Monday, September 19th - Day 92 Update

Good evening everyone,

I just completed my very long, 10 minute drive home tonight... Yes!! You did read that correctly because Tori is now at the UVRMC (Utah Valley Regional Medical Center) just down the street from our home in Provo Utah!! HURRAY!! I didn't want to publicize this at all until it actually happened because there were so many variables involved in this move. Please believe me, this was NOT easy to do... But we are here now!!

So, since Tori is now back into her home town, I'll start the update with some 'visiting Tori rules' for everyone out there who is close. Tori is now back into her full therapy and rehabilitation sessions and will be a getting a minimum of 3 hours of work each day by the therapists plus work from Maria or myself. The sessions are also spread throughout the day to give her adequate recovery time in between. So during the work week, we want to limit her visits for the next few weeks to the time between 4:00pm and 9:00pm. That will leave plenty of time for visits and we are definitely still encouraging them because they ARE an important part of Tori's therapy and recovery as well. Tori also gets therapy during Saturday morning but the rest of the weekend is open. A call in advance to Tori's inpatient rehabilitation room or to Tim or Maria's cell phones is still a good idea as well. As Tori progresses, the rules may of course be changed.

Alright, now on to Tori!! Tori slept very, very well Sunday night while Maria and I didn't sleep much at all... It was the last wonderful night of sharing a chair to sleep on together... We also had the wonderful thoughts of a new bed next to Tori's in her room at the UVRMC on our minds :-) Lastly, and most discomforting, Tori's nurse came into our room after speaking with the resident doctor at 11:00pm and told us NOT to move Tori's left arm at all due to the blood clot detected in her ultrasound!! Of course this was a couple of hours after we moved her left arm in every direction possible when we were told the ultrasound on her arm was just fine!! Yeah, that will make you sleep real well... It turns out the radiologist who ran the ultrasound didn't finish entering all of his notes on the procedure and Tori's arm was indeed just fine but we had to wait until the morning to find this out... So our last night at the PCMC will not be forgotten any time soon.

Tori seemed to recognize changes were coming again as she watched us pack up her room once more. She received her physical therapy and afterward we decided to give her a Valium prior to leaving which ended up relaxing her for the entire, one hour long ambulance journey. She was awake for the ride but didn't fuss hardly at all. She has a new room at the UVRMC with TWO beds inside!! :-) Maria and I were introduced to several of nurses and technicians and finally David, who is the rehabilitation lead physician. We are all in agreement that time will be needed for all of us to familiarize ourselves and adjust to each other and Tori. Tori's needs are obviously first and leave NO doubt that all of her great care will continue. This facility greatly encourages a 'hands on' approach for patient caring and therapy so we feel right at home already. The nurses had a quick introduction to Tori when they had to gather all of the medications she typically gets. When I explained there used to be double that amount they were thankful for all of the medication weaning that has taken place thus far :-)

Tomorrow Tori will be weighed prior to a hopefully rigorous first day of therapy!! Give us a 100lbs Tori!! We will then meet with her new physical, occupational and speech therapists who will perform baseline tests once again on Tori. Afterward, therapy plans will be created and we should be off and going again strong!!

I will close tonight with another GREAT BIG THANK YOU to everyone at the PCMC who cared for Tori once again!! All of you are truly incredible and will be greatly missed!!

Good night,

-Tim