Giffords' Doctors Remove Tube from Brain
Updated at 6:40 p.m. ET
HOUSTON - Doctors at a Houston hospital said a catheter draining fluids from Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' brain was removed ahead of her transfer to a rehabilitation facility.
Special Section: Tragedy in Tucson
In a news conference Wednesday afternoon, Giffords' doctors also said they plan to put a speaking valve in her breathing tube to help her speak and that she was ready to begin full rehabilitation.
(Scroll down to watch a report on this story)
It was all more good news for the congresswoman who was seriously injured in a Jan. 8 shooting in Tucson, Ariz. Giffords was transferred early Wednesday from the hospital's intensive care unit to the rehabilitation center.
Meanwhile, The Washington Post is reporting that Jared Loughner, who pleaded not guilty Monday to the attempted assassination of Giffords and the murder of two of her aides, Photos: State of the Union 2011What Wasn't in Obama's Speech: Gun Control
State of the Union Speech Word Cloud
The alleged assassination attempt cast a somber mood over President Obama's State of the Union speech Tuesday night, where many lawmakers in both parties wore black-and-white lapel ribbons to signify the deaths and the hopes of the survivors. Giffords' husband watched the speech from her bedside in Texas, as he held her hand.