But now we’re doing the same thing all over again: prewriting the Giffords narrative in a way that is almost certain to gloss over a difficult reality. Her recovery from the gunshot wound to her head has been described as a miracle. And thus far it has been — as is her very survival. But her complete recovery is very, very far from certain. And the press’s breathless coverage of every daily improvement has led to expectations that will almost surely lead to disappointment…

Shot alongside Reagan that day was his press secretary, James Brady. Like Giffords, he was hit in the head with a bullet, was initially reported to have died from the injury, and underwent a startling and seemingly miraculous recovery. He went on to become an anti-gun advocate and columnist and is still alive today. But the recovery was long and hard. In the short term, he had difficulty controlling his emotions. For years, he struggled with slurred speech, memory loss, and partial paralysis…

It will likely be at least four months, he observed, before doctors can replace the portion of her skull they removed to relieve swelling. Hopefully by then her fractured eye socket will have healed as well. But both injuries mean that the lovely young woman will never look quite the same. In the absence of up-to-date images, we’ve been treated to the same stock images of Giffords’s perky, smiling face (like the one above). Even with the proper preparation, seeing what she looks like even halfway through her rehab could come as a shock.