[Blitzer:] Of all the drama surrounding the debt ceiling, one of the most dramatic moments was the surprise appearance of Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords on the House floor. It has been seven months since she was shot in the head in an assassination attempt in her Arizona district. CNN's Thelma Gutierrez has more now on Giffords's emotional return to the House. Thelma, how are her colleagues reacting to this dramatic scene?
[Thelma Gutierrez, Cnn Correspondent:] Well, Wolf, after the tears, they said Gabby's back. Now, you know, one of her colleagues told me that watching a legislator cast a vote is about as exciting as watching someone use an ATM machine. But last night, they say, was an exception, one that literally took their breath away.
[Gutierrez:] It was an unexpected moment from the floor, one that surprised even those closest to Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.
[Ron Barber, Giffords Staffer:] Oh, my. But to see her on the floor of the House, surrounded by Republicans and Democrats, getting that kind of response, bringing people together as she does here at home, now, and nationally. What an experience.
[Gutierrez:] Ron Barber, Pamela Simon and Daniel Hernandez all share a special bond with Congresswoman Giffords. Staffers who were there with her the day of the mass shootings in Tucson. Barber was shot in the leg and cheek, Simon in the chest. And Hernandez, an intern at the time, tended to Giffords' head wounds right after she was shot.
[Daniel Hernandez, Former Giffords Intern:] She's in my lap. I'm helping her. I'm looking off to my left, and I see Ron. I look ahead of me, and I see David, and I look a few feet ahead of her and I see Pam. So it was just a horrible scene all around.
[Gutierrez:] But just seven months later, this sight. Triumph. That brought tears and smiles as they watched Giffords wave to her colleagues.
[Pamela Simon, Giffords Staff Member:] She'd been following it. She felt like that this was something that was critical to the country.
[Gutierrez:] It was the first time she had appeared on camera in front of a national audience since the shooting back in January, the first time she had returned to work.
[Hernandez:] The fact that we have been having this really tense national discourse on the debt ceiling and then seeing her come in at the last minute and make sure her voice was heard and really taking a lot of the vitriol out at the last minute was really heartwarming.
[Gutierrez:] And in character, they say, for the blue dog Democrat. [on camera] And in the past, she had previously voted twice against raising the debt ceiling.
[Barber:] That that is true.
[Gutierrez:] Gabrielle Giffords's office has been inundated with calls here in Tucson, Arizona, so what's next for the congresswoman? She looked so great last night. Well, Wolf, what we were told is that it's just way too soon to venture a guess, that right now she's not declaring anything. At this point she's just focused on her recovery Wolf.
[Blitzer:] We wish her a speedy recovery. Thelma, thanks very much. Let's get some more now on Congresswoman Giffords's recovery. We're joined by our chief medical respondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. He's the host of "SANJAY GUPTA M.D." Sanjay, it's remarkable video we all saw. From your perspective as a neurosurgeon, what did you see in that video?
[Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Cnn Correspondent:] Well, you know, as a starting point, first of all, keep in mind this type of injury, a gunshot wound to the head, only about 34 of the people survive at all. And of the people who do survive, half of them, they have some sort of neurological deficit. When you look at this video specifically, there are several things to note. This was a left-sided brain injury, which controls lots of things, including the movement on the right of the body. And Wolf, if you look at that video long enough, you'll see she's not really moving her right arm very well, although she is able to stand on the right leg with some assistance from people around her. That's the first thing. And then also just the amount of expression in terms of speech. She is mouthing, I think, "thank you" to a lot of people, blowing kisses, as you see there. This is obviously a good sign and much improved, I think, from you know, a few months ago. But these are the types of things that you pay attention to and get an assessment of how someone's recovery is going. Very, very impressive, Wolf. I would say I talked to a rehab doctor in Houston, and he said he would put her in the top 1 percent of patients who were going through this type of rehabilitation.
[Blitzer:] You know what it means for a lawmaker to seek reelection. What that means, and it's strenuous and all of that. For your perspective, medically speaking, and based on what you saw here and what you're hearing, and you studied this case now since January, do you think she's going to be able to do that?
[Gupta:] Well, her doctors think so. I asked that same questions of the doctors who cared for her in Arizona as well as the ones in Houston. They all think that she she could if she wanted to. A couple of things I'll point out, Wolf. Obviously, there's lots of demands that go into that sort of job. With regard to speech specifically, you think of speech as sort of two components. First, your ability to receive and comprehend speech, and then the second part is your ability to express yourself. You look at the spoken word, the written word or through gestures. Her ability to understand and comprehend has always seemed to be fine, intact. Even immediately after the injury, she was able to understand things. It's more the expressive, the ability to speak spontaneously, to give speeches, to not have word-finding difficulties. That can take some time to come. And then just the physical. As you pointed out, Wolf, the strength on the right side of the body, something moving around. There's a lot of logistical demands of this job. So that's something they're still focusing on in her outpatient rehab. But Wolf, you know, take a look at a guy like Bob Woodruff. You know, he had a left-sided brain injury, as well. You may remember a devastating one, but now you see him on television and he's able to speak. He looks great. So she is about 7 months now into her rehab. They say 12 to 18 months is usually when you start to see maximal recovery. But you can still continue improvements even after that. She's about halfway through right now, Wolf. So I think it's a little bit early to tell, but again, her doctors, who I asked the same question to, thinks that the you know, they foresee it happening if she chooses to go that route.
[Blitzer:] Because I was impressed that she could stand up. I was certainly impressed she was waving with her left hand. She really wasn't moving her right arm at all, basically, but she clearly knew what was going on. She was smiling broadly. She was saying, "Thank you." She wasn't giving any speeches. But it's a pretty amazing recovery, and as you say, the rehab is only just beginning. She's got months and months of work ahead of her. We're going to hope that the progress she's made since January until now, Sanjay, is going to be doubled over the next seven weeks.
[Gupta:] It's a very good chance. Again, she's about halfway point now. That, you know, 12- to 18-month mark. So she has and you can see changes in terms of overall recovery over the next several months. We'll be keeping an eye on that.
[Blitzer:] We will. Thanks, Sanjay Gupta. Thanks very, very much. To our viewers, an important note: you can watch "SANJAY GUPTA M.D." every Saturday and Sunday mornings right here on
[Cnn, 7:] 30 a.m. Eastern. You can also follow Sanjay as a lot of people do on Twitter: @SanjayGuptaCNN, all one word. Follow him. You'll get a lot of useful information. The night the Navy SEALs got Osama bin Laden.
[Nicholas Schmidle, Writer, "the New Yorker":] So he shoots Amal once in the calf to disable her and then proceeds to grab Amal and the other woman, wrap them in a bear hug and turned his back to the SEALs and sort of pushed them off to the side.
[Blitzer:] So why did a Navy get bin Laden's wives in a bear hug during that raid? Amazing new details on the mission. Brian Todd coming up. And eight years after the Columbia disaster, a part from the space shuttle has been found in a Texas lake. And is Old Blue Eyes back? A New Yorker construction worker channeling Frank Sinatra. Jeannie Moos has been listening.