Giffords returns to rehab hospital after surgery

TUCSON, AZ The 40-year-old Arizona Democrat had been recuperating at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center since last Wednesday's surgery. That was to implant a synthetic replacement for a portion of her skull that was removed Jan. 8 when Giffords was shot through the brain in an assassination attempt in Tucson.

During that same surgery, doctors gave Giffords a permanent shunt to relieve fluid buildup in her brain.

The Arizona Daily Star says Giffords now is back at The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research Memorial Hermann rehabilitation hospital, which is in the same complex as Texas Medical Center.

She's been undergoing intensive therapy at TIRR since late January to recover speech and movement that was affected by her brain injury.