Getting your player ready...
TUCSON — Doctors on Saturday removed Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ breathing tube and could soon know whether she can speak.
Giffords had an operation Saturday to replace the breathing tube with a tracheotomy tube in her windpipe. That allows her to breathe better and frees her from the ventilator.
Though Giffords had been breathing on her own since she was shot in the head Jan. 8, doctors had left the breathing tube in as a precaution. A feeding tube was also put in to provide nutrition. Those procedures are not out of the ordinary for brain-injured patients.
