Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday - February 20th through 22nd

Hello again,

I apologize for the frequency of updates lately but I've been extremely swamped on many different fronts and I'm not sleeping very well to boot... But fortunately, Tori is finally sleeping through the night!!! It took longer than we expected of course but she thankfully slept through the night Tuesday and Wednesday evenings.

Tori's demeanor during the day has also improved probably because she is better rested. Her new range and ability to move her arms sometimes gets her into trouble and we frequently find her left hand in and around her mouth. She actually cut up her fingers a bit this week on her own teeth... So she has bandages on her left pinky finger now. Myra our home heath care nurse stopped by and took Tori's blood and vitals Wednesday. We also had our new Physical Therapists stop by for an initial evaluation. Now we are awaiting approval from our insurance company to continue the sessions. I have the feeling I'm in for another fight.... But I don't lose too many especially when concerning Tori. I'll continue to provide as much PT as a I can for Tori.

I'm also still interviewing for an acupuncturist and I have several donors who follow Tori's site offering EMS units which they no longer need!! Thank you!! :-) Megan was sick this week so she didn't visit Tori for any home schooling at my request but Meredyth stopped by on Tuesday and had a great ST (Speech Therapy) session. She gave Tori some clay with objects embedded and had Tori try and work them out with her hands. She also had sheets of paper or a board with various objects and had Tori select the correct choice via a question. Meredyth then covered the selection upon an answer from Tori and the board was eventually filled after a while. Again, Tori is using her eyes to choose at this point. We want her to use her hand and thumb to select with her new found control but are still working on that. Meredyth did mention Tori's hands were much more active during her ST session.

I'm very happy to announce that another local hero, Travis, is planning on going to China for SCT!! His mother Missy and family are raising funds now for the journey and we wish them all the absolute best of luck!! I am confident they will see improvements in Travis while in Hangzhou for SCT.

I had the opportunity to attend Whitney's parent and teacher review tonight at Oak Canyon Junior High School. Every one of Whitney's teachers loves her of course and they all miss Tori so very much. Whitney is dedicated, focused and very quiet and a straight A student just as Tori was. Except for the very quiet part because Tori was always the social one and 'life of party' type :-) I can see the pain in their eyes when Tori inevitably is introduced into the discussion and it is always very emotional. Tori as she once was is certainly missed by so many....

Alright, that's about all for tonight and I'll try to better on updates moving forward.

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

Tim, Maria, Tori, Whitney and Brendan