Giffords Released From Hospital

The Arizona Daily Star report:

She’s taken a couple cross-country flights in the past few months and her husband recently rocketed into space.

But the 30-mile trip U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords made this afternoon may have been her most satisfying yet.

After five months in the hospital following a gunshot wound to the head Jan. 8, Giffords was discharged from TIRR Memorial Hermann today and will soon begin outpatient treatment there.

"The Congresswoman is elated, " said CJ Karamargin, her spokesman. "This is a major step in her recovery and she’s feeling very good about it."

Doctors say Giffords’ cognitive abilities and physical strength have improved to the point where she no longer needs hospital care. At her husband’s house in League City, Texas, she will be assisted by a 24-hour home health provider and will return to the hospital regularly to continue her intensive therapy program.