Pia Carusone knew the day would come when the questions about her boss, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, would become more indelicate.
After answering some of those questions, Carusone, Giffords' chief of staff, told me: "We want to give people a clear picture (about Giffords). It's not in anyone's interest to have anyone feel misled. But it's hard because we satisfy one person and one set of questions, and tomorrow, we're on to the next. The feeling is like it's never enough."
For example, how well is she able to communicate with them?
"We do a lot of inferring with her because her communication skills have been impacted the most," Carusone said. "If you think of it as someone who is able to communicate with you clearly, it is easy to test them. You can ask them a series of questions, and you can get clear answers back. Whereas with Gabby, what we've been able to infer and what we believe is that her comprehension is very good. I don't know about percentage-wise or not, but it's close to normal, if not normal."
Does her struggle to communicate mean that she's not using complete sentences?
"Exactly," Carusone said. "She is borrowing upon other ways of communicating. Her words are back more and more now, but she's still using facial expressions as a way to express. Pointing. Gesturing. Add it all together, and she's able to express the basics of what she wants or needs. But, when it comes to a bigger and more complex thought that requires words, that's where she's had the trouble."
Is that frustrating for her?
"Absolutely," Carusone said. "When she is trying to come up with a word or a sentence and she's clearly struggling, putting everything she's got into it, and sometimes she's not successful. When she is, there's a relief that comes across her face that she has found the word. But when she can't come up with that, it is absolute frustration."
This is only a small portion of the article and I encourage everybody to read it if they want to learn more about this truly heroic woman.
While it does not appear that Rep. Giffords will return to Washington anytime soon, nobody is prepared to dismiss that possibility. This is truly a remarkable women who suffered a horrific injury that in most cases would have turned the victim into a vegetable. Just the fact that she has managed to come so far in such a short amount of time is amazing. However hoping for her to return to her job in Washington might be nothing more than a pipe dream.
But then again, this IS Gabby Giffords we are talking about!
HuffPo ran this article, of course their take on it was Gabby won't ever come back to serve. Or at least they inferred it strongly.
ReplyDeleteI worked in Rehab for many years. A patient like Gabby, with a serious head wound that affects speech is very hard. That she comprehends questions but is not yet able to articulate them is not a place for despair. The therapists can and will develop other methods of communication with her if over time it becomes apparent her speech won't recover. In the mean time she will get intensive therapies with the goal to restore her to full function. That means long and often, to an outsider, sometimes slow progress. The brain needs time to heal and if she knows what is going on then the ability to communicate it will come one way or the other. BTW Gryph, just be aware that the comments on the first site I found this were the most despicable comments I think I've ever read so be prepared, these people are vicious to a degree I didn't think was possible. One guy said she was using the shooting to raise more money to enrich herself. It went downhill from there
I am so thankful for her progress. There isn't a day that goes by that I pray for her.
ReplyDeleteI think our ex-quitter governor Palin simply does not understand gun issues. It is simply hateful the way she refuses to see how gun ownership should be regulated, and I am advocating banning gun shows where dimwits slip guns to mentally unstable people. Palin's poorly communicated Paul Revere story was sick to behold and it was specifically crafted to speak to this type of unlawful gun ownership. She simply can't face fact that she defended gunsight cross-hairs on senators. It unfortunately does communicate exactly that to some of the unhinged in our country.
We've already witnessed a miracle . . .
ReplyDeleteGodspeed Sen. Giffords.
+++
What an amazing woman.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate this update. I think it does no one any good to pretend she's back to her old self. It shows a total lack of appreciation of what was done to her. I pray for her to make the best possible recovery.
ReplyDeleteJust want to send good good wishes to Ms Giffords. I admire your courage and hard work both before and after your injury. I send you the best vibes I know how -- to help you in this difficult new journey. And I send the love of a citizen for a great leader.
ReplyDeleteIt is good they have put out an honest statement of her current abilities. She is obviously one very tough woman and we can be sure she is working as hard as she can to recover.
ReplyDeleteSay a prayer for Gabby tonight.
To Gabby and her family, God bless.
ReplyDeleteHaving been recently diagnosed with food intolerances and realizing that the reason I could not remember things like the make and model of the car I drove was because I was suffering the effects of chronic inflammation and chemical imbalances. Pain was taking over my life and I thought I was going crazy.
http://orthomolecular.org/library/jom/1973/pdf/1973-v02n03-p084.pdf
The article at the above link presents research on a group of schizophrenic patients who, upon testing, found evidence of 92.2 percent allergic reactions. These result highlight the importance of investigating cerebral allergy in this disorder.
Simply labeling the mentally ill as evil may help us rationalize horrendous behaviors, but it does absolutely nothing to prevent another sick individual from succumbing to the voices in their head. Access to health care, on the other hand, just might.
Right now the issue appears to be speech production, not auditory comprehension, or the ability to think. If that is the case, there is not reason that Ms. Giffords won't be able to go back to her job. Think Steven Hawkings.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the update. I must say though that the pain I experience trying to understand this event and the fact it could have been avoided is almost too hard to bare, and I am just a bystander. I can't even imagine how the people close to her try to get by day to day, and have to watch the moron who contributed to this make a mockery of our country.
ReplyDeleteThe commenters at AZ Central are the usual Arizona knuckledraggers (don't get on my case about bashing Arizona. I love the state. It's the large number of assholes I despise). I wish continuing improvement for Congresswoman Giffords. As for those commenters at AZ who say she is just collecting money, I spit on them. Slime.
ReplyDeleteGabby, we love you and you are our hero.
ReplyDeleteBlessings and good will being sent to you, may you be able to recover and have a great life.
And yet Sarah Palin had the nerve to move to Arizona after she put crosshairs on the wonderful person...
ReplyDeleteAnon 7:01 - your comments are valuable. I think Gabby will be fighting for a long time to come. And her loving husband will be right there with her. She is truly courageous.
ReplyDeleteGryphen, thanks for posting here where the comments will not be vile. Those making hateful remarks should be cursed with a trial that will try their backbone (if they have one).
@ 9:23 - excellent post. I related to my dr. how eating a food I didn't realize had been contaminated by an ingredient that wasn't 'safe' caused a panic attack. The role of nutrition in mental health needs to be given much more attention.
ReplyDeleteGun violence in any form is a tragedy. I live in Colorado, and I remember very well the tragedy that happened at Columbine High School. My wife at that time was a youth pastor, and she made it a point that her charges all went to the memorial that Gov. Bill Owens and staff put together. It was very sad for me. I saw Al and Tipper Gore, the principal of the school, the Gov. all in attendance. When I pulled out my camera to take pictures, I was watched closely by Jefferson County Sheriff's office personnel who were providing security for the event. I had friends of friends who died that day at Columbine. They say we have six degrees of separation from almost anyone in the world. In this case it was maybe two or three. I saw a bumper sticker today that sums up what I feel. When Love rules over Love of Power, then Peace will have a chance.
ReplyDeleteI forgot to mention that Sarah's friend Franklin Graham was there too at the memorial. In Geoffry Dunn's book, he stated that some called him the 'error apparent' to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association...Or something to that effect. I didn't know to much about him at the time, as he was still trying to take over the family 'bidness'. Of course I didn't know anything about SP until the summer of 2008 while on a trip to AK, my wife noted that AK had a woman gov. Something CO has never had. It's still very much a man's world here. She commented on that when we saw her name splashed at the Ted Stevens Airport, there on the wall. Anyway, back to the memorial and Frankie. I wasn't to impressed with him that day though. As I recall he struck me as another arrogant preacher wannabe, of which I've known many in my life. I grew up around church, knew a lot of preachers who were full of themselves. Funny how in the gospels Jesus talked about being humble, praying for your enemies, turning the other cheek etc. So many of the Bible thumpers don't follow his example.
ReplyDelete