 2010.
Lets hope not.
According to a recent article, the law is murky but stated that state law regarding when a vacancy exists does not apply to federal offices. The conclusion was the state/govenor will have no input in deciding if or when she needs to be replaced. Could you imagine what would be the consequences if a person who lost in the election could assume that office if the winner was violently removed. As it stands, she will only be replaced through a special election. Being a minority member in the house, her vote isn't critical. She likely won't be a tie breaker on anything and currently her staff is still handling constituents needs. My hope is that her remarkable recovery will continue and she will be able to make that decision. At the moment there is just no compelling need to replace her. As one of her constituents, I'm willing to wait.
In most states, the governor appoints to fulfill the remainder of the term. Usually there is a "gentleman's agreement" that the person be of the same party -- but I don't believe that's actually part of the law.
There are several states (Wisconsin, Massachusetts, Oregon, Alaska and Oklahoma) that require direct election.
Interestingly -- reference the 17th Amendment. Before that, senators were appointed and not elected! :)
Beth44: the governor usually only appoints for the U.S. Senate, not for the House. House vacancies are only filled by special election. This is a vestige of the original Constitutional procedure for electing senators (senators were originally elected by state legislatures, not directly by the people), while representatives in the House were elected directly. Therefore, the precedent is that it is okay to have a senator who wasn't elected, but not a House rep.
That being said, it is shame that there is no provision in the Constitution for temporary disability, the way there is for the President. Other comments have pointed out that Giffords' vote, as a practical matter, wouldn't change any outcomes, and a good reason for her not to resign is that her staff would mostly become unemployed, as a new rep would hire their own staffers. Considering the trauma the staff has been through, casting them out of their jobs would add insult to injury.
Good point. Not sure what I was thinking. Answered too early in the morning I guess LOL
Ya, but they don't use the Constitution anymore.
Imagine seriously injuring your knee and going through extensive rehabilitation to regain function. Now imagine seriously injuring your knee and going through extensive rehabilitation to regain function..... while not knowing there is anything wrong with your knee. Add on top of that..... not knowing you don't know there is something wrong with your knee. And that is what it's like in the aftermath of a brain injury.
I think it's hard for people to conceive of not conceiving. It's existentially thorny, and it tests the limits of imagination. How can the un-injured try to understand the lack of something without using the very abilities the injured person is lacking?
It's very tricky. My hope is that we remember, as Gabriella Giffords, wounded soldiers returning from overseas, and countless others with brain injuries, recover as best they will, it's not the same as rehabilitating a busted knee.
I really do not know, nor do I care, the point some people are making about this woman’s tragic, innocent step she took that render her into darkness. Her family probably does not know either. Robbed of her some of her special qualities in a spilt second by some murderous megalomaniac, my only wish are Gabriella's recovery is to love and communicate with the ones closest to her. Screw the seat on the hill or medical conjecture (or should I say pseudo-medical conjecture) for the people who have no idea, personally who she is, (I don't either) or her future. Only hope...
I was once given 10% at one time in my life and in less than a year that number went to 90%. I am on the fence sometimes about miracles...but if ever a person deserves one -Gabriella does. My heart goes out to her.
A very smart lady that has had real concern for the people that voted her into office.I believe I speak for the USA and wish her the very best - She in no way deserved this grief.
Very bright and caring lady.Nobody should have to endure the pain and suffering this lady went through.She deserves the best care and I believe that is what everbody in the USA would want. To you Gabbie the best.
I hope that on the flight to Houston they provide 02 for Gabby as my son did not have any on his flight from Denver to Richmond Va, and it caused him a set back on his recovery, the pressure on the flight had an affect on his brain injury, not a good one, It took months to recover, And if her skull is still open what kind of effect will this plane ride do to her, i am praying all will go well for Gabby and Mark, It will be a long road, Just keep holding her hand.
Gabby's ability to speak will be effected if the tubes down her throat where rubbing against her vocal cords as they did my son's he still can not speak well enough not to have to use a dynavox computer. the fact that Gabby can stand is great news/ the dynavox computer is a blessing my son said the first time he used it he typed words into the computer and hit a button and it spoke those words he finally had a voice, to this day 3years and 6 months later he still uses his dynavox to be heard.
It certainly sounds like she's making positive progress, however reading between the lines I believe she has quite a ways to go. I wish her the best of luck to a full recovery, but if you remember James Brady and his injury, he has since been confined to a wheelchair and though he can speak, it does appear like it's difficult for him.
Prayers for her and a good recovery. I wish our soldiers with brain injuries were afforded the cognitive therapy she will get. Very simply Tricare and the VA deny payments for this. They have served our country just like Giffords has yet the care they can get isn't up to par.
That is awful about the care for our soldiers. That issue should be brought to the forefront of discussion nationally as a result of this. Unfortunately we still have the "haves" and the "have nots" in our country.
When will they replace the top of Gifford's skull?
Why fit her for a helmet when there's a perfectly good natural "helmet" waiting for her in the hospital freezer?
If it were me, I wouldn't want to leave "home" without it.
Are the doctors considering the possibility of more brain surgery?
Im sure the doctors know what they are doing with this kind of highly skilled care. Far be it for any of us to second guess what they are doing.
Thats a good question, I had the same one. I was wondering what they did with the top of her head. How long can they keep it in the freezer, indefinately or what?
It is a good sign that she improved so quickly. We all wish her the best. It would be better reporting and frankly just basic decency to report on all the others that were also wounded. Gabby I am sure would want that. It was reported yesterday that the judge was killed because he was protecting a person that had already been shot. One cable channel has lightly mentioned that while others barely said a word about that man from the time of the shooting.
It seems odd that they don't know about her sight. If she can lift two fingers on command haven't they tried, "Show me how many fingers you see?" or "point to the red square?".
How about, "How much is 2+2?". Have they asked that?
This whole thing is a horrible tragedy and of course I wish all the shooting victims the very best. I'm asking this because I'm curious about the procedure.
I hope they really nail the psychotic creep who did this.
Just curious how the health-care she is going to receive would compare to the health-care under the Obama plan?
Oh my mistake, I just remembered that members of Congress are exempt from the new health laws. She she would still be eligible for first class treatment.
Hey Bill... leave the politics aside. Yes, our country's health care system is screwed up and it's going to take a lot of work from both parties to come up with the right solution.
But this lady just got shot in the head. Drop the politics and be a human being, Bill.
Bill
Yes, the Congresswoman is entitled to the same insurance as if a low level secretary working for the Government had been shot.
All Congressmen, Senators, Judges and other Federal employees contribute to the same coverage.
It’s not free and not reserved only for them – and it’s not government insurance. House and Senate members are allowed to purchase private health insurance offered through the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, which covers more than 8 million other federal employees, retirees and their families. They opt into health coverage and pay 25 - 28% of the premium. They can choose from many different types of private or government health plans. they do have access to military hospitals that civilians dont, but their health care is the same. If they are elgible for Medicare that is the same too. they pay Medicare taxes thru their income, as well as Social Security. Go to www.factcheck.org and search congress health benefits to get more info on this.
If her speech center has been destroyed and she relearns to speak she'll be able to use the knowledge and memories stored in other parts of her brain, right?
If your speech center is destroyed, can you relearn to speak and store the information somewhere else?
I forget - was anyone else hurt or killed in the shooting? Why the daily update on this woman's progress? Only once have I seen or heard names or faces of the other people that were shot. Media coverage is ridiculous. Must be a slow news week/month/year.
I'm kind of interested in her progress. It's a human interest story. It doesn't mean that I'm NOT interested in the other victims.
Also, she is the one with the most devastating injury. The other victims are going home, except obviously for the dead. Dragging out details about the dead would be pretty horrible for the families.
I know what you mean though.
I have been seeing updates on the other people. Perhaps their families are not doing daily press releases. It seems for public elected officials it is a requirement to update the press on health status.
Agree with you 100%. Politics should be out the window and we should be a bit more human talking about this woman. I had a relative murdered as a result of a verdict she rendered in a case. The last thing on our minds was who she voted for-or healthcare status.
Agree with you 100%. Politics should be out the window and we should be a bit more human talking about this woman. I had a relative murdered as a result of a verdict she rendered in a case. The last thing on our minds was who she voted for-or healthcare status.
Best wishes to your family. How horrible.
God bless all the people that were inured and rest in peace to those that were killed. My prayers to all those affected by this travesty.
God bless ya, Sweetie.
You are in my throughts and prayers.
You are in my thoughts and prayers.
Why has this person become the posterwoman for Arizona? Are there not other recovering survivors from that Sat>?? Is it because she is beautiful and photogenic (read sexy)?
I would like to see her now post shooting, not just her previous PR image.
Why would you like to see her now? To see what bad shape she's in? That seems really creepy.
She's not a posterwoman for Arizona. The references in the press are medical, human interest references.