Good News on Tim Johnson

Senator Tim Johnson has been transferred out of ICU and has started to speak again:

WASHINGTON, Jan. 11 (AP) — Senator Tim Johnson has been transferred out of intensive care and has started to speak, nearly a month after suffering a brain hemorrhage, his doctor said Thursday.

The senator’s neurosurgeon, Dr. Vivek Deshmukh, said an M.R.I. on Tuesday showed that the speech centers in his brain were spared injury in the hemorrhage on Dec. 13.

“This is confirmed by the fact that he is following commands and has started to say words,” Dr. Deshmukh said in a statement from the office of the senator, a South Dakota Democrat.

The senator is to have “aggressive therapy” in inpatient rehabilitation at George Washington University Hospital, the statement said.

On Monday, Mr. Johnson’s condition was upgraded to fair from critical, and his doctors said he no longer needed a ventilator. He was being weaned off the tracheotomy tube in his neck, his office said Wednesday.

Mr. Johnson’s office has said that recovery is expected to take several months...

Our prayers remain with Senator Johnson and his family.
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