Thursday and Friday, November 9th and 10th

Hello all,

Another couple of good days for Tori all things considered. She continues to sleep well and she's not sick which is the number one item we are trying to prevent. This winter will be challenging of course but the entire Schmanski family is getting flu shots. I got mine this week and the rest of the bunch gets them next week.

Megan visited Tori on Thursday and Tori continued to pass her quizzing with flying success!! Megan used a dual switch device with 'Yes' or 'No' labels attached to the two switches. She then quizzed Tori on all sorts of questions and Tori got the answers right about 100% of the time. Tori has alot of difficulty controlling her right arm and hand to actually press the correct button due to the tone and spasticity in her arm... But she tries like hell to press that button. That is all Tori - stubborn, determined, stronger than anyone can imagine and trapped in a body that she can't control... I truly believe this and soon we will have her answering questions by focusing on buttons displayed on a computer. Hopefully this will eliminate some of the frustration she has when trying to press those buttons and free her to answer even more questions.

Meredyth visited on Friday and had success as well. Tori did a variety of things with her as well. She worked her mouth and tongue in many exercises and they played with some games on the Mac as well. Meredyth also used a variety of cards that represented many situations that were fictional in nature with one that was an accurate situation. Tori would always pick the actual situation when asked.

Maria and Grandma Harris took Tori to the PCMC on Wednesday for a baclofen pump refill. They are concerned with the amount of muscle tone that Tori has in her upper extremities... Her arms, shoulders, chest and abdomen are still tight even with Tori receiving a LARGE amount of baclofen... They refilled her pump and upped her dosage even more but at this point she has reached the maximum for her weight. Tori will also eventually need surgery on her left ankle tendon.

Chelsea came to read to Tori and Brendan on Thursday night and Tori did very well. Brendan did as well :-) Thank you Chelsea!! I'm sure Tori enjoys different faces and activities from those other than her parents...

Alright, I think that is all for tonight. Thanks once again,

-Tim