Saturday and Sunday, January 20th and 21st - Day 8 and 9 in Hangzhou, China

Hello again,

Tori ended up sleeping almost all Friday afternoon and Friday evening as well. When she woke up Saturday morning she had a slight fever of 37.1 degrees Celsius or close to 98.8 degrees Fahrenheit. Normal body temperature for humans is 36.5 degrees Celsius or 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. This varies slightly according to such factors as the individual, the time of day, state of metabolism and physical activity, and temperature of surroundings. With Tori's anoxic brain injury and the increased and ever constant muscle tone associated with it, Tori usually runs a little warmer than the rest of us. She normally hovers around 37 degrees Celsius or slightly under. I've been trying to communicate this to the doctors and nurses here and I think they finally understand but Tori definitely did have a slight fever and that is typical after the stem cell treatments from what I've been told. By noon on Saturday her temperature was back to her normal range and it has been there ever since. A fever of 38 degrees Celsius or above would not be good as it might cause harm or destruction of the stem cells that were placed... So we are continuously monitoring Tori's temperature to say the least.

We also keep our room temperature on the cooler side for Tori and ourselves and we are very comfortable at about 72 degrees Fahrenheit or just over 22 degrees Celsius. Tori usually has a sheet or blanket in addition to her clothes and is fine. I walk around in the mornings and at night with basketball shorts, a t-shirt and slippers and Maria usually has pajamas and slippers on. It's funny because the medical staff here believes we are just crazy!! :-) Thinking back when I was chased around by three nurses carrying a blanket and with the concern viewed daily here, we finally figured it out and it is because they all have the typical misconception about temperature causing or influencing the common cold. A Google search on 'common cold myths' and I quickly found this accurate explanation:

The "common cold" is misleading since the illness has nothing to do with cold weather. Certain viruses that cause the common cold tend to be more active in the winter and school year, which misleads people into associating this illness with climate or temperature. Colds occur in warm, southern climates as well. I see plenty of people with cold infections in the summer time.

Many myths still exist about catching colds that are incorrect. Changes in weather and dampness may affect someone's arthritis but will not cause a cold. Going outside with a wet head or getting wet in the rain cannot cause any infection at all. Bundling up will not prevent a cold nor will it help the cold to go away.

I had our assistant Wendy read it then translate it to several of the nurses who even after hearing it still had the look of disbelief on their faces... Oh well, it is not really an issue I guess and I'm still not going to wear a coat when I'm in my room :-)
Because of the slight fever Saturday morning, Tori was given a PT and acupuncture break on Saturday so she will end up having a two day, weekend reprieve. Her next stem cell treatment is scheduled for Monday afternoon and her third one is scheduled for this Friday. As far as improvements are concerned, we definitely believe the flexibility of some of her joints has improved. Whether that improvement is a direct result of the PT or the combination of PT and the stem cells is under question I guess. Tori's knees and ankles have been the worst but I have seen her right knee bent now at a 45 degree angle and we are hoping to get it to 90 degrees before we leave. Her right ankle has also improved and she can actually place almost normal weight bearing pressure on it when she is in the stander. Her left knee has always been in a mostly hyper extended position even while resting. James has it now bending to 20 to 25 degrees and while we would like to see 90 degrees like her right leg, we aren't placing any bets... Give us 45 degrees and we will be happy. Her left ankle remains the weak link for standing fully upright in the stander. Her left foot is constantly pointed like a ballerina's. We are trying to get it back into a normal position so Tori can bear weight on it. For now we have to place an object under her heel when standing her. Tori will more than likely need tendon release surgery on it when we get back but James is going to try his hardest to get it as close to normal as possible while we are here.

Here is something new that we have never witnessed Tori do before. She appears to be getting more and more control of her right arm, hand and thumb. She is raising her thumb after a verbal queue and will still try and touch it to your thumb where ever it is placed. So I demonstrated for her to reach up and touch her thumb to her nose and she slowly raised and bent her arm to gently touch her thumb onto her nose!! Now, I wouldn't have tried this before because without the extra control of her hand she may have poked her eye out or crammed it into her mouth... So this was actually a pretty big step. I then had her lift her left pinky finger and I motioned my arms to come together touching my right thumb to my left pinky finger. Tori duplicated it smoothly as well!! She brought her arms together and touched her thumb and pinky finger. She has also been holding her new little monkey in her thumb as much as possible. We will now be trying other new actions that require more muscle control.

We are trying hard to get her to voice a 'mum' or 'dad' as well. She has the 'mmmm' and 'aaahhhh' down so now we now need the mouth and lip control to get the resulting sound. I just KNOW she will eventually get it. She is trying so hard and she gets frustrated after a little while of trying... Patience, prayers and perseverance. And some adult stem cells thrown in shouldn't hurt either!! :-)

Maria went shopping today with Wendy and two of the Hungarian women that are here with their children. It went pretty well for me as she came back with only one new jacket ;-) They enjoyed a little time away from the hospital and that is certainly needed. Maria and I continue to alternate days at the New Century Grand Hotel's swimming pool and gymnasium. We are thankful it is so close and getting a workout and 'release' in every now and then it definitely needed. Tonight I went to the hotel again and brought back some Italian food!! Yes!! They have a 'Western' style restaurant inside as well as a buffet and we will be going back there soon for one of the LARGE steaks they provide quite cheaply. We have actually enjoyed all of the Chinese food we have been eating but are in need of some variety. Here is a funny story!! We asked Wendy for a restaurant that served 'Peking Duck' and she looked at us quite puzzled. She was asking us if we were sure and we said yes, some 'Peking Duck' would be very good as we have had it before in the USA. Then she became really, really puzzled so I said "quack, quack" and she burst out laughing. She thought we were saying 'Peking Dog'!!... Sorry there but, we have been very adventurous and open in trying new foods here but 'woof, woof' is DEFINITELY NOT one of them!! :-) And besides that, I think Wendy was wondering where on earth she would get something like that?!?!

During Friday night, Tori's food pump quit working... It is a 110V only unit and it has worked great for a week. We have it plugged into an adapter that takes the 240V provided here to 110V but I think that causes battery charging issues... So they brought in a new pump that was available here in the hospital and it is working just fine. So we are set for our visit here but we'll need to try ours again as soon as we return home to make sure it still works.

Alright, tomorrow really begins week two of rehabilitation and stem cell treatment. As all of you as well, we are hoping and praying for continued improvement and progress for Tori.

Thank you for all of the love, prayers and support,

Tim, Maria, Tori, Whitney and Brendan