Thursday, October 6th - Day 109 Update

Hello everyone,

Tori's eye tracking ability is definitely the best it has ever been!! She just continues to improve and she can now follow objects or people moving across the room quite naturally. She is also turning her head when required and that movement is also much smoother than it has ever been. All of Tori's recent visitors have noticed the improvement as well.

We ended up NOT plugging Tori's trach today because we were watching her vitals and clearing the phlegm built up in her lungs quite frequently. Her respiratory rate remains in the 25-30 breathes per minute range and her blood oxygen levels maintain a 89-95% range. We would like to see a little improvement on each of those vitals prior to plugging her trach. The doctors have noticed some granulation tissue in Tori's stoma which is the opening in her neck where the button trach has been inserted. It is similar to scar tissue. They are concerned it may be blocking some air flow so they are considering lasering it off... It is still undetermined whether to do this at this time. The bacteria in Tori's phlegm was finally, positively identified as MRSA on Tuesday. Another phlegm sample was taken today to see if the MRSA is still present in Tori's system. and that will take another couple of days to check the growth.

Maria gave Tori another hair wash today and Tori still very much enjoys it!! Tori is less excited about the sponge bath Maria also gave her today... We believe Tori is greatly ready for another submersion type bath.

Tori was slated to have yet another GJ-Tube placed this afternoon but now that will occur tomorrow morning. The problem revolves around the last GJ-Tube they placed. It was basically the wrong type of unit but we HAD to place it because they wee out of the correct type and Tori absolutely needed a GJ-Tube placed for medication and feed delivery. The one currently placed sticks out of her stomach like a tree and couldn't realistically be used when Tori begins her strenuous therapy once again. The radiology staff here tried to locate the correct one from other hospitals in the area and from the PCMC as well. They finally found one buried with all of the other types of J-Tubes and G-Tubes that they had... So Tori will have some more fun tomorrow.

Tori is finally giving her new PT therapists somewhat of a break by cooperating much more with them. She is at least attempting to provide them with 'soft muscles' as we call it. It greatly helps them in stretching if Tori isn't stiffened up as much as she possibly can...

We still do not have Tori's next stop determined once we leave the UVRMC ICU... Like I have stated before, you just never know until you are actually AT the new location... Tomorrow several of my close cousins from Minnesota will arrive and we are greatly looking forward to seeing them again!!

Thank you all for your continued love, prayers and support!!

-Tim, Maria, Tori, Whitney and Brendan