August 1, 2008

Dear Friends,

It's been two weeks since our final family conference at Centre for Neuro Skills. Yes, CNS discharged Kevin as of July 18. So what does all this mean? I'll do my best to answer that question. Kevin is still under the care of Dr. Prasad, the same physician who has been overseeing his case since he first went to CNS in Bakersfield. However, Dr. Prasad is in the process of collecting reports from all the doctors Kevin has seen to put together his "Permanent and Stationary" report for Worker's Comp. Kevin had his neuropsychological evaluation yesterday, has to have a new endocrine study done, and we are not sure whether they are going to do another ENG on his vestibular system. Dr. Prasad, for some reason, doesn't feel the need to repeat that study. I'm not sure what else has to be done before his final report can be made.

By law Kevin's employer has to see if there is any job that he can be retrained for that they can offer him following his accident. Of course, Kevin's injuries are too severe to allow him to do any kind of work for his former employee. Worker's Comp. has declared him permanently disabled.

In the meantime, Worker's Comp. has cut Kevin's income significantly until final settlement can be reached, and it is a real concern and burden. Kevin and Sarah's attorney is working to see if some sort of advance on their settlement can be made so as to not put Kevin and Sarah in a financial bind. We would appreciate your prayers toward that end.

We did have some hard-to-take news at the family conference as well. We had been told Kevin had 30 degrees of vision in his left eye which places him just above the legally blind status. However, the final report from the neuro-ophthalmologist states that he has only 20 degrees of vision in his left eye which does makes him legally blind. You will recall he has no vision at all in his right eye. This news, too, has been a bit unsettling. However, we nor Kevin are really discouraged. Kevin still has hope that someday God may restore his vision. Meanwhile, we all keep trusting God to take us through each day as it comes and trust Him for the outcome.

Kevin finished his summer semester at Coastline a week ago and has three more weeks off before the fall semester begins. He has been busy around their apartment cleaning, doing laundry and organizing things.

I'd also like to ask your prayers on Sarah's behalf. She has been a bit "under the weather" for a couple of weeks now. Please pray she will be feeling well soon.

Love,

Tami