Wednesday, August 17th - Day 59 Update

Hello again everyone,

Tori, Maria and I all slept pretty well last night. The only time we didn't really sleep is when Tori's periodic trach suction's were taking place throughout the night. Tori woke up at 7:30am or and remained awake and in good spirits through the rest of the day. Her temperature only spiked once or twice today as well. It an enjoyable day for us all.

Tori had a sponge bath and hair wash today and the physical therapist also took a turn stretching her arms, legs, shoulders and neck. Tori handled it very well and again, her muscle tone is holding up great. The Baclofen pump test is now off since Tori is doing so well and we are truly hoping to never have to use it.

Tori's GJ-Tube in her stomach did NOT get placed today due to the hospital procedures I mentioned yesterday. Apparently, the written doctors orders for this were not translated and entered correct into the computer system... So tomorrow is the new day for this. Tori gave us a little scare last night as blood started to appear in the suctioning of her stomach contents. This was finally attributed to the fact her stomach was clear of any Bile so the suction tube just suctioned itself to the interior side of her stomach. They ended up just shutting the suction off to remedy this issue. The Zantac Tori was given earlier in the week seems to have made a difference in her Bile quantities. This is a very good sign and even when we vented her G-Tube and nasal NG-Tube there was hardly any Bile gathered so it is presumably being processed correctly through her system. Tori had two bowel movements as well today. The digestive system is coming around finally!! Please pray for Tori that it continues to do so.

Tori is continuing to be bag suctioned at least every 4 hours and we are still getting alot of Phlegm out of her lungs. This is expected to diminish as the Zosyn antibiotic is administered through the next 8 days.

The only bad news concerning Tori today is that she bit another chunk out of the inside of her lower lip today... Her lower lip is now so big she can't help but bite it when she closes her mouth so we have to either keep a big bite block inserted or stuff a towel in her mouth. We try to do this only when she is agitated or being suctioned. The PCMC Dentist came by today and created a mold of her upper teeth. They are going to create and much more comfortable clear 'mouth guard' style bite block for her. They normally take 10 days to create but they promised a 2 day turnaround for us after seeing Tori's lip...

Tonight Maria and I are at home with Whitney and Brendan because Guy and Sophie are taking a night shift for us. Thank you guys and we won't call you too much tonight to see how things are going ;-)

Thank you all and good night,

Tim, Maria, Tori, Whitney and Brendan