Giffords to Leave Hospital Friday

Gabrielle Giffords will be released from the hospital on Friday, heading instead to the Institute for Rehabilitation and Research at Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston, Politico reports. The center specializes in brain injury recovery. Giffords’ mother sent out an excited email today, telling friends that Giffords was recovering so well that she’d been able to look at get-well cards, scroll through photos on her husband’s iPhone, and even try to unbutton his shirt and pull off his tie.

“Everyday Gabby improves and shows higher levels of comprehension and complex actions,” Gloria Giffords wrote, according to the New York Times. “They are even now having her move limbs on command. So now comes the ‘true grit’ part… and won’t be a stroll in the park.” Doctors say Giffords is now trying to speak, and that her husband reported seeing her smile. (More Gabrielle Giffords stories.)