Giffords 'Holding Her Own,' Neurosurgeon Says

Docs optimistic, but Ariz. congresswoman faces difficult recovery after being shot in the head

Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is "holding her own" and continues to respond to simple commands, Dr. G. Michael Lemole Jr., the chief of neurosurgery at Univ. of Ariz. said Monday.

"I just came from Congresswoman Giffords' bedside and I'm happy to say she's holding her own," Lemole, who operated on Giffords after a bullet tore through the left side of her brain, told TODAY Monday. "And that is to say that she's doing the same things she was yesterday.  And that's the most we can hope for at this time."

Giffords is in a medically induced coma but is responding to verbal commands -- raising a thumb, showing two fingers or wiggling toes -- two days after she was shot at point-blank range at a public gathering in a supermarket parking lot in Tucson, Ariz.

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