Giffords moving to Houston for rehab Friday

TUCSON, Ariz. — Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, whose fight for survival after being shot in the face at close range more than a week ago has inspired an outpouring of support nationwide, is scheduled to move to a rehabilitation hospital in Houston on Friday.

The Arizona Democrat, who remains in serious condition, has been in Tucson's University Medical Center since the Jan. 8 shooting that killed six and wounded 13. Hospital spokeswoman Janet Stark said Wednesday that Giffords was able to stand on her feet with assistance from medical staff and look out the window of her hospital room.

Giffords' doctors this week attributed her recovery, in part, to "a miracle." By some estimates, fewer than 5 percent of patients who receive a penetrating bullet wound to the brain survive. Barring unforeseen complications, she will be transferred to the TIRR Memorial Hermann rehabilitation hospital in Houston, her congressional staff announced Wednesday.

"I am extremely hopeful at the signs of recovery that my wife has made since the shooting," said her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, who has been at her bedside.

The Houston hospital is ranked as the nation's fifth-best rehabilitation center by U.S. News & World Report and specializes in brain and spinal-cord injuries. The family also considered Washington's Walter Reed Army Medical Center and facilities in New York and Chicago. But Kelly said the Houston hospital is near where he lives and where he trains, at NASA's Johnson Space Center.

The news was hailed by well-wishers in Tucson who have streamed to makeshift memorials outside the medical center and Giffords' local office, leaving cards, stuffed animals, signs and candles for the 40-year-old congresswoman.

An indictment issued Wednesday by a federal grand jury in Phoenix accuses Jared Lee Loughner, 22, of attempting to assassinate Giffords and trying to kill two of her aides. Loughner already faced 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. The earlier charges could result in the death penalty.

Experts cautioned that Giffords still has a long road ahead.

Michael Yochelson, director of the brain-injury program at the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Washington, D.C., said she faces up to three months of inpatient care, followed by an two to four months of therapy after she is discharged.

Yochelson described an intense regimen of activities for patients with brain injuries similar to Giffords': physical therapy (for strength and coordination), occupational therapy (for basic skills such as grooming and getting dressed), speech therapy and neuropsychology (for cognitive functions and emotional support).

Risks include infection and pneumonia, as well as partial blindness.

"It is a long haul," Yochelson said.

Meanwhile, the Pima County Sheriff's Department issued a statement Wednesday that it would not publicize any more information on the shootings because of a dispute with the office of County Attorney Barbara LaWall.

Prosecutors have complained about the Sheriff Department's release to the news media of many details of the investigation of Loughner. There is concern that the releases might interfere with the county's separate prosecution of Loughner or lead to a change of venue.

"Until further notice, due to a controversy between the Sheriff's Department and the County Attorney's office, no further information reference the January 8, 2011, shooting will be released," Deputy Jason Organ, the department's public-information officer, said in a statement.

Compiled from The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times