Tuesday through Friday - August 7th through 10th

Happy Birthday Tori!!! We love you!!!

Yesterday was Tori's 17th birthday and we decided to keep this one close to our family and some of her good friends. We didn't have any party or anything of that nature. Holiday's and special occasions like this are always bittersweet of course and we do our best to balance happy and celebratory thoughts in our minds over the saddening ones that are always present as well... Honesty, it's a very tight line to hold sometimes... But at least Tori is still here attempting to celebrate with us and that in itself is a miracle and a blessing.

We did manage to take Tori to the Macaroni Grill for dinner with Grandma Harris, Maria, Whitney, Brendan and I. Tori did well but decided to try and take a nap in the loud environment and eventually she had a small startle seizure... Jake stopped by unexpectedly with a bouquet of wonderful flowers during the day and Tori was happy to see him once again. Thank you very much Jake. Marilyn and McKenzie stopped by and visited for a while and later in the evening several of Tori's good friends came over to wish her a happy birthday. In addition, Mike and Linda Newsome paid a pleasant visit as well. Once again, thank you to all who came and to those who posted on Tori's site for greatly helping keep our thoughts on the happy side of the line!! :-)

Tori did pretty well with Meredyth this week during her ST sessions. Movie trailers was a theme in one exercise with some extreme sucker manipulation and usage as well. Tori continues to sleep comfortably and well during the night and spends the afternoon and early evenings in her wheelchair with the rest of us. Much of that time is outside on the deck where she watches Tinker's intently and often takes a nap.

There was more good news on the stem cell research front and it involves Neurons which are most important to Tori and her injury. Here is the article:
Functioning Neurons From Human Embryonic Stem Cells Produced

Thank you all as always,

The Schmanski Family
Tim, Maria, Tori, Whitney and Brendan