AP Exclusive: Book Gives Peek At The Recovery Gifford

PHOENIX (AP) - When President George HW Bush came to visit his hospital, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords could only say "Wow!" and the second word he had spoken often the case, "chicken".

A few months later, when she was shown photos of famous people to see if it recognizes faces, looked Gifford, Arnold Schwarzenegger, saying, more or less precisely: "Babies round Messines" .. "

These and other details in a new book written by Gifford and her husband, giving the appearance the most personal yet its slow recovery after painful shot in the head at close range.

Memoir, called "Gabby: The story of courage and hope," said Giffords efforts of the last 10 months to relearn to walk and talk, and his painful discovery of six people died on January 8 attack outside a shop food in Tucson.

The Associated Press purchased a copy in advance of the book, due out November 15th.

The book is written by her husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly. But Gifford is the latest chapter book - one page short sentences and phrases called "Gabby Voice", she says her goal is to return to Congress.

"I will become stronger. I will," she writes.

The book also reveals that the couple married in 2007, tried to have a child. Gifford, 41, had undergone several rounds of fertility treatments in recent years and had hoped to become pregnant in early 2011.

The book does not say whether Giffords will seek reelection next year. Kelly said the couple did not want to rush a decision. The deadline to officially declare their intentions is May

Ministers have repeatedly stressed that his focus is on recycling, and there is no timetable for a decision on his political future. The Arizona Democrat was shot just days after being sworn in for his third term.

Gifford stunned his colleagues by acting on the House floor on August 1 to vote for the face of the debt ceiling, but it has largely avoided the public eye, spends most of his time to Memorial Hermann TIRR, a rehabilitation center in Houston.

Giffords recently attended an intensive two weeks of therapy in Asheville, North Carolina, and returned to Houston on Friday night, its staff, said in a statement.

Some Democrats had hoped that Gifford is going to found his fame to run for the Senate seat vacated by Republican Jon Kyl. But one Democratic strategist said Gifford said Arizona Democrats, it will not seek a Senate seat. The strategists spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss his plans.

In the memoir, according to Kelly is trying to say to his wife several times that he had been killed while meeting with voters. But not fully understand until March 12

Kelly asked if he remembered being shot Giffords, and she said yes, but said it was unclear whether she really is. She described what she remembers with three words: ". .. Scary shot Impressed"

Later that day, Kelly told him that six people were killed. Gifford was overcome with emotion and struggled through his therapy.

Only in July, weeks after being released from a hospital in Houston to Kelly's house 25 miles, she had learned who had been killed: one worker, a federal judge, a girl of nine years and three Gifford others did not.

Twelve people were injured.

The suspect is an attack, Jared Lee Loughner, has pleaded not guilty to 49 charges. He is forced medication at the prison camp in Missouri, which aims to make him mentally fit for trial.

When he first saw Kelly Giffords after the shooting, was in a coma, his head shaved and bandaged in part, his face black and blue, his body connected to the tubes. He said he loved her and assured her that I would survive.

He said that the darkest moment came later in Texas: Giffords realized he could not speak and I panicked. His eyes widen with fear, and she was crying uncontrollably.

The book also offers lighter moments, as when former President Bush and his wife, Barbara, visited the hospital in Texas, and when Gifford recognized the photo of Schwarzenegger and clearly refers to the former Governor of California has marital problems.

Many people suffering from brain trouble finding the right words and repeating the same words and phrases. She eventually learned to speak again. Kelly said it was good to complete passages from the Constitution and Martin Luther King Jr. "I Have a Dream" speech.

The book was co-written by Jeffrey Zaslow, who has worked with Randy Pausch million-selling "The Last Lecture."

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Kevin Freking Associated Press in Washington contributed to this report.

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