Tuesday and Wednesday, October 24th and 25th

Good evening,

Tori has been doing better sleep wise during the past couple of nights. She is waking about 3 -4 times per night but after a changing she is fine and returns to sleep. We have still been giving her about 2-3 liters of oxygen during her sleep because as her heart rate and breathing rate drops she needs a little extra help. When in this relaxed state her blood oxygen level drops to 86-88% without extra oxygen. So we will continue to provide it until she can maintain 92-96%.

Megan from THS came to the house on Tuesday and dropped off some equipment since Tori was having her late morning nap and would not wake up... I was able to use the new switch with Tori later in the afternoon with success. The switch, a 3" in diameter red button, can be connected to a standard 120V AC electrical outlet. We have attached it to a 'disco ball' that rotates and projects colors on all of Tori's walls and ceiling. Tori loves it!! The switch can be configured to shut off the power anywhere from 0 to 60 seconds. Tori will press the button with her right thumb and watch. Then when it is finished she will click it again to watch some more. It truly is a cognitive action and she knows exactly how to start that 'disco ball' once again. We can hook any 120V AC electrical appliance to the outlet and Megan will try and cook something with Tori on Thursday. There are many, many other possibilities with this type of device and others like it. I would eventually like to see Tori controlling her own environment with regards to lighting, TV channels, TV volume, calling for assistance, etc.. We shall see.

Whitney brought Brendan to her school today for some activities and Brendan had so much fun he didn't want to leave :-) Whitney continues to dance like crazy and she has her first competition of the season this weekend in Ogden.

We had snow sticking on the grass tonight!! Yes, I know that is just crazy!! But we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves as we watched Tinkers the dog get acquainted with SNOW. We opened the front door and Tinkers went into the snow covered grass and after that we have never seen a dog run so fast!! She was running through the snow and sliding all over the place and it continued when we let her in the house and she had snow stuck to her legs. She was trying to lick it off and Brendan was literally rolling on the floor laughing!! Tori could also hear all of the commotion and watched intently from her room as Tinkers ran back and forth. I'm sure she was entertained as much as we were :-)

I have been watching all of the election coverage across the nation over the past week and to be perfectly honest, none of the debates over Stem Cell research would have even mattered to me prior to Tori's injury. But of course it DOES matter to me ALOT now. I encourage all of you to watch this video of Michael J. Fox promoting Stem Cell research and the candidates who support it. There ARE ethical methods in gathering Stem Cells and using them to treat a wide variety of injuries and illnesses. If options were available for Tori here in the USA I would not have to take her to China, Mexico or Europe for Stem Cell Treatment as many others are as well. Please consider this when you make your vote. The USA is at least 5 years behind of the rest of the industrialized nations at this point and this gap will widen.

Thank you all for your continued support,

-Tim