Mark Kelly may have chosen space over wife, but wife is reportedly pretty psyched about the decision. Kelly told Katie Couric that, after getting approval to attend the final launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavor this Friday at Cape Canaveral, Florida, Gabrielle Giffords said, “Awesome,” and pumped her fist. The news of Giffords’s attendance comes as the Arizona Republic provides a detailed look at her progress and rehabilitation efforts so far. According to their report, Giffords:
• Has short, two-inch hair that will grow to cover the scars on her scalp. “Her face, though sometimes swollen, is otherwise the same as before.” A missing piece of her skull will be reattached in May.
• “Speaks most often in a single word or declarative phrase.”
• “Can stand on her own and walk a little but is working to improve her gait.”
• “Pushes a grocery cart up and down the hospital halls as therapy.”
• “Has opinions and she makes them known.”
• Plays Scrabble
Not bad for someone who was shot through the head a few months ago! Giffords is “maybe in the top 1 percent of patients in terms of how far she’s come, and how quickly she’s gotten there,” her neurosurgeon, Dr. Dong Kim, says. What could her secret be? Couric reports:
We should have known. Is there anything you can’t do, Bono?
Giffords on OK to attend launch: “Awesome” [CBS News]
Gabrielle Giffords’ doctors, husband share details on her progress [AZ Central]