News:

04/24/08: Site Update

Added info for the bbq and few odds and ends worked on.

04/10/2008: Site Update

Added New fundraisers and added new dates to the calendar.

04/08/2008: Copied from CarePages

April 08, 2008 at 07:20 AM PDT He made it. He is at the best rehabilitation facility on the west coast, Rancho Los Amigos in Downy. Tom was very happy from the first day. He is so happy to be in a place where they don’t treat him like he is sick. He gets to wear tee shirts, sweats, and in his words “man pajamas instead of a long bib with sleeves”. I started typing two hours ago and ended up with a three page informative essay on spinal cord injuries and recovery. I have decided not to post until Tom and I have a meeting with the doctors at Rancho. By Monday we will have discussed his discharge and what we need to get to that point. It’s both a relief and scary at the same time. I change my words and my mind every time I complete a sentence here. I have yet to believe a prognosis I have been given for Tom, good thing too. He would be in a nursing home in West Covina if I believe everything I heard. So, we will listen to all the doctors once again, then we will be able to make an educated decision on what will come next. With what I do know on the subject (possibly only in my dreams), I am thinking two months in Rehab, two months at home to build strength, then off to a rehab facility on the east coast where he will be outfitted with a bike, a lot of electrodes and a computer program so his work out can be monitored at home, from John Hopkins University. We will see. On the lighter side, Tom is approaching 10,000 hits on his web pages. Thank you to everyone who checks in and sends all the prayers and good energy his way. Jason has done a wonderful job at tomsrecovery.com. For the past (I don’t know how many) years, Tom and I have played poker on the weekends with friends…hello my poker friends. If you are a Texas Hold-em player we need you for our fund raiser on April 26th. Steve & Cindy McAfee have donated their business “Line Drive” in Santa Clarita for the venue. We have dinner from La Cocina and live music by the band “Frequency”, my personal favorite. We have very generous gift donations for the evening also. Please go to tomsrecovery.com for the flyer or cut and paste the following link in your address bar and send in your reservation. :o)

03/29/2008: Site Update

New fundraiser added. Front page changed a little.

03/27/2008: Copied from CarePages

March 27, 2008 at 05:29 PM PDT I wait, sometimes for days, for a good story or a bit of good news to post for our family and friends who check in on Tom. The forward progress is slow but I’m thankful that we haven’t had any set backs for weeks. He is generally in good health, his lungs are clear, no infections, no wounds. When supervised he can have a special valve put on his trach so he can talk and he can have ice chips (I got in trouble for giving him Jamba Juice.) Two days ago we found out that Tom was turned down for rehabilitation at Rancho Los Amigos. Not forever, just for now. He needs to be able to endure 3 hours of therapy a day to be accepted and he is just not strong enough yet. At first I was crushed. I knew Tom had his heart set on moving to the next stage of recovery. Now however, I see that having focus will help him move forward. He wants a chart posted of his progress. He wants to know what his goals need to be, not day-to-day but minute-to-minute. (queue up the Rocky theme song) When Todd came by to see him yesterday, Todd got him to talk for 40 minutes and that’s a personal best. Later in the day, he was put back in the cardiac chair for 30 minutes, (aka the Cadillac chair changes from a gurney to a chair) something he had not done since he was at the trauma center. We are making sure he gets physical therapy twice a day. He has to get to rehab, he WILL get to rehab because this is the road home.

03/19/2008: Fundraiser Update

Added information for the Texas Hold'em Tournament. Check out the fundraiser page for more info. Included a link to download the flyer needed to reserve your spot.

03/15/2008: Copied from Care Pages:

March 15, 2008 at 07:36 AM PDT Yesterday was Graduation Day! Tom was taken off the ventilator at 9 AM…with no plans to return! He will take it easy for three days then more aggressive steps will be taken toward removing the tracheotomy. The doctors are all walking around patting themselves on the back. I know what they were thinking when we arrived, they made it clear to me that he may not make it (well that was old news, how many time had I been told that already.) I just kept telling them that he was not your average patient. I told them that he had returned from the edge of life many times already to tell me that he would not be leaving. I told Tom about the meeting at the house on Thursday, and showed him the photos. What a great group! He was very touched by everyone’s generosity. Tom misses everyone terribly but he is still exhausted and not ready for visitors. We aren’t sure where Tom will be going to next, but once again he has made it clear he is deserving of the best. He sends his love and thanks to all of you, Kim

03/14/2008: Copied from Care Pages:

March 14, 2008 at 09:31 AM PDT First we have to tell you how great Tom is doing getting off the vent. He did 16 hours day before yesterday and we are waiting to hear if he completed is 20 hours yesterday. Power to the Brewski! Next - we had a great fund raising meeting last night. Big things are planned. 2 items already on the calendar - April 19th big garage sale and April 26 - Texas Hold'm Charity Tournament. Go to www.tomsrecovery.com for more info. This is the web site we will be using for our fund raining efforts. When you go to web site please click on forum from top menu bar. When new window opens choose register. It will then ask you to fill in a few simple questions. Once this is complete you will be notified when new fund raising activities are posted. You can also direct questions to any other web site forum members. This is another great communication tool. It is amazing how Tom's Team has mobilized. With this group of friends and family anything is possible!! Keep the positive energy flowing

03/14/2008: Website Update!!!

Added some new items to the site. Fundraiser Info now up. Working picture album and a bio page has been added. Page Counter on bottom.

03/11/2008: Copied from Care Pages

March 11, 2008 at 04:09 PM PDT - We are finally moving on getting some fund raising together. There are some big things in the works and we will keep you all posted. We have set up new site for communicating our fund raising activities - keep watching TomsRecovery.com. This will be our main info link. We will keep posting Tom's condition up dates to this Care Page. There is a direct link from TomsRecovery.com to the Care Pages. A big thank-you from all the family!!