Doctors said they were “cautiously optimistic” about the recovery prospects for Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords at a press conference Sunday at the University Medical Center in Tucson.
“Overall, this is about as good as you are going to get,” said Dr. Peter Rhee, Trauma Medical Director at the hospital, speaking about Giffords’ condition. “You know, when you get shot in the head and the bullet goes through your brain, the chances of you living is very small and the chances of you waking up and actually following commands is even much smaller than that. So, this so far this has been a very good situation.”
Chief neurosurgeon at the hospital, Dr. G Michael Lemole Jr., said that the congresswoman was able to respond to simple commands after a roughly 2-hour surgery yesterday.
“Brain swelling is really the biggest threat at this point,” he added.
Rhee said that out of the 11 victims of Saturday’s shooting that the hospital cared for, five entered in serious condition, five entered in not “such a dire or critical” condition, and a 9-year old girl came in dead, though the hospital did try to revive her.
Giffords, according to Rhee, is the only patient that remains in critical condition.