the latest on KERRY

Lynn checking in here.  Marty and I came home last Wednesday, April 1 (probably a bad day to fly but all went well).  The day before we left, this time for a few weeks as Kerry is not entrenched in the Heartland Nursing and Rehab center for a month or up to two depending on her progress, the law firm called us.  We had been to 3 other lawyers all telling us "no go" , nothing there.  It seems that Personal Injury attorneys will only represent you IF the other party had auto liability ins.  Since the "bad guys" did not and that is legal in sunny fla., we were turned down.    This firm, Morgan and Morgan, is the largest Pers Injury  frm in the country with offices in just about every state.  They are a little more interested and that is the reason for this further interview.  They want to meet with Kerry and John tomorrow but Marty and I felt it VERY important that we be there as well.  I am a little more proactive and perhaps "aggressive" in this matter than John (Kerry is sometimes a little too groggy as she is still on heavy pain meds prn (as needed) to not have another set of ears present), perhpa s I am just more "vengeful" and "go for the throat" kind of personality where this is concerned.  Marty is the mediator to bring us somewhere to the middle.  Anyhow, that is all to happen on Tuesday April 7.  Keep those collective fingers crossed for us.  As there bills will exceed the million dollar mark we do need some help from this very casual duo that simply walked away from this accident with not so much as a fingernail (polished I would guess) broken!   Now Kerry.  This nursing home has a rehab wing for ortho injuries and that is where she is.  It is a good place for her.  Daily therapy in a lovely gym.  Her therapy consists of walking, still with assistance and very hesitatingly, and exercising her one and only arm that is a this time in use, her left and of course she was totally right handed.  That left arm is about 50 percent  at this point which frightens me as we are now into the fourth month.  Her grip is improving on that hand, ever ever ever so slowly.  This week is the 3 month anniv of her back surgery and she will have the xrays to determine if that body cast on her upper body can come off.  If that does she will probably have exquisite pain in her back for awhile while her back muscles readjust.  BUT she will be much more able to move once again.  Remember, her paraspinus muscles were completely torn away from her spine in the accident.  Remember how much a simple "pulled muscle" in the back hurts.  Now multiply that times about 1000!  This taking off all depends on if the thoracic vertebrae have fused properly.    Her attitude remains very good.  She is coming thru one hell of an ordeal and she is doing it quite well in the head dept.  Thanks to Kerry's innately calm demeanor she is doing as well as she appears to be.  Her blood pressure which had gone up seems to be once again under control.  Her kidneys have improved to very close to normal function.  Her tummy still has its moments and I am beginning to think it is a problem with her right ear.  All her life that has been an issue.  She develops wax in that ear as fast as her hair grows and she must have it cleaned out by a doc about every 3 mths always.  It cannot be done in the hosp as she has a permanent hole in that eardrum and water may not be allowed to get in there.  Normally an ear is cleansed with a squirt of warm water after the wax is removed.  Hers must be done with a speacial something, like a laser and can only be done where one is available, like in the docs office.  So since she has been months without that procedure I am wondering if that is the cause of the frequent nausea. Only a guess but that balance and nausea thing could be.  I have noted that to her present doc.   There have been layers and layers of problems to fix.  Like onion skin, one thing improved, another something occurred.  Marty has assured me that that is the nature of the "beast", a traumatic multi injury event such as this.  We continue to watch, wait, encourage, help where we can and love Kerry.  Thank you again for all the e mail support, cards and notes to her and gifts.  Two of our kids and families spent this weekend at the island to look over the winters results on our summer cottages.  It was cold and windy there but all seemed well and we anticipate another summer of gatherings and family up there and we hope hope hope that Kerry will be able to journey up to see us by the end of July.  We need her back in the "family" circle to assure us all!!!  I will post another note if anything changes and will for sure when we hear she might come home.    Just an addendum, on May 1 the two "bad guys" will appear in traffic court in Venice Fl.  They will be fined $125 for careless driving.  Marty and I are very tempted to journey down there again for that event, just to see who they are.  I hope I will be able to let them know in  some way just how devastating there moment of not paying attention to the road ahead has been.  Maybe I hope they will (well I shouldn't say, that would be mean).    LYNN

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Regards, Kyla Elderton