Thursday, July 21st - Day 32 Update

Hello everyone,

Before focusing on the negative aspects of Tori's day I wanted to accentuate the positive activity Tori has displayed over the last several hours tonight. The last Morphine injection was given to her early this morning so the effects are finally wearing off. She was alert, awake and bright eyed for 45-60 minutes tonight around 8:00pm or so. This is very good to see again as it's been a few days since we have seen this behavior. She is now sleeping very comfortably with only Benadryl in her system. We are going to resist giving her anything stronger as much as we possibly can tonight.

The previous part of the day was unfortunately not as pleasant again... The blood and throat cultures that were taken very early this morning as well as the chest x-ray have thankfully turned up negative for any issues. Tori did however vomit a couple more times again today though they were not nearly as extreme as yesterdays. Tori's main issue at this moment is that she cannot digest any of the feeds they are giving her. When she begins to get agitated and starts to vomit they have to suction out all of the feed she has recieved through her G-Tube. The other real bad part of this equation is that NONE of the drugs taken via her stomach are going into Tori's system... They have now switched over most of the drugs back to go into her PIC line but there are several drugs she is taking that cannot be administered in that fashion. We also believe that the Morphine itself is causing her nausea and vomiting because none of that occurred before she started taking it. So we are now extremely motivated to keep her off the Morphine!! Tori is also losing more weight because of the missed feedings so this just has to be corrected as soon as possible.

We primarily used Haldol today to fight her Myoclonus and Clonus episodes. I think the Botox in her calfs and the extra Baclofen is beginning to work because the episodes were very minor compared to the last few days. But then again the Morphine may have affected that as well... Perhaps tomorrow will be a better indicator.

We still do not have a room secured in the NTU (NeuroScience Trama Unit) but we are supposedly first on the list. After some rest and re-charging I feel much better than I did yesterday but now Maria is feeling the blues... Again, the frustrated and helpless feelings truly get to you after witnessing Tori in severe pain and discomfort after a while. The experience cannot be accurately described in words. Hopefully Maria will do some extreme snuggling with Brendan and Whitney while at home tonight. I know this helps me very, very much.

I will be spending the night here with Tori and hopefully we are on the right path for a great night!! Everyone please cross your fingers and pray for this to happen.

Good night and God bless everyone,

-Tim