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As I reported in my Afternoon update it has been a hectic day for Tori as well as for Maria and I...

The blood culture taken from Tori this morning shows a definite but undetermined type of 'bug' in Tori's system. The blood culture data is showing the 'bug' or Virus more than likely came from her stomach so now the surgical team will have to evaluate her and see if there are G-Tube issues or anything else. The other possible source could be her PIC line so it is being removed tonight. She was given two different Antibiotics tonight to combat the virus. Cultures taken on her lungs have not shown any other viral growth but her lower right lung is quite inflamed according to the X-Rays taken today. Tori has had a high temperature all day and it has been around 39 degrees Celsius. She has been lethargic and sleeping almost the entire day as well and I'm sure she is just feeling horrible...

More X-Rays are being taken as I am typing this to determine if Tor has an intestinal blockage as well... The fluid coming from her stomach is a dark green or black in color and it certainly isn't normal. Yet another issue they are now trying to figure out and she is NOT being feed anymore at this moment.

I'm truly sorry but today there really isn't much positive news to report unfortunately... It has been another frustrating day to say the least and both Maria and I will be staying at the hospital tonight. I guess the only good news for the day is that her vitals stayed consistent and low throughout the day. Her Heart Rate and Breathing Rate stayed low and relaxed. We will see what tonight brings us since she basically slept all day today.

Please hope and pray for Tori to have better days to come and to get her through this difficult stage in her recovery.

Thanks,

-Tim and Maria

Tori's morning was somewhat rough today as she vomited again at 5:00am or so... This time she definitely aspirated into her lungs so they checked her back into the PICU coincidently into room 8, which was her very first room in the PICU. The PICU doctors and nurses have explained to us that patients coming back into the PICU is quite common but it is just frustrating none the less...

Tori's feeds are still not digesting and even though they are going through the NG Tube she had installed on Saturday. X-Rays have shown the NG Tube is indeed inserted into her intestine so it is correctly bypassing her stomach. The main goal now is to determine why her feeds aren't staying down as well as they should be. She is having proper bowel movements so from that perspective everything seems to be working fine. The Morphine she was given earlier seems to have majorly disrupted her system and now we just need to get it functioning normally again.

She did sleep pretty well last night from 11:00pm until 5:00am after she had her Valium. She is currently sleeping as well without the use of any sleep inducing drug. We did witness one other positive sign today when Tori became agitated. She actually calmed herself down on her own without intervention. We are certainly hoping to see this more often as it makes life much easier not only for her, but for us as well.

Thanks again,

-Tim

Hello everyone,

Tori slept in a bit today after her 5:00am dose of Valium. The ended up sleeping quite soundly until 11:00am or so and I was also able to get some sleep from 5:00am until 8:00am. When she awoke we decided to finally get her into her custom wheelchair and take her for a ride!! Maria and Whitney arrived at 12:00pm or so to find her already seat belted in and ready to go. So we gave her the hospital tour and took her outside for a little fresh air as well. She was in the chair for about 70 minutes total and did a good 30 minutes of touring. She really seemed to enjoy it even with her somewhat drowsy state.

Tori remained awake for the most part of the day after her tour. She had several more friends visit including Kenzie, Angel, Courtney, Bree and Chelsy. The list of drugs I broke down in yesterdays update will more than likely be tweaked again because Tori is in too drowsy of a state for our liking. The last weening dose of Haldol was given to Tori this morning so hopefully her alertness and awareness will improve over the next couple of days. We haven't really seen her bright eyed, smiling and laughing for about a week now and we miss it greatly as everyone can imagine... Tweaking the drug dosages is also a very fine line because we do not want to see her in pain either...

That is all for todays short update. Maria will be spending the night with Tori and we are planning to initiate the Valium far earlier than last night. Hopefully it will be just as effective as this mornings dose.

Thanks!

-Tim

Everyone-

I am making a slideshow (slide show) of most of the pictures on this website. This will be able to be played in Windows Media Player. It will have: Carwash Pictures, Vacations, Dance, and much much more. The slideshow will be at least 5:00 Long. Make sure you have WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER because that is what it is designed to play in.

I will have it done by this Wedsnday, July 28th, 2005. Guy Lunardi Has provided me with all the pictures (Thanks Guy).If you would like a copy please send me an e-mail and let me know. This file might be large so if I send it to you you must have a lot of storage space in your e-mail!

With Love,
Jake Hillman
Homiez909@hotmail.com

update: The slideshow is now available online.
The new slideshow is available here.

Tori did indeed graduate to the NTU yesterday evening as Guy posted earlier and she also decided to stay up all night to celebrate which is why I'm so late with this update... She remained in a low, agitated state basically from 10:00pm until 5:00am this morning. Low agitation refer to a heart rate of 115 to 125 beats per second and breathing rate between 25 to 35 breaths per minute. She has gone much higher than those figures during some of her Thalamic Storms but last night she just had just enough to prevent her from sleeping. Her normal sleep rates are a heart rate 80 to 100 or lower and a breath rate of 15 to 25 or lower. At 5:00am we decided to give Valium a try and it worked great!! Tori totally relaxed and is still sleeping at this moment and it's almost 9:00am on Sunday.

Since I'm a day late on this report I will back track a bit. On Saturday I spoke with the Lead PICU doctor in depth about Tori's next steps. We decided to take a radically different approach by eliminating the drugs Haldol and Morphine totally. Tori has been growing somewhat immune to the effects of Haldol just like she did with Ativan so we are going to stop using them. The Morphine is just very bad for Tori to use... We were also just working with too many drugs to know which ones were having which effect on Tori... So we upped the doses on Propanolol and Baclofen and are continuing to use Valproate and Clondine. We added Tranxene to the mix to replace the drugs we removed. The Tranxene will also be given at steady intervals throughout the day to hopefully prevent some of Tori's Thalamic Storms beforehand. Now we will wait and see how she reacts today and it is my goal to keep her up all day so Maria can sleep tonight!! Tylenol and Benedryl are basic drugs which can be given as needed for pain or as a sleep aid.

A very brief note to let everyone know that Tori has just left the Pediatrics Intensive Care Unit. For those of you who had a chance to visit her, it may seem like she didn't go very far. Still on the 2nd floor. She now has a private room in the Neuro-Trauma Unit (NTU).

What a great feeling it was for her parents to see her go through the double doors of the PICU.

Today was a busy day, between the car wash fundraiser and now the graduation, Tim will have a lot to report tonight.

Love,
-Guy

Tim, Maria and family

Like many of the other messages you have received,we send our heart felt appreciation for all you are doing for Tori. What a blessed young lady she is to have you as her parents. I'm sure you're exhausted by the events you face daily. Many of our friends here in Cameron Park, California are extremely interested in Tori and often ask how she (and you) are doing. (We're happy to tell them of the website.)

We read the "Pray4Tori" website several times a day to keep in touch with you and Tori and the progress she is making.

We're sending lots of LOVE your way and hope you know we are thinking of you and praying for you and your beloved Tori.

Love Uncle Mark and Aunt Luree Harris

Hello,

My my Name is Collette Cathleen Clay, and I have not ever had the chance to meet Tori, I lived across the street from Maria when we were kids, and if Tori is anything like her Mother she is an amazing Young Women. from what I have Read about Tori she is alot like her Mother, Very Strong, Talented and Full of life. These are the Qualities that I remember about Maria when we were kids. I admired and envied Maria's ability to dance and play sports. she was amazing. I remember the Day she spent teaching my little sister the Charleston. she was so patient and loving with her.

Maria and Tim I want you both to know how sorry I am that you are having to go Through this, I admire your Strength and Courage to get through each day and never give up. What amazing Parents Tori has I can tell that she is very loved. I will contiune to keep her and your family in my prayers.

all my love
collette clay
Belleville Illinois

	Despite the overcast weather, the girls convinced plenty of car drivers to stop by and donate a little of their time and money to get their car washed this morning. At 2pm, they already had taken care of 31 satisfied customers.
	The Pleasant Grove Grease Monkey is all geared with very talented professionals available to service your car...
...and today there also was a bunch of super exicted dancers!!!.

You will find many of the pictures taken during this day here.

We would like to thank Grease Monkey for their great support today!

Of course, none of this would have been possible it wasn't for Tori's amazing friends. You did awesome today and should proud of yourselves. Tori is blessed to have such dedicated and loving girlfriends.

To everyone who donated time and money: thank you very much. The hearts of Tori's family are warmed by the support you have provided today.

This Saturday, July 23rd, the Dance Club girls will be holding a fundraising car wash at the Grease Monkey in Pleasant Grove, Utah. The address is 919 West State street in Pleasant Grove and it will run from 10:00am until 5:00pm. All of the girls have been wanting to do something like this so badly and they are very eager and excited for this event!!

Please, please spread the word and there will be more fundraising activities occurring here shortly.

And most importanly - THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!

-Tim

You can find the location of Grease Monkey on this Google map and obtain driving directions.