Rep. Gabrielle Giffords Speaks, Asks for Toast With Breakfast

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) reached another breakthrough in her recovery this week when she asked for toast with breakfast.

The congresswoman's verbal request a month after being shot in the head during a rampage that killed six and left 13 injured has her medical team in Texas looking ahead to future milestones, Politico reported Wednesday.

Depending on how her recovery progresses in the next two months, doctors said they might allow Giffords to travel to Cape Canaveral in Florida to see her husband off when takes command of the Space Shuttle Endeavour for a two-week orbital mission. The launch is planned for April 19.

Dr. Gerard Francisco, who's leading Giffords' therapy at Houston's TIRR Memorial Hermann, told The Associated Press the Florida trip is "a good goal for us to work toward" but stressed that "it's too early to say – it's only early February."

The news that Giffords is speaking comes a day after her husband, Navy Capt. Mark Kelly, said the congresswoman was recovering "at lightning speed considering her injury."

In a Facebook posting Tuesday on the one-month anniversary of the shooting, Kelly wrote there are "encouraging signs every day."

"Gabby's appetite is back and – even though it's hospital food – she's enjoying three meals a day," he wrote.

A bullet passed through Giffords' brain Jan. 8 in the shooting outside a Tucson supermarket. The suspect, 22-year-old Jared Loughner, has pleaded not guilty to charges that he tried to kill the congresswoman and two of her aides. Prosecutors are expected to file more charges, including murder, ahead of Loughner's trial in Phoenix.