Christa Pike woke up asking "Where am I?" after surviving her execution, lawyers say

Christa Pike's first words after waking up were a question about where she was and who the people around her were, her lawyers said Wednesday.

Her attorneys told reporters that, at one point, they had believed she was brain-dead and would be taken off life support. Now, they say, she is conscious and talking, but angry, confused and still trying to understand what happened.

Her condition

According to her legal team, Pike has pneumonia and a blood clot in one arm, cannot move either arm and still cannot eat because she is unable to swallow. Her hands and arms are badly swollen. Her lawyers said they do not know how much function she will recover. She remains under guard and shackled.

Pike survived two doses of pentobarbital during Tennessee's Sept. 30 execution attempt. She was taken to a hospital and spent several days on a ventilator, according to reports.

Calls for commutation

Her lawyers said Pike had made peace with dying before the execution and they have not yet begun to understand what surviving has done to her mentally. They are urging Gov. Bill Lee to commute her sentence. Lee has suspended all executions in the state through the end of the year while officials review what went wrong.