what was i thinking? but i was still skating on thin ice with my cholesterol. anyone with high cholesterol may be at increased risk of heart attack. diet and exercise weren t enough for me. i stopped kidding myself. i ve been eating healthier, exercising more and now i m also taking lipitor. if you ve been kidding yourself about high cholesterol, stop. lipitor is a cholesterol-lowering medication, fda approved to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke in patients who have heart disease or risk factors for heart disease. lipitor is backed by over 18 years of research. okay. we wanted to dump out of the break, because you can see that the congresswoman is in an ambulance and it has now approached that aircraft. and she ll soon be taken out of the ambulance as she left that tucson hospital, and she ll be taken aboard that plane along with family and friends.
he lives here and his two daughters live here, and her mother would stay as well with her daughter through her recovery. and of course, it is important to have loved ones around you constantly in this time. i cannot imagine what her mother and husband are going through. oh, absolutely. i was speaking to a neurosurgeon about this, and i said, how important is a person s state of mind when they are going through this recovery process? and he said, it is extremely important. he said that he has seen people who haven t recovered because they didn t have that support, and he has seen people who he didn t think would recover and they did because they had support around them and a wonderful positive attitude. those are, you know, crucial to have your family around you at this point in time. and just to think about that two hours and 15 minute flight aboard that plane with congresswoman giffords still being so terribly wounded and fighting to recover, and just sitting on board that plane
ever walk again and other people with injuries like hers are up and walking within a couple of months and for other people, it is six to eight months, and there is no way to el thtell, be part of recovery is a person s state of mind and how hopeful they are about the recovery and second of all, the kind of support they have around them. you see the plane taking off, and we know that her family is there with her, and it is crucial. family support can mean the difference of full recovery and no recovery. i can almost picture what it is like inside of that plane, and gabrielle giffords lying down and her mother on one side and her husband on the other touching hands. it touches your heart. reporter: well, when she gets here to houston, she will go to hobby airport here in houston, and that is going to be an air ambulance lift from hobby to the hospital area where i am at right now, and this is a matter of minutes from hobby to the
bittersweet. that her chief of staff has said is bittersweet. he says that she is leaving tucson, her town, her constituents, her family, and she doesn t know when she will be back. she has a very, very long road of recovery ahead of her. elizabeth cohen is also covering this for us, and she is at the hospital in houston where congresswoman giffords will make her way. we don t have elizabeth cohen yet. but maybe you can tell us, thelma, inside of the plane what is set up special to transport congresswoman giffords to this rehab center? well, you know, they have described it as an air ambulance, so i don t know if it has been retrofitted. it is a challenger aircraft, but her people described it as an air ambulance and i m not too familiar, but her trauma surgeon, as you know, is going to be on board as well as her
in, in arizona, where carol, they will take her and assess her and look at whether she has any really urgent medical issues. they want to look for any signs of infection or swelling, and that is first thing they want to take care of. and then they will do a thorough evaluation of the neurological symptoms and the abilities, and can she move on both sides? does she have any weakness on either side? those are some of to things they will be looking for. on board of that plane is her husband, mark kelly, and neurosurgeon dr. peter rhee, and a icu nurse and some staffers. do you know if all of them will stay with her once they get there? well, the medical staff will go back toz a arizona where they are needed for other patients, but they are probably here for the transition to make sure that everything is going to way it is supposed to be going. her husband will stay, because