Friday, Saturday and Sunday, September 8th through 10th

Hello again,

It is time for another 3 day update and I apologize in advance for not being able to keep up on the daily updates lately... Things have been somewhat chaotic and I'm falling behind at times but I promise I will get back on track!! :-)

Tori had a very good weekend as she slept well and most importantly was very comfortable and rarely agitated. She might have had one dose of xanax and only a few motrins all weekend. We track every medication given to Tori daily and it sure is nice to look at her medication sheet after a day and see that nothing extra was given to her. A few weeks ago we were filling the sheet...

Grandpa and Grandma Schmanski have finally returned from their summer vacation!! We were all very excited to see them again and they will be staying at the house once again. We are pouring their new RV pad tomorrow so they will need to park the motorhome in a local RV park for a week or so. We had a nice welcome back barbecue tonight and even Tinkers had adjusted to them before they left for the night.

I spent more time with Tori and the camera mouse this weekend. Tori played Paint and Aliens once again. The camera mouse acts on head movements and not necessarily eye movements. Tori moves the mouse cursor by moving her head from side to side or up and down. I am finding that after 5-10 minutes she gets tired and then starts moving her eyes only to certain spots on the screen. The camera mouse can't pick this up so tomorrow I am going to glue the EagleEyes probes onto her cheeks and forehead. The probes move the mouse according to Tori's eyes and they should work much better. Meredyth and Christi will also be here to witness the attempt. The new 'Clicker' software I ordered still hasn't arrived but it should be here early this week. That software will allow us to create any buttons and button test we wish and I believe it will truly give us an indication of how well Tori can communicate. We are looking forward to trying it and we of course are hoping and praying that Tori can benefit from it.

Tori spent alot of time in her wheelchair again this weekend. We did a Target and Walmart shopping trip and had another one to Costco for samples as well. Tori did well with all of the trips and travelling.

I have been heavily researching stem cell treatment (SCT) for Tori and since there are no options here in the US (thanks George...) the only viable options are outside of the US. After corresponding with many it appears China or Mexico are the best options with China being the better of the two. The China trip would last either two weeks or a month and I'll post more information shortly.

Thank you for the continued love and support,

-Tim