Some much-needed good news today--Gabrielle Giffords can now stand on her own.
At the end of week 15, she can stand on her own and walk a little but is working to improve her gait, says Dr. Gerard Francisco, the physiatrist and chief medical officer at TIRR Memorial Hermann who works with Giffords five days a week.
Use of her right arm and leg is limited but improving, he says - a common effect of a bullet wound on the left side of the brain. She pushes a grocery cart up and down the hospital halls as therapy, focusing on using the correct muscles, says nurse Kristy Poteet, who has worked with Giffords since she arrived in Houston on Jan. 21. More therapy comes from games of bowling and indoor golf, Poteet says.
She still finds it difficult to put long sentences together, but can still speak normally. Also, the doctors are watching how she moves around in case she starts overcompensating for the limited use of her right side. Still, Francisco puts her in the top five percent of patients recovering from an injury as severe as hers. Put another way--this woman is a walking miracle, literally.