Monday through Tuesday, July 23rd through 31st

Good evening,

I'm long past due for an update on Tori and I apologize for the rather lengthy delay... Last week was very, very busy as I was on a business trip for most of the week and then I took Whitney and Brendan to Minnesota for a family reunion over this past weekend. It had been 4 years since we have attended so it was great for all of us to see our aunts and uncles and second cousins. The kids had a great time of course!!! Then Maria, Whitney and Brendan headed out to Park City for a few days for a dance competition and they return tomorrow. Then I take off on another business trip and Maria and Brendan head to San Francisco for another break this weekend. So we certainly continue to be quite busy around here.

The good news is that Tori has done very well over the past week and is now oxygen free!!! She is maintaining her blood oxygen levels well and is relatively calm throughout the day. Grandma Harris has also spent the past eight days helping us out at home so she left today to take a much needed break. Tori is spending more time in her wheelchair once again and has been very aware and attentive lately. She even picked out a jet very high in the sky and tracked it along it's path. She is now sleeping wonderfully at night and needs checking on only a few times while she sleeps. I also haven't given her pain medication for almost a week. The pain has definitely resided.

Grandma Harris and I took her to the PCMC for a checkup on her feet last Tuesday. They cut the left cast off to check the scar on her achilles heal. It is about 5" in length and healing very well. They even scratched Tori's foot which caused her to roll her eyes back and just enjoy it!! I can't imagine how itchy those casts are... Then they re-casted her foot and we were off for home. Her next appointment is at the Shriner's Hospital in late August.

Dena Brehm of nearby Park City, Utah recently returned from China where she received SCT and there was a nice article about her trip in the Salt Lake Tribune today.

I promise I will return to more frequent updates as well!!

Thank you all and good night!!

The Schmanski's
Tim, Maria, Tori, Whitney and Brendan