Saturday, July 9th - Day 20

Hello all,

Tori had a day filled with stimuli and activity primarily because she had 15-20 visitors today to which she responded very well. She was awake again for most of the day and she also served up the most smiles we have seen to numerous people. She even threw one out to a doctor who was checking her belly with her hands!! So it is NOT just Maria, Guy and I who have personally seen the smiles now!! Some of the timing regarding her smiling is also intriguing as it appears that Tori has not lost her sense of humor. At one point today Guy and Maria threw a 'short man' type joke my way and Tori responded with smile. I personally didn't think it was too funny and I'm not that short but oh well... ;-) Later, as the frenchman Guy was speaking in his native tongue to her I told Tori to tell him to quit speaking spanish to her which drew another nice big smile. Now this next one is the real topper!! The biggest Tori smile or even grin drawn today was immediately after Maria began complaining about Tori's $80 text messaging bill!! She really seemed to enjoy that one!! :-) We are always asking ourselves whether this behavior is purely coincidental but that theory is very hard to believe when the behavior is witnessed live in person. The timing is absolutely right on cue.

Tori did have a 30 minute span today where she coughed and coughed to get all of the mucus from her lungs. It completely wore her out and she had to be placed back on the respirator for a while to get her blood oxygen level back up. She also had a very long and nice nap afterward and the coughing episodes after her nap were not nearly as extreme as the ones earlier in the day.

As Guy mentioned in his mid-day update, we toured the UVRMC Inpatient Rehab Center again today and it is definitely now our top choice for Tori. We met with several of the nurses and respiratory technicians and they all seemed very nice, knowledgeable and interested in Tori. We will begin pursuing the next set of steps necessary to get her there on Monday.

Maria and Sophie also flew to NYC tonight on the 11:00pm red eye flight. They will arrive in NYC at 5:30am and attend some of the NYCDA activities as well as the final awards gala Sunday night. I'm sure the Dance Club Team did wonderful and I can't wait to see all of the awards and pictures from the event!! I also cannot wait for Whitney to return home as I miss her badly...

I will close tonight with my customary and completely warranted THANK YOU to all of you out there who are praying, loving, caring and supporting Tori and her family!! All of you are providing a great impact and ARE making a difference in her recovery!! Please keep it up!!

Good night!!

-Tim