Gabrielle Giffords Doesn't Know Extent Of Arizona Shooting

Six weeks after Gabrielle Giffords was shot, her doctor tells CBS New that she’s making remarkable progress and interacting with friends and family, but she still doesn’t know exactly what happened to her. “She certainly knows that there’s been a traumatic event here,” said Pia Carusone, Giffords’ chief of staff. “The details of the severity of the injuries to the others, you know, she doesn’t know yet about. But she will in time, when she’s, you know, at a higher level of communication. Doctors have said it’s not really fair, as you can imagine, to tell something so tragic to someone that might not have the ability to ask the detailed questions that someone will have when they hear this news.”

Giffords is expected her to have long-term issues with communication, reading, and writing, but currently she can express short thoughts and laughs at appropriate times. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who visited Giffords recently, says, “You could see she really wanted to engage. And she wanted to be responsive and she really responds with facial expressions and smiles and frowns. But I also saw a little frustrationin wanting to try to respond, because she understood and she wasn’t yet able to.”