We went to the doctor today at 10:45AM and they took a throat culture also some observational studies with an otoscopy of the ear and nose and mouth and concluded that I have a bacterial upper respiratory infection and prescribed a Zithromax Z-Pak. No news other than that!

He also explained to us that someone with this complex a medical case needs aggressive treatment for illness and said that if I don't feel better at all by Monday morning to call him immediately to possibly be admitted to the hospital.

I'm terribly sorry guys, usually I get daily updates up and running when I get sick but I didn't this week. I am on my fifth day already, I have been sick since Monday, with upper respiratory infection symptoms. Today we have a doctor appointment at 10:45AM. If there is any interesting news like antibiotics or any of that I will make sure to throw up another post including his diagnosis. We were supposed to go for my spinal X-Ray series today at the Yacktman Pavilion in Niles. The X-Rays have been postponed until sometime next week, they are drop in not appointment based luckily. Expect further updates today.

The podcast has been rescheduled to next Tuesday at 9:00 EST due to the fact that this week there was a total lack of listeners and callers. hopefully it should be better!

Hosted by: Alin S
Title: EPISODE2 - Disabilities - Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)
Time: 11/27/2007 09:00 PM EST --> 12/4/2007 09:00 PM EST
Episode Notes: This episode is going to mainly have conversation about Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and ways of dealing with its effects to maintain longevity and independence through different devices, therapies, and treatments

My website has a new domain name which does not show the ugly web.mac.com anymore and or prohibit the majority of Google users from being able to find the site. This domain name cost us $9.99 to register. Hence the next donation of $10.00 will allow us to efficiently absorb the cost of this much needed website upgrade. This upgrade will allow new visitors originating from www.google.com to be able to find our site easier, and also allow google to index our site more rapidly and efficiently. The domain does not expire for a whole year from this date and time. Website upgrades like these are important to maintaining viewers. With the new domain expect view rate to increase very quickly as Google indexes our site more rapidly.

Dont forget to donate to help absorb the cost of the soon to be ordered ramp, soon to be expanded doorways, soon to be purchased van, and these website upgrades. you can donate by clicking the donate link below or clicking Donate! above

As you can obviously see this episode was severely delayed in getting started tonight. The episode did in fact, start on time though all of the attendees were having severe technical issues all being unable to even get called in correctly. Therefore, I was forced to postpone the conference until we could get things back up and running. We definitely made this one a nice long and very productive meeting tonight. If you have an interest in autism aspergers or sensory integration disorders then this episode is for you!

Hosted by: Alin S
Title: EPISODE1 - Disabilities - Autism/Aspergers/Sensory Integration Disorders
Time: 11/20/2007 09:49 PM EST
Episode Notes: I finally got the garbled audio issue fixed by using SJphone instead of the talkshoe shoephone. The main topic will be Autism/Aspergers/Sensory Integration Disorder (SID) and therapies that can help these disorders.

Today we had an appointment with my doctor for a Flumist flu vaccine and to receive some X-Ray orders. They said that I would be quite lethargic and "out of it" from the Flumist and I'm still up. We received the X-Ray orders for a full spinal series including cervical spine and hip X-Rays for further diagnostic criteria of cervical scoliosis and rotoscoliosis. The X-Rays have been upgraded to high end urgency levels and will be carried out within the next few weeks. The X-Rays have been upgraded in urgency due to the doctor seeing obviously worsening kyphosis/scoliosis/rotoscoliosis curves and a newly spotted cervical scoliosis.

Today we have an appointment with my doctor for a few small things. I am not sick as of right now although to prevent me from getting the flu we will be getting me a Flumist intranasal flu vaccine. Flumist is delivered similarly to something like Nasonex without a needle! Good thing that there are no needles involved because I get pretty bad spasms triggered by pain. The second thing we will be doing today at the doctor’s office is picking up some orders for X-Rays of my spine, hips, and neck to reanalyze the progression of my spinal deformities. These X-Ray orders should be carried out sometime in the next 6 months. I may leave another update on the blog today after the appointment if necessary.

It’s about time I decided to get some sort of webcast up and running again. I decided that a video cast is unnecessary and full of security holes. I found a facility named Talkshoe that does online web/phone conferences allowing people on their computers, or phones to create an audio podcast. This will be a weekly to multiple times a week event in which I will get on this Talkshoe program and do a webcast or as they call it a talkcast. The nice thing about this is its all pre scheduled and does not allow you to go on and on for more than a two-hour block per podcast episode. That being said the little gadget above will be added to the front page of my website and will continue to reside here on the blog. If you have iTunes you can subscribe to the podcast to stay up to date automatically. The iTunes link is above and also will be on the front page of my website. Future episodes will be posted on the blog with a different widget to allow you to listen to that episode instantly.

Hosted by: Alin S
Title: EPISODE1 - Disabilities - Autism/Aspergers/Sensory Integration Disorders
Time: 11/20/2007 09:49 PM EST
Episode Notes: I finally got the garbled audio issue fixed by using SJphone instead of the talkshoe shoephone. The main topic will be Autism/Aspergers/Sensory Integration Disorder (SID) and therapies that can help these disorders.

I finally got around to updating the justification. Me and my RTS (rehab technology specialist) decided against the TDX5 due to it not having certain specialized systems required by my needs and having some systems that are not needed, one of the big factors was the fact that the TDX5 has weight capacities that are unnecessary for me. The TDX-SP will be used instead as it has heavy-duty four pole motors and is designed more for someone who will be in their powerchair full time 7 days a week. The TDX-SP is also designed to pack a TDX5 into a smaller package. This substitution was made since the TDX5 was the best choice up until the TDX-SP went public a few weeks ago. No powerchair has been ordered yet as we still have to go in for the castings for the custom Contour U seating system. Also since the TDX-SP is a TDX5 that's packed into a smaller, more efficient package, it costs less which may possibly make the insurance company pay for the whole thing. We are still at very high risk of having to pay up to 2,000 dollars out of pocket.

The cost of the TDX5 is 8,792.
The cost of the TDX-SP is 6,000, Shaved off nearly 3,000.

There is no change in function between the two powerchairs, although the TDX-SP is more specialized for pediatric clients or clients with very low weights being that it can only handle clients weighing up to 200 pounds unlike the TDX5 which can handle up to 350 pound clients. The highest weight I would ever get up to even with a G-Tube would be somewhere around 120.

We had also on the day of measurement decided that chest harnessing would be a good idea in my case due to my extremely low trunk muscle tone which compromises the ability to hold myself up thus creating strain upon my spine and spinal cord. The RTS had recommended that it is used any time I am out of the house but I will likely use it all the time to keep prime positioning. Chest harnessing is now listed on the justification report. I apologize for the very sparse details on the report but me and my RTS have still not decided on a specific harness and have not created all of the justification data.

All of these decisions were made on measurement day, please excuse me for taking so long to get these updates up here!

This is one of our usually yearly things we do, first me and dad go downtown for a day and come back up. And the next day mom comes with us. We usually ride the train downtown. Though this year we didn't do it at all, besides we have been downtown more than 20 times with all the stuff we have to do at children's memorial hospital. Hopefully, next year we will be able to go downtown for fun again. I hear metra trains have a lift on em!

There are a lot of photos here. Remember these photos were all taken last year in august, a little while before i began displaying symptoms of the disease!

These were pretty much the last photos ever taken before I lost the ability to walk. Me and dad really had a good time at the auto show, and we will be going back this coming February as long as the powerchair and everything goes as planned. Only one little detail will be changed; I will be in a powerchair. Hmm maybe I could mow everyone down to get up close and personal with the Gillardo I wasnt able to get anywhere near last year.”

To access the album either click on Photos above and click me or click the picture above to go directly to the Chicago Auto Show 2007 album.

Yes we were at the release event, me and dad. We were there at midnight! I took some photos, and now they are available for all of you to look at. Alike the Beans & Leaves showcase photos these too were taken after the loss of the ability to walk. No I don't read the books, we went on premier night to grab it for mom because she pre-ordered and wanted it right then and there so we were sent out as the delivery boys. We went, got the book, and returned home with it to give it to her. Reason for me not reading it is because I think im a bit dyslexic when it comes to fiction only...

Again I apologize for the lack of image titles, any future albums or photos will have titles.

To access the album either click on Photos above and click me or click the picture above to go directly to the Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Release Event album.

Well, with the Clouds & Nature upload today I decided to get into a little bit of an uploading fit and upload every old album that I never got around to uploading. These photos are semi-old but are from when I had already lost the ability to walk, hence, the semi-lower camera angles...

Enjoy this update. more to follow in the next hour!

The photos in older updates and the Clouds & Nature album will NOT have titles on them, I apologize for any inconvenience that it may cause.

To access the album either click on Photos above and click me or click the picture above to go directly to the Beans & Leaves showcase album.

Well, I was sitting in the car today when we were running a few errands. Saw a pretty sweet sunset, decided to take a photo on my iPhone. I tossed the photo into iPhoto but then realized I should upload the Clouds & Nature album and so I did finally!

A word of caution, some of the older photos were taken back when I was able to walk.

The Clouds & Nature album is an ongoing updates album which means it never truly gets “closed” for updates. You will be alerted when new photos are added to this album!

To access the album either click on Photos above and click me or click the picture above to go directly to the Clouds & Nature album

At 2:22:30PM the website received its 1000th view.

The site was started july 11th 2007 or 128 days ago. Which equates to approximately 6.5 views per day, 45.2 views per week, 225 per month.

Just because we hit 1000 doesn’t mean you can stop coming to the site, there will continue to be frequent news updates so make sure to check the blog every few days!

I was doing a routine click through of my website when I noticed I never updated the Donate page to reflect the fact that the powerchair is going to get partially paid, maybe even fully paid by the insurance. It is now updated.

Remember, if you have any money that can be invested to help someone you know where to invest it!

And greetings to our visitors to the website who originally were donating via a physical bucket at Beans & Leaves in Long Grove Illinois!

We have chosen what type of ramp we will be putting on our house. We have decided to go with aluminum since its easy to install, and in case we move easy to disassemble and transport. The ramp shown above is only there as an example, that is not our house or ramp shown above. Another reason, we chose aluminum is because wood can begin to look ugly quickly and become unstable with rotting and other environmental variables. Wood ramps also require maintenance. Aluminum requires zero maintenance, stays looking sleek and new forever, and cannot become unstable from environmental factors. We will take photos of our new ramp when we get it.

The ramp will cost around 2,500 dollars and may possibly be covered by a health insurance rebate. Though we still need to take the hit ourselves before we can get the rebate.

We have just received an email from the powerchair dealer notifying us that the insurance company is giving a green light on coverage. Although we have a green light there is still the possibility it may not be 100% covered, though it is guaranteed that it will be 80/20 or better. He still has to make some arrangements on his end before we can go in for the castings to be taken. He told us that he will be scheduling us for castings within the next few weeks. Reason he has to make some arrangements on his end is he has to get all the casting equipment set up as he hasn't had a client as complex as me requiring custom seating systems for a very long time.