Peterson continues progress

Minor miracles continue to fill Tracee Peterson’s days.

As nurses removed tubes from Peterson’s mouth late last week, Peterson attempted to get out of bed and spoke, complaining of a headache.

“That was fall-out-of-your-chair good news,” Peterson’s father Ed Hanson said.

Hanson and his wife, Trish, visited Peterson during the weekend.

“She held her mother’s hand and told her ‘I love you,’” Ed Hanson said. “She was providing comfort for her crying mother.”

Peterson surprised doctors with the strides she made in her first week at Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center. She is communicating mostly with “yes” and “no” responses, speaking through a broken jaw.

“You can see in her eyes she understands she is in a serious medical center,” Ed Hanson said.

Peterson brought tears to her parents’ eyes during the weekend when she brushed her own teeth.

“The doctors keep telling us she is going to need a lot of help, but they are also optimistic,” Ed Hanson said.

Joshua Peterson is scheduled to attend a preliminary hearing at District Court at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday. He faces two assault charges.

Ed Hanson said his wife plans to attend the event, but he is unsure if he will attend himself.

“I’m not sure I can look at him yet” Ed Hanson said. “He was the only person she ever feared.”