Ms. Giffords's immediate responsiveness to commands, such as squeezing a doctor's hand, suggests that she wasn't in a coma and that her brain stem and the brain's core structures had relatively little damage.
In her adopted hometown of Coral Springs, Florida, she's assembled a team that includes a naturopathic doctor, a cook ("because it's just me and Tessa, and she wants mac 'n' cheese every night"), a nutritionist, and a pair of therapists who stretch her for two hours post-workout.