Taylor had her first restless night in a long time. After the sleepless night she bathed, did her hair and brushed her teeth and was off to school. Only she fell asleep about 1/2 hour into the lesson with the instructor. They decided to call it a day and she went back to her room where Occupational Therapy met with her and worked on a few things with the mouth stick. She still did her time on the bike. She said that the bike is getting easier. She has regained a lot of feeling in her body even spreading down her legs. The doctors caution that feeling doesn't indicate movement but it is a good sign never the less. Taylor's brother came down with the flu so the nurses are closely watching Taylor for any signs since she was with her brother the first part of yesterday.

Taylor had a great day today. She was excited for her second day of school. Her brother escorted her to class. After her break Taylor got on the bike and rode for an hour. She is excited to be peddaling the bike even if it is with the help of the stimulators. She also got a manacure today and changed her fingernail color to red with glitter. The finished the evening in a great mood. She finished the night by having a conversation using the video confrence feature on her computer with Sheridan, one of her friends.

Taylor had a great day today. She woke up to a visit from her little brother who was climbing all over her bed. She had her first day of school at the Shriner's classroom. She said that it was boaring and she already knew the stuff. I think that she will find that they will accelerate her ciriculum so that she will have to start learning. She did time on the exercise bike today and said that it hurt her muscles. It is good that they were finally getting a workout. It was explained to her that the pain was good pain. Taylor was exausted from her long day and she relaxed in the evening watching Flicka.

Taylor had another relaxing day today. She hung out with family all day. Taylor did some coloring today and painted with a brush in her mouth. She is excited to start school at Shriners tomorrow. Tomorrow will be a big day with school, exercise and therapy. Taylor has slept all through the night for three nights in a row and she said that tonight will be the fourth in a row. Taylor enjoyed reading everyone's emails and comments tonight. She wanted to thank one of her doctors from UC Davis for keeping track of her from UCD to Shriners. She thinks that it is really cool that he is traveling to help kids in other countries.

Taylor had a good day today. The doctors are ordering her to drink more water because it is making it difficult for them to get the secretions out of her lungs without the water. Taylor had the day off from the bike and other exercises but she still had to do her range of motion exercises with her family. She continued the Flicka marathon and enjoyed drawing with her mouthstick and putting stickers on paper. She has made a lot of masterpieces.

Taylor had a long day today. She is now having to exercise a lot more than she is used to. She is enjoying her new room and has made friends with some of her new nurses. Today she rode the bike for an hour. The bike stimulates her muscles and causes her legs to work the pedals. She got very tired. Taylor was put back on her original pacing machine. It was repaired by the company and the doctors put her back on it today. They are going to test her diaphram again on Monday using the ultrasound machine to see if Taylor has any involuntary action of it. She has been laxed in reading her emails recently. There has been a lot going on and she got caught up on some of them today. She is excited to see them and to hear about the events planned for her. Taylor is still watching Flicka the movie. Taylor had a long day and did not even take a nap. She is going to call it an early night tonight and hopefully she will rest all night and wake up for a long day tomorrow.

Taylor had a big day today. She was moved to her new room on the third floor today. She is starting the process of getting used to the nursing staff and the other patients on the floor. Taylor is now able to have children visitors. She is very excited to see her friends that she has missed seeing while she was in the ICU. She also had her first workout session on the bike. She did very well and was able to do it for 20 minutes. The workout helped stop some of the reflex actions that her muscles have been having.

Taylor had a great day today. She is really enjoying playing with her new Flicka horse. She has continued her therapy and is using the mouth stick very well. She has switched formulas that she is getting through her tube and is having a lot less stomach pain. Today the staff was preping Taylor for her move to the 3rd floor. However that got postponed until Thursday for the nursing staff on the 3rd floor to get adequete training on the pacer machine. The new bike got here today. The doctors tried it on some older kids and are hopeful that Taylor will want to use it tomorrow. She is looking forward to using the new bike.

Taylor had a long day. She continued doing her exercises and was a very good patient for the nurses. She is expected to intensify her rehabilitation exercises. She is still expecting to head to a new room soon. She had a little setback due to an infection that she had. She should be moved soon and is very excited to do so. She has found her appetite and had some In and Out burger, fries and a chocolate shake tonight.

Today Taylor started off in a rough mood. That was changed when early this afternoon she got a visit from some friends of hers. Taylor was going out of her room so she got to visit with them. They got to talk and they brought her many nice gifts. That cheered her up. The nursing staff is trying to get Taylor on a strict schedule to limit the interruptions throughout the night and allow her to sleep more peacefully. They are able to eliminate some of her medications and they feel that they have found a solution to help her with her stomach pains. She ended the day talking with her brother on the computer. Her and her brother like blowing each other kisses on the computer video.

Taylor is still having a battle with being able to get a lot of sleep at night. She falls asleep but then seems unable to stay asleep. She is getting by on an average of about 4 hours sleep at night and only cat naps during the day. Doctors are a little confused with this as she is receiving a sleeping aid. She has also been having a problem with very high temperatures during the night. Her temperature is a little above normal during the day but at night it climbs dangerously high. Doctors are taking x-rays, doing cat scans and doing some blood tests to check for any infections or to try to find what may be causing this. In the meantime, Taylor continues with her therapy daily. She has been able to really gain some strength back in her neck muscles. She went from her head cocked to the left to straight and held up strong in just a couple of days of exercises. She is also feeling some sensations in her fingers. When her fingers are squeezed she can not only tell you she feels the squeeze, she can identify which finger you are squeezing. This has raised everyones hopes and spirits immensely. Taylor continues to remain very positive. She still isn't eating all that well and her tummy bothers her often so she has lots of bothersome discomforts to overcome while waiting and working to get better.

Taylor has had many things happen since the last time we updated you. Her pacer machine started to malfunction and she had to be placed back on the ventilator. This caused a great deal of anxiety for Taylor. She did not like being on the vent. She did not sleep well because of it. Now she has a new pacing machine back and is in a great mood. Taylor has continued to get more sensation back. She is still unable to move her arms but is feeling clear to the tips of her fingers. She is now able to tell you which finger you are squeezing. Doctors caution that this is no indication of movement in the future but they say it is still a positive sign never the less. It is something that can proceed movement. The family continues to work with Taylor each day and help her to recuperate. She is enjoying talking to friends and family on her new computer. She is excited to get the bike and start more intensive rehab.

Taylor had a great day today. She was in a good mood and was excited to use her video web conferencing. She is very excited to have her very own computer. One of her pacer antennas was malfunctioning today. The doctors and nurses were unable to find the extra ones and ordered some more. This means that Taylor is back on the ventilator machine and is unable to move to her new room until the new antenna arrives for her phrenic pacer. Taylor finally started to watch a movie other than Flicka. Today she started watching Open Season. Flicka is still the favored and had a great monopoly on Taylor's TV for a week.

Taylor slept great again tonight. She got out of her room twice today. Her family met with the doctors' and they are still anticipating having her on the exercise bike near February 20th. Taylor is expected to move to her new room on Wednesday. They are waiting on a couple pieces of equipment before her new room is ready. Taylor is now able to talk and see family and friends over the internet with her new computer. Her nurses are sad that she is leaving but they are glad that she is getting better enough to be moved. She has made a lot of friends in the ICU.

Taylor woke up in a great mood after a long night of sleep last night. She got in her chair twice and was out of her room for most of the day. She is excited and is supposed to change rooms tomorrow. Taylor got to play games later and even tried her new video computer stuff that will allow her to view her class in Chico during the day. She hopes to be doing that within two weeks. Taylor is having fun learning her horse colors and breeds. She ate a hefty meal of cheese pizza tonight. Taylor finished the evening by browsing a magazine.

Taylor got little sleep last night. She has maintained her appetite and is eating well and had one of her favorites which is Mac and Cheese for lunch. She got into her chair twice today with the second time coming late in the day. The second time she got out and went down to the playroom and went and saw the huge toy train that the hospital has. Taylor remained in great spirits and was a wonderful girl all day. That might have had something to do with the fact that she had the day off from therapy and was left alone to relax today. Hopefully she will get some sleep tonight.

Taylor slept well last night. She also has found her appetite again. She ate great meals all day. She got into her chair twice today. Taylor has watched Flicka non stop. She has been in a great mood all day. She got a chance to read and respond to her emails and really enjoyes reading the email and comments from everyone. Her trach has been capped and she is no longer using the passsy-muir valve to increase the oxygen. She is breathing normal air with only the assistance of the phrenic pacer. Taylor is becoming more mobile and is able to leave the room with just her family members once they are signed off on trach change and suction techniques.

Taylor continued her sleepless ways. The doctors have elevated this to the top of their list. They are going to change her medication to a new one to help her sleep tonight. Taylor still eats very little on her own. The Doctors are continuing to feed her through the tube in her stomach. She got into her chair twice today and continued her Flicka marathon. The did her daily exercises with physical therapy and occupational therapy.

Taylor had another sleepless night. Today she is got into her chair twice. One of those times was to go down to the playroom and watch a play that was being put on. She continued her Flicka marathon. She also got a docking station for her iPod so that she could listen to soft music at night. She should sleep well tonight.

Taylor was in a remarkably cooperative mood today even after staying up all night. She was visited by her nutritionist with concerns about Taylor's diet. They are concerned that she may be losing weight. She has made a deal with them to eat more. Doctors have said that due to her injury she has some abdominal discomfort that is causing her to feel like not eating. Taylor still did her exercises and was visited by occupational and physical therapy. Taylor's family got trained in how to replace her trach today. The training was done on a CPR dummy. Taylor got a great surprise today. Flicka the movie with Tim McGraw went on sale today. She was the first to have it. Hers was purchased for her about 5 minutes after the store opened. She has been waiting for the movie for months. She got it early this afternoon and the nurses later said that it was Flicka marathon day. She has already seen it at least three times. Not only is it her favorite movie but it has her favorite song and video on it which is "My Little Girl" by Tim McGraw.

Taylor's family met with the doctor's today. They learned that Taylor is expected to move to the normal rooms later this week and out of the ICU. She will start on the bike shortly after it gets here on the 20th of this month. The family will start meeting with the doctors in a meeting once a month to review Taylor's care. Taylor did her exercises and worked with some of the oral tools that she will need to learn to use. Taylor got a visit from Pastor Pamela and colored with here for quite awhile. Taylor is still struggling with the cold and had to have the intensity of her pacer increased because her lungs were not fully inflating. The doctors have taken steps to rectify the problem and believe that things will be fine in the morning.

Taylor was not having a great day today. She had to do her exercises. She has had a lot of anxiety lately. The doctors are looking to do everything they can to make sure that she reduces her anxiety. Taylor got a visit from her music instructor. She came with a cart full of instruments to play for Taylor. She might have been cranky because she was unable to watch the Super Bowl in her room. She wanted the Colts to win because they were associated with horses and she liked the horseshoe on their helmet. Although she is a Broncos fan the Colts are a close second. Tomorrow the family will meet with her doctors to get an update on Taylor's rehabilitation. Taylor may be able to get a visit from one of her horses in the near future. Taylor got to read the comments from Mrs. Garcia's 6th grade class the other day and she really enjoyed reading them. She also enjoyed finding out that she will have a new baby cousin.

Taylor had a long day. She did not sleep last night. She made up for it today. She slept for 5 hours today. She continues to be on antibiotics due to the cold and slight fever that she has. Taylor's family is meeting with the doctors on Monday to get an update on Taylor's condition. They are still planning on her starting the exercise bike in a couple weeks.

Taylor was in a good mood today. She got to play with child life. Her physical therapy went well today. They continued to stimulate her arms. Later they will take her down to the playroom once she is in her chair. Today she was started on antibiotics to treat the cold that she appears to be getting.

Taylor had a tough day today. She got little sleep and the doctors feel that she is coming down with a cold. She got a little sleep today but was still exhausted. They were still having her do her exercises to keep her strength. She enjoyed her new trach and how easy it was to talk with it. Her discussions are really effortless now. Hopefully she will get some sleep tonight and wake up rejuvenated and ready for the day.