The Muse's Retreat

Update on Anna - 08/13

Anna has made some major improvements. They've caped her tracheostomy towards the end of this past week. Which means that her swallow reflex has improved to the point where she doesn't need it any more (excellent news). Which also means that they were able to take out the catheter and the stomach pump and she'll be eating real food again soon. Her swallow reflex is not perfect yet, but it's very close. Unfortunately this means she won't be able to talk for 7-10 days which is a little tough since she's just gotten to the point where she can whisper again. But that's all right as she knows it's only until the incision heals.

Her current doctor is very impressed with her progress, particularly as she's doing better and better with her walking practice. Her left leg is getting stronger every day. They're very hopeful that she will graduate from wheelchair to cane in the near future. But even a cane is great news. As that helps insure that she'll be able to go home again once she gets out of rehab. (Anna lives in a 3rd floor pre-WWII walk up with zero handicap access and so this has been a major concern of where would she live in the future.) Her left arm is still greatly inhibited but she's been able to move her shoulder and elbow with some effort which gives us hope for the future that this too will recover at least to some extent from the paralysis.

On the other hand, she's still having a lot of trouble with her hearing (it's very hard for her to hear people on the phone though easier in person) and with her vision (which continues to be double vision due to an eye muscle being impacted by the head trauma). Therefore, she won't be able to talk on the phone yet for a while and please remember to write in BIG 1" font when you send her notes and cards.

She's also a bit down lately (since anyone who knows Anna knows she's always bouncing around going a 100 miles per minute working on 50 things) as she's frustrated that everything isn't healing faster. She, of course, doesn't see what I see, which is that every week something is getting better. Slowly, but surely. Fortunately our letters and cards and packages are helping because they perk her up for that brief time during delivery each day at the rehab center and help to take her mind off of things.

Speaking of which, the postcard campaign, where everyone who knows Anna is sending a postcard from wherever they're from, has been a hit. Please keep those coming. It does a great job of showing that Anna's friends are many and far and wide and really helps to cheer her up on the tough days.

Anna Man
PO BOX 1145
New York, NY 10002

ATTN-Angela, please give to Anna at Sinai.

Regarding Stargatefan and Pyramids Press. The server has been down for 2 weeks now which is incredibly frustrating. I'm currently trying everything except smoke signals to get it fixed. I'll make an announcement as soon as it is. It's very puzzling since the server has been paid and the resources are still all in place. I'm working to get the host company to help me but it's a slow process. In the mean time thank you so much for your patience on this and please let everyone know that we're not gone, just a bit behind a wall at the moment.

Regarding Brotherhood and Foundations. Mysti at AgentWithStyle has taken over sending out our back orders and taking care of new orders. She's received Anna's master Excel list that was up to date as of the week Anna went to the hospital and I'm currently slowly trolling through the over 700 e-mails left in Anna's account for anyone we may have missed. If we did miss you, feel free to e-mail me [CathyL6 (at) aol (dot) com] or Mysti [through www.agentwithstyle.com]

That's it for now,

Cathy (aka Katya - accomplice and best friend)

2006-08-13 20:38:43 GMT

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