Friday, September 2nd - Day 75 Update

Good evening,

Maria, Whitney and I left the hospital at 10:30pm tonight and Tori was just about heading to sleep. She had an exhausting and fulfilled day so she should sleep very well for Guy and Sophie's second night shift in a row. Thank you guys!! :-) Tori also slept very well on Thursday night and required only the 'Sleep Cocktail' of Melatonin and Bennedryl with an additional touch of Tylenol. She made it through the entire night with that initial dosage.

The therapy began with the occupational therapist (referred to as OT from now on) Staci working on Tori's recognition skills with family and friends pictures. It is still very difficult to keep her attention focused on this exercise but over time it should improve.

The physical therapist (referred to as PT from now on) Rhonda then ran Tori through her routine stretching exercises. She also fixed Tori's wheelchair so more lower back support is evident. We are focused on getting Tori's posture improved as she still tends to arch the lower left side of her back. We need to address this so everything else can straighten up correctly. Tori was placed into her wheelchair after her routine and Guy and Maria took her outside and around the HSH for about 1.5 hours. At that point she was placed back into her bed Cheryl, the occupational therapist (referred to as OT from now on) took over.

Cheryl had Tori sit up in bed with her back vertical and unsupported. They then bent Tori over and reached her arms out towards her ankles. At that point they let Tori attempt to sit herself upright while steadying her side to side motion. Tori tries her hardest each time and makes gains. By the end of the exercise she is truly tired. Maria, Guy and I repeated the same exercise later in the evening and Tori did exceptionally well!! We even had 'no hands' on her for several seconds while she attempted to balance herself. I believe the determination is definitely there and the strength is progressing. Again, patience and perseverance.

Maria and I also worked through another set of leg and arm stretching. All of the therapists are encouraged by the range of motion in her limbs. Tori's dancing experience has been a great benefit. Tori shows definite improvement on basically all of the stretches. In fact, we can now push her bent knees all the way to her chest which was entirely impossible not too long ago. She also doesn't seem to mind it nearly as much as in the past. X-rays were also taken on Tori's right hip joint and thankfully there was no indication of arthritis or anything else like that. Tori's arm, wrist and foot splits continue to be placed on and off every 2 to 4 hours. We are trying to loosen her right arm up a bit more. Her left arm is getting stronger and far more mobile. She now has the range where she can actually whack your face now if your not paying attention... She also seems to reach out with her left hand towards people as if to say "please hold it". Most people respond accordingly.

Tori therapy sessions are done by the afternoon and today Tori had some visitors. Ali and Amber came for quite a while then Jessi, another good friend of Tori's, came with several other girls. Jessi hadn't really had the chance to see Tori yet and I'm so happy she came today. Tori was very fixated on her for quite a long time. I was standing on the opposite side of the bed and when Tori would turn her head and look at me I would ask her "Where is Jessi?" to which she would turn her head to the other side and look directly at Jessi. I repeated this 4 times and Tori consistently reacted the same!! Thinking back, I should have had Jessi switch positions with one of the other 3 girls. I'm still learning here, I'll get better at this!! :-)

Alright, I believe that it's late enough for me tonight. Guy and Sophie? Feel free to add anything else I might have missed during Friday.

Thank you all and good night,

-Tim