Thursday, June 30th, 2005: Go Lance Armstrong! Win the Big # 7 Tour De France Victory!~ Word for the day: TENACITY! Tracy was up again from 3 to 5 AM, grinding her teeth. This is the third night that she has woken up at this time and appears to be uncomfortable. Dad has given her Extra Strength Tylenol each time which seems to help somewhat. Mom and Sasha got up early again this morning and went running at 6:15 on the Mt. Vernon Trail. It felt so good to start the day on the righ foot on the trail. This was always the time that Mom got up in Naples when she taught the 6:15 AM Spin Class at the Fit Zone. She really loves working out early and getting a jump start on the day! Mom and Jenny bathed Tracy this morning and got her ready for her 12 noon Physical Therapy session with Humayun. Today is Humayun's last day with Tracy, and we are really going to miss him. He really cares about Tracy and is a strong advocate for her care. Today, Humayun stretched and ranged Tracy and then put on her right knee cast. Then we got Tracy on the tilt table and cranked her up to 50 degrees. She tolerated 28 minutes at this angle and did a good job relaxing her arms down by her side. Tracy's grinding seems to be correlated to a possible Urinary Tract Infection. We sent a specimen to the lab last Tuesday and are awaiting the results from Dr. Chandler. Dad decided to give Tracy a pyridium, which helps counteract bladder spasms. She seemed relieved after the pyridium. We are also waiting for Dr. Chandler to call us with results of the hip and chest x-rays from last Friday. Liz came by later and Mom and Liz went shopping at Pentagon Row. Mom bought some new running shoes. They are really comfortable. She'll try them out tomorrow morning and let you know how she likes them. After we got back from shopping, Liz and Mom worked on Tracy's swallowing. She did not like the smoothie that Liz got her at Smoothie King. It was an apple, orange, kiwi, smoothie. Tracy did not like the temperature of the smoothie. It was too cold. Mom and Liz tried some toddler bananas and some vanilla custard. Tracy did much better with these foods. We are going to practice every day so that she will be ready as possible for the MBS. Emil came by this afternoon and gave Tracy a much needed massage. Liz and Mom looked like they could use one too. Maybe next time. Tracy has no formal therapy until next week, when she has her first Speech Therapy session with Karen on Friday, July 8th. We are going to take advantage of this little break and have some FUN! We plan to take Tracy on the Mt. Vernon trail in her jogger and take her in the pool, go shopping, sight seeing, to the museums, etc. Mom, Liz and Jenny are planning to work on Tracy's swallowing. Her first appointment will be a Modified Barium Swallow test to see if Tracy can swallow different thicknesses of liquids. The Speech Therapist will put some barium (ick!) in different types of liquids that have various consistencies. Then the radiologist will take an x-ray to see how Tracy handles the different mediums. This is a precautionary measure as well to make sure that Tracy is not aspirating, which means that some of the liquid trickles down her vocal cords into her lungs. That could be very dangerous! At this time we will see if Tracy is ready for VitalStim therapy. RECAP: Thursday, Tracy was seen by her Plastic Surgeon, Dr. Buescher at NNMC. She was so pleased with Tracy's healed wound. We have been discharged from her care unless something comes up that we need! This has been a long road, 15 months! She has done a great job and we are glad to finally be at the end of this speed bump. Amen! While at NNMC, we got Tracy's hips and chest x-rayed to rule out any heterotrophic ossification (HO) and any lung problems since she has been coughing more lately. No results on these films yet. We'll let you know how they turned out. Tiffany is finishing her fourth week of her internship at the Department of Veteran Affairs. Today she got to try her hand at the VA news. She tried out reading the teleprompter and being a news co-anchor. She is such a natural. Yesterday she attended a Congressional breakfast and learned a lot about Social Security and PELL Grants. She is really learning a lot. She is still working on several articles which will be mailed out to all enrolled veterans. The DVA is keeping her very busy. Thank you Betty Reese for the cute panda bear from China. Mom really loves her butterfly rhinestone belt! It fits perfectly. Thank you Nichole for the beautiful Healing Angel statue and for the delicious salt water taffy. Thank you Joy McCabe for the beautiful card and all of the rosaries and masses. Have a great week and God bless! Have a safe Fourth of July!

Wednesday, June 29th, 2005: Go Lance Armstrong! Seize # 7 Tour De France Victory!~ Word for the day: Swallow!! Tracy slept well again last night. Mom and Sasha got up early this morning and went running at 6:15 on the Mt. Vernon Trail. It felt so good to start the day on the trail. It was a little cooler at this time of day, and there were lots of people out there running and biking. Mom and Jenny showered and shampooed Tracy this morning and got her ready for her 11 AM Speech Therapy session with Karman. Today is Karman's last session with Tracy. We are really going to miss her! During Speech Therapy, Karman worked on Tracy's swallowing again. She tried some lemon-lime and orange Gatorade, thickened to various consistencies with Thick n' Easy. Tracy did better with the nectar consistency Gatorade. The honey and pudding consistencies were too thick and got stuck on the roof of her mouth. Tracy really liked the nonalcoholic Margarita mix. It was pretty tart and made her pucker! We will continue to practice every day until Tracy's swallow test on the 7th of July. Humayun arrived for Tracy's Physical Therapy session. Today, we got Tracy on the tilt table. After putting her right knee cast on, Humayun cranked Tracy up to 50 degrees. She tolerated 28 minutes at this angle and did a good job relaxing her arms down by her side. She tolerated 28 minutes! Mom returned to Dr. Doan today and she increased her prescription a little for near vision. We'll see how this goes. She is learning patience as in everything she comes in contact with. Gloria came by again today and brought all sorts of goodies and gifts. She brought Mom the cutest coffee mug and post-it notes with some witty sayings! She also brought Mom some cocktail napkins with suns and moons on them. Mom loves suns and moons. Gloria also brought cheese bagels from Au Bon Pain! We really appreciate it. Gloria also figured out how to change the batteries in Tracy's facial stimulators. We are sure glad she isn't blonde! Liz came by later and Mom and Liz took a walk to Cold Stone Creamery to buy some ice cream for Tracy, Jenny and Sasha. Tracy ate and swallowed five bites of coffee and sweet cream frozen yogurt. She is doing better swallowinig without much coughing. We are practicing for her MBS test next Thursday. Jenny and Sasha had strawberry coconut ice cream. Mom treated. It was really good! Home therapy is winding down this week. Tracy's last day is June 30th (Thursday). We will really miss Humayun, Regina, and Karman. Tracy does not start outpatient therapy at Georgetown until Thursday, July 7th. She will have a little break. We plan to do some fun things such as take her on the Mt. Vernon trail in her jogger and take her in the pool, go shopping, sight seeing, to the museums, etc. Mom, Liz and Jenny are planning to work on Tracy's swallowing. Her first appointment will be a Modified Barium Swallow test to see if Tracy can swallow different thicknesses of liquids. The Speech Therapist will put some barium (ick!) in different types of liquids that have various consistencies. Then the radiologist will take an x-ray to see how Tracy handles the different mediums. This is a precautionary measure as well to make sure that Tracy is not aspirating, which means that some of the liquid trickles down her vocal cords into her lungs. That could be very dangerous! At this time we will see if Tracy is ready for VitalStim therapy. RECAP: Thursday, Tracy was seen by her Plastic Surgeon, Dr. Buescher at NNMC. She was so pleased with Tracy's healed wound. We have been discharged from her care unless something comes up that we need! This has been a long road, 15 months! She has done a great job and we are glad to finally be at the end of this speed bump. Amen! While at NNMC, we got Tracy's hips and chest x-rayed to rule out any heterotrophic ossification (HO) and any lung problems since she has been coughing more lately. No results on these films yet. We'll let you know how they turned out. Tiffany is midway through her fourth week of her internship at the Department of Veteran Affairs. Today she attended a Congressional breakfast and learned a lot about Social Security and PEL Grants. She is really learning a lot. She is still working on several articles which will be mailed out to all enrolled veterans. The DVA is keeping her very busy. Thank you Betty Reese for the cute panda bear from China. Mom really loves her butterfly rhinestone belt! It fits perfectly. Thank you Nichole for the beautiful Healing Angel statue and for the delicious salt water taffy. Thank you Joy McCabe for the beautiful card and all of the rosaries and masses. Have a great week and God bless! Have a safe Fourth of July!

Tuesday, June 28th, 2005: Go Lance Armstrong! # 7 Tour De France Victory!~ Word for the day: Frustration!! Tracy slept well again last night. Mom and Jenny bathed Tracy this morning and got her ready for her 12 noon Physical Therapy session with Humayun. Mom is still trying her bifocal contacts that Dr. Doan fitted her with yesterday. She still isn't adjusted yet to them but it takes some time for the eyes and the brain to adjust. Bausch & Lomb SofLens^® Multi-Focal contact lenses enable you to see well at all distances. The unique Natra-Sight™ Optics enable easy transitions across near, far, and all points in between, and a patented edge design provides all day comfort.
(If you find any type-O's it is because the keys are a little blurry!) Gloria came by and brought Au Bon Pain wraps for lunch. Thanks Gloria. They were really good! Liz came by and Mom, Liz and Gloria brainstormed some fun recreational ideas for us to do with Tracy. Home therapy is winding down this week. Tracy's last day is June 30th (Thursday). We will really miss Humayun, Regina, and Karman. Tracy does not start outpatient therapy at Georgetown until Thursday, July 7th. She will have a little break. We plan to do some fun things such as take her on the Mt. Vernon trail in her jogger and take her in the pool, go shopping, sight seeing, to the museums, etc. Mom, Liz and Jenny are planning to work on Tracy's swallowing. Her first appointment will be a Modified Barium Swallow test to see if Tracy can swallow different thicknesses of liquids. The Speech Therapist will put some barium (ick!) in different types of liquids that have various consistencies. Then the radiologist will take an x-ray to see how Tracy handles the different mediums. This is a precautionary measure as well to make sure that Tracy is not aspirating, which means that some of the liquid trickles down her vocal cords into her lungs. That could be very dangerous! At this time we will see if Tracy is ready for VitalStim therapy. Humayun got Tracy seated on the edge of the mat and worked on head and trunk control today. Tracy is doing a much better job relaxing her right knee and putting both feet on the floor. It is still difficult for her to get her heels down on the floor. Her feet still are curved and turn in. We hope to get her feet straightened at some point in the future. This will most likely take surgical intervention to achieve. Tracy tolerated 45 minutes sitting on the edge of the mat. Then, Mom laid Tracy back so that her legs dangled off the mat and worked on stretching her hip flexors. Mom put cold packs on Tracy's right hip flexor to help stretch it out. Tracy tolerated this position for 20 minutes. Tracy had Speech Therapy with Karman at 2:30 PM. She was a little sleepy but tried real hard to stay awake. Mom, Liz and Jenny got Tracy positioned in her chair with her table top in place. Karman worked with Tracy's swallowing today, giving her small teaspoons of nectar consistency hydrolyte, a lemon flavored drink. Tracy swallowed well and had about 5 teaspoons of the drink. She still has a long way to go, but this is a start. We are working on getting her prepared for her swallow test on July 7th at Georgetown. This afternoon, Liz, Mom and Jenny got Tracy on her tummy (prone) on the wedge. Tracy was able to weight-bear on her elbows and Dad stretched Tracy's legs and hip. Her right hip stays flexed at about 24 degrees and should be neutral or 0 degrees. Tracy tolerated about 20 to 25 minutes. RECAP: Thursday, Tracy was seen by her Plastic Surgeon, Dr. Buescher at NNMC. She was so pleased with Tracy's healed wound. We have been discharged from her care unless something comes up that we need! This has been a long road, 15 months! She has done a great job and we are glad to finally be at the end of this speed bump. Amen! While at NNMC, we got Tracy's hips and chest x-rayed to rule out any heterotrophic ossification (HO) and any lung problems since she has been coughing more lately. No results on these films yet. We'll let you know how they turned out. Tiffany started her fourth week of her internship at the Department of Veteran Affairs. She is really learning a lot. She is still working on several articles which will be mailed out to all enrolled veterans. The DVA is keeping her very busy. Thank you Nichole for the beautiful Healing Angel statue and for the delicious salt water taffy. Thank you Joy McCabe for the beautiful card and all of the rosaries and masses. Have a great week and God bless! Have a safe Fourth of July!

Monday, June 27th, 2005: Happy B'Day Cousin Dawn!~ Word for the day: Manic Monday! Tracy slept well again last night. She was up from about 3 to 5 AM but Mom never heard a thing since she just went to sleep at 2:30 AM! Tiffany and Mom were both dragging their butts today! That'll teach them to stay out all night! (In case you missed Sunday's update) Yesterday evening, Dad stayed with Tracy while Mom and Tiffany went to the Dave Matthews Concert at the Nissan Pavillion in Bristow, Virginia. They decided to let the traffic clear and go a little later. Bad decision! The pavillion is only 40 miles as the crow flies. It took them two and a half hours to get there. They missed the first HOUR of the concert. Dave was great as usual and they had a good time, until it was time to leave. Because they were in the last parking lot about a mile and a half away from the pavillion, it took two hours for the first car to move out of the lot. They made it home by 2:15 AM! Mom and Jenny showered and shampooed Tracy this morning. She seemed to really enjoy her shower today. Jenny spent the morning giving Tracy a pedicure and manicure. She really likes her spa days. Mom finally went to get her eyes examined today! The last eye exam was in 2002 in Naples! (If you find any type-O's it is because she is trying to get used to bifocal contact lenses!) The staff at Northern Virginia Doctors of Optometry were very thorough and very nice. Dr. Doan was very patient with Mom! Home therapy is winding down this week. Tracy's last day is June 30th (Thursday). We will really miss Humayun, Regina, and Karman. Tracy does not start outpatient therapy at Georgetown until Thursday, July 7th. She will have a little break. We plan to do some fun things such as take her on the Mt. Vernon trail in her jogger and take her in the pool, go shopping, sight seeing, to the museums, etc. Mom, Liz and Jenny are planning to work on Tracy's swallowing. Her first appointment will be a Modified Barium Swallow test to see if Tracy can swallow different thicknesses of liquids. The Speech Therapist will put some barium (ick!) in different types of liquids that have various consistencies. Then the radiologist will take an x-ray to see how Tracy handles the different mediums. This is a precautionary measure as well to make sure that Tracy is not aspirating, which means that some of the liquid trickles down her vocal cords into her lungs. That could be very dangerous! At this time we will see if Tracy is ready for VitalStim therapy. Tracy had Speech Therapy with Karman at 1 PM. She did a good job staying awake and closing her lips with verbal and tactile cues. Karman worked with Tracy's tongue, trying to get her to stick it out. Tracy got her tongue to her teeth and tried very hard to get it beyond her teeth. She gets very frustrated. Karman is working on strengthening the tongue, which is a very important muscle that we take for granted. This evening, Mom and Dad got Tracy seated on the edge of the mat for about 45 minutes. Tracy did an awesome job turning her head to the right twice to look at Sasha. She worked very hard at getting her head to the right. Then, Mom and Dad laid Tracy back with her legs dangling off the mat to stretch her hip flexors. Next, Mom and Dad got Tracy on her tummy (prone) on the wedge. Tracy was able to weight-bear on her elbows and Dad stretched Tracy's legs and hip. Her right hip stays flexed at about 24 degrees and should be neutral or 0 degrees. Tracy tolerated about 15 to 20 minutes. RECAP: Last Thursday, Tracy was seen by her Plastic Surgeon, Dr. Buescher at NNMC. She was so pleased with Tracy's healed wound. We have been discharged from her care unless something comes up that we need! This has been a long road, 15 months! She has done a great job and we are glad to finally be at the end of this speed bump. Amen! While at NNMC, we got Tracy's hips and chest x-rayed to rule out any heterotrophic ossification (HO) and any lung problems since she has been coughing more lately. No results on these films yet. We'll let you know how they turned out. Tiffany started her fourth week of her internship at the Department of Veteran Affairs. She is really learning a lot. She is still working on several articles which will be mailed out to all enrolled veterans. The DVA is keeping her very busy. Thank you Nichole for the beautiful Healing Angel statue and for the delicious salt water taffy. Thank you Joy McCabe for the beautiful card and all of the rosaries and masses. Have a great week and God bless! Have a safe Fourth of July!

Sunday, June 26th, 2005: Word for the day: Sleep-deprived! Tracy slept well again last night. This morning, Dad and Mom played hookey from Mass (I hope God understands) and finally got Tracy in the pool. She really seemed to enjoy the water. The temperature of the water was perfect and the sun was shining with lots of humidity. The high today in Crystal City was about 90 degrees! Whew! Summer is here. Tracy tolerated about 30 minutes in the pool and then we got her out on a lounge chair and she enjoyed the sun for another 20 minutes or so. Then we got her back inside and did some stretching on the mat. Dad was able to put her cast on her right knee and her purple neoprene splints on her hands for about two hours! She relaxed and went to sleep for a few hours. This afternoon, Dad stayed with Tracy while Mom and Tiffany went to the Dave Matthews Concert at the Nissan Pavillion in Bristow, Virginia. They decided to let the traffic clear and go a little later. Bad decision! The pavillion is only 40 miles as the crow flies. It took them two and a half hours to get there. They missed the first HOUR of the concert. Dave was great as usual and they had a good time, until it was time to leave. Because they were in the last parking lot about a mile and a half away from the pavillion, it took two hours for the first car to move out of the lot. They made it home by 2:15 AM! Hence the word of the day: SLEEP-DEPRIVED! This evening, Emil came and gave Tracy a massage and kept Dad company until Sasha got back from her trip home to New York. It is good to have her safely back. Christine and Meghan made it back safely to New Jersey and New York! RECAP: Thursday, Tracy was seen by her Plastic Surgeon, Dr. Buescher at NNMC. She was so pleased with Tracy's healed wound. We have been discharged from her care unless something comes up that we need! This has been a long road, 15 months! She has done a great job and we are glad to finally be at the end of this speed bump. Amen! While at NNMC, we got Tracy's hips and chest x-rayed to rule out any heterotrophic ossification (HO) and any lung problems since she has been coughing more lately. No results on these films yet. We'll let you know how they turned out. Tiffany starts her fourth week of her internship at the Department of Veteran Affairs. She is really learning a lot. This week, she is writing several articles which will be mailed out to all enrolled veterans. The DVA is keeping her very busy. She is making preparations to begin her master's project. She will be working with the Northern Virginia Brain Injury Services, effectively evaluating the current website. Brain Injury Services is a non-profit that supports survivors of brain injuries and their families with “individualized, community-based services through comprehensive case management, education, and advocacy.” She is planning on conducting two focus groups, one consisting of caregivers and one made up of survivors. She is looking forward to working with them this summer! Thank you Joy McCabe for the beautiful card and all of the rosaries and masses. Have a great week and God bless!

Saturday, June 25th, 2005: Whew! Word for the day: Party! Tracy slept well again last night. This morning, Dad and Mom skipped the bath and planned to take Tracy for a swim in the pool this afternoon! Best laid plans! We didn't! We did end up taking Tracy for a two hour walk in her jogger on the Mt. Vernon Trail. While out on the trail, we found a guy who hit the pavement with his shoulder and broke his clavicle. He was riding a mountain bike with NO HELMET! Can you believe it? Dad checked him out and a policman called an ambulance. They finally came. We hope he is feeling better. LESSON: Wear a Helmet! Mom talked to Sasha and they made it back to NY safely. She is having a good time with her brother and sister and will be back Sunday afternoon. We miss her! This afternoon, Dad stretched Tracy on the mat. She slept most of the evening. Dad and Rick barbecued ribeyes and hamburgers out by the pool and Tiffany and Mom cooked salmon in the oven. They had Rick and his mom and some friends over for dinner. Tiffany's room mates Meghan and Christine were here as well as Tamar and Meghan. Do and Johanna also came over and everyone had a great time. Tracy hung out on her therapy mat and got to be in the midst of the party. It was a lot of fun! RECAP: Thursday, Tracy was seen by her Plastic Surgeon, Dr. Buescher at NNMC. She was so pleased with Tracy's healed wound. We have been discharged from her care unless something comes up that we need! This has been a long road, 15 months! She has done a great job and we are glad to finally be at the end of this speed bump. Amen! While at NNMC, we got Tracy's hips and chest x-rayed to rule out any heterotrophic ossification (HO) and any lung problems since she has been coughing more lately. No results on these films yet. We'll let you know how they turned out. Tiffany finished her third week of her internship at the Department of Veteran Affairs. She is really learning a lot. This week, she is writing several articles which will be mailed out to all enrolled veterans. The DVA is keeping her very busy. She is making preparations to begin her master's project. She will be working with the Northern Virginia Brain Injury Services, effectively evaluating the current website. Brain Injury Services is a non-profit that supports survivors of brain injuries and their families with “individualized, community-based services through comprehensive case management, education, and advocacy.” She is planning on conducting two focus groups, one consisting of caregivers and one made up of survivors. She is looking forward to working with them this summer! Thank you to cousin Caroline for the beautiful card! We miss you so much! Thank you to Claire Bear for the precious gifts from Spain! Thank you Christine for the thoughtful audiotape. We played it for Tracy and she really responded to your voice. We love and miss you all! Have a great weekend and God bless!

Friday, June 24th, 2005: Whew! Word for the day: Tow Me! We didn't just have one car towed but we had two cars towed! Yes, that is true. Tiffany's car was towed Wednesday night and Mom's car was towed Thursday night. We had to pay storage on Tiff's for two days on top of towing charges! Tracy slept well again last night. She was exhausted after her busy and long day Thursday. This morning, Jenny and Mom bathed Tracy and had her ready for her 1 PM Physical Therapy with Humayun. During PT, Humayun, Mom and Jenny got Tracy in her right knee cast and got her on the tilt table. Up she went to 50 degrees and tolerated this angle for 40 minutes. She was very relaxed and very focused. Tracy turned her head to the right and focused on Mom for a good half a minute. She did a good job relaxing and tolerating the tilt table and the cast. After PT, Regina came by for her last Occupational Therapy session. We will definitely miss her! She got Tracy prone on the peanut ball on her knees. Tracy did a great job weight bearing through her knees and then Regina got her propped up on her elbows in front of the mirror. Tracy exhibited good head control while prone on the ball. Tracy really liked this position and tolerated it for 40 minutes. She looked in the mirror several times. Then Regina got Tracy on her right side on the peanut and Tracy did a good job righting herself. She demonstrated good head control too on her side. Regina then got Tracy on her back (supine) and had her lying in an arch across the peanut. Tracy really seemed to fight this position at first, and then relaxed into it and let Regina stretch her shoulders back over the ball. This evening, Tiff's room mates from Boston College, Meaghan and Christine, arrived for the weekend from NYC. It was great to see them. Then, Sasha's Mom arrived to pick up Sasha and take her back to NY for the weekend. It was great to see her and visit for a while. Sasha will be back on Sunday evening. We miss her already. She is planning on bringing her car back with her from home. Yesterday, Tracy was seen by her Plastic Surgeon, Dr. Buescher at NNMC. She was so pleased with Tracy's healed wound. We have been discharged from her care unless something comes up that we need! This has been a long road, 15 months! She has done a great job and we are glad to finally be at the end of this speed bump. Amen! While at NNMC, we got Tracy's hips and chest x-rayed to rule out any heterotrophic ossification (HO) and any lung problems since she has been coughing more lately. No results on these films yet. We'll let you know how they turned out. After her appointment at NNMC, Dad, Jenny and Mom took Tracy to get her pump refilled at Dr. Howe's office. Joy refilled her pump and Dad and Joy came up with a new complex dosing scheme. Long story short, they are trying to confuse Tracy's receptors so that the Baclofen is more effective. Dad has been doing a lot of reading and getting smarter (can we stand him any smarter??????) It is all good. Tracy seems to be responding from the dosing differential. She seemed to relax more during the two hours after she received the higher dosages. Tiffany finished her third week of her internship at the Department of Veteran Affairs. She is really learning a lot. This week, she is writing several articles which will be mailed out to all enrolled veterans. The DVA is keeping her very busy. She is making preparations to begin her master's project. She will be working with the Northern Virginia Brain Injury Services, effectively evaluating the current website. Brain Injury Services is a non-profit that supports survivors of brain injuries and their families with “individualized, community-based services through comprehensive case management, education, and advocacy.” She is planning on conducting two focus groups, one consisting of caregivers and one made up of survivors. She is looking forward to working with them this summer! Thank you to cousin Caroline for the beautiful card! We miss you so much! Thank you to Claire Bear for the precious gifts from Spain! Thank you Christine for the thoughtful audiotape. We played it for Tracy and she really responded to your voice. We love and miss you all! Have a great weekend and God bless!

Thursday, June 23rd, 2005: Whew! Word for the day: ENDLESS! Tracy had another good night's sleep last night. This morning, Jenny and Mom showered and shampooed Tracy and had her ready to leave the house again by 9:45 AM. She had a 10:30 AM appointment at National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda. Dr. Buescher was so pleased with Tracy's healed wound. We have been discharged from her care unless something comes up that we need! This has been a long road, 15 months! She has done a great job and we are glad to finally be at the end of this speed bump. Amen! While at NNMC, we got Tracy's hips and chest x-rayed to rule out any heterotrophic ossification (HO) and any lung problems since she has been coughing more lately. We'll let you know how they turned out. After her appointment at NNMC, Dad, Jenny and Mom took Tracy to get her pump refilled at Dr. Howe's office. Joy refilled her pump and Dad and Joy came up with a new complex dosing scheme. Long story short, they are trying to confuse Tracy's receptors so that the Baclofen is more effective. Dad has been doing a lot of reading and getting smarter (can we stand him any smarter??????) It is all good. Tracy had a brief rest period and then it was off to the Brain Injury Services Volunteer Appreciation Reception at the Waterford at Fair Oaks. Mom had invited at least 15 people! Nichole, Tracy's BIS volunteer, Gloria and her daughters Katherine and Samantha, Liz, and Morgan all received awards. It was so wonderful to see them get their plaques. Tracy even got an award for being the recipient. It was really a wonderful evening. Sasha, Tiffany, Rick, Admiral Tomaszeski, Mrs. O'Connor (Liz's Mom), Morgan's Mom, Lori, Jenny, Mark (Nichole's boyfriend), Dave (Gloria's husband), and Emil were there too. We had the loudest crowd! It was awesome. Dad delivered a great speech that Tracy and Mom wrote. Mom quoted some from Tracy's Blessed essay. It was very moving. After the event was over, the family went over to Emil's house to see his amazing art. There on the easel in his studio was a huge oil that Emil did of Tracy. It looked just like her. Amazing! Emil is so talented. Tiffany is finishing up her third week of her internship at the Department of Veteran Affairs. She is really learning a lot. This week, she is writing several articles which will be mailed out to all enrolled veterans. The DVA is keeping her very busy. She is making preparations to begin her master's project. She will be working with the Northern Virginia Brain Injury Services, effectively evaluating the current website. Brain Injury Services is a non-profit that supports survivors of brain injuries and their families with “individualized, community-based services through comprehensive case management, education, and advocacy.” She is planning on conducting two focus groups, one consisting of caregivers and one made up of survivors. She is looking forward to working with them this summer! Thank you to cousin Caroline for the beautiful card! We miss you so much! Thank you to Claire Bear for the precious gifts from Spain! Thank you Christine for the thoughtful audiotape. We played it for Tracy and she really responded to your voice. We love and miss you all! Have a great week and God bless!

Wednesday, June 22nd, 2005: Whew! Word for the day: FRUSTRATING! Tracy slept well again last night. We were able to put her knee cast on for about three hours and her resting hand splints on all night! The phenol block seems to be working. Tracy's right adductor has relaxed a little more than the left, but it usually takes several days to see the cumulative effect. Mom says chock up another one for the benefits of alcohol! Mom rather get her ration in Chianti Classico! This morning, Jenny and Mom bathed Tracy and had her ready to leave the house again by 9:45 AM. She had a 10:30 AM appointment at National Rehab Hospital to see her old neurologist/physiatrist, Dr. McCarthy. It has been over a year since he saw Trace. Looks like there is a fine line between physical medicine and rocket science if you know what I mean! Nothing new there! This afternoon, Humayun came for Tracy's Physical Therapy session. Mom, Jenny and Humayun got Tracy strapped into her right knee cast and cranked her up to about 50 degrees on the tilt table. Tracy did a good job tolerating today's goal of 35 minutes. She was pretty relaxed too. Next week is Tracy's last week of home therapy. We are going to miss Humayun, Karman and Regina alot! This afternoon, Tracy had Speech Therapy with Karman. Today, Karman decided to work on object recognition and give Tracy a break from lip closure exercises. Tracy tried really hard to focus on the various objects that Karman held up: can of diet coke, bottle of beer, plate, fork, knife, spoon, ice cream scoop. She did especially well focusing on the beer and the diet coke. Did we have any doubt? She is an Anzalone! This evening, Emil is coming by to give Tracy a massage. We plan to get her prone during her massage, so Emil can work on her hips, back and shoulders. Tracy sure is ready for a massage, after the week she has had this week. Yesterday, Jacqueline, Tracy's Physical Therapist and Jennifer, Tracy's Occupational Therapist, performed their evaluations on Tracy together. They spent a lot of time talking to Mom and Liz and measuring Tracy's range of motion in several positions. They were very pleased with the way her wound had healed. Jacqueline made several recommendations: Mom needs to use Tracy's leg rests every time Tracy is in her chair, and Mom and Dad need to get Tracy prone on the wedge every day for as long as Tracy can tolerate. Tracy's right hip is flexed at 24 degrees. Our hip is supposed to be at neutral (0 degrees) most of the time. So, we need to really work on getting Tracy's hip stretched out as much as possible. Mom and Dad got Tracy prone on the wedge for twenty minutes to start this evening. Mom worked on massaging Tracy's shoulder blades while Dad stretched Tracy's hips. She seemed to tolerate these stretches well. Tracy was able to weight bear through her shoulders by being propped on her elbows. We will work on this every day. Last Monday afternoon, Mom, Dad and Jenny took Tracy to her 2:30 PM appointment with Dr. Gisolfi at Inova Mt. Vernon Rehab Hospital. Dr. Gisolfi injected phenol with marcane in Tracy's obturator nerves which control her adductors. The adductors are the muscles which allow us to squeeze our legs together. Tracy's are too strong and are constantly working to keep her legs together. Her right leg crosses midline and is always pulled in and up. This injection will block the nerve impulse which pulls her legs together an help Tracy to relax her legs. Once this takes effect, we will see what needs to be done to relax her right hamstring and feet. The effect is usually seen within hours as opposed to Botox which takes anywhere from one to three weeks to see effects. Tiffany is well into her third week of her internship at the Department of Veteran Affairs. She is really learning a lot. This week, she is writing several articles which will be mailed out to all enrolled veterans. The DVA is keeping her very busy. She is making preparations to begin her master's project. She will be working with the Northern Virginia Brain Injury Services, effectively evaluating the current website. Brain Injury Services is a non-profit that supports survivors of brain injuries and their families with “individualized, community-based services through comprehensive case management, education, and advocacy.” She is planning on conducting two focus groups, one consisting of caregivers and one made up of survivors. She is looking forward to working with them this summer! Thank you to cousin Caroline for the beautiful card! We miss you so much! Thank you to Claire Bear for the precious gifts from Spain! Thank you Christine for the thoughtful audiotape. We played it for Tracy and she really responded to your voice. We love and miss you all! Have a great week and God bless!

Tuesday, June 21st, 2005: Whew! Another crazy day! Tracy had another good night's sleep! She is coughing much less since Dad stopped her Zanaflex. The phenol block seems to be working. Tracy's right adductor has relaxed a little more than the left, but it usually takes several days to see the cumulative effect. Mom says chock up another one for the benefits of alcohol! Mom rather get her ration in Chianti Classico! This morning, Jenny and Mom bathed Tracy and had her ready to leave by 9:45 AM. She had a 10:30 AM appointment at Georgetown Sports Medicine Center. Liz drove while Mom had a panic attack because all but one lane was closed on Route 66 due to construction. Argh! Traffic was backed up for miles! Mom called ahead and we made it five minutes late. Thank God Liz drove us and dropped us off at the door so we could make our appointment. Jacqueline, Tracy's Physical Therapist and Jennifer, Tracy's Occupational Therapist, performed their evaluations on Tracy together. They spent a lot of time talking to Mom and Liz and measuring Tracy's range of motion in several positions. They were very pleased with the way her wound had healed. Jacqueline made several recommendations: Mom needs to use Tracy's leg rests every time Tracy is in her chair, and Mom and Dad need to get Tracy prone on the wedge every day for as long as Tracy can tolerate. Tracy's right hip is flexed at 24 degrees. Our hip is supposed to be at neutral (0 degrees) most of the time. So, we need to really work on getting Tracy's hip stretched out as much as possible. Mom and Dad got Tracy prone on the wedge for twenty minutes to start this evening. Mom worked on massaging Tracy's shoulder blades while Dad stretched Tracy's hips. She seemed to tolerate these stretches well. Tracy was able to weight bear through her shoulders by being propped on her elbows. We will work on this every day. This afternoon, Tracy had Speech Therapy with Karman. She was pretty wiped out from her busy day and slept through most of Speech. Tracy did manage to get her lips closed several times with Karman's help (tactile stimulation) and also had several good swallows. We will schedule a Modified Barium Swallow (MBS) at Georgetown within the next several weeks to re-evaluate Tracy's swallowing ability. The goal is to have a meeting with all of Tracy's therapists, Dr. Chandler, and her case manager, Millie, from Health Net over the next several weeks to develop some clear cut therapy goals. We plan to transition to outpatient therapy by the beginning of July! Tomorrow, Tracy has an appointment at National Rehab Hospital with Dr. McCarthy, Tracy's physiatrist/neurologist from NRH. It has been well over a year since we have seen Dr. McCarthy, so we are looking forward to this appointment. We'll let you know how this goes. Yesterday afternoon, Mom, Dad and Jenny took Tracy to her 2:30 PM appointment with Dr. Gisolfi at Inova Mt. Vernon Rehab Hospital. Dr. Gisolfi injected phenol with marcane in Tracy's obturator nerves which control her adductors. The adductors are the muscles which allow us to squeeze our legs together. Tracy's are too strong and are constantly working to keep her legs together. Her right leg crosses midline and is always pulled in and up. This injection will block the nerve impulse which pulls her legs together an help Tracy to relax her legs. Once this takes effect, we will see what needs to be done to relax her right hamstring and feet. The effect is usually seen within hours as opposed to Botox which takes anywhere from one to three weeks to see effects. Tiffany is well into her third week of her internship at the Department of Veteran Affairs. She is really learning a lot. This week, she is writing several articles which will be mailed out to all enrolled veterans. She is making preparations to begin her master's project. She will be working with the Northern Virginia Brain Injury Services, effectively evaluating the current website. Brain Injury Services is a non-profit that supports survivors of brain injuries and their families with “individualized, community-based services through comprehensive case management, education, and advocacy.” She is planning on conducting two focus groups, one consisting of caregivers and one made up of survivors. She is looking forward to working with them this summer! Thank you to cousin Caroline for the beautiful card! We miss you so much! Thank you to Claire Bear for the precious gifts from Spain! Thank you Christine for the thoughtful audiotape. We played it for Tracy and she really responded to your voice. We love and miss you all! Have a great week and God bless! Have a great week and God bless!

Monday, June 20th, 2005: Whew! What a day! Tracy slept well again last night. She is coughing much less since Dad stopped her Zanaflex. As with all medications, one thing gets fixed and another thing breaks: side effects of the drugs. It gets down to does the benefit outweigh the risk? We decided it did not. This morning, Jenny and Mom showered and shampooed Tracy and got her ready for a very busy day. She had 12 noon Physical Therapy with Humayun. Unfortunately, there was a bad wreck on the interstate and traffic was backed up for hours. Tracy had an abbreviated PT session today but will make it up on Wednesday and Friday this week. During PT, Humayun sat Tracy on the edge of the mat. She was tight, but did a good job sitting up with assistance. She tolerated 20 minutes which was all the time we had until Dad arrived and we had to leave for her 2:30 PM appointment at Inova Mt. Vernon. Mom, Dad and Jenny took Tracy to her 2:30 PM appointment with Dr. Gisolfi at Inova Mt. Vernon Rehab Hospital. Dr. Gisolfi injected phenol with marcane in Tracy's obturator nerves which control her adductors. The adductors are the muscles which allow us to squeeze our legs together. Tracy's are too strong and are constantly working to keep her legs together. Her right leg crosses midline and is always pulled in and up. This injection will block the nerve impulse which pulls her legs together an help Tracy to relax her legs. Once this takes effect, we will see what needs to be done to relax her right hamstring and feet. The effect is usually seen within hours as opposed to Botox which takes anywhere from one to three weeks to see effects. This afternoon, Regina came by for Tracy's Occupational Therapy session. She got Tracy seated on the edge of the mat and worked with trunk and head control. Tracy did a really good job holding her head up, constantly trying to keep it in midline with verbal and tactile cues. She also relaxed her right knee down and was able to make eye contact with Mom and Dad. Tracy tolerated over 45 minutes sitting on the edge of the mat. She was also able to relax her arms down with verbal and tactile cues. During her Occupational Therapy session, Karman arrived to work on Speech. Karman worked on Tracy's lip closure while Regina supported Tracy's hips, still seated on the edge of the mat. Tracy was very alert and also participating with Karman. After a while, Dad and Regina transferred Tracy to her chair and Karman worked on Tracy's swallowing. Tracy must have swallowed at least 15 times over the course of the session. She did a good job with lip closure too. Tracy did not want to blow the whistle this evening, so Karman postponed it until next session. Yesterday afternoon, Mom, Dad, Tiffany and Sasha took Tracy in the pool. She did really well and seemed to relax and enjoy the water, even though it was a little on the cool side. The air was cooler than usual, with low humidity. The sun was shining and it was a pretty day. Tracy tolerated the water well and we kept her in for about 30 minutes. Then we transferred her to a lounge chair and she got some sun. We plan to get her out in the pool more often now that her wound is healed. Saturday afternoon, Dad stayed with Tracy while Mom, Tiffany, Sasha and Tiffany's friend from LSU, Tamar, all went to the Lift Me Up Volunteer Orientation in Great Falls. Tamar just arrived this morning from New Orleans. She will be doing an internship with the Armenian National Committee in DC this summer. We are all glad to finally meet her in person and have her living nearby. Emil, his wife, Kathryn, and her parents met us at the horsemanship orientation and Emil participated with us in the program. The couple, Jeff and Susan Miller, who presented the training have their own website: www.thinkinghorse.com. They did a wonderful job teaching the group how to lead a horse and show them who is the boss. Mom had no trouble with this. She shows Dad every day who the boss is! We are hoping to be able to volunteer with Tracy when she goes for hippotherapy. She is on the list and hopefully will be called real soon to participate. To Recap: Last Thursday, Tracy's Baclofen pump was evaluated under fluoroscopy. Good news: everything appeared to be normal as far as the study showed. Tiny microfissures, however, will not show up on the test, especially if they are positional in their location. Plans are already in the works to transition Tracy to outpatient therapy at Georgetown Medical Center Sports Medicine Clinic by the end of the month. Tracy has a Physical Therapy evaluation with Jacquie on Tuesday, June 21st at 10:30 AM. Jen, an Occupational Therapist will also conduct an OT evaluation at the same time. Over the next several weeks, we plan to resume Tracy's intensive therapy regimen on the mat in her therapy corner. The goal will be to spend the next several weeks rebuilding Tracy's stamina to get her ready for outpatient therapy. At this time, we will begin making the transition to outpatient therapy at Georgetown Medical Center. We are looking forward to Tracy starting a new swallowing program that Mom has been researching: VitalStim. You can read more about this new and exciting program at www.vitalstim.com. Tiffany began her third week of her internship at the Department of Veteran Affairs. She is really learning a lot. This week, she is writing several articles which will be mailed out to all enrolled veterans. She is making preparations to begin her master's project. She will be working with the Northern Virginia Brain Injury Services, effectively evaluating the current website. Brain Injury Services is a non-profit that supports survivors of brain injuries and their families with “individualized, community-based services through comprehensive case management, education, and advocacy.” She is planning on conducting two focus groups, one consisting of caregivers and one made up of survivors. She is looking forward to working with them this summer! Happy Father's Day! Have a great week and God bless!

Sunday, June 19th, 2005: Happy Father's Day!~ Tracy slept well last night. It was the first night that she slept through the night in a while. Dad decided that the Zanaflex wasn't doing much good and was increasing Tracy's reflux so we stopped it Friday. This morning, Dad and Mom went to 12 noon Mass while Tiffany and Sasha stayed with Tracy. There was no "official" therapy today, but Dad made sure that Tracy got a good workout. He stretched her arms, shoulders, hips and legs. This afternoon, Mom, Dad, Tiffany and Sasha took Tracy in the pool. She did really well and seemed to relax and enjoy the water, even though it was a little on the cool side. The air was cooler than usual, with low humidity. The sun was shining and it was a pretty day. Tracy tolerated the water well and we kept her in for about 30 minutes. Then we transferred her to a lounge chair and she got some sun. We plan to get her out in the pool more often now that her wound is healed. This evening, Morgan and her mom Lori came by to read to Tracy. Morgan has been so busy with school and her theater committments that she hasn't been able to come over and read to Tracy. She picked up where she left off reading Inkheart. It was really great to have her back. We missed her. Tracy really loves for her to read to her. Yesterday afternoon, Dad stayed with Tracy while Mom, Tiffany, Sasha and Tiffany's friend from LSU, Tamar, all went to the Lift Me Up Volunteer Orientation in Great Falls. Tamar just arrived this morning from New Orleans. She will be doing an internship with the Armenian National Committee in DC this summer. We are all glad to finally meet her in person and have her living nearby. Emil, his wife, Kathryn, and her parents met us at the horsemanship orientation and Emil participated with us in the program. The couple, Jeff and Susan Miller, who presented the training have their own website: www.thinkinghorse.com. They did a wonderful job teaching the group how to lead a horse and show them who is the boss. Mom had no trouble with this. She shows Dad every day who the boss is! We are hoping to be able to volunteer with Tracy when she goes for hippotherapy. She is on the list and hopefully will be called real soon to participate. Yesterday, evening, Mom and Dad put Tracy in her jogger and they went for a walk on the Mt. Vernon Trail. It was a nice evening with low humidity. Tracy seems to like going for walks in her jogger. To Recap: Last Thursday, Tracy's Baclofen pump was evaluated under fluoroscopy. Good news: everything appeared to be normal as far as the study showed. Tiny microfissures, however, will not show up on the test, especially if they are positional in their location. Plans are already in the works to transition Tracy to outpatient therapy at Georgetown Medical Center Sports Medicine Clinic by the end of the month. Tracy has a Physical Therapy evaluation with Jacquie on Tuesday, June 21st at 10:30 AM. Jen, an Occupational Therapist will also conduct an OT evaluation at the same time. Over the next several weeks, we plan to resume Tracy's intensive therapy regimen on the mat in her therapy corner. The goal will be to spend the next several weeks rebuilding Tracy's stamina to get her ready for outpatient therapy. At this time, we will begin making the transition to outpatient therapy at Georgetown Medical Center. We are looking forward to Tracy starting a new swallowing program that Mom has been researching: VitalStim. You can read more about this new and exciting program at www.vitalstim.com. Tiffany begins her third week of her internship at the Department of Veteran Affairs. She is really learning a lot. This week, she is writing several articles which will be mailed out to all enrolled veterans. She is making preparations to begin her master's project. She will be working with the Northern Virginia Brain Injury Services, effectively evaluating the current website. Brain Injury Services is a non-profit that supports survivors of brain injuries and their families with “individualized, community-based services through comprehensive case management, education, and advocacy.” She is planning on conducting two focus groups, one consisting of caregivers and one made up of survivors. She is looking forward to working with them this summer! Happy Father's Day! Have a great week and God bless!

Friday, June 17th, 2005: 29 Months Since Tracy's Cardiac Arrest and Resulting Hypoxic Brain Injury! Tracy was up again last night from 3 to 4:00 AM. Not sure why. Dad gave her some Extra Strength Tylenol and she seemed to settle down. This morning, Jenny and Mom bathed Tracy and got her ready for 12:00 Noon Physical Therapy with Humayun. During Physical Therapy, Humayun, Mom and Jenny got Tracy on the tilt table and up she went to 58 degrees! This is the highest incline yet. She did a good job tolerating the increased incline for 20 minutes. She seemed pretty relaxed. This afternoon, Karman came over to work with Tracy for her Speech Session. She spent time warming up her lips with a little brush and then worked with Tracy's lip closure. Tracy closed her lips some of the time, but seemed a little sleepy. Then Karman got the red whistle and Tracy did a great job holding it in her mouth with her lips and blew several times. We could actually hear the kazoo wheels turning. Mom had a hair appointment with Dario at 5 PM at Capelli Salon. Jenny stayed with Tracy until Dad got home from work. Dario did a great job as usual and Mom is really happy with her new look. Mom and Dad decided to stop the Zanaflex. It is not making much difference in her tone and is causing Tracy to reflux. They feel as though they gave it the old college try: a little more than a week. This evening, Emil came by to give Tracy a massage. We got to meet his wife's Kathryn's mom and dad. It was nice to meet them and have them meet Tracy. They say a lot of prayers for Tracy and follow her progress on this page. To Recap: Last Thursday, Tracy's Baclofen pump was evaluated under fluoroscopy. Good news: everything appeared to be normal as far as the study showed. Tiny microfissures, however, will not show up on the test, especially if they are positional in their location. Plans are already in the works to transition Tracy to outpatient therapy at Georgetown Medical Center Sports Medicine Clinic by the end of the month. Tracy has a Physical Therapy evaluation with Jacquie on Tuesday, June 21st at 10:30 AM. Jen, an Occupational Therapist will also conduct an OT evaluation at the same time. Over the next several weeks, we plan to resume Tracy's intensive therapy regimen on the mat in her therapy corner. The goal will be to spend the next several weeks rebuilding Tracy's stamina to get her ready for outpatient therapy. At this time, we will begin making the transition to outpatient therapy at Georgetown Medical Center. We are looking forward to Tracy starting a new swallowing program that Mom has been researching: VitalStim. You can read more about this new and exciting program at www.vitalstim.com. Tiffany just completed her second week of her internship at the Department of Veteran Affairs. She is really learning a lot. This week, she is writing several articles which will be mailed out to all enrolled veterans. She is making preparations to begin her master's project. She will be working with the Northern Virginia Brain Injury Services, effectively evaluating the current website. Brain Injury Services is a non-profit that supports survivors of brain injuries and their families with “individualized, community-based services through comprehensive case management, education, and advocacy.” She is planning on conducting two focus groups, one consisting of caregivers and one made up of survivors. She is looking forward to working with them this summer! Happy Father's Day! Have a great weekend and God bless!

Thursday, June 16th, 2005: Tracy slept much better last night. Last night, we decided to not give Tracy her evening dose of Zanaflex, because she seems to be coughing more at night and this could be due to the muscle relaxer. We decided to try only 1 mg of Zanaflex in the morning, about two hours before her Physical Therapy because the medication peaks two hours after administration. This morning, Jenny and Mom showered and shampooed Tracy and got her ready for 11:00 AM Physical Therapy with Humayun. During Physical Therapy, Humayun, Mom and Jenny got Tracy prone (on her tummy) on the peanut ball. Tracy really relaxed and enjoyed being on her knees. She was able to weight bear on her knees and then Humayun alternated Tracy bearing weight on her elbows. Tracy did a really good job lifting her head up in this position and even looked at herself in the mirror. She tolerated about 30 minutes in this position. This afternoon, Regina came by for Tracy's Occupational Therapy session. Tracy did a good job sitting on the peanut ball with Regina sitting behind her. Tracy was able to hold her head up and exhibited good trunk control. Regina rocked her side to side and also forward and back, and Tracy did not get dizzy or nauseous. She was able to relax her arms and knees down as well. Tracy tolerated about 30 minutes before she appeared tired. She works so hard! Mom and Dad are still trying to adjust Tracy's Zanaflex to get the optimal dose and time. This should take a few weeks to get it right. Patience, patience, and more patience! Tracy's tone seemed a lot better on the 1 mg daily dose. We'll see how she does tonight. This evening, Nichole, Tracy's volunteer came by and Mom, Dad, Tracy and Nichole went for a walk on the Mt. Vernon Trail. Tracy rode in her jogger and seemed very comfortable. Mom put a gel cushion in the seat to give Tracy some additional cushioning. Who would have thought Tracy would need extra cushioning! Not with that Tra-Lo butt! (It's worth a million dollars, more than J-Lo's!) To Recap: Last Thursday, Tracy's Baclofen pump was evaluated under fluoroscopy. Good news: everything appeared to be normal as far as the study showed. Tiny microfissures, however, will not show up on the test, especially if they are positional in their location. Plans are already in the works to transition Tracy to outpatient therapy at Georgetown Medical Center Sports Medicine Clinic by the end of the month. Tracy has a Physical Therapy evaluation with Jacquie on Tuesday, June 21st at 10:30 AM. We are still working on an Occupational Therapy evaluation appointment. Over the next several weeks, we plan to resume Tracy's intensive therapy regimen on the mat in her therapy corner. The goal will be to spend the next several weeks rebuilding Tracy's stamina to get her ready for outpatient therapy. At this time, we will begin making the transition to outpatient therapy at Georgetown Medical Center. We are looking forward to Tracy starting a new swallowing program that Mom has been researching: VitalStim. You can read more about this new and exciting program at www.vitalstim.com. Tiffany is well into her second week of her internship at the Department of Veteran Affairs. She is really learning a lot. This week, she is writing several articles which will be mailed out to all enrolled veterans. She is making preparations to begin her master's project. She will be working with the Northern Virginia Brain Injury Services, effectively evaluating the current website. Brain Injury Services is a non-profit that supports survivors of brain injuries and their families with “individualized, community-based services through comprehensive case management, education, and advocacy.” She is planning on conducting two focus groups, one consisting of caregivers and one made up of survivors. She is looking forward to working with them this summer! Have a great week and God bless!

Wednesday, June 15th, 2005: Twenty-nine months since Tracy was hit by the car in Florence!~ Tracy was up for an hour between 3:30 and 4:30 AM. This morning, Jenny and Mom bathed Tracy and got her ready for the day. The only therapy she has is Speech Therapy at 6:00 PM this evening. Jenny took full advantage of Tracy's free time and gave Tracy a spa day complete with eye brow waxing! Believe it or not, Tracy likes these days! She doesn't mind a little pain if it means being beautiful! What girl would? Mom took advantage of the laid back day and got a pedicure. She was long overdue. This evening, Karman came by to do Speech Therapy with Tracy. Tracy was alert in her chair, when Karman arrived. Karman worked with lip closure, trying to get Tracy to hold her lips closed for a count of three. Tracy did a good job getting her lips together with some minimum tactile and moderate verbal cues. Tracy needs to be able to hold her lips together and also to swallow so that she is ready for her Modified Barium Swallow test. If she passes her MBS, she may be eligible for Vital Stim. Tracy did a good job holding the bigger end of the whistle between her lips and blowing. She was able to hold the whistle by herself with her lips for about 3 to 5 seconds. Her facial muscles are getting a lot stronger and she is able to pout her mouth in a circle. Mom and Dad are still trying to adjust Tracy's Zanaflex to get the optimal dose and time. This should take a few weeks to get it right. Patience, patience, and more patience! She is still experiencing reflux. We will adjust her Zanaflex so that she gets it an hour after her feeding and see if this makes a difference. The medication peaks two hours after administration, so we will try changing the timing to see if this resolves her reflux. To Recap: Last Thursday, Tracy's Baclofen pump was evaluated under fluoroscopy. Good news: everything appeared to be normal as far as the study showed. Tiny microfissures, however, will not show up on the test, especially if they are positional in their location. Plans are already in the works to transition Tracy to outpatient therapy at Georgetown Medical Center Sports Medicine Clinic by the end of the month. Tracy has a Physical Therapy evaluation with Jacquie on Tuesday, June 21st at 10:30 AM. We are still working on an Occupational Therapy evaluation appointment. Over the next several weeks, we plan to resume Tracy's intensive therapy regimen on the mat in her therapy corner. The goal will be to spend the next several weeks rebuilding Tracy's stamina to get her ready for outpatient therapy. At this time, we will begin making the transition to outpatient therapy at Georgetown Medical Center. We are looking forward to Tracy starting a new swallowing program that Mom has been researching: VitalStim. You can read more about this new and exciting program at www.vitalstim.com. Rick made it back home safely from his weekend visit to his home in Alice, Texas. We are glad to have him back! Tiffany is well into her second week of her internship at the Department of Veteran Affairs. She is really learning a lot. This week, she is writing several articles which will be mailed out to all enrolled veterans. She is making preparations to begin her master's project. She will be working with the Northern Virginia Brain Injury Services, effectively evaluating the current website. Brain Injury Services is a non-profit that supports survivors of brain injuries and their families with “individualized, community-based services through comprehensive case management, education, and advocacy.” She is planning on conducting two focus groups, one consisting of caregivers and one made up of survivors. She is looking forward to working with them this summer! Have a great week and God bless!

Tuesday, June 14th, 2005: Tracy slept much better last night. She relaxed so Dad was able to put her resting hand splints on. This morning, Jenny and Mom showered and shampooed Tracy and got her ready for 11:00 AM Physical Therapy with Humayun. During Physical Therapy, Mom, Jenny and Humayun got Tracy transferred to the (you guessed it!) tilt table and up she went to 50 degrees, this time for 25 minutes. Tracy did a good job tolerating the cast on her right knee as well as the tilt table. The Zanaflex seemed to be helping her to relax her tone somewhat. Although she was no where near as relaxed as she was last Friday, Tracy still was able to relax once on the tilt table. She tolerated 25 minutes and also relaxed her arms down on command. While up on the tilt table, Humayun noticed that there are cherries growing on the "pear" tree outside. Mom recalled Dad teasing Mom during cherry blossom season, saying that the tree was not a cherry tree. It was a pear tree! SO, we must have the only pear tree that grows cherries! Mom and Sasha went to the pool for an hour or so today. It was really hot. The weatherman predicted that it was 105 degrees with the heat index. This evening, Karman came by to do Speech Therapy with Tracy. Tracy was alert in her chair, when Karman arrived. Karman worked with lip closure, trying to get Tracy to hold her lips closed for a count of three. Tracy did a good job getting her lips together with some minimum tactile and moderate verbal cues. Tracy needs to be able to hold her lips together and also to swallow so that she is ready for her Modified Barium Swallow test. If she passes her MBS, she may be eligible for Vital Stim. Yesterday, Liz, Mom, and Jenny accompanied Tracy to her 1 PM Speech Evaluation at Georgetown Sports Medicine Center. Karen spent some time going over Tracy's previous therapy evaluations and notes while Mom caught her up on the details. Karen explained to Mom the way Vital Stim works. Small electrodes are placed on Tracy's throat and a low electrical voltage is delivered to Tracy's pharyngeal area. The purpose is to strengthen Tracy's muscles that help her swallow. Karen is planning to contact Dr. Chandler to discuss any reservations that he may have and to determine if this therapy is appropriate for Tracy at this time. Karen also will schedule a Modified Barium Swallow (MBS) to see on x-ray how Tracy swallows when given something oral to drink. To Recap: Last Thursday, Tracy's Baclofen pump was evaluated under fluoroscopy. Good news: everything appeared to be normal as far as the study showed. Tiny microfissures, however, will not show up on the test, especially if they are positional in their location. Plans are already in the works to transition Tracy to outpatient therapy at Georgetown Medical Center Sports Medicine Clinic by the end of the month. Tracy has a Physical Therapy evaluation with Jacquie on Tuesday, June 21st at 10:30 AM. We are still working on an Occupational Therapy evaluation appointment. Over the next several weeks, we plan to resume Tracy's intensive therapy regimen on the mat in her therapy corner. The goal will be to spend the next several weeks rebuilding Tracy's stamina to get her ready for outpatient therapy. At this time, we will begin making the transition to outpatient therapy at Georgetown Medical Center. We are looking forward to Tracy starting a new swallowing program that Mom has been researching: VitalStim. You can read more about this new and exciting program at www.vitalstim.com. Rick made it back home safely from his weekend visit to Alice, Texas. We are glad to have him back! Tiffany is starting her second week of her internship at the Department of Veteran Affairs. She is really learning a lot. This week, she is writing several articles which will be mailed out to all enrolled veterans. She is making preparations to begin her master's project. She will be working with the Northern Virginia Brain Injury Services, effectively evaluating the current website. Brain Injury Services is a non-profit that supports survivors of brain injuries and their families with “individualized, community-based services through comprehensive case management, education, and advocacy.” She is planning on conducting two focus groups, one consisting of caregivers and one made up of survivors. She is looking forward to working with them this summer! Have a great week and God bless!

Monday, June 13th, 2005: Tracy slept a little better last night. This morning, Jenny and Mom bathed Tracy and got her ready for her 1 PM Speech Therapy Evaluation with Karen at Georgetown Sports Medicine Clinic. Karen is certified in Vital Stim, so we were extra excited to see if Tracy is eligible. Liz, Mom, and Jenny accompanied Tracy to her 1 PM Speech Evaluation at Georgetown Sports Medicine Center. Karen spent some time going over Tracy's previous therapy evaluations and notes while Mom caught her up on the details. Karen explained to Mom the way Vital Stim works. Small electrodes are placed on Tracy's throat and a low electrical voltage is delivered to Tracy's pharyngeal area. The purpose is to strengthen Tracy's muscles that help her swallow. Karen is planning to contact Dr. Chandler to discuss any reservations that he may have and to determine if this therapy is appropriate for Tracy at this time. Karen also will schedule a Modified Barium Swallow (MBS) to see on x-ray how Tracy swallows when given something oral to drink. This afternoon, Regina came over to do Occupational Therapy with Tracy. This time, she took a few minutes to stretch Tracy's extremities and then transferred her to the peanut ball. Tracy did a much better job sitting on the peanut ball with Regina assisting her from behind. Regina bounced Tracy and rocked her side to side and also forward and back. The good news is that Tracy was able to recorrect or right herself several times and really tried hard to pull herself up when Regina let go of her (except for a little support at her hips). Tracy tolerated 50 minutes sitting on the peanut ball. She is trying so hard! Her tone was much better with the new medication. We are still trying to optimize her dosage and timing with the Zanaflex. This will take some time and we will have to be patient. To Recap: Last Thursday, Tracy's Baclofen pump was evaluated under fluoroscopy. Good news: everything appeared to be normal as far as the study showed. Tiny microfissures, however, will not show up on the test, especially if they are positional in their location. Two weekends ago, Mom and Dad brought Tracy to a new Hippotherapy/ Therapeutic Riding Program in Great Falls called Lift Me Up! They had a tour by Katie, the program director and met several of their beautiful horses: Cory, Traveler, and Valentine. Katie let Tracy feel the horse's brush that she uses to groom him. We were able to watch while Katie gave Cory a massage with his brush. He seemed to like it almost as much as Tracy does! We hope to return to Lift Me Up sometime soon for Tracy to begin hippotherapy. Anyone interested in becoming a volunteer at Lift Me Up, can attend volunteer orientation on Saturday, June 18th from 2 to 4 PM. (Check out their website at www.liftmeup.org). Plans are already in the works to transition Tracy to outpatient therapy at Georgetown Medical Center Sports Medicine Clinic by the end of the month. Tracy has a Physical Therapy evaluation with Jacquie on Tuesday, June 21st at 10:30 AM. We are still working on an Occupational Therapy evaluation appointment. Over the next several weeks, we plan to resume Tracy's intensive therapy regimen on the mat in her therapy corner. The goal will be to spend the next several weeks rebuilding Tracy's stamina to get her ready for outpatient therapy. At this time, we will begin making the transition to outpatient therapy at Georgetown Medical Center. We are looking forward to Tracy starting a new swallowing program that Mom has been researching: VitalStim. You can read more about this new and exciting program at www.vitalstim.com. Tiffany is starting her second week of her internship at the Department of Veteran Affairs. She is really learning a lot. This week, she is writing several articles which will be mailed out to all enrolled veterans. She is making preparations to begin her master's project. She will be working with the Northern Virginia Brain Injury Services, effectively evaluating the current website. Brain Injury Services is a non-profit that supports survivors of brain injuries and their families with “individualized, community-based services through comprehensive case management, education, and advocacy.” She is planning on conducting two focus groups, one consisting of caregivers and one made up of survivors. She is looking forward to working with them this summer! Have a great week and God bless!

Sunday, June 12th, 2005: Tracy is still waking up and coughing more during the night. It seems that the new muscle relaxer is also aggrivating Tracy's reflux. We will be patient and give it time. Mom and Dad showered Tracy and shampooed her hair. Tracy seemed to really enjoy her shower this morning. Then, Mom, Dad, Tracy and Sasha went to 12 noon Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Church. It was really nice to be back at church. After church, Mom, Dad, Tracy, Tiffany, Sasha met up with Gloria, her husband Dave, and the girls, Katherine and Samantha to go to the street fair and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy's concert on Crystal Drive behind our apartment. We put Tracy in her jogger and walked out to the fair. It was a lot of fun and Tracy seemed comfortable in her jogger. She had not been able to ride in it for over a year because of her wound. We were so glad that she is back in it. Mom is looking forward to hitting the Mt. Vernon Trail with Tracy next week. This evening, Emil came over to give Tracy a massage. Tracy was really relaxed. She definitely enjoyed her massage. Then Dad and Tiffany went to see Star Wars while Mom and Emil stayed with Tracy. To Recap: Yesterday, Tracy's Baclofen pump was evaluated under fluoroscopy. Good news: everything appeared to be normal as far as the study showed. Tiny microfissures, however, will not show up on the test, especially if they are positional in their location. Last weekend , Mom and Dad brought Tracy to a new Hippotherapy/ Therapeutic Riding Program in Great Falls called Lift Me Up! They had a tour by Katie, the program director and met several of their beautiful horses: Cory, Traveler, and Valentine. Katie let Tracy feel the horse's brush that she uses to groom him. We were able to watch while Katie gave Cory a massage with his brush. He seemed to like it almost as much as Tracy does! We hope to return to Lift Me Up sometime soon for Tracy to begin hippotherapy. Anyone interested in becoming a volunteer at Lift Me Up, can attend volunteer orientation on Saturday, June 18th from 2 to 4 PM. (Check out their website at www.liftmeup.org). Plans are already in the works to transition Tracy to outpatient therapy at Georgetown Medical Center Sports Medicine Clinic. Mom booked an appointment with Karen for Tracy's Speech Therapy evaluation on Monday, June 13th at 1 PM and with Jacquie for Physical Therapy on Tuesday, June 21st at 10:30 AM. We are still working on an Occupational Therapy evaluation appointment. Over the next several weeks, we plan to resume Tracy's intensive therapy regimen on the mat in her therapy corner. The goal will be to spend the next several weeks rebuilding Tracy's stamina to get her ready for outpatient therapy. At this time, we will begin making the transition to outpatient therapy at Georgetown Medical Center. We are looking forward to Tracy starting a new swallowing program that Mom has been researching: VitalStim. You can read more about this new and exciting program at www.vitalstim.com.\ Tiffany made it through her first week of her internship at the Department of Veteran Affairs. She is really learning a lot. She is making preparations to begin her master's project. She will be working with the Northern Virginia Brain Injury Services, effectively evaluating the current website. Brain Injury Services is a non-profit that supports survivors of brain injuries and their families with “individualized, community-based services through comprehensive case management, education, and advocacy.” She is planning on conducting two focus groups, one consisting of caregivers and one made up of survivors. She is looking forward to working with them this summer! Have a great week and God bless!

Saturday, June 11th, 2005: Tracy was up again several times last night. This morning, Dad and Mom bathed Tracy and got her ready for 10:00 AM Occupational Therapy with Regina. Tracy is still pretty sleepy from her new medicine. Zanaflex, a muscle relaxer, really makes her sleepy for most of the day. Even after cutting the dose in half, and giving her 1 mg twice a day, she still seems sleepy. We will give it a week and see if she perks up. This morning, Regina came by for Tracy's Occupational Therapy session. She is trying a new therapy modality with Tracy. It is called Samona's Sound Therapy. It consists of listening to special CDs while doing an physical activity. It utilizes Sensory Integration concepts. Today, Regina had Tracy straddle the peanut ball with Regina behind her while listening to the first module on balance and vestibular control. Tracy had to use special head phones to hear the various sounds. She seemed to enjoy the music and also tolerated sitting for at least 30 minutes with assistance. Regina thought that Tracy was a little more floppy on the Zanaflex. We will have to adjust the dose some more. This evening, Mom and Tiffany went shopping at the Pentagon City Mall while Dad stayed with Tracy. Tiffany needs some business wear for her new job. They found some cute things. It was fun to go shopping. We hope to take Tracy with us next time. To Recap: Yesterday, Tracy's Baclofen pump was evaluated under fluoroscopy. Good news: everything appeared to be normal as far as the study showed. Tiny microfissures, however, will not show up on the test, especially if they are positional in their location. Last weekend , Mom and Dad brought Tracy to a new Hippotherapy/ Therapeutic Riding Program in Great Falls called Lift Me Up! They had a tour by Katie, the program director and met several of their beautiful horses: Cory, Traveler, and Valentine. Katie let Tracy feel the horse's brush that she uses to groom him. We were able to watch while Katie gave Cory a massage with his brush. He seemed to like it almost as much as Tracy does! We hope to return to Lift Me Up sometime soon for Tracy to begin hippotherapy. Anyone interested in becoming a volunteer at Lift Me Up, can attend volunteer orientation on Saturday, June 18th from 2 to 4 PM. (Check out their website at www.liftmeup.org). Plans are already in the works to transition Tracy to outpatient therapy at Georgetown Medical Center Sports Medicine Clinic. Mom booked an appointment with Karen for Tracy's Speech Therapy evaluation on Monday, June 13th at 1 PM and with Jacquie for Physical Therapy on Tuesday, June 21st at 10:30 AM. We are still working on an Occupational Therapy evaluation appointment. Over the next several weeks, we plan to resume Tracy's intensive therapy regimen on the mat in her therapy corner. The goal will be to spend the next several weeks rebuilding Tracy's stamina to get her ready for outpatient therapy. At this time, we will begin making the transition to outpatient therapy at Georgetown Medical Center. We are looking forward to Tracy starting a new swallowing program that Mom has been researching: VitalStim. You can read more about this new and exciting program at www.vitalstim.com.\ Tiffany made it through her first week of her internship at the Department of Veteran Affairs. She is really learning a lot. She is making preparations to begin her master's project. She will be working with the Northern Virginia Brain Injury Services, effectively evaluating the current website. Brain Injury Services is a non-profit that supports survivors of brain injuries and their families with “individualized, community-based services through comprehensive case management, education, and advocacy.” She is planning on conducting two focus groups, one consisting of caregivers and one made up of survivors. She is looking forward to working with them this summer! Have a great weekend and God bless!

Friday, June 10th, 2005: Once again, Tracy was up several times last night. This morning, Jenny and Mom showered and shampooed Tracy. She definitely was more relaxed and seemed to enjoy her shower, just like old times. Her new medicine, Zanaflex, a muscle relaxer, really seemed to work. Maybe a little too much; she was pretty sleepy for most of the day. We will cut the dose in half to 1 mg twice a day and see if that does the trick. Her tone was the best Humayun has seen ever. Humayun came for Tracy's 11:00 AM Physical Therapy session. Tracy was very relaxed with minimum tone. Her right knee was still bent but it was very easy for Humayun to put her cast on. He did not even need Jenny and Mom to help him. He was able to get Tracy's feet in a midline/neutral position, however, he was still unable to dorsiflex them. It was apparent that Tracy has some soft tissue contractures in both ankles and her right knee. These may need to be surgically corrected some time in the future. Humayun, Mom and Jenny got Tracy transferred to the tilt table and up she went to 50 degrees for 30 minutes. She did a great job relaxing her arms and her blood pressure remained stable throughout her session. Sometimes Zanaflex can cause fluctuations in blood pressure with position changes, so he closely monitored her vital signs. Mom hit the Mt. Vernon Trail again for a run. The weather was beautiful and she was able to get a few rays. There were a lot of people out on the trail for a Friday, most of them cyclists. Jenny gave Tracy a manicure and pedicure. She now has mauve fingernails and bright red toenails. Perfect for summer! Tomorrow we plan to finally take Tracy in the pool, weather permitting. This afternoon, Karman came by for Tracy's Speech Therapy session. She too was surprised at how relaxed Tracy was in her chair. Karman worked on getting Tracy's tongue to move and also lip closure. She had Tracy put her lips around the whistle/kazoo and also a lips-shaped whistle. Tracy did a good job getting her lips around the whistles and also held them in her mouth with her lips. This is a real improvement. She also was able to blow a few times, trying really hard to make a loud whistle. We will continue to practice these exercises with Tracy. Next, Karman had Tracy put her lips together to say "mmmmm" and "ma." Even though Tracy was really sleepy from the new medication, she did make a few sounds! To Recap: Yesterday, Tracy's Baclofen pump was evaluated under fluoroscopy. Good news: everything appeared to be normal as far as the study showed. Tiny microfissures, however, will not show up on the test, especially if they are positional in their location. Yesterday afternoon, Regina came by for Tracy's Occupational Therapy session. Mom and Tracy were so glad to have her back. She tried a new therapy modality with Tracy. It is called Samona's Sound Therapy. It consists of listening to special CDs while doing an physical activity. It utilizes Sensory Integration concepts. Today, Regina had Tracy sit on the edge of the mat with support while listening to the first module on balance and vestibular control. Tracy had to use special head phones to hear the various sounds. She seemed to enjoy the music and also tolerated sitting on the edge of the mat for over 30 minutes. She did a good job with head control and turning her head to the right. Regina could see improvements since she saw Tracy one month ago. Regina will be back again on Saturday for another session. Last weekend , Mom and Dad brought Tracy to a new Hippotherapy/ Therapeutic Riding Program in Great Falls called Lift Me Up! They had a tour by Katie, the program director and met several of their beautiful horses: Cory, Traveler, and Valentine. Katie let Tracy feel the horse's brush that she uses to groom him. We were able to watch while Katie gave Cory a massage with his brush. He seemed to like it almost as much as Tracy does! We hope to return to Lift Me Up sometime soon for Tracy to begin hippotherapy. Anyone interested in becoming a volunteer at Lift Me Up, can attend volunteer orientation on Saturday, June 18th from 2 to 4 PM. (Check out their website at www.liftmeup.org). Plans are already in the works to transition Tracy to outpatient therapy at Georgetown Medical Center Sports Medicine Clinic. Mom booked an appointment with Karen for Tracy's Speech Therapy evaluation on Monday, June 13th at 1 PM and with Jacquie for Physical Therapy on Tuesday, June 21st at 10:30 AM. We are still working on an Occupational Therapy evaluation appointment. Over the next several weeks, we plan to resume Tracy's intensive therapy regimen on the mat in her therapy corner. The goal will be to spend the next several weeks rebuilding Tracy's stamina to get her ready for outpatient therapy. At this time, we will begin making the transition to outpatient therapy at Georgetown Medical Center. We are looking forward to Tracy starting a new swallowing program that Mom has been researching: VitalStim. You can read more about this new and exciting program at www.vitalstim.com. Tiffany made it through her first week of her internship at the Department of Veteran Affairs. She is really learning a lot. She is making preparations to begin her master's project. She will be working with the Northern Virginia Brain Injury Services, effectively evaluating the current website. Brain Injury Services is a non-profit that supports survivors of brain injuries and their families with “individualized, community-based services through comprehensive case management, education, and advocacy.” She is planning on conducting two focus groups, one consisting of caregivers and one made up of survivors. She is looking forward to working with them this summer! Have a great weekend and God bless!

Thursday, June 9th, 2005: Tracy was up several times again last night. She had an 8:30 AM appointment at Inova Alexandria Hospital today for her dye study in Fluoroscopy. Joy, Tracy's Physician Assistant who manages her pump, aspirated the side port of her Baclofen pump and then injected omnipaque contrast medium. The radiologist and Dr. Howe, Tracy's neurosurgeon, were there to watch as the dye showed up on the fluoroscopy screen. It appeared that there are no visible cracks in the catheter which pumps the medication from Tracy's pump to her intrathecal space in her spine. Tiny microfissures, however, will not show up on the test, especially if they are positional in their location. Dr. Howe prescribed a new drug, Zanaflex, a muscle relaxer, for us to give in Tracy's G-tube. We will see if this helps with her tone. Emil came by to give Tracy and Mom a massage this afternoon. Tracy really relaxed and enjoyed her massage as usual. It was just what Mom needed too. This afternoon, Regina came by for Tracy's Occupational Therapy session. Mom and Tracy were so glad to have her back. She tried a new therapy modality with Tracy. It is called Samona's Sound Therapy. It consists of listening to special CDs while doing an physical activity. It utilizes Sensory Integration concepts. Today, Regina had Tracy sit on the edge of the mat with support while listening to the first module on balance and vestibular control. Tracy had to use special head phones to hear the various sounds. She seemed to enjoy the music and also tolerated sitting on the edge of the mat for over 30 minutes. She did a good job with head control and turning her head to the right. Regina could see improvements since she saw Tracy one month ago. Regina will be back again on Saturday for another session. Last weekend , Mom and Dad brought Tracy to a new Hippotherapy/ Therapeutic Riding Program in Great Falls called Lift Me Up! They had a tour by Katie, the program director and met several of their beautiful horses: Cory, Traveler, and Valentine. Katie let Tracy feel the horse's brush that she uses to groom him. We were able to watch while Katie gave Cory a massage with his brush. He seemed to like it almost as much as Tracy does! We hope to return to Lift Me Up sometime soon for Tracy to begin hippotherapy. Anyone interested in becoming a volunteer at Lift Me Up, can attend volunteer orientation on Saturday, June 18th from 2 to 4 PM. (Check out their website at www.liftmeup.org). Plans are already in the works to transition Tracy to outpatient therapy at Georgetown Medical Center Sports Medicine Clinic. Mom booked an appointment with Karen for Tracy's Speech Therapy evaluation on Monday, June 13th at 1 PM and with Jacquie for Physical Therapy on Tuesday, June 21st at 10:30 AM. We are still working on an Occupational Therapy evaluation appointment. Over the next several weeks, we plan to resume Tracy's intensive therapy regimen on the mat in her therapy corner. The goal will be to spend the next several weeks rebuilding Tracy's stamina to get her ready for outpatient therapy. At this time, we will begin making the transition to outpatient therapy at Georgetown Medical Center. We are looking forward to Tracy starting a new swallowing program that Mom has been researching: VitalStim. You can read more about this new and exciting program at www.vitalstim.com. Thank you to Kate, Tracy's longstanding Occupational Therapist who is incorporating Tracy's story into her students' lab program for the summer. Kate is teaching at the Medical University of South Carolina and we are very proud of her. Her students are very lucky to have such a smart, creative and compassionate instructor. We hope they have a good semester and learn a lot about Occupational Therapy! (Check out their guest book entries!) Tiffany is really enjoying her internship at the Department of Veteran Affairs. (Mom and Dad are very happy that this is a PAID internship! Hallelujah!) She is really learning a lot. She is making preparations to begin her master's project. She will be working with the Northern Virginia Brain Injury Services, effectively evaluating the current website. Brain Injury Services is a non-profit that supports survivors of brain injuries and their families with “individualized, community-based services through comprehensive case management, education, and advocacy.” She is planning on conducting two focus groups, one consisting of caregivers and one made up of survivors. She is looking forward to working with them this summer! Have a great week and God bless!

Wednesday, June 8th, 2005: Tracy was up several times again last night. Tracy's tone seemed pretty high again today. She also seemed a little congested. Tracy did not have any Physical Therapy today, so Mom and Jenny showered her and shampooed her hair. Usually, Tracy relaxes and enjoys her shower, but today she remained tight. We are not sure why. We take her tomorrow morning to Inova Alexandria Hospital to check her Baclofen pump. Joy, Tracy's Physician Assistant, will inject her pump with omnipaque, a contrast medium typically used in myelograms. This diagnostic test should show under fluoroscopy if there are any small cracks in the pump or catheter. Microfissures, however, will not show up on the test, especially if they are positional in their location. Tracy's wound is looking a lot better. Dad thinks that it was a small blood blister that formed when the overlying tissue freed itself, which is part of the healing process. Mom decided to let Tracy rest in her bed for most of the day, so that she would keep pressure off the wound site, and allow it to heal. Gloria came over to visit and she and Mom went out to the swimming pool for an hour. The weather was really hot (in the 80's) and humid. The water is a perfect temperature and as soon as Tracy's wound heals a little more, we will take Tracy in for a swim. During Speech, Tracy did a good job concentrating, focusing and participating in her session with Karman. She opened her mouth and let Karman work with her tongue with the bite stick. Tracy also is doing a good job with lip closure on command. Karman was trying to get Tracy to say "MMMM"! Tracy did quietly say "mmmm" a few times. We will continue to practice this! This evening, Mom, Dad and Sasha got Tracy prone (on her tummy) on the peanut ball. Tracy relaxed in this position and seemed to take some deep breaths and coughed. This position helped Tracy to clear some of the congestion in her upper respiratory tract. She was able to tolerate 30 minutes and then relaxed and rested on the mat. Last weekend , Mom and Dad brought Tracy to a new Hippotherapy/ Therapeutic Riding Program in Great Falls called Lift Me Up! They had a tour by Katie, the program director and met several of their beautiful horses: Cory, Traveler, and Valentine. Katie let Tracy feel the horse's brush that she uses to groom him. We were able to watch while Katie gave Cory a massage with his brush. He seemed to like it almost as much as Tracy does! We hope to return to Lift Me Up sometime soon for Tracy to begin hippotherapy. Anyone interested in becoming a volunteer at Lift Me Up, can attend volunteer orientation on Saturday, June 18th from 2 to 4 PM. (Check out their website at www.liftmeup.org). Good news! Regina, Tracy's Occupational Therapist is coming back to work with Tracy this week! Woohoo! We are so excited! She will see Tracy Thursday evening and Saturday morning this week. Tomorrow, Tracy has an appointment at Inova Alexandria Hospital to have a dye study under fluoroscopy to see if there are any apparent cracks or leaks in her Baclofen pump. It seems to be a mystery that Tracy is at such a high dose (1500 micrograms per day) and still has a high level of spasticity. This study does not necessary rule out microfissures in the pump or catheter, but may help to explain her high tone with such a large dose of medication. Plans are already in the works to transition Tracy to outpatient therapy at Georgetown Medical Center Sports Medicine Clinic. Mom booked an appointment with Karen for Tracy's Speech Therapy evaluation on Monday, June 13th at 1 PM and with Jacquie for Physical Therapy on Tuesday, June 21st at 10:30 AM. We are still working on an Occupational Therapy evaluation appointment. Over the next several weeks, we plan to resume Tracy's intensive therapy regimen on the mat in her therapy corner. The goal will be to spend the next several weeks rebuilding Tracy's stamina to get her ready for outpatient therapy. At this time, we will begin making the transition to outpatient therapy at Georgetown Medical Center. We are looking forward to Tracy starting a new swallowing program that Mom has been researching: VitalStim. You can read more about this new and exciting program at www.vitalstim.com. Thank you to Kate, Tracy's longstanding Occupational Therapist who is incorporating Tracy's story into her students' lab program for the summer. Kate is teaching at the Medical University of South Carolina and we are very proud of her. Her students are very lucky to have such a smart, creative and compassionate instructor. We hope they have a good semester and learn a lot about Occupational Therapy! (Check out their guest book entries!) Tiffany had another successful day at her internship at the Department of Veteran Affairs. (Mom and Dad are very happy that this is a PAID internship! Hallelujah!) She is really learning a lot. She is making preparations to begin her master's project. She will be working with the Northern Virginia Brain Injury Services, effectively evaluating the current website. Brain Injury Services is a non-profit that supports survivors of brain injuries and their families with “individualized, community-based services through comprehensive case management, education, and advocacy.” She is planning on conducting two focus groups, one consisting of caregivers and one made up of survivors. She is looking forward to working with them this summer! Have a great week and God bless!

Tuesday, June 7th, 2005: Tracy was up several times last night. We were trying to taper her domperidone (stomach medicine) from four to three times a day, but we noticed she began coughing. So, we chickened out and decided to leave well enough alone and keep her medications stable, especially since this is one of Tracy major stabilizing points. Tracy's tone is still pretty high. The good news is, her wound is looking a lot better, so we decided not to take her to the Plastic Surgeon and keep a close eye (both eyes) on it. There is always a trade-off. If we take her to Bethesda, we subject her to a minimum of four hours in the wheel chair and this translates to increased pressure. Both Mom and Dad feel comfortable with the way her wound looks today. It is not discolored anymore. Dad thinks it was the body expelling a stitch and part of the normal healing process. Jenny and Mom bathed Tracy and got her ready for the day. She has Physical Therapy with Humayun at noon. Jenny and Mom transferred Tracy on to the geomat in her Therapy Corner, and then Jenny stretched and ranged Tracy's extremities. She was a little tight this morning. Humayun came at noon, and Mom, Jenny and Humayun got Tracy on her tummy (prone) on the peanut ball. She did a great job lifting her head in this position. Tracy was able to tolerate over 30 minutes on her tummy and was weight bearing on her knees. Humayun got Tracy propped up on her elbows and Tracy was even weight bearing through her shoulders. She is well on her way to outpatient therapy by the end of the month! During Speech, Tracy did a good job concentrating, focusing and participating in her session with Karman. She opened her mouth and let Karman work with her tongue with the bite stick. Tracy also is doing a good job with lip closure on command. Karman was trying to get Tracy to say "MMMM"! Tracy did quietly say "mmmm" a few times. We will continue to practice this! Last weekend , Mom and Dad brought Tracy to a new Hippotherapy/ Therapeutic Riding Program in Great Falls called Lift Me Up! They had a tour by Katie, the program director and met several of their beautiful horses: Cory, Traveler, and Valentine. Katie let Tracy feel the horse's brush that she uses to groom him. We were able to watch while Katie gave Cory a massage with his brush. He seemed to like it almost as much as Tracy does! We hope to return to Lift Me Up sometime soon for Tracy to begin hippotherapy. Anyone interested in becoming a volunteer at Lift Me Up, can attend volunteer orientation on Saturday, June 18th from 2 to 4 PM. (Check out their website at www.liftmeup.org). Good news! Regina, Tracy's Occupational Therapist is coming back to work with Tracy this week! Woohoo! We are so excited! She will see Tracy twice a week until the end of the month, when Tracy will transition to outpatient therapy at Georgetown! Liz came by again today and Mom and she went for a long walk on the (you guessed it!) Mt. Vernon Trail. They walked about four miles. It was very hot and humid. Don't worry, they wore their sun screen and took extra water. Liz worked with Tracy's olfactory system again today, letting her smell some of the aromatherapy oils such as eucalyptus, peppermint, cinnamon, tangerine, lemon, and lavender. Tracy really seemed to like the lemon, tangerine, and eucalyptus. This Thursday, Tracy has an appointment at Inova Alexandria Hospital to have a dye study under fluoroscopy to see if there are any apparent cracks or leaks in her Baclofen pump. It seems to be a mystery that Tracy is at such a high dose (1500 micrograms per day) and still has a high level of spasticity. This study does not necessary rule out microfissures in the pump or catheter, but may help to explain her high tone with such a large dose of medication. Plans are already in the works to transition Tracy to outpatient therapy at Georgetown Medical Center Sports Medicine Clinic. Mom booked an appointment with Karen for Tracy's Speech Therapy evaluation on Monday, June 13th at 1 PM and with Jacquie for Physical Therapy on Tuesday, June 21st at 10:30 AM. We are still working on an Occupational Therapy evaluation appointment. Over the next several weeks, we plan to resume Tracy's intensive therapy regimen on the mat in her therapy corner. The goal will be to spend the next several weeks rebuilding Tracy's stamina to get her ready for outpatient therapy. At this time, we will begin making the transition to outpatient therapy at Georgetown Medical Center. We are looking forward to Tracy starting a new swallowing program that Mom has been researching: VitalStim. You can read more about this new and exciting program at www.vitalstim.com.\ Thank you to Kate, Tracy's longstanding Occupational Therapist who is incorporating Tracy's story into her students' lab program for the summer. Kate is teaching at the Medical University of South Carolina and we are very proud of her. Her students are very lucky to have such a smart, creative and compassionate instructor. We hope they have a good semester and learn a lot about Occupational Therapy! (Check out their guest book entries!) Tiffany had another successful day at her internship at the Department of Veteran Affairs. (Mom and Dad are very happy that this is a PAID internship! Hallelujah!) She is really learning a lot. She is making preparations to begin her master's project. She will be working with the Northern Virginia Brain Injury Services, effectively evaluating the current website. Brain Injury Services is a non-profit that supports survivors of brain injuries and their families with “individualized, community-based services through comprehensive case management, education, and advocacy.” She is planning on conducting two focus groups, one consisting of caregivers and one made up of survivors. She is looking forward to working with them this summer! Have a great week and God bless!

Monday, June 6th, 2005: Tracy had another good night's sleep last night. This morning, Jenny and Mom bathed Tracy and got her ready for the day. She has Physical Therapy with Humayun at noon. Mom decided to keep Tracy on her side in her bed and off her post-operative site. The area of concern is on the suture line. It is the size of a pea and changed in color from a deep purple to black. Mom called Dr. Buescher to let her know. Later in the day, it broke the skin and bled a little. Dr. Buescher thinks it is a blood blister. So, to make a long story short, Humayun stretched Tracy's upper extremities and they let her rest. It looked better this evening, however, if it doesn't resolve itself by Tuesday, Mom will make an appointment to see Dr. Buescher Wednesday. We need to get Tracy healed and ready for outpatient therapy by the end of the month. Last weekend , Mom and Dad brought Tracy to a new Hippotherapy/ Therapeutic Riding Program in Great Falls called Lift Me Up! They had a tour by Katie, the program director and met several of their beautiful horses: Cory, Traveler, and Valentine. Katie let Tracy feel the horse's brush that she uses to groom him. We were able to watch while Katie gave Cory a massage with his brush. He seemed to like it almost as much as Tracy does! We hope to return to Lift Me Up sometime soon for Tracy to begin hippotherapy. Anyone interested in becoming a volunteer at Lift Me Up, can attend volunteer orientation on Saturday, June 18th from 2 to 4 PM. (Check out their website at www.liftmeup.org). Good news! Regina, Tracy's Occupational Therapist is coming back to work with Tracy this week! Woohoo! We are so excited! She will see Tracy twice a week until the end of the month, when Tracy will transition to outpatient therapy at Georgetown! Liz came by and spent some time stretching Tracy's upper extremities. She also worked with Tracy's olfactory system, letting her smell some of the aromatherapy oils such as eucalyptus, peppermint, cinnamon, tangerine, lemon, and lavender. Tracy really seemed to like the lemon, tangerine, and eucalyptus. Next Thursday, Tracy has an appointment at Inova Alexandria Hospital to have a dye study under fluoroscopy to see if there are any apparent cracks or leaks in her Baclofen pump. It seems to be a mystery that Tracy is at such a high dose (1500 micrograms per day) and still has a high level of spasticity. This study does not necessary rule out microfissures in the pump or catheter, but may help to explain her high tone with such a large dose of medication. Plans are already in the works to transition Tracy to outpatient therapy at Georgetown Medical Center Sports Medicine Clinic. Mom booked an appointment with Karen for Tracy's Speech Therapy evaluation on Monday, June 13th at 1 PM and with Jacquie for Physical Therapy on Tuesday, June 21st at 10:30 AM. We are still working on an Occupational Therapy evaluation appointment. Over the next several weeks, we plan to resume Tracy's intensive therapy regimen on the mat in her therapy corner. The goal will be to spend the next several weeks rebuilding Tracy's stamina to get her ready for outpatient therapy. At this time, we will begin making the transition to outpatient therapy at Georgetown Medical Center. We are looking forward to Tracy starting a new swallowing program that Mom has been researching: VitalStim. You can read more about this new and exciting program at www.vitalstim.com.\ Thank you to Kate, Tracy's longstanding Occupational Therapist who is incorporating Tracy's story into her students' lab program for the summer. Kate is teaching at the Medical University of South Carolina and we are very proud of her. Her students are very lucky to have such a smart, creative and compassionate instructor. We hope they have a good semester and learn a lot about Occupational Therapy! (Check out their guest book entries!) Today was Tiffany's first day of her internship at the Department of Veteran Affairs. She really seemed to learn a lot. She is making preparations to begin her master's project. She will be working with the Northern Virginia Brain Injury Services, effectively evaluating the current website. Brain Injury Services is a non-profit that supports survivors of brain injuries and their families with “individualized, community-based services through comprehensive case management, education, and advocacy.” She is planning on conducting two focus groups, one consisting of caregivers and one made up of survivors. She is looking forward to working with them this summer! Have a great week and God bless!

Sunday, June 5th, 2005: Happy 30 Years of Priesthood Uncle Brother Father John! Tracy slept well last night after Jenny and Kathy gave her some Extra Strength Tylenol at 9 PM. This morning, Dad and Mom bathed Tracy and got her ready for the day. Mom and Dad decided not to go to Mass today because Tracy's operative site looked a little bruised. We will keep her out of her chair and off of it for the rest of the day. It could be part of the healing process, but we are not going to take any chances and will baby it for a while. She needs to be ready for outpatient therapy by the end of the month. Mom and Dad spent some time stretching Tracy and working with her vestibular/balance system today. They leaned her to one side and coached her to keep her head in the middle. She had to work on righting herself and not let her head go back into extension. She did a good job. Yesterday afternoon, Mom and Dad brought Tracy to a new Hippotherapy/ Therapeutic Riding Program in Great Falls called Lift Me Up! They had a tour by Katie, the program director and met several of their beautiful horses: Cory, Traveler, and Valentine. Katie let Tracy feel the horse's brush that she uses to groom him. We were able to watch while Katie gave Cory a massage with his brush. He seemed to like it almost as much as Tracy does! We hope to return to Lift Me Up sometime soon for Tracy to begin hippotherapy. Anyone interested in becoming a volunteer at Lift Me Up, can attend volunteer orientation on Saturday, June 18th from 2 to 4 PM. (Check out their website at www.liftmeup.org). Good news! Regina, Tracy's Occupational Therapist is coming back to work with Tracy next week! Woohoo! We are so excited! She will see Tracy twice a week until the end of the month, when Tracy will transition to outpatient therapy at Georgetown! The weather cleared and the sun came out and Sasha and some of her friends got to go to catch some rays at the pool. The water is still pretty cool, so we have not ventured out with Tracy yet. It should warm up soon. Sasha came by with several of her friends to visit Tracy. It was great to meet them.Last evening, Jenny came over to stay with Tracy while Mom, Dad, Tiffany and Rick went to the Kenny Chesney concert at FedEx field where the Redskins play! Our good friend Kathy came over to stay with Tracy too. She is a Navy nurse. Tracy is blessed to be surrounded by such loving angels. The concert was great! Other County stars that performed with Kenny were Pat Green, Gretchen Wilson, Keith Urban, Sammy Hagar amd Uncle Cracker. It was one of the best concerts they had been to. Next Thursday, Tracy has an appointment at Inova Alexandria Hospital to have a dye study under fluoroscopy to see if there are any apparent cracks or leaks in her Baclofen pump. It seems to be a mystery that Tracy is at such a high dose (1500 micrograms per day) and still has a high level of spasticity. This study does not necessary rule out microfissures in the pump or catheter, but may help to explain her high tone with such a large dose of medication.Plans are already in the works to transition Tracy to outpatient therapy at Georgetown Medical Center Sports Medicine Clinic. Mom booked an appointment with Karen for Tracy's Speech Therapy evaluation on Monday, June 13th at 1 PM and with Jacquie for Physical Therapy on Tuesday, June 21st at 10:30 AM. We are still working on an Occupational Therapy evaluation appointment. Over the next several weeks, we plan to resume Tracy's intensive therapy regimen on the mat in her therapy corner. The goal will be to spend the next several weeks rebuilding Tracy's stamina to get her ready for outpatient therapy. At this time, we will begin making the transition to outpatient therapy at Georgetown Medical Center. We are looking forward to Tracy starting a new swallowing program that Mom has been researching: VitalStim. You can read more about this new and exciting program at www.vitalstim.com.Thank you to Kate, Tracy's longstanding Occupational Therapist who is incorporating Tracy's story into her students' lab program for the summer. Kate is teaching at the Medical University of South Carolina and we are very proud of her. Her students are very lucky to have such a smart, creative and compassionate instructor. We hope they have a good semester and learn a lot about Occupational Therapy! (Check out their guest book entries!) Saturday Tiffany attended her orientation today for her internship at the Department of Veteran Affairs, which will begin this Monday. She is making preparations to begin her master's project. It looks like she will not be able to do her focus group with the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Program, however, the Northern Virginia Brain Injury Services is excited to work with her. She plans to effectively evaluate the current website of Brain Injury Services, Inc., a non-profit that supports survivors of brain injuries and their families with “individualized, community-based services through comprehensive case management, education, and advocacy.” She is planning on conducting two focus groups, one consisting of caregivers and one made up of survivors. She is looking forward to working with them this summer!

Saturday, June 4th, 2005: Tracy had another good night's sleep last night. This morning, Dad and Mom showered and shampooed Tracy and got her ready for the day. This afternoon, Mom and Dad brought Tracy to a new Hippotherapy/Therapeutic Riding Program in Great Falls called Lift Me Up! They had a tour by Katie, the program director and met several of their beautiful horses: Cory, Traveler, and Valentine. Katie let Tracy feel the horse's brush that she uses to groom him. We were able to watch while Katie gave Cory a massage with his brush. He seemed to like it almost as much as Tracy does! We hope to return to Lift Me Up sometime soon for Tracy to begin hippotherapy. Anyone interested in becoming a volunteer at Lift Me Up, can attend volunteer orientation of Saturday, June 18th from 2 to 4 PM. (Check out their website at www.liftmeup.org). Good news! Regina, Tracy's Occupational Therapist is coming back to work with Tracy next week! Woohoo! We are so excited! She will see Tracy twice a week until the end of the month, when Tracy will transition to outpatient therapy at Georgetown! The weather cleared and the sun came out and Sasha and some of her friends got to go to catch some rays at the pool. The water is still pretty cool, so we have not ventured out with Tracy yet. It should warm up soon. Sasha came by with several of her friends to visit Tracy. It was great to meet them. This evening, Jenny came over to stay with Tracy while Mom, Dad, Tiffany and Rick went to the Kenny Chesney concert at FedEx field where the Redskins play! Our good friend Kathy came over to stay with Tracy too. She is a Navy nurse. Tracy is blessed to be surrounded by such loving angels. The concert was great! Other County stars that performed with Kenny were Pat Green, Gretchen Wilson, Keith Urban, Sammy Hagar amd Uncle Cracker. It was one of the best concerts they had been to. Next Thursday, Tracy has an appointment at Inova Alexandria Hospital to have a dye study under fluoroscopy to see if there are any apparent cracks or leaks in her Baclofen pump. It seems to be a mystery that Tracy is at such a high dose (1500 micrograms per day) and still has a high level of spasticity. This study does not necessary rule out microfissures in the pump or catheter, but may help to explain her high tone with such a large dose of medication. Plans are already in the works to transition Tracy to outpatient therapy at Georgetown Medical Center Sports Medicine Clinic. Mom booked an appointment with Karen for Tracy's Speech Therapy evaluation on Monday, June 13th at 1 PM and with Jacquie for Physical Therapy on Tuesday, June 21st at 10:30 AM. We are still working on an Occupational Therapy evaluation appointment. Over the next several weeks, we plan to resume Tracy's intensive therapy regimen on the mat in her therapy corner. The goal will be to spend the next several weeks rebuilding Tracy's stamina to get her ready for outpatient therapy. At this time, we will begin making the transition to outpatient therapy at Georgetown Medical Center. We are looking forward to Tracy starting a new swallowing program that Mom has been researching: VitalStim. You can read more about this new and exciting program at www.vitalstim.com.\ Thank you to Kate, Tracy's longstanding Occupational Therapist who is incorporating Tracy's story into her students' lab program for the summer. Kate is teaching at the Medical University of South Carolina and we are very proud of her. Her students are very lucky to have such a smart, creative and compassionate instructor. We hope they have a good semester and learn a lot about Occupational Therapy! (Check out their guest book entries!) Tiffany attended her orientation today for her internship at the Department of Veteran Affairs, which will begin this Monday. She is making preparations to begin her master's project. It looks like she will not be able to do her focus group with the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Program, however, the Northern Virginia Brain Injury Services is excited to work with her. She plans to effectively evaluate the current website of Brain Injury Services, Inc., a non-profit that supports survivors of brain injuries and their families with “individualized, community-based services through comprehensive case management, education, and advocacy.” She is planning on conducting two focus groups, one consisting of caregivers and one made up of survivors. She is looking forward to working with them this summer! Have a great weekend and God bless!

Friday, June 3rd, 2005: Tracy slept well last night and was so relaxed. Dad was able to put her knee cast on as well as her resting hand splints for more than two hours. Tracy must have been exhausted, because her resting heart rate was about 55 or 60. She seemed so happy to be back in her bed at last. This morning, Jenny and Mom bathed Tracy and got her ready for the day. She does not have any therapy today. Mom and Jenny stretched and ranged Tracy's extremities for a good hour or so. Good news! Regina, Tracy's Occupational Therapist is coming back to work with Tracy next week! Woohoo! We are so excited! She will see Tracy twice a week until the end of the month, when Tracy will transition to outpatient therapy at Georgetown! Liz came by today and she and Mom went for a walk on the Mt. Vernon Trail. We think Mom might have to pay rent because she spends so much time on the trail. It was sprinkling and misting out, but Mom and L:iz went anyway. Liz said it reminded her of Belgium and Mom said it was a lot like Seattle. Nevertheless, they walked about 4 miles, Mom in her Nikken cardiostrides that weigh about three pounds a piece. She was quite a site! When they returned, Emil was giving Tracy a much-needed massage. She seemed to really relax and enjoy the stretching and the movement. Emil thought that Tracy felt more relaxed after her Baclofen adjustment yesterday from 1400 to 1500 micrograms a day. Next Thursday, Tracy has an appointment at Inova Alexandria Hospital to have a dye study under fluoroscopy to see if there are any apparent cracks or leaks in her Baclofen pump. It seems to be a mystery that Tracy is at such a high dose (1500 micrograms per day) and still has a high level of spasticity. This study does not necessary rule out microfissures in the pump or catheter, but may help to explain her high tone with such a large dose of medication. Last Friday, Mom, Dad and Jenny took Tracy for her 11:30 AM appointment with Dr. Tosi, Orthopedic Surgeon at Children's National Medical Center. She recommended surgery on her adductor tendons, right hamstring lengthening, and botox to her feet. She also wants to do alcohol blocks to her adductors, her right and possibly left hamstrings. So, this was a lot to tackle today and God must have known that we needed a LONG weekend to ponder it all. We are planning to rebuild her endurance from the last surgery before putting her through any more at this time. Plans are already in the works to transition Tracy to outpatient therapy at Georgetown Medical Center Sports Medicine Clinic. Mom booked an appointment with Karen for Tracy's Speech Therapy evaluation on Monday, June 13th at 1 PM and with Jacquie for Physical Therapy on Tuesday, June 21st at 10:30 AM. We are still working on an Occupational Therapy evaluation appointment. Over the next several weeks, we plan to resume Tracy's intensive therapy regimen on the mat in her therapy corner. The goal will be to spend the next several weeks rebuilding Tracy's stamina to get her ready for outpatient therapy. At this time, we will begin making the transition to outpatient therapy at Georgetown Medical Center. We are looking forward to Tracy starting a new swallowing program that Mom has been researching: VitalStim. You can read more about this new and exciting program at www.vitalstim.com.\ Nichole came by to visit Tracy this evening. Nichole is Tracy's volunteer from Brain Injury Services. We were all planning to take Tracy is her jogger on the Mt. Vernon Trail, however, the weather did not cooperate. So, Nichole and Mom stretched Tracy's arms, and then Nichole gave Tracy a manicure. She picked Cotton Candy nail polish and her nails look really pretty. Tracy really likes it when Nichole comes to visit! Thank you to Mariesa and Marie's first grade class for the adorable cards, poems, songs, and art work that they did for Tracy. Mom thinks that some of them are a lot better than some of her graduate student's projects that she had in class at the University of West Florida (just kidding~)! Thank you to Kate, Tracy's longstanding Occupational Therapist who is incorporating Tracy's story into her students' lab program for the summer. Kate is teaching at the Medical University of South Carolina and we are very proud of her. Her students are very lucky to have such a smart, creative and compassionate instructor. We hope they have a good semester and learn a lot about Occupational Therapy! Tracy is enjoying spending time with Sasha. She is such a great friend. We are looking forward to a fun summer with Tiffany, Rick, and Sasha here with us. Tiffany will begin her internship at the Department of Veteran Affairs next Monday. She is making preparations to begin her master's project. It looks like she will not be able to do her focus group with the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Program, however, the Northern Virginia Brain Injury Services is excited to work with her. She plans to effectively evaluate the current website of Brain Injury Services, Inc., a non-profit that supports survivors of brain injuries and their families with “individualized, community-based services through comprehensive case management, education, and advocacy.” She is planning on conducting two focus groups, one consisting of caregivers and one made up of survivors. She is looking forward to working with them this summer! Have a great weekend and God bless!

Thursday, June 2nd, 2005: Tracy had a good night's sleep last night in her own bed! She seemed so happy to be back in her bed at last. This morning, Jenny and Mom showered and shampooed Tracy and got her ready for 11:00 AM Physical Therapy with Huamayun. During PT, Humayun, Mom and Jenny got Tracy prone (on her tummy) on the peanut ball. Tracy was able to weight bear through her knees in this position. Her spine looked really straight. Tracy seemed to relax and get a good stretch on her knees. Mom and Jenny positioned Tracy on her elbows on the peanut, and Tracy did an awesome job with head control. She was able to hold her head up higher than she ever has, and turned her head to the middle to look at Mom. She tries so hard! Tracy tolerated at least 27 minutes in this position. She was up on her elbows three or four times during the session. She is getting stronger every day! Good news! Regina, Tracy's Occupational Therapist is coming back to work with Tracy next week! Woohoo! We are so excited! She will see Tracy twice a week until the end of the month, when Tracy will transition to outpatient therapy at Georgetown! Liz came by today and spent some time with Tracy. She came with Mom and Jenny to the neurologist's office to get Tracy's Baclofen pump refilled. Joy increased Tracy's pump dose to 1500 micrograms per day. Dr. Howe felt that this was a reasonable increase at this time. Next week, Joy is going to check Tracy's pump under fluoroscopy to see if the system is working the way it should. If there is a crack in the catheter or pump, it may show up during the dye study. This afternoon, Tracy had Speech Therapy with Karman. Today, Karman showed Tracy pictures that begin with "ba." Tracy tried really hard to say "ba" and actually mouthed the sound several times. She even used her voice one time, although it was quite low. We will continue to practice the bilanial plosive sounds such as "ba", "pa", "ma" and also "ta." Last Friday, Mom, Dad and Jenny took Tracy for her 11:30 AM appointment with Dr. Tosi, Orthopedic Surgeon at Children's National Medical Center. She recommended surgery on her adductor tendons, right hamstring lengthening, and botox to her feet. She also wants to do alcohol blocks to her adductors, her right and possibly left hamstrings. So, this was a lot to tackle today and God must have known that we needed a LONG weekend to ponder it all. We are planning to rebuild her endurance from the last surgery before putting her through any more at this time. Plans are already in the works to transition Tracy to outpatient therapy at Georgetown Medical Center Sports Medicine Clinic. Mom booked an appointment with Karen for Tracy's Speech Therapy evaluation on Monday, June 13th at 1 PM and with Jacquie for Physical Therapy on Tuesday, June 21st at 10:30 AM. We are still working on an Occupational Therapy evaluation appointment. Over the next several weeks, we plan to resume Tracy's intensive therapy regimen on the mat in her therapy corner. The goal will be to spend the next several weeks rebuilding Tracy's stamina to get her ready for outpatient therapy. At this time, we will begin making the transition to outpatient therapy at Georgetown Medical Center. We are looking forward to Tracy starting a new swallowing program that Mom has been researching: VitalStim. You can read more about this new and exciting program at www.vitalstim.com.\ Thank you to Mariesa and Marie's first grade class for the adorable cards, poems, songs, and art work that they did for Tracy. Mom thinks that some of them are a lot better than some of her graduate student's projects that she had in class at the University of West Florida (just kidding~)! Tracy is enjoying spending time with Sasha. She is such a great friend. We are looking forward to a fun summer with Tiffany, Rick, and Sasha here with us. Tiffany will begin her internship at the Department of Veteran Affairs next Monday. She is making preparations to begin her master's project. It looks like she will not be able to do her focus group with the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Program, however, the Northern Virginia Brain Injury Services is excited to work with her. She plans to effectively evaluate the current website of Brain Injury Services, Inc., a non-profit that supports survivors of brain injuries and their families with “individualized, community-based services through comprehensive case management, education, and advocacy.” She is planning on conducting two focus groups, one consisting of caregivers and one made up of survivors. She is looking forward to working with them this summer! Have a great week and God bless!

Wednesday, June 1st, 2005: Tracy was up quite a bit last night. It seemed as though she was having some discomfort. Motrin 400 mgs seemed to relieve her discomfort. This afternoon, the Cliniron bed was picked up and Tracy is in her own bed this evening. She must like it because she is already fast asleep. Mom, Jenny, Dad and Liz are also happy since their backs and knees were feeling the pain. Tracy's bed height has remote controls which will make transfers much easier on everyone. This morning, Jenny and Mom bathed Tracy and got her ready for an early Pysical Therapy session with Humayun at 10:45 AM. During PT, Humayun, Mom and Jenny got Tracy on the tilt table and once again she went up to 50 degrees, this time for 22 minutes. Humayun put her right knee cast on to ensure stabilization. Tracy seemed very relaxed in this position and was even able to relax both arms down by her side. This is a huge success and a marked improvement since last week. Tomorrow, we plan to get her prone on the peanut ball now that she has mastered the tilt table and reached her presurgery goals. She is getting stronger every day. Liz came by today and spent some time with Tracy. She read her all of the adorable cards, poems, songs, and showed her the art work that Ms. Mariesa's and Ms. Marie's first grade class did for Tracy. Mom thinks that some of them are a lot better than some of her graduate student's projects that she had in class at the University of West Florida (just kidding~)! This afternoon, Tracy had Speech Therapy with Karman. Today, once again, Karman worked on Tracy's tongue movement. She used a tongue stick that looks a lot like a little paddle. One side is rough and the other smooth. She had Tracy open her mouth and stroked her tongue five times for five repetitions. Tracy did a good job following commands and working with Karman. She seemed a little uncomfortable, so Karman only did five repetitions. Then Karman put Nutella (chocolate hazelnut spread that Tracy used to love in Italy) on the roof of Tracy's mouth with the tongue stick. The goal was for Tracy to lift her tongue to the roof of her mouth and get the Nutella. Tracy did this, but then became frustrated. Karman then had Tracy try to say the "ta" sound. Tracy tried very hard. We will continue to work on this some more. We think Tracy is having stomach cramps. Mom got Tracy a heated rice pack and some Motrin and that seemed to help a lot. Too bad Tracy can't eat chocolate and go shopping. Every woman's fix at this time of the month! Tomorrow, we plan to increase Tracy's Baclofen to 1750 micrograms per day when we take Tracy to get her pump refilled. She is currently at 1400 micrograms per day and has been at this level since January. Last Friday, Mom, Dad and Jenny took Tracy for her 11:30 AM appointment with Dr. Tosi, Orthopedic Surgeon at Children's National Medical Center. She recommended surgery on her adductor tendons, right hamstring lengthening, and botox to her feet. She also wants to do alcohol blocks to her adductors, her right and possibly left hamstrings. So, this was a lot to tackle today and God must have known that we needed a LONG weekend to ponder it all. We are planning to rebuild her endurance from the last surgery before putting her through any more at this time. The good news is her urine tested negative for a Urinary Tract Infection. Plans are already in the works to transition Tracy to outpatient therapy at Georgetown Medical Center Sports Medicine Clinic. Mom booked an appointment with Karen for Tracy's Speech Therapy evaluation on Monday, June 13th at 1 PM and with Jacquie for Physical Therapy on Tuesday, June 21st at 10:30 AM. We are still working on an Occupational Therapy evaluation appointment. Over the next several weeks, we plan to resume Tracy's intensive therapy regimen on the mat in her therapy corner. The goal will be to spend the next several weeks rebuilding Tracy's stamina to get her ready for outpatient therapy. At this time, we will begin making the transition to outpatient therapy at Georgetown Medical Center. We are looking forward to Tracy starting a new swallowing program that Mom has been researching: VitalStim. You can read more about this new and exciting program at www.vitalstim.com.\ Tracy is enjoying spending time with Sasha. She is such a great friend. We are looking forward to a fun summer with Tiffany, Rick, and Sasha here with us. Tiffany will begin her internship at the Veteran's Administration next Monday. She is making preparations to begin her master's project. It looks like she will not be able to do her focus group with the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Program, however, the Northern Virginia Brain Injury Services is excited to work with her. She plans to effectively evaluate the current website of Brain Injury Services, Inc., a non-profit that supports survivors of brain injuries and their families with “individualized, community-based services through comprehensive case management, education, and advocacy.” She is planning on conducting two focus groups, one consisting of caregivers and one made up of survivors. She is looking forward to working with them this summer! Have a great week and God bless!