> Gee, any wonder she reacted negatively whenever hino was around.
You are correct that she did. She was positive at first, but became scared to death of him later, due to his abuse. Loads of indications over the years that Terri responded better to people (and stimuli) she knew and liked. She had the nicest smile. With her mom, especially, she just lit up!
Here is an exceprt from a post-autopsy statement by Dr. Hammesfahr. It sheds some light on the relative damage to different parts of her brain and functionality in various areas.
“The autopsy results confirmed my opinion and Dr. Maxfield's opinions, that the frontal areas of the brains, the areas that deal with awareness and cognition were relatively intact. To use Dr. Nelson's words, "relatively preserved." In fact, the relay areas from the frontal and front temporal regions of the brain, to the spinal cord and the brain stem, by way of the basal ganglia, were preserved, thus the evident responses which she was able to express to her family and to the clinicians seeing her or viewing her videotape. The Spect scan confirmed these areas were functional and not scar tissue, and that was apparently also confirmed on Dr. Nelson's review of the slides. Dr. Maxfield's estimates of retained brain weight were apparently accurate, although there may have been some loss of brain weight due to the last two weeks of dehydration.
“Dr. Maxfield and myself both emphasized that she was a woman trapped in her body, similar to a child with cerebral palsy, and that was borne out by the autopsy, showing greater injury in the motor and visual centers of the brain. ..."
You have to scroll down. Her brain was in tact.