Giffords' Transfer to Houston Went "Flawlessly"
Last Updated 5:21 p.m. ET
Doctors said Friday afternoon that the transfer of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords to a hospital in Houston went flawlessly and she's ready to start rehabilitation.
"It couldn't have gone more smoothly from the moment we took off to the moment we landed," said Dr. Randall Friese, a trauma surgeon who operated on Giffords and traveled with her from Tucson to Houston. "It was a pleasant, smooth and flawless transfer."
Her physical therapy will begin at 4:30 p.m. local time, her doctors said at a press conference held at Memorial Hermann Friday afternoon.
She has "great rehabilitation potential," said Dr. Gerardo Francisco, chief medical officer at TIRR Memorial Hermann.
Friese said that as the ambulance drove through the streets of Tucson, they could hear applause and Giffords heard and smiled.
"We want to be here to help her and show her a good farewell, and hope that she has a great recovery," said Al Garcia, a Marine veteran who came on his Harley Davidson motorcycle for her sendoff. "It's through all of these prayers that she's leaving in just two weeks."
Giffords has been making progress nearly every day at University Medical Center in Tucson. Her husband, Houston-based astronaut Mark Kelly, tweeted Friday: "GG going to next phase of her recover today. Very grateful to the docs and nurses at UMC, Tucson PD, Sheriffs Dept....Back in Tucson ASAP!"
Kelly was with Giffords on the plane, along with her mother, a doctor and other medical workers. A helicopter took her from the Houston airport to the ICU at Texas Medical Center to the center's rehabilitation hospital, TIRR Memorial Hermann. U.S. Capitol police arrived Thursday afternoon to set up extra security measures at the 119-bed facility.
Yesterday University Medical Center staffers took the wounded congresswoman outside, where she breathed in the fresh air and felt the sun, trauma surgeon Peter Rhee said.
"I saw the biggest smile she could gather," Rhee said. "We are very happy to have her enjoying the sunshine of Arizona."
Complete Coverage: Tragedy in Tucson
Giffords to Move to Houston Rehab Center
Giffords has been making progress nearly every day in her recovery from a bullet wound to the brain.
Doctors ticked off other markers of her continuing improvement: She scrolled through an iPad, picked out different colored objects and moved her lips. They are unsure whether she is mouthing words, nor do they know how much she is able to see.
Her husband, Houston-based astronaut Mark Kelly, believes she has tried to speak and can recognize those around her.
"I can just look in her eyes and tell," Kelly said at a final briefing Thursday at the Tucson hospital. "She is very aware of the situation."
He said he's hoping she'll make a full recovery, calling her "a fighter like nobody else that I know."
Giffords spokesperson C.J. Karamargin, who traveled with the congresswoman to Houston Friday, told CBS News' "The Early Show" that he was amazed by the congresswoman's recovery so far.
"We've gone in a period of less than two weeks from unbearable anguish to cautious optimism to moments of just joy," Karamargin told anchor Chris Wragge. "And today is one of those joyous days that I think we will all be celebrating. It's the beginning of the next phase of the congresswoman's recovery."
"There's no question that Congresswoman Giffords is a fighter ; she's as tough as nails," said Karamargin. "She's going to be back very soon. There's no question about it."
CBS News correspondent Ben Tracy reports that Kelly is so confident of his wife's recovery, he boldly predicted on Thursday that she would be "walking, talking, and in two months you'll see her walking in the front door of this building."
The doctors who will help her offered a more sober outlook.
Giffords has yet to speak again, and the right side of her body is very weak, reports Tracy. She may need to re-learn even basic tasks.
"Not everyone always gets 100 percent restoration, but we help them to get to a new normal," said Carl Josehart, chief executive of the rehab hospital that will be the Arizona congresswoman's home for the next month or two.
The Houston facility is where Buffalo Bills' tight end Kevin Everett was treated after this life-threatening spinal cord injury in 2007. He was paralyzed from the neck down when he arrived. Now he can walk.
Dr. Gerard Francisco, the hospital's chief medical officer, will coordinate Giffords' care.
"It's going to be a very big team that will address different impairments, but they will have to work together," he said.
Karamargin told "The Early Show" that the rehabilitation process is going to be "aggressive."
"I've heard it described as 'brain boot camp,'" he said. "These folks really know their stuff. We are all hopeful that it's going to be, you know, what she needs to get back to where she was."
Despite the steady progress, Giffords has a long road to recovery. Doctors are not sure what, if any, disability she will have.
Sometimes, areas of the brain that seem damaged can recover, said Mark Sherer, a neuropsychologist at the rehab center.
"Some of the tissue is temporarily dysfunctional, so the patient appears very impaired very early on after the injury," but may not be permanently damaged, he said.
A gunman shot Giffords and 18 other people Jan. 8 as she met with constituents outside a grocery store in Tucson. Six people died and the others wounded. All survivors, except Giffords, have been released from hospitals.
The suspect in the January 8 attack, Jared Loughner, 22, of Tucson, is being held in federal custody.
Loughner, 22, of Tucson, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Phoenix Wednesday, accused of attempting to assassinate Giffords and trying to kill two of her aides.
It does not include two murder charges listed in an earlier criminal complaint for the deaths of Giffords aide Gabe Zimmerman, 30, and U.S. District Judge John Roll, 63. Those are potential death penalty charges and prosecutors said they require a more painstaking process. Additional charges are likely.
"The last 12 days have been extraordinarily difficult for myself, my family, but not only us," Kelly said. "I think it's been very difficult for the city of Tucson, southern Arizona and our country.
Kelly added that Giffords would be proud of the way Tucson has responded. Memorials continued to grow Thursday outside the hospital, in front of her office and at the scene of the shooting.
"I know one of the first things Gabby is going to want to do as soon as she's able to is start writing thank-you notes," he said.
