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Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Friends,
I started an update on Friday, June 6th … I’m just getting back to it!
Sorry I have not posted for a few weeks … However, it was all for the good!
Let me begin by saying Norma is doing well. She has been an inspiration to me through all of this. Her attitude and determination have been more than admirable.
We sincerely appreciate all of you who are still checking in. I know in the beginning, when Norma was critical, she had thousands of clicks on her website from over 800+ different computers (I don’t know how this is measured, but that is what our friend and webmaster, Dan Pearson, reported to us). Over time, as Norma has improved, there have been less of you checking in, and we totally understand this process. So for those of you who are still checking in, we just wanted to thank you for still doing so. (And thanks for all of you who have sent, and are still sending prayers and positive thoughts along our way).
What many of you may not be aware of is that approximately 2 ½ years ago, Norma individually purchased 50% of an existing teacher catalog and internet business in an effort to grow her business to “the next level.” However, long story short is that we ended up in a legal dispute, we being the plaintiffs.
So while Norma was in the hospital at UIC for three straight weeks, very seriously ill, I and our attorney were fighting an effort by Norma’s partner and her attorneys to come to terms, or to close Norma’s separate catalog business down … and settle up. (However, no get well cards or emails … ever!) My dad always told me … “Son, if there’s a good fight … get in it!” So I … (we) did! We didn’t buy into an existing company to liquidate it.
So this has been ongoing since June of 2007. We had our pretrial on June 5th, and I’m happy to report that Norma now owns 100% of Educational Aids, Inc., and we can move forward, without restrictions, to grow this part of her business. We have great staff that has also taken on this responsibility while Norma is recovering. We are truly blessed!
So, my personal focus since June 6th has been to take Norma to therapy 3x/week, continue my full time insurance practice, and get our online catalog up and running for this next back to school. Our Educational Aids print catalog went out on June 9th and our online catalog was posted to our website, (site deleted) this morning, July 2 @ 8:00 a.m. CST … we are ECSTATIC! Please feel free to visit! J
Our Chalkboard back to school catalog also went to the post office yesterday, July 1st … so we feel very relieved that these projects are behind us!
So, how is Norma doing since our last report?
We are following Dr. Walsh’s recommendation to continue therapy and to focus on areas that Norma needs to improve on. Norma’s speech therapist, Elizabeth, is giving Norma the next 30 days off to concentrate on home focused activities with specific goals and with ongoing supervision by us to monitor her progress. I want to clarify that Norma is not having any difficulties speaking or with her speech or language skills. So when I tell you she is in speech therapy, it means she is working on her cognitive skills such as sorting, making lists, executive functioning, memory storage, recall, etc.
Towards the end of July, we will go back to Marianjoy for ongoing speech therapy with Elizabeth. Ultimately, Norma will revisit with Dr. Walsh and his staff for additional neuropsychological evaluations to measure her improvements since the first evaluation that was completed from May 6th through May 20th over 4 sessions. That will help us know what is next.
Norma had another cat scan of her brain by her neurosurgeon, Dr. Sepideh Amin-Hanjani at UIC on June 12th. That report was great! It showed that there was no significant water retention on the brain so Norma will not need to have a permanent shunt “installed,” which will avoid an additional operation … that is awesome!
Hair and flowers are both growing
(Click photo to expand)
Norma continues to be on anti-seizure medications even though she has not experienced any seizures to date. There is always a risk that she could experience seizure(s) so we ask for your continued prayers for Norma that she will remain seizure free and for her ongoing recovery. Prayers have made the difference … Thank you!!!
Norma had another EEG on Thursday, June 26th, but we won’t have the results for another 2 weeks as Norma’s local neurologist, Dr. Bawja, will be on vacation. He did leave a message before he left that he wanted Norma to continue on with her anti-seizure meds for the “next few months.”
So for now, Norma continues on in “boot camp” (no work – no driving … yet) while I’m attempting to get off “inactive” duty and get Norma’s update out to you. As we head towards the 4th of July weekend, we wish you and yours a spectacular holiday … filled with the warm, satisfying glow that freedom brings… Norma, as you all know, will press forward to ambitiously arrive at her destination … INDEPENDENCE DAY!!
God Bless,
Norma & Ken
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