A Tough Update on Gabrielle Giffords
E. J. Montini in The Arizona Republic on Giffords’ return to Congress:
Is she ready to do that?
No.
Is she close?
No. [...]
“The only firm timetable is the legal timetable, and that is May of 2012, when petitions are due for re-election,” [Pia Carusone, Giffords' chief of staff] said. “That’s a firm timetable. Short of that, we’d love to know today what her life will be, what her quality of life will be, which will determine whether she’ll be able to run for office and all sorts of other things involving her life. But we just don’t know yet. . . .
“We’re about halfway through the process that is the most important time for recovery. Patients recover for the rest of their lives, but it’s the first 12 to 14 months that you make the biggest jumps. . . . In the doctors’ minds, it’s not even close to when you begin to make the final prognosis for the quality of her life.”
Via. Discussion. Comment, “One gets the sense, reading the interview, that those immediately around Giffords are realistic, while the rest of us, perhaps, have been dreaming a little.”
Speculation about Giffords’ 2012 campaign needs to stop.
3 Responses to “A Tough Update on Gabrielle Giffords”
Agreed. Her health trumps politics.
So far the press has been treating Giffords recovery like a Lifetime Channel movie, with expectations of Giffords returning to congress or even the senate as the music swells and the credits roll. Real life isn’t usually that kind. It may disappoint people but it is good to see some reality in the coverage of her injury.
Geothan, I very much agree with you. The brain cannot heal itself in 5 months from this type of injury. Aphasia takes 12-24 months for recovery.
What is being described in the article is the most frustrating state that happens in between where the brain retrains itself. It’s not a magic press the button and it all works, as anyone who has had therapy for any affliction can attest.
As long as there continues to be regular improvement then it is likely that there will be greater recover. The really important thing that is mentoned in this article is that Giffords’ doctors remain optimistic on her recovery. So they are seeing that continued high slope of improvement. The thing to look for is when they start reporting a plateau.
Unfortunately it’s frustrating for a layperson encountering those being treated for aphasia. During the recovery period what they see is someone struggling for words and sometimes failing altogether. While that is frustrating to encounter, it’s actually wonderful in that the very struggle is the retraining of the brain’s pathways.