After another good night sleep of six hours I arrive at the hospital to relieve my brother, Terry, who has been at Norma's side since 5:30 p.m. on Sunday afternoon - a 13 hour shift so far. He had come to relieve Norma’s sister, Nancy and brother-in-law, Phil, from the prior shift.

Terry tells me that over all, Norma had had a good night’s rest with two exceptions.

From 10:00 p.m. until midnight, she is up reviewing her NSSEA files for an upcoming meeting in Orlando, Florida the first week of March. This is a very important business show held annually that Norma has always attended. She is also very active in her association.

She also decides she wants to rearrange the furniture in her hospital room and is giving orders to my brother, Terry, on where she wants things moved. She pulls out one of her bedside dresser drawers to the max and neatly places her radio and her Kleenex box in the newly extended drawer. Now that's efficiency.

While she’s up, she decides that it's time to wash her hair for the first time. So, with the permission of her nurse, she takes another shower at midnight and washes her hair (both the long ones and the "baby growing in ones"). Ahhhhh - as our good friend John Ginocchio of Law Title always says - "Life is good!"

Now time to rest - back to bed from midnight until 2:00 a.m.

Precisely at 2:00 a.m., Norma is up again to comb her hair and primp in the mirror. (Personally, I think she looks beautiful!). By 3:00 a.m., she is zonked for the rest of the night.

Norma gets overall good reports from her doctors. She has a good breakfast and has been seen throughout the morning and afternoon by various therapists, both physical and occupational. However, no hair specialists have made a call because Norma will only see her expert professional hair specialist and lifelong friend, Sue Mudry, and hopefully soon. However, with that being said, on Monday morning, the head of therapy removes the staples in Norma's head and protects the area with a bright orange antiseptic marker. Norma's stitches are a curved line on her head resembling the stitches on a baseball. I think she's going to be thrilled with this...go Cubbies! When Norma sees herself in the mirror she says “Wow! I think I like.” Norma looks like a rocker - I think she rocks!

Norma's physical therapy went very well. She is very strong physically from years of hard work, lifting boxes, and carrying me on her shoulders. Physically, they are ready to discharge her in the next couple of days.

However, we still need your prayers for improvement in short-term memory loss and cognitive skills. It is going to take a lot of time, hard work and rehabilitation for her to fully recover these basic and very important skills. Norma will require 24/7 care for several weeks. Thank God she has a strong will and drive and more importantly, a deep faith.

Monday was a good day overall, but we still face many challenges ahead. Thanks for your continued support.

I'm reflecting on our day. As I mentioned earlier, my brother Terry has been with Norma through Sunday afternoon until 8:30 a.m. on Monday morning when I come in to relieve him. Terry stays and keeps me company until 11:00 a.m. until Norma's sister Nancy and Ginger are scheduled to arrive for the day shift. At noon, our good friends Dan and Carolyn Dial, Jim Chesney, Dave Justice, and John Houillon show up to visit Norma and to take me to lunch... Carolyn Dial stays back to visit Norma, Nancy, and Ginger while the boys go out for a healthy lunch at Pompei... For the first time ever, they don't ask me to buy! Thanks guys. I feel the love - i.e. a full stomach. (P. S. Norma recognized everyone). After lunch, our friends journey home and I go back for dessert…my Norma fix. At about 3:00 p.m. Norma is sleeping soundly, so Nancy and Ginger tell me to go back to the condo to rest and so I can get some work done. Niece Becky later comes to relieve them so they can go home to their families.

So, I'm at the condo and I decide to call Mary and John Vercellino to thank them again for the use of their condo. Mary answers and we chat. I inform her of Norma's website, and she thanks me as she wasn't aware of it. I ask how we can ever repay them for their generosity, and she simply states, "Just pay it forward".

An hour later, my phone rings. It's our good friend David Corrie calling me on my cell phone. He wants to know how Norma is doing and I catch him up-to-date. Dave Corrie is the friend I wrote about in day 13 (February 20, 2008) who is responsible for recruiting me to Northwestern Mutual. Dave and Betsy Corrie have had a huge impact on our lives as well as on the lives of our families and thousands of others.

Dave was also calling me to ask if I would pray for him. Dave was not only a great financial rep and also a managing partner with Northwestern Mutual for over 35 years, but one of his life long passions has always been music. Dave was recently diagnosed with early stage Alzheimer's Disease and due to his illness, was forced into voluntary early retirement. Instead of giving up on life, he followed his passion back to his music. I'm happy to tell and inspired to inform you that Dave has produced a CD, which is a wonderful tribute to the music of Ricky Nelson.

I'd like to ask everyone who is following Norma's website to do Norma and I another huge favor.   Dave will be meeting soon with Ricky Nelson's brother, David Nelson, and recording artists Vince Gill and Amy Grant in Santa Barbara, California to discuss opportunities to promote Dave's tribute to Ricky Nelson. Please help up "pay it forward" for Dave Corrie. He has helped literally thousands of agents and thousands of NML clients over the years and he is truly a great guy and an inspiration to all of us. Plus, he's a lot of fun and he's really good at music. Good luck and God bless, Dave!

At the end of my conversation with Dave about 8:00 p.m., my cell rings again. It's Norma checking up on me (she's still confused about the Chicago condo...Ken you didn't tell me we had a condo in Chicago). Thanks Mary and John...what a wonderful gift!  (I explained to Norma that our new best friends are letting us use it and we don't own it. She says, okay...but I still don't think she understands yet...and now she's disappointed we don't own it).

Norma's getting tired so I tell her I'm on my way to tuck her in. When I arrive from the condo, niece Becky is with her having relieved Nancy and Ginger who are getting ready to leave to beat the snow home. Brother Ralph will be there shortly to do the night shift again. He arrives about 9:00 p.m. Becky prepares for her ride back to Elmhurst to be with husband, Mike, and daughters Morgan and Macy. I head to Dunkin Donuts to get Ralph some much needed coffee for Norma’s night watch, and deliver it back to him by the emergency room entry -- the only open door to the hospital this time at night.

As I drive away back to our safe harbor, the snow is gently falling; big, white, beautiful flakes drifting down. As I watch the flakes fall, building on one another, I can't help but think of yet another blanket. Cold, but yet warm to me. I think of where we were just two and one-half weeks ago when thunder touched Norma's brain and we feared for the worst and prayed for the best through God's divine blessings.

As I continued to drive toward the condo, I reflected back to earlier days...that first winter of 1968, when winter gave us what seemed to be eternal opportunities to build snowmen together, throw snowballs playfully at one another, and make snow angels…a chance to roll in the snow together in a firm embrace and to share one kiss. We will always have memories to treasure. Regardless of where this journey takes us and how long it takes, we will always remember your love and kindness and thank God for being here for us always, and also for every one of you! God bless, and sweet dreams. We will rest well tonight and pray you will too.

Goodnight,

Ken and Norma

kenireland2@aol.com

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