Posted on 01/10/2011 5:02:58 PM PST by srmorton
The bullet that passed through Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' brain tore through only one hemisphere before exiting, missing the crucial parts of the brain that control most bodily and cognitive functions.
The bullet entered through the back of her head, passed through the left hemisphere of her brain and exited just above her left eye, Dr. Michael Lemole, chief of neurosurgery at University Medical Center in Tucson, said Sunday at a news conference.
Giffords is being kept in a medically induced coma and is not able to speak because she is intubated, but when she is periodically awakened, she is able to respond to simple commands, such as squeezing her hand and showing two fingers.
"We are very encouraged by that," Lemole said. Her ability to follow those commands "implies a very high level of functioning in the brain," he said.
"If she can hear requests and move her fingers, particularly showing two fingers and raising her thumbs, her receptive language functions are good and her hearing is intact," said Dr. Neil A. Martin, chairman of neurosurgery at UCLA's Reagan Medical Center.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
It is somewhat ironic that this Democrat may owe her life to something that her party as a whole never supported - the Iraq war. It was during the war that our wonderful military doctors developed the techique of removing part of the skull to relieve the swelling of the brain. The bone is placed in the abdominal cavity so that it remains alive and sterile. When the swelling of the brain is gone, the piece of the skull is replaced. Amazing! The technique could never have been perfected in the US with the FDA and other federal busybodies looking over the shoulder of the neurosurgeons!
Prayers up for her, from this lifelong (at least until recently, that party now being in question) Republican!
Recently read "Another Day in the Frontal Lobe" by Katrina Firlik, another neurosurgeon. She describes the brain as "tofu", imagine how hard it must be to get into that without wrecking it. It's worth reading. These guys are often delving into the Great Unknown, as evidenced by this case. She shouldn't have survived a 9mm bullet ripping through her head like that, but so far, here she is.
WOW, I can't believe she is still alive after taking a 9mm bullet THROUGH the brain... and just imagine it exiting just above her eye.... that wouldn't be a small hole... but that exit would of exploded out a huge chunk of bone and flesh.
*shiver*
Good news.
May God’s healing hand lift you up to a full recovery, Congresswoman.
I heard and watched a network interview with Dr.Rhee, not sure if it was Fox News or not, but the reporter asked him how the skull fragment was kept alive after it had been removed, and Dr. Rhee’s answer was that it was kept refrigerated. That’s different from what you have described, as the fragment being kept inside the abdomen. Are you saying they surgically open the abdomen to make a place for the skull fragment, insert the fragment, and then surgically close the opening? And what is the source of your information? By the way, as another Freeper has noted, Dr Rhee is definitely major league. His answers to the reporter’s questions were immediate and direct and he didn’t miss a beat. Very confident and knowledgeable. This guy is ex-U.S military and should probably be a candidate for Surgeon General of the U.S. some day.
I can’t say whether they put a piece of this lady’s skull in her abdomen, or not — but I know that is the procedure they followed with the Vegas guy whose tiger grabbed him by the head.
It sounds like this horrible tragedy may have been somewhat less than it could have been because it sounds like he was using cheap parabellum FMJ ammo. That’s the only thing that could allow the congresswoman to live IMHO. I’m guessing the range was so close it didn’t tumble. Even with that it’s a miracle she’s alive.
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