Experts say Rep. Gabrielle Giffords faces months of difficult rehabilitation and may always have impairments. "[Her injury] is in her dominant hemisphere. That's not good," said Christopher Loftus, chair of Neurosurgery at Temple's School of Medicine. "It's going to be a long, difficult road." In cases like Giffords', surgeons clear away blood clots, dead tissue and debris and repair the dura, the outer covering of the brain, so cerebrospinal fluid doesn't leak out, Loftus said.