Giffords released from Texas hospital

Tucson, Arizona. — More than five months after being shot point blank in the head, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was released Wednesday from a Houston rehabilitation hospital where she had been relearning how to walk and talk, hospital officials said.Her therapy at TIRR Memorial Hermann will continue, although she will be an outpatient who commutes daily from the home that her astronaut husband, Mark E. Kelly, has in League City, Texas, near Houston.

Her discharge from the hospital represents another milestone in the recovery of Giffords, who was shot Jan. 8 by a gunman who sprayed the crowd with bullets at an a constituent event she was holding outside a Tucson supermarket, killing six people and injuring more than a dozen others."Congresswoman Giffords has shown clear, continuous improvement from the moment she arrived at TIRR five months ago," said Dr. Gerard Francisco, the hospital's chief medical officer. "We are very excited that she has reached the next phase of her rehabilitation and can begin outpatient treatment."Neurosurgeon Dr. Dong Kim said, "Gabby has recovered well from the surgery."

The congresswoman's husband said the time in the hospital had been difficult.

"Anyone who knows Gabby knows that she loves being outside," said Kelly, who just returned from commanding the shuttle Endeavour on its 16-day mission."Living and working in a rehab facility for five months straight has been especially challenging for her. She will still go to TIRR each day but from now on, when she finishes rehab, she will be with her family," Kelly said.

Giffords' staff said she was elated with the move.

"The treatment she's been receiving has been world class," said C.J. Karamargin, her press secretary.

"But who wants to live in a hospital?"

Giffords' next significant step, her aides said, would be a visit to Tucson, where she was born and spent the bulk of her professional career in the family tire business and in politics."The concern will be how to manage a visit so it's not too frenzied," said Ross Zimmerman, whose son, Gabe, worked for Giffords and was one of those killed in the shooting.

Resuming her congressional duties is a longer way off. During her absence, her staff has been responding to constituent concerns and handling other chores. But aides say decisions on whether she will return to Washington, run for re-election or compete for a Senate seat have been held in abeyance as she focused on regaining her strength and relearning basic skills.

Giffords' doctors said she has made remarkable progress, but cautioned she faces many challenges and months of intensive outpatient care. She was shot in the left side of her head, which controls speech and communication.

Her chief of staff told the Arizona Republic last week that Giffords struggles to find words and put together sentences.A judge has declared shooting suspect Jared Loughner mentally incapable of participating in his own defense and sent him to a federal facility, where doctors will treat him and try to make it possible to put him on trial.