Christmas Message

The following is a special message from the Foulger family...

We would like to wish everybody reading this blog a very Happy Christmas. The Foulger family has not mailed Christmas cards this year because we are all concentrating on Natalie’s recovery. However we would like thank all of you for all your help and support over the last few months, and particularly send our heartfelt thanks to:

All of the first responders who were at the accident scene in Watertown.

The Neuro, Orthopedic and Trauma teams and all the other doctors who helped Natalie at University Hospital in Syracuse.

The nurses and other staff in Neuro ICU, Neuro step-down, and unit 7A at University Hospital.

The doctors, therapists and nurses at Sunnyview Rehab Hospital in Schenectady.

The organizers and participants in the Benefit Run, the Irish Quilt and the Spaghetti Dinner.

National Vision Center and their employees for their incredible fundraiser.

All of our friends, neighbors, relatives and colleagues who helped in so many ways, with visits, cards and words of encouragement, financial donations, looking after our house (and Stormy!), providing meals, hotel accommodations, etc.


Best wishes for the New Year from all of us!



Marc and Tina, Becca and Mike, Kyle, Al, and of course Nat.

Foulger Holiday Plans

Some of you have expressed interest in the family's plans this holiday season. I will do my best to update you all on whats happening with them.

Al plans to drive up to Watertown this Christmas to be with his family. He will be driving late on Christmas day.

Rebecca came to visit me - she will be here for Christmas Eve and we will drive back to Schenectady early Christmas morning.

Kyle, Marc, and Tina all remained in Schenectady and will be there on Christmas as well.

Natalie has a 'get out of jail free' pass for the whole day on Christmas so we will be taking her to the apartment to celebrate the Day.

I hope that this brief post is informative enought to answer your questions. Let me know if there are any other questions I may be able to answer.

Happy Holidays!

-Mike

Spaghetti Dinner Summary

"The dinners went well on both Wednesday and Thursday nights. Combined we sold a total of 323 dinners. There were a multitude of concerned questions about Natalie and endless good wishes extended to the entire Foulger Family. Cindy Harnas, Mary, Terese and Barb from the H.S cafeteria all donated their time to cook, clean and supervise the kitchen activities. What a lovely and generous group of ladies they are!"

Thanks to Elizabeth Fralick for an explanation of that wonderful night!

A report of grand success!

Natalie has been doing very well lately. She has been exceeding in three key areas - walking, eating, and overall improvement.

Currently Natalie is able to stand up with the help of a special walker. This walker is taller than traditional walkers assisting Nat in keeping her body upright. Therapists stand behind her to observe she is standing straight and push the walker forward, and she is now able to move her feet on her own!

Typically, after every meal, Natalie would have a set amount in her tube-feed because she was unable to provide her body with enough nutrition during meals. She no longer needs a tube-feed after every meal because of her improvements in feeding herself! She does still receive a continuous tube-feeding from 7pm to 7am, however, so she is not yet completely eating on her own.

Starting this past weekend Natalie has been granted passes allowing her to leave the hospital for a few hours at a time. This week the family piled in Al's car and took her for a ride around Schenectady!

More exciting updates to come!

Spaghetti Dinner

There will be 2 Spaghetti Dinners in the SJCS High School Cafeteria to benefit Natalie in her continuing recovery. They are scheduled for this Wednesday, Dec. 13 and Thursday, Dec. 14. Take-outs will begin at 4 PM on both days and eat-in begins at 4:30 PM. Wednesday's dinner will end at 6 and will be followed a t 6:30 PM by the Middle School Christmas Concerts. Thursday's dinner will end at 6:30 PM to be followed by the High School Christmas Concerts and Dance Company. Dinner tickets cost $6.00 per person, 5 and under are free and the Family rate is $20.00. The menu will include spaghettti and meatballs, tossed salad, homemade bread, dessert and coffee, tea or milk. A few more volunteers to help serve and clean-up on each day would be lovely! If anyone would like to help, please contact Elizabeth Fralick at (315) 782-4138.

A Useful Link

Natalie's father just sent me an email with a wonderfully descriptive page about Natalie's current stage, Post Traumatic Amnesia. I urge everyone who continuously reads this blog to visit the link as it paints a brilliant picture of Natalie's abilities and disabilities to this point. The link can be found here.

A Quick Week's Update

This week Natalie continued having stomach problems. As a possible solution doctors have changed her food. She is still receiving most of her nourishment through tube feeding, however, she does continue to feed herself orally. Natalie has been making small steps of progress and will continue to improve as time passes.

A Quick Post

This update is to bring you all up to speed on Natalie's newest 'condition'. Surgeons examined her x-rays three times and concluded that a hematoma had developed beneath her pelvic incision. The doctors decided not to go along with any surgical procedures because the condition will not interfere with her health.

On another note, Natalie's Aunt Ann recently ended her visit to the states. I know I speak for the rest of the family when I say thank you, from the bottom of our hearts. Your presence was greatly appreciated in this time of need.

This weeks update

In case you haven't already heard Natalie has tested out of the coma stim program meaning that she is no longer considered to be in a coma! She does not act any differently because of this and her progress is still slow but gradual. It mainly means that she scored a 20 (out of 23) or higher on her coma emergence test two weeks in a row - she actually scored a perfect 23 both weeks!

Natalie has been good and talkative for most of the week except today. She was very nauseous and quiet today and as a result missed most of her therapies for the day. Doctors suspect her c-diff is coming back and causing the vomitting. As of now they are unsure but I will post an update once her condition is resolved.

A further request

A further request:
As requested before: Please do not just show up at sunnyview. Natalie needs to concentrate on her therapies and rest. It makes it difficult on the family to have to turn people away, but this will have to be done on Natalie's behalf.
Thanks for the continued support.
Gratefully yours
Tina
(concerned Mum)



Please respect the wishes of the family as they are trying to do what is best for a speedy recovery.

Thank you.

Great week!

Natalie has made some excellent progress in the past week. These improvements include eating better portions of food - she will now request food (Wendy's frosty, cinnamon buns, etc.) that she can eat with assistance. She has also been talking a lot more. Recently Natalie has been able to compose more complex sentences, for instance she is now able to say a name (or direct her voice) and then ask a question or tell a joke. Natalie seems more comfortable this week than any previous week. She is able to tell us when she is hurting and what is bothering her and sometimes can remedy the problem herself. She will even ask us to be quiet or stop talking when she needs some time to herself!

Natalie has spent most of her days this week in her wheelchair instead of in bed. When she is in her wheelchair the family includes her in games or tells stories with her. Her speech is becoming increasingly coherent as she speaks louder and is more consistent with her thoughts.

She has been doing very well with her therapies and is making excellent progress from the last time I saw her, two weeks ago.

Natalie still needs to focus her energy on her therapies as she is always exhausted at night. Because of this the family still asks that visitors are strictly limited to close family friends and relatives. Please do not show up without calling the family first. I will let you all know once Natalie is able to have more visitors! Otherwise keep the prayers coming and thank you all for reading the blog!

On a sidenote - The format of the blog will be a bit different. Because Natalie's stay at Sunnyview is somewhat of a 'rollercoaster' I will be doing weekly updates on her status. If something extremely important happens, I will surely break the format. Otherwise, join us next week for more miracles!

Brief update

Therapists began trying to feed Natalie three times a day. This includes very small portions of food (cheerios, orange juice, yogurt, etc.) but will help to get Natalie back into the habit of eating three meals daily. She is not yet able to eat enough on her own to completely nourish herself so they are continuing the tube feeding to remedy that.

Natalie's nausea continued today but she was more alert today than she had been in the past few days (talking more and participating more in her therapies). She continued working on improvements in therapies - including beginning to learn how to use a regular wheelchair (natalies current wheelchair is able to angle her back so she sits back more comfortably and also has a headrest).

I was also told that Marc was able to show Natalie the website for the first time and he read a few comments to her. I look forward to the near future when she will be able and alert enough to read the comments herself - I believe that day is not so far away!

Keep praying!

Update and Goals

Thanks to Marc for today's wonderful post!


Natalie had another minor setback this week when her feeding tube got blocked on Thursday evening. The tube had clogged up before, but this time the nurses could not get it unblocked. Nat missed all her meds that day and the tube feeding as well. On Friday she was taken over to Ellis hospital, a general hospital right next door to Sunnyview. There they x-rayed the tube with dye in it and found that it had pulled out of her jejunum, and had kinked. They straightened out the kink but could not re-insert it into the jejunum because her intestines were in spasms. However the x-rays showed that the blockage between her stomach and her jejunum seemed to have resolved in the last few weeks. It was decided to convert the tube back to a G-tube, in her stomach instead of in the jejunum, and see if she could tolerate that over the weekend. So far so good!

When Natalie is feeling unwell or tired she stops talking, or talks much less. Between her C-diff infection last week and the tube problems and procedure this week she has been very tired, and has not talked as much as before, but when she does talk her voice is now louder and clearer.



The therapists recently gave Natalie a new set of goals for the next 3-4 weeks. The most important of the goals are:

1) Orientation to “people, place and time”: People emerging from a coma have very little short term memory, and can typically remember some information from several years ago much better than they can remember information from a few hours ago. For this reason they have trouble recognizing people, understanding what time, date or year it is, or remembering where they are. Natalie is fairly well oriented to people, she knows each of us and generally remembers her therapists. She is somewhat oriented to place, she usually remembers that she is in hospital, and can pick the right hospital name if given a couple of options. She has more trouble with time, even though we go through the calendar several times a day.

2) Following commands consistently: Natalie can follow simple commands, but is not yet 100% consistent in doing so.

3) Discontinue the feeding tube: Natalie is beginning to eat a few small spoonfuls of soft foods by mouth in the morning, and drinking a little with a straw. Gradually she will be encouraged to eat and drink more with the goal of establishing 3 meals a day and phasing out the feeding tube.

4) Switch to a regular wheelchair and learn to wheel it around herself: One of the goals of her physical therapy is to strengthen and tone her back and stomach muscles so that she can sit without full support. She can then switch from her special wheelchair, which has wrap around support and a neck brace, to a regular wheelchair.

5) Family training for bed to wheelchair transfers: We have a goal too! We are learning how to safely transfer her to a wheelchair, and will learn how to transfer her from a wheelchair to a car, so that we will be ready when the time comes for her to make short trips out of the hospital. Natalie will also be taught to help with the transfers by taking some weight on one leg.



There has been some confusion over the posting about Nat walking. To be clear, she was held upright for a few minutes, without taking any of her own weight on her feet, and was encouraged and helped to move her legs in a walking motion. It took 4 people to do this and by no means was she actually walking. She was practicing movements only. We do hope that she will walk again eventually, but that will not happen until she can straighten her right leg and regain more strength and feeling in her left side.

Happy Halloween

Natalie attempted walking today! She had two therapists and the family to help her walk but kept at it for about 20 minutes on and off. She is not yet able to put all her weight on her feet just yet but is learning to put one foot in front of the other. Natalie enjoyed the weather today as the family wheeled her outside. She has also been speaking and answering questions as she was before her minor setback.

Natalie continues to progress and with your thoughtful prayers will only get stronger. Keep it up!!

Moving uphill

I have been told that Natalie is continuing her uphill progress and is again able to speak very softly. She is not yet talking as much as she was able to before she became sick but should be back to that point shortly. During the time Natalie was unable to speak she used a bit of sign language! I was amazed to hear that she was able to recall that process!

Natalie's therapy sessions are going well. With the exception of the past few days she is now back on track with her sessions and will continue to improve as the days move on.

I will do my best to keep you informed on her progress and know that you are all extremely anxious to hear how she is improving. Please continue to leave comments and encouraging words on the blog as they will help Natalie through the tough times ahead. Thanks, all!

A Minor Setback

Here is another post from Natalie's father:

Natalie has had a minor setback this week, one of those things that can happen when you are in hospital for a while. She has Clostridium Difficile Colitis (known as C-diff), which is basically an infection of the intestines. This is something that can develop when you are taking antibiotics (which Nat was taking for a UTI), or you can get by contact, particularly in a hospital. It causes diarrhea, cramping and flu like symptoms, the cure is a different antibiotic.

At the beginning of the week Nat did make more progress. She wrote “Nat” on a piece of paper and drew a star when asked to. She was also making progress eating little spoonfuls of various foods and drinking orange juice through a straw, which she loved. Unfortunately after a couple of days she vomited the orange juice and as she got sicker she got very tired. Her feeding tube was then disconnected for a couple of days and she has had to miss a few of her therapies. Since she is very tired and feeling unwell she has stopped talking or communicating much, but she does still give an occasional thumbs up or down to questions. Her white blood cell count had been up, but is now back to normal, so her tube feeding was re-started this morning. Hopefully she will recover more over the weekend and will be ready to make more progress next week.

I will update you all as soon as Natalie starts feeling better and improving!

Sign the Irish Chain Quilt from overseas!

I recently received an email from the quilt master's daughter, Colleen Cappon, stating that anyone overseas that wishes to sign the quilt may do so by including a small blurb (it must fit on a 3 x 3 square) and $5 to:

Liz Cappon
14579 County Route 156
Watertown NY 13601

Please get your submissions in or postmarked by November 3rd.

Thank you!

Natalie's voice!

I spoke briefly with Natalie today. The first thing she told me to do was shave my beard - she told me nicely, though, by saying, "Shave, please". I asked her how she was feeling and tried to limit the time I spoke with her on the phone as to keep her energy levels up. She told me she felt ok and I let her know I would be coming to see her soon. I let her off the phone by saying I love you and goodbye and she repeated the phrase to me as well. It was remarkable being able to hear her voice. From what I've been told she sounded much stronger today. Her voice was quiet but it was not a whisper. So far her progress at Sunnyview has been wonderful!


Benefit Run Pictures

Thanks to Jess Weise for creating a page where you all can view some pictures from the benefit run! I'll post the link on the right side of the page. You can also view the pictures by clicking here

Thank you all for your patience with the lack of daily posts. I will be able to post updates more frequently now that I am back on Long Island.

Rehab Breakthroughs!

Today's Post comes straight from Dad!

Natalie has made amazing progress in the last few days, she is now much more aware and is communicating much more. We are very excited by this progress, but please bear in mind as you read the details below that I am describing Natalie’s accomplishments in her best, most alert moments. She is still in the process of emerging from her coma, though she is now significantly further along in that process. She now scores 16 out of 23 on the Coma Recovery Scale. Her response level changes somewhat from hour to hour and day to day, and she still has a long way to go, but she is now consciously participating in her rehabilitation process. Here is what she has been doing:

Natalie can distinguish between different objects, even when they are similar. When shown a hairbrush and a paintbrush she knows which is which, and will brush her hair with the hairbrush.

Natalie can perform single commands, even when they are abstract commands, such as “make a fist”, or “point at the ceiling”.

Natalie can swallow, and is learning to eat little spoonfuls of applesauce and crushed popsicle.

Natalie can talk! Her voice is mostly a very quiet whisper, and can be very hard to hear (Al has the best hearing!) but she can carry on a conversation. She usually gives a small nod or shake of the head for yes and no answers. She can tell us her full name and the full names of all of us around her, and can spell all of those names letter by letter! She knows the name of the road we live on, the name of her college and many other things.

She can count and tell us what 2 + 2 is. She has asked questions about her accident and has articulated her frustration at being in bed or in a wheelchair all the time. And she told her therapist that she does not like apple sauce!

Natalie can read! When her therapist wrote commands such as “stick out your tongue” on a piece of paper Natalie read them and followed the commands.

Natalie is working very hard to get her legs working. Her leg casts have now been split to make them removable, and she only wears them at night. Since her whole left side is very weak she cannot put much weight on her left leg. Her right leg is strong, but cannot be straightened out after being tightly bent at the knee for so long. We stretch her right leg out as much as possible every day. Once a day she goes on a “tilt table”. She is strapped to a horizontal table and it is gradually raised towards the vertical, putting her weight on her feet. She very much wants to do this, but it is very painful for her because her right leg must be stretched as hard as possible and strapped in place. Her multiple daily physical therapy sessions are also very tiring for her, and she is usually exhausted by the afternoon.

Natalie’s left arm now has three different arm and hand splints which alternate during the day, to gradually correct the tight contraction of the elbow and hand muscles. She has regained a very small amount of movement at the wrist. Her right arm and hand work very well and are amazingly strong. She can do a lot with this hand, although she is still subject to some agitated movements that are hard for her to control.

The improvements of the last few days have made a huge difference. Natalie knows who she is, where she is and why she is there. She can tell us what she is feeling, and can understand what she needs to do to continue to get better. With her determination, I am sure her therapy sessions will bring her improvements in mobility that she now longs for.

Benefit Run details

Jill Weise paints a nice picture of the benefit run for those of us who could not attend:

"The wind was alittle chilly, but the warmth of so many joined hearts and prayers was enough for all of us yesterday! There were friends, acquaintances, neighbors, co-workers, young, old, in-between, people who have experienced similar situations, and those who just wanted to contribute in some way. Everyone with one purpose: participate in a time of community togetherness in honor of Natalie and her familiy. It was something to see!

The quilt is also going to be beautiful! Many people enjoyed writing their
messages! It added so much to the day! People were just thrilled to be able
to help in some small way!

When I had mentioned earlier that God could provide us with so much more than we could ever even imagine, I didn't mean in a financial way...I meant with blessings for Nat's continued progress! However, he has done both and I have faith that he will just keep blessing all of you abundantly! I know that many people here feel blessed by the opportunity to be involved."


Thank you for filling us all in! I will post pictures of the event once I can get my hands on some.

More updates

Nat is progressing well at Sunnyview. From what I've heard the rehab sessions are quite exhausting for Natalie but will quicken the coma emergence process. Weekends at the hospital are less work for her as she only has three half hour sessions instead of six on Saturday and is able to rest all of Sunday. Her night time medicine was adjusted as well so she is not as sleepy during the day.

Judging by the comments posted on the blog the benefit run was a huge success. I will post more details as I receive the information.

Therapy update

As I said yesterday, Natalie has begun her therapy. Her days consist of six half hour sessions - thats two half hour sessions for each therapy group. The three groups are occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech therapy. The therapists have already commented that Natalie is doing better than they suspected she would - not surprising for those of us that know her!

Marc and Al will be driving to Watertown to pick up some furniture for the apartment and the family will be moving in on Saturday.

As far as I know the benefit run is still on for October 15th. That is this Sunday! If you will be available that day please participate in the run as I know it will be a huge help to the family!

Thank you everyone for your continuing words of encouragement, I know Natalie will be shocked at all the support she has.

Visitors

In response to a comment posted earlier today:

I believe that visitors should hold off a few weeks on going to see Natalie and the family. The first few weeks at the rehab center are going to be very chaotic and I feel the Foulgers will need some time to settle in and absorb all the changes. I will most definitely update the blog as soon as I hear differently. Please keep reading!

My Visit

I drove up to see Natalie and the family on Friday, October 6th. While the family looked both emotionally and physically drained Natalie looked much better than I had remembered. At first sight I was absolutley amazed at the amount of movement she has regained. She was moving her right arm and leg with ease, scratching her nose, putting her glasses on, and putting on hats. She also makes a lot of noise suggesting that she is preparing herself to start talking again.

That first night Rebecca and I stayed in her room in order to give Tina a break. She slept for a total of 5 hours occasionally waking up in discomfort. When asked what was bothering her she would continually point to her right leg. Both legs have heavy casts on them that cover her from the heel up to just below her knees. These casts should be removed soon now that Nat has been moved to rehab.

The morning of the move was very nerveracking at first because the trip was almost postponed again. Luckily Sunnyview was eager to take her that day.

The drive took about two hours - the facility is almost 180 miles from Syracuse. We had quite the 'convoy': Rebecca, me, Al, and Paul all drove separate cars while Jane and Kai drove together as well as Ann and Marc. A total of 6 cars made the trip, two of which headed back home a few hours after arrival. Tina drove up in the ambulance and was already in the room answering medical questions about Natalie when we arrived.

I, personally, was shocked to see how nice the hospital was on the inside. It does not look like a hospital but a dormitory instead. The hallways are carpeted and Natalie's room has beautiful wood floors and two large windows for her to look out of. There are cushions on either side of the bed that have built in alarms in case Nat were to try and run off. The staff seemed very courteous and pleasant, as well. In my opinion I feel the family made the right decision in coming to Sunnyview. They, too, seemed very content with the decision.

The family is currently staying at a nearby Holiday Inn but will be moving in to an apartment 1.5 miles from the hospital! Their move-in day is Friday.

Today Natalie had her first day of rehab. Different teams came in to take notes on her status. She did not do too much physically today other than stretching but will start with her normal therapy sessions as soon as possible. Her days consist of six half hour sessions, in which Nat is visited by a variety of specialized doctors.

All in all I feel Natalie will improve quickly at this hospital. It seems the doctors will be working her very hard to regain her functionality but I can't see her anywhere else!

More updates to come!

Further complications...

This morning Natalie's pelvic incision leaked a fluid that suggested a possible infection. The family was faced with a difficult decision: whether or not to transfer to the rehab facility this morning.

Ultimately the family's decision hindered on the ability of Sunnyview's staff to be able to care for Natalie's wound had it been infected. Luckily we received news that Sunnyview Hospital has a wound specialist team on call that would be able to take care of the situation if the incision does become infected. Natalie's orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Simpson, believes the wound will heal itself as long as she receives the proper nutrition. He believed the fluid, called seroma, was a direct result of her malnutrition in the previous weeks. Since then Nat has been fed properly and is doing very well (this will help the incision from becoming severely infected).

The family will leave SUNY Upstate Medical Hospital today in a 7 car convoy on their way to Sunnyview Rehabilitation Hospital. I will leave a detailed post tomorrow of my personal opinions about Natalie's progress. In short, it is remarkable. Thank you for continuing to send all your love and prayers!

Answering questions

The address for the Sunnyview Rehabilitation Hospital is available on the website, which is linked at the right side of the blog.

1270 Belmont Avenue
Schenectady, NY 12308

Natalie will follow verbal commands on and off. She has not been squeezing hands every time she is asked to but sometimes will respond. This is no better nor worse than her ability to follow verbal commands was a few weeks after the accident, but because of the other actions she has been able to perform, improvement is definitely existent.

Mom and Dad Posts

These are comments posted by Natalie's parents:

Many, many thanks to Nat's friends Elysia, Kelly, Meredith and Amanda for organizing the wonderful fundraiser at Daemen College, and thanks to all of the friends, faculty, staff and students who supported it. We really appreciate your generosity, but it is even more important to us that so many of you at Daemen are thinking of Natalie and supported this event so incredibly well.
Marc & Tina


Thursday October 5th
Natalie is up to the target feeding tube rate and is tolerating it well so far. The doctor's want to monitor this for at least another 24 hours before she can be transferred to rehab. Sunnyview's policy is to not take new patients from Friday-Sunday, so it looks like the transfer will be Monday.
Marc & Tina

Rehab move update

It seems Natalie has been okay with her nutrition intake, however, staff at Sunnyview would rather she moves on Monday of this coming week. As a result Nat will be in Syracuse this weekend. Of course her rehab move has been delayed a week from the initial date they were planning to send her off, but on the bright side, this will give Doctors a better chance to make certain she is stable with her feeding.

While Nat still hasn't been following commands I've been told that she was able to spin a hat around on her index finger and adjust it to fit her head!


Benefit Run Update
I've been told that there will be an Irish Chain Quilt put together for Nat. There will be a separate table set up at the benefit run where people can donate $5 to put a message on one of the 400 squares. All proceeds will go towards Natalie's rehabilitation.

Just another way for us all to show that we care; great idea!!

Feeding tube status

Doctors performed the procedure to reposition Natalie's feeding tube yesterday. The procedure went well and so far, today, there haven't been any changes. Hoping that the tube stays put in her intestine and Nurses are able to continue to provide nourishment, Nat's new scheduled move date is Thursday. I will let you all know as soon as the move is closer to a reality.

Natalie's friends from Daemen College raised funds to aid in her recovery. I want to thank you all for putting this fundraiser together. The family is very appreciative of all the support they've received thus far!

Minor Setback

Today's post is from Natalie's father:

"Yesterday Nat vomited several times, so doctors immediately stopped her tube feeding for a while. When they tried to restart it last night she vomited again, and did so again later in the night. This morning she was still retching, so her stomach was x-rayed again. It turns out that the feeding tube had completely pulled out of position somehow, and the end of it is now all the way up in her throat, which is causing her to continue to gag even though the feed is off. Tomorrow doctors will use a small internal camera to try to properly replace her feeding tube past the blockage and into her intestine again. If this works she could be ready for transfer to rehab within another 24 hours. If it does not work they will likely perform another procedure where a feeding tube is brought through a new opening directly below the blockage. Nat would need about 2 days to recover from that procedure, so she could still go to rehab later this week."

Thanks for the update, Marc!

Weekend update

I was just told that Doctors have completely removed Natalie's tracea tube! This is excellent news and in my opinion will help to keep her healthy and stable by eliminating the open pathway for bacteria.

I have also been told today that while Marc was showing Natalie a photo album that Staci Cavellier had made, she was able to reach up and flip through some of the pages!

Thank you all for continuing to support the family and keeping the comments so positive. It is a huge help to everyone to be able to read such nice words.

BIG DAY!!

Today was especially important in Nat's road to improvement.

I have updated the blog recently stating that Natalie is able to move around a lot more, including her arms, legs, and head. She is also able to detect stimuli more proficiently than she has over the past month and a half. This includes tasks that we may think are simple, but are monumental improvements like wiping saliva off her face or being able to remove and replace her glasses.

Today nurses placed a cap over Natalie's tracea tube enabling her to talk if she is able. She has yet to speak but is currently able to mumble. The addition of this cap is a good sign of improvement for Natalie as well.

Doctors and nurses made the decision to move Natalie to the rehab center on Monday, October 2nd pending any further problems. The center the family has chosen, Sunnyview Rehabilitation Hospital, is located in Schenectady, NY and is a highly recommended hospital where Natalie will receive the care she needs and deserves.

Please allow the family some time to settle in to the hospital and I will be sure to notify you all once visitors are welcome. At this time I'd like you all to view the rehab center's website to gain a better understanding of the attention she will receive. I commend the family for making such an important decision and firmly feel they've made the right choice.

I will be moving back to Long Island, NY to be closer to both my family and the Foulger family. At this time I feel it is the right thing to do and it would make me happier to be closer to everything that is happening. I will make a brief trip up there in the beginning of October and will move towards the end of the month.

Please keep your comments coming as we will be sure to read them!

Benefit For Nat

"The meeting went very well and the flyers are ready to go out this week-end for
the Run/Walk for Natalie and her family. We have several local sponsors and
friends excited to be of help in any way they can! We expect that this will just be one of many events to come!

Flyers with registration forms can be picked up at most local schools in the area, Kinney's, Subway, Rod's, several local churches and other local businesses. Mail the registration form and entry fee to Zoe Cook, South Jefferson Central School, PO Box 10 Route 11, Adams, NY 13605. Make checks payable to Marc or Tina Foulger. Participants will be expected to sign a waiver on the day of the event. For more information or to register by phone, call Mary Porter at 788-8421.

The event will be Oct. 15th from 2:00-4:00 with new registrations beginning at
1:00. Entry fees are $20 for pre-registration and $25 for the day of the event. Donations are accepted. T-shirts will be provided to the first 100 registrants. The 3 mile event will be held at the South Jefferson Clarke Building Cross Country Course. Rain or shine. The run will begin at 2:00 with the walk commencing at 2:15.

Water and Gatorade will be available for purchase also. As always, Nat is in everyone's prayers. We know that God can provide more than we could possibly imagine and we are all counting on his blessings to be abundant for all of you."
Jill Weise

Thank you, Jill, for setting up this amazing event!

Benefit Run for Natalie

I received an email from Jill Weise about a benefit run for Natalie. Details are as follows:

Family friends plan to hold an organizational meeting on Thursday September 28th at 6:30PM in the South Jefferson High School study hall room (across from the auditorium). They plan to sponsor a 3 mile cross country run/walk at South Jefferson's cross country course on October 15th from 2PM - 4PM.

The details will be more concrete after the meeting and I will update you all once I hear back from Jill.

*Tina said...

Hi all

yesterday, Monday 25th September, Natalie had to go into surgery as she had a pin sized hole in her pelvic scar. Unfortunately the doctors found the hole to go through many layers of skin. In order to rectify this an overlapping of skin layers was done and Nat was given internal "beads" of antibiotics that will slow release into the affected area over the next six weeks. Of course the down side to this is she will have to have another surgery to remove the "beads" and her pelvic plate will probably have to be replaced due to the bacteria in the area.
Nat had a very restless night last night after the surgery but she continues to try her hardest to recover. Please keep your kind thoughts and prayers coming.
A special thanks to our food/laundry and accommodation crew!
love and gratitude
Tina (Mum)

*this is a comment placed in the blog by Natalie's mother

Thanks for the update, Tina!

*Natalie's current status

"Since Natalie’s condition has changed in many, many little ways, since she first arrived at this hospital, I thought it might be a good idea to summarize her current status. Natalie remains in a “semi-coma” or “lightened coma” and is in the long and often very slow process of “coma emergence”. She is not aware of most of what is going on around her. She breathes on her own through her trach and can cough, yawn and swallow. She originally had no muscle tone and could not move, now her muscle tone is gradually returning, but she is clearly weaker on her left side than on her right side. She can move her right arm and hand freely, although her control over it is hampered by tremors. This arm and hand is very active, and tends to pull at her various tubes a lot! Her left arm and hand can move, but the muscles pull very tight most of the time so that her arm is usually fully bent at the elbow and the fingers tightly curled in the hand, it is impossible to straighten this arm out fully. She now has a special spring loaded splint that she wears for several hours a day on this arm, which will gradually straighten the arm. Natalie recently began to move her right leg, though she mostly just bends the knee and pulls her foot up, we straighten it several times a day to try to prevent it becoming as tight as her left elbow. She cannot move her left leg. Although both feet are in casts she sometimes moves her toes. She can now also move her neck, and is beginning to hold her head up when sitting in the wheelchair. Natalie opens her eyes fully and looks around, but it is not always clear what she sees. Sometimes she will focus on specific things or on people and sometimes will track them if they move. She responds to familiar voices and at least sometimes seems to understand what is said to her or in front of her. She can open and close her mouth and make facial expressions. She likes to have her teeth cleaned and her neck massaged. She does not like any of her various tubes. Her trach has a small plastic hose that brings moistened air to keep it from drying out. She has a PICC (Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter) in her right arm, through which she receives nourishment and some medicines. She has a “J tube” in her belly for feeding, but it is not working right now because doctors have still been unable to get it correctly positioned inside her. And of course she has a catheter.


Natalie has a special wheelchair that can recline and has a head support. She sits in the chair for an hour every day, or goes downstairs for physical therapy. Natalie needs to be fully supported when being lifted in or out of the chair or when sitting on a platform for therapy. The objectives of the therapy are to increase the range of motion of her limbs and to stimulate her to help with the process of coma emergence. As soon as she is medically stable she will be transferred to a specialized rehab center where she can get more specialized and intensive therapy. She will start in a coma stimulation program, and if she emerges from the coma more she will graduate to a traumatic brain injury program. The ultimate goal is to try to get her fully aware and better enough that she can come home, for the remaining months or years of therapy."


*This update has been provided by Natalie's father.

Natalie's day

Today proved the new feeding method unsuccessful. Doctors will continue to feed Natalie through the PICC line for the time being. Natalie has been moving around a lot more frequently, including her arms, legs and even her head. The only remaining issue is her nourishment, which will hopefully be resolved shortly.

Please continue to leave comments for Natalie!

Different feeding method

Doctors placed a smaller feeding tube directly into Natalie's intestine as a replacement to the PICC line feeding method. Natalie still has the PICC line in her arm but nurses are trying to nourish her through the smaller tube as this will make it easier for her when she is at rehab.

More updates tomorrow!

Coma continued

Based on the fact that Nat still is in the coma I will assume she is closest to level 3 of the Rancho Levels of Cognitive Functioning:

Level 3

Localized Response

Total Assistance Demonstrates withdrawal or vocalization to painful stimuli. Turns toward or away form auditory stimuli. Blinks when strong light crosses visual field. Follows moving object passed within visual field. Responds to discomfort by pulling tubes or restraints. Responds inconsistently to simple commands. Responses directly related to type of stimulus. May respond to some persons (especially family and friends) but not to others

Coma

Actually, there is a link I used previously on this blog that describes Natalie's current state as 'coma emergence'. I feel that this page fully describes the different stages and what happens or can happen during them. The link can be found here

Update from Dad

"Nat had a good day today, after a bit of a rough night with elevated blood pressure and some signs of discomfort. This afternoon nurses put her in a wheelchair again, but this time they took her down to the rehab center on the second floor! We went with her and she had an hour of therapy down there, sitting on a platform, stretching, and slowly following a couple of commands (push up with your arm, look over at Dad, etc). After she got back to her room she was exhausted and went right to sleep!"

No new updates

No new updates for Tuesday the 19th, I will post news tonight around 8:30PM.

Today's update

Today, Natalie was moved into a larger room on the seventh floor. In solution to her nutrition problem, Doctors re-inserted a PICC line into her chest and are feeding her through a process known as Total Parenteral Nutrition or TPN for short. The PICC line will remain as Natalie's food supplier for about six weeks. Nurses are saying that this setback will delay her move to rehab but have not disclosed how long. I will most definitely update the blog once this is known.

As for the comment about the laundry, meals, and hotel expenses:
No one person is orchestrating the services. Laundry has been done by Alyssa's family and the Cavaliers among others. Meals have been provided by many including Al's mother and godparents and Michelle of the Vision Center to name a few. And the hotel expenses were assumed by Al's mother, my mother, and I believe the Hartwick Lacrosse team as well. If I am leaving anybody out I sincerely apologize, it is just that there are so many of you kind, helpful people lending a hand that it is impossible for me to remember you all!

I would like to take a brief moment to thank you all again on behalf of the Foulgers for making these difficult times a little less worrisome.

Rehab Query #2

As long as Natalie is responding to stimuli and verbal commands (which she has been) she can be transferred to a rehab center. Once the family decides on a facility I will update the blog with that information.

PEG issue

Over the past few days, Natalie has been experiencing problems with her stomach PEG. These problems peaked today when her PEG displaced itself three times. As a result Nat has not been able to receive any nutrition to her stomach. The temporary solution is to pump nutrients into her bloodstream using her IV, which doctors are doing for the time being. Doctors were unable to find any problems through x-rays and will be conducting a procedure involving dyes to locate and isolate the issue. This will place a small damper on her move to the rehab facility but I think it is better that these problems are caught and dealt with while she is still at Upstate Medical.

I will update you all as soon as I hear more news.

Family posts

tina A.K.A. Nat's Mum said...
Mike what a wonderful job you continue to do. I am relieved to have all my children together again. We all continue to be overwhelmed by everyone's generosity toward both Nat and our family. Natalie is about to go in for her foot surgery. She has to have her tendons cut as she has dropped foot, (her feet have become angled down) the feet will be cast after the surgery and hopefully this will allow her feet to straighten in the correct manner. Keep up the blog responses as we too check them several times a day.
many thanks again.


Ann (Nat's Aunt) said...
I have been with the family for almost 2 weeks now, Nat has been here for over 4 weeks and the generosity, concern and practical help everyone has continued to give has overwhelmed me. This family would be so much worse off without the meals and amazing laundry service that has been co-ordinated by the lovely people that care so much. This will all help Nat as it helps us all to keep going by not having to worry about that side of things. Yes Nat is better than we could have expected but we have such a long road to travel and with your continued support I am sure she will make it. You know Nat she is a determined young lady. Thanks again to all of you who are too numerous to name. Thanks to Mike for this blog, you are becoming quite the journalist - love you lots xx

Ann (Nat's Aunt) said...
I fogot to mention the extreme generosity of the people who have paid for the hotel room for us in my message yesterday. Apologies for that, it is of course the most wonderful thing to have somewhere comfortable to come back to after and between our shifts at Nat's bedside. Thank you so much xxx

Foot Surgery

For those of you that haven't read Tina's comment on the message board, Natalie had to undergo surgery on her feet today. Her toes had curled downward as if one were to stand on their 'tippy toes'. Because of this surgeons had to cut her Achille's tendon to relieve the tension and correct the form of her feet. The surgery was led again by Dr. Simpson, the same surgeon who had performed her pelvic operation. The healing time for this type of procedure is similar to the time it will take Natalie's pelvis to heal (about 6 weeks). By the time her pelvis is ready to support her weight (not much to worry about!) her feet should be ready to guide her.

Natalie has been moved again, thanks to Dr. Simpson, to the 7th floor orthopedic wing where she will receive better care than the previous floor she was on. There are plans to move her to rehab once she has recovered from her latest surgery. Again, I will let you all know once the Foulger's have agreed upon a facility.

Thanks, all, for your compliments and please continue to leave comments for the Foulgers!

Rehab Query

I will not post any updates about rehab until the Foulgers have agreed upon a facility. Once we know for sure I will post the facility's address pending the allowance of visitors and gifts (I'm sure there won't be a problem).

not much of an update

Not much of an update today - Natalie is stable and looking physically better as each day passes.

Rebecca reached Syracuse around 5:30PM today, she drove for about 12 hours straight, only stopping for gas.

Questions

Nat has been off the ventilator for a while now and is no longer receiving additional oxygen through the trach tube. She has been breathing on her own for quite some time.

The address is still the same. If you are sending something, leave off the old wing number, it should look something like this:

Natalie Foulger
University Hospital
750 East Adams Street
Syracuse, NY
13210-1834

On the right side of this blog there is a section named 'links'. Here I have placed all of the links that have appeared throughout the blog as an easy way to locate them. If you haven't done so already please take some time to browse through the links and understand a bit more of Natalie's injury and current condition. Thanks for the suggestion, Marc!

Amazing progress!

Today Natalie was moved from the stepdown ICU to the hospital's 5th floor, a general care wing. Because of her regulatory levels, nurses removed her central line, which monitored her heart rate and blood pressure among other things. Nat still has an IV in her wrist for administering medication. This obviously brings Natalie closer to the rehabilitation stage where she will hopefully regain a majority of her functions.

Rebecca is currently resting at a motel in Fayetteville, North Carolina. She is about 680 miles from Syracuse which translates roughly to 10 hours at an average speed of 70mph. The weather forecast for tomorrow is thunderstorms up the east coast so she may stop to rest tomorrow night as well, pending the road conditions and her location by 5PM.

clarification

Nat pulled the drains out herself. It isn't the first time she's expressed her discomfort in that way. One time I was at her side while she still had the metal wire construction holding her pelvis together and she was squeezing the bar so tightly I had trouble prying her off. She is alert enough to know what is bothering her. There is always someone in her room whether it be a family member, nurse, or doctor so there is no need to worry that she will do herself any harm.

I hope this clarifies the previous post a bit!

Becca left Florida this morning at 6AM and I believe she will drive until 6 or 7PM and then stop to rest.

More updates around 8!

Another good day

Overall Natalie had a good day today.

Doctors had placed small drains inside Natalie's bladder after the minor surgery to prevent infection and further problems; Today Natalie pulled those drains out. After Doctors examined her bladder they realized there was no longer a need for the drains and did not replace them.

Natalie has been increasingly expressive. This story is another brief example of that. It also contributes to the belief that her coma is lightening as she is preparing to awaken herself.

Rebecca will be driving back to Syracuse tomorrow from Florida. She has a long journey ahead of her (about 24 hours) but I will keep you all updated on her status as well.

Thank you all for reading and posting your comments, keep it up, because I will make sure Nat reads them all when she is ready!

Natalie's Ankle

Today nurses removed Natalie's fabric 'boots' when they noticed sores beginning to develop. Because of this Nat was in a bit of pain today and it was made apparent due to the increase in her heart rate. Nurses are collaboratively working to keep her levels stable and have been successful thus far in doing so.

Please read the previous post titled "Special Thanks to First Responders". This was posted by Natalie's parents.

Updates to follow...

Watertown Daily Times

Today's paper included the article titled "Web site offers updates on jogger struck by car" and covers brief updates of the Foulger family. Much thanks to Norah Machia for writing the article and to Rick Pominville for providing us with downloadable copies of the story.

You can download the article here in Microsoft Word format,
or here in PDF format.

Special Thanks to First Responders

On behalf of all of us in Natalie’s family we would like to say a special thank you to all of the First Responders and others who were at the accident scene, particularly Tom Mcalleese, Steve Andrews of Unit 710^th BSB, EMT Howard Reiger, Dr. Jim Willis and his stepdaughter Lisa, and the Town of Watertown Fire Department Rescue Squad led by Chief Charlie Dillon, including David Pechey and other paramedics whose names we do not yet know. Your fast response, quick thinking, expert training and courageous actions saved our beautiful daughter’s life that night. No words can express the depth of our gratitude. We hope to meet you all as soon as we can return to Watertown for a few days.

Marc & Tina

 

Sunday night update

I picked Rebecca up at Fort Lauderdale Airport this morning. She will be here until Tuesday when she will drive her car back to Syracuse.

Not much news to report tonight... Nat's heart rate is stable and her temperature is returning to normal. She has been moving around a lot and responding sporatically to verbal commands (thumbs up, two fingers, move your arm, etc.). This is obviously a good sign and means that she is getting ready to be moved from the hospital to a rehab center where she will undergo physical therapy.

Please let me know if you have any unanswered questions and I will do my best to post the answers.

Cards

Natalie's temporary address at the hospital is:

Natalie Foulger 7C
University Hospital
750 East Adams Street
Syracuse, NY
13210-1834

You can use this address to send get well cards; I will notify you all if this changes.

Message from Mom and Dad

Natalie is slowly recovering from a severe brain injury, and is in what is called “coma emergence”. During this phase it is important that Natalie not be subject to over-stimulation. As a result, she is only allowed to see immediate family members (which includes Al of course). We really appreciate all the love and support everyone has given to Nat and to us as a family. We welcome you to visit us, but please understand that you will not be able to visit with Nat at this stage of her recovery.

New food

Doctors began administering Natalie's lactose free food today thus eliminating any threats of allergic reactions.

Physical therapy came in to see Nat and were able to support her sitting upright in order to refamiliarize her with different positions. Once she is able to succesfully sit upright (and follow verbal commands) she can be put in a wheelchair and be sent off to rehab where they will work on strengthening her muscles and motor skills.

Facial expressions continued again, today, and her heart rate has been stable and relatively low compared to the past few days.

More miracles to follow!

Article in the Watertown Daily Times

I have been in contact with Ms. Norah Machia, a reporter for the Watertown Daily Times. She contacted me via this blog and will be writing an article about Natalie and the family.

The story will be featured in Saturday or Sunday's paper. Once the article hits I will also place a link to it on this blog for those of you in another area.

Monetary Fund

Many of you have asked about a monetary fund for Natalie. At this time the Foulgers are unable to set up anything in her name because she is over 18 and would need to be present to 'sign off' on the account. Because of this, Marc and Tina have opened an account especially for Nat. If you so wish to contribute to this account please send a check to The Foulgers at their home address:


Marc and Tina Foulger
16731 County Route 155
Watertown, NY 13601


Thank you again for all your support.

Minor Surgery Results

Natalie's surgery, scheduled for 8AM started a half hour early this morning. Doctor's found a small hole in her bladder that they said will heal on its own in a few weeks. Other than that, the surgery was a success, eliminating the risk of infection in that area.

Natalie's facial expressions continued today as doctors raised her morphine drip to calm her down and ease the pain.

Doctors also put an air cast on Natalie's left ankle as a precaution. This is the ankle that Orthopedists repaired during the pelvic surgery.

Keep your comments coming as we know Nat will surely read them when she is able!

After speaking with Becca today, here is the update:

Natalie is still experiencing persistent problems with her high heart rate and temperature but nurses and doctors are working together to try and isolate and resolve the issue.

She is becoming increasingly more alert, resulting in minor facial expressions! The hospital's on staff physical therapist came by to review her improvement and was again pleased at her current status.

Natalie will undergo a quick surgery on her bladder where doctors will drain out an infection to prevent any further complications - The infection partially developed from the pelvic surgery on August 29. When the orthopedist, Dr. Simpson, saw Natalie today he commented on her wonderful progress in the week since he last saw her and confirmed that he believes she is nearing the end of her coma.

We all know how persistent Nat can be, lets keep praying that she follows this same remarkable path!

Update!

Today Natalie was moved from the Intensive Care Unit to 'step down' ICU - Wing 7C. This is for patients that still need much attention but are well enough to be out of the actual ICU. Good news all around!!

The family had help from the Cappons moving three weeks worth of accumulated gifts, food, and cards to the hotel room.

Kyle, Nat's brother headed back to school today. He is at Hartwick College, about two hours away, and will be there whenever he is needed. You're a great brother, Kyle.

Keep up the good work Nat, we're all pulling for you!

The Family

Some of you have asked about Nat's family as well.

Marc and Tina are currently at the hospital with Rebecca, Kyle, and Nat's boyfriend Al - and a myriad of visitors. They have been taking turns staying overnight in the sixth floor ICU waiting room or at the Sheraton Hotel on Syracuse's campus. The only times Nat is ever without visitors is at night - the nurses had decided it would be better if we gave her quiet time to rest - and also to help Natalie differentiate as best as she can between the times of day.

There have been several visitors, each bringing their own gifts (foods, games, even an air mattress which Tina uses nightly!) and helping however they can. The amount of love the Foulger's have been shown is tremendous and it touches me to know that they have so much great support.

I flew with Rebecca to Syracuse once we heard about Nat's accident and stayed there for about two weeks. I am now in Florida and am writing all updates upon talking with the family, primarily Becca.

Aunt Ann had just arrived around 10PM today, September 4, and immediately went into Nat's room to check on her condition.

I haven't talked to Becs much today because I want her to have time to catch her Aunt up with everything thats been happening but if there are any updates, I will do my best to post them as soon as possible.

I appreciate all the comments you're all leaving, please feel free to let me know if there is anything you think I should include on the blog. Thanks all!

Slow and Steady wins the race

Natalie's progress has been remarkable. She is currently under care of nurses that are focusing on her moving forward and are working together to try and wake Nat out of her coma. If they are successful Natalie will be moved out of the Intensive Care Unit and down to the Neurology floor - a great sign! Lets all keep praying that she does as well as she has been and please feel free to leave comments.

High heart rates

Today nurses focused primarily on regulating Natalie's increased heart rates. Ideally they would like her between 80 and 100 beats per minute but her rate averaged 140bpm today. They also finally found a solution for her dietary problem.

Because of Natalie's intolerance to lactose, they will order a soy based meal replacement this Tuesday as opposed to the dairy one she is currently receiving.

More updates to come...

no news is good news

Not much news to report today...
Nurses and respiratory specialists worked together to maintain Natalie's breathing and heart rates.

Two weeks after the accident

At first the doctors said she may not make it... It was the hardest thing for a mother to have to do. She was instructed to call her children and give them the horrible news. The doctors, luckily, did not know of Natalie's driven and determined personality.

Once Rebecca and I had arrived at the hospital Natalie was still in critical condition. It was very difficult to stay strong inside her room but everybody did a terrific job. She had a large cut that went from her left brow all the way to the back of her head. This was stitched up when I saw her. I had also heard that the skin from her bottom lip down to her chin was completely missing - this, too was stitched up once we were there. She had an extraventricular drain inserted into her brain to help keep her intracranial pressure at a reasonable level. A breathing tube was also put into her mouth and her breaths were assisted by a ventilator. Natalie's parents were telling me that she was looking much better than she had when they brought her in, I couldn't imagine what they'd seen.

The night Natalie arrived doctors became extremely worried about her ICP levels and internal bleeding. They concluded that these symptoms were directly related to the fractures in her pelvis. She was immediately brought into surgery with the intention to mend her pelvis. This surgery resulted in pins on either side of her pelvis holding it together tightly with the assistance of a durable metal cage that protruded from her body about 6 inches. In doing this the docters had come up with a temporary solution to stop her blood loss from the pelvic injury and this was a huge step in Natalie's recovery process.

Some days later one of Natalie's neurosurgeons brought us into a room to describe what had happened to her brain. He described her injuries as a 'brain shearing' - referred to medically as a Diffuse Axonal Injury- meaning that her crainial lobes had shifted thus disconnecting the axons in her brain. Because of this, she had lost many functions due to the incompletion of her nervous system's synapses.

Since then, Natalie has made a vast improvement. Orthopedic doctors were succesful in repairing her pelvic bone (they put affixed metal plates to the front and back of her pelvis that stretched out to her left hip for support) and also fixed her broken left ankle using screws. She also had her nasojajunal feeding tube taken out and replaced by a peg in her stomach and had her breathing tube replaced by a trachea tube as a more permanent solution. The drain that was regulating the pressures in her brain was also removed because of her low ICP numbers before, during, and after the pelvic surgery.

The day after surgery Natalie suffered a temporary setback when one of her lungs stopped working and she developed a very high fever. She was temporarily put back on a ventilator for 24 hours while her condition was stabilized.

Physically Nat looks worlds better than the first time I saw her on Thursday, August 17, a day after the accident. Her scars are healing and her road rash is disappearing. She is improving with every day that goes by.

I have been asked by the Foulger family to extend their heartfelt thanks to everyone for being so gracious and thoughtful in their time of need. The amount of support that you all are showing this family is extraordinary and it has made this difficult time a little easier knowing that you all care so genuinely. Please keep Natalie in your prayers for a speedy recovery and feel free to post comments or questions.

The first post

While sitting in the sixth floor waiting room at SUNY Upstate Medical University Hospital Jane Morton had an idea to post Natalie's progress on the web. I accepted the task knowing full well that it would help the Foulger's by limiting the amount of phone calls they would receive asking about Natalie. I will try my best to update this blog at least once a day and let you all know how Nat is doing. Also, please feel free to post your own comments to the blog.