Alin's Site

Happy Halloween Witch Stencil Painting

Its Halloween today, decided I would throw up a blog post. I am not doing anything this year. However, I do have a good plan for next year, just fall asleep in my powerchair with a sign that says “coma patient 5 years and counting, this is what happens when you sniff too many permanent markers.” And ill have the candy bowl in my lap. Kind of like one of my friend’s dad who would sit in a lawn chair and look totally dead, very authentically dead, and then jump and scream when you touch the candy bowl, that one scares the crap out of me every time, only difference with me is I wont jump and scream. The idea would work perfectly since none of the kids around here “know” me so they would think I’m actually in a coma.

Anyone have a good plan for the 2009 Halloween? Leave a comment with your ideas for my 2009 Halloween. Ideas should make use of the powerchair in some way. For example, I could have a cow pusher on the front and attach several wagons to the rear with scary looking body parts, and behold the haunted train of death!

Front Page Google AdSense Bar

As you can see I am now utilizing Google ad bars to help generate income. They will flash up links associated to the text on the page you are looking at, make sure to click on a link if it interests you.

DO NOT CLICK JUST TO GIVE ME MONEY, AS THAT CONSTITUTES VIOLATION OF THE ADSENSE TERMS OF SERVICE. ONLY CLICK IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN THE LINK!!!

The ad bars will stay fresh by changing the topic of the link to another topic related to my site every so often so make sure to pay attention to the little blue bars.

Remember, I will never resort to pop up ads; I hate them. Banners are one thing. Annoying the hell out of people with pop ups is wrong.

Expect these little blue bars to show up in different places across my site, each bar will host different topics for you to explore.

Invacare Logo Black

The dealer came today at noon to take my measurements and collect the papers. He totally skipped over the functional evaluation, he took one look at me and said, “You need this wheelchair, big time!” Afterwards I made my admission that I am a powerchair and assistive technology geek, we went directly into a long geek talk about powerchairs and had a bit of fun for the next hour and a half. It took only 15 minutes for him to do the measurements and data collection. He stayed till 1:45 PM. When you put two powerchair geeks in one room expect a very long conversation that could go on for days. Sadly he had to go to another appointment; otherwise, he would have stayed all day and geek talked with me. We both really enjoyed it, and he said, “I am going to have some fun with you!” I said, “And here I thought today was going to be a nightmare!”

The really cool thing is they are making my moulded seating system right in Skokie.

He did say that he will want to add a few more things on top of what is in the justification, mainly in postural control systems. One of the major add ons will be chest harness straps to hold me up correctly. Chest harnessing will be a very accepted addition to the positioning array as it will allow me to be able to when needed continue to be correctly supported while not in a tilted position.

Expect frequent updates.

Invacare Logo Black

We have completed the initial data collection with the dealer this week and tomorrow is the day they come out to take my measurements and prescription along with the justification report. They will then submit it all to the insurance company and within the next week or two we should have word on coverage. Hopefully, it will be covered as it has become time critical that we get me in this powerchair as even my ability to get around in the house is nearly gone, I can barely even make it for 5 feet with major assistance now, and the report was done when I could make it 10 feet with major assistance. If the powerchair is not covered by the insurance, we will likely have to do drastic financial actions to be able to take the major hit.

I am hopeful that if this is covered I should be up and running by Christmas day. Stay tuned for updates!

About Me Page

As you already all know we have begun working on, hopefully getting the powerchair through the insurance company. Hence, I have begun to make preparations to the site for the photos. The About Me page being no exception, I have added a “Before” heading over the October 2006 photo and an “After” heading over the soon to be picture of me in my new wheelchair! All of us over here are hoping that I get it sometime around Christmas. “Now that’s what I call the ultimate Christmas present.” As soon as we find out if it’s covered or not and get a delivery date you can bet your butt that there will be a big ol’ countdown clock going on the front page of the website.

Remember, we still need help with funding all of the equipment. The powerchair might get covered completely or partially or even not at all. We still need to get a converted van with a lift. Make an array of modifications to the house including a ramp on the front door, widening doorways, bedroom modifications, and more.

G-Tube Belly

I am finally withdrawing the declaration of me being sick. Although there are some symptoms left I have decided that this is not truly an illness; otherwise, the doctor would have been able to diagnose it. It is definitely a progression signal.

Anyway onto what this post is labeled for. As you may already know I am extremely underweight currently as of today weighing 89 pounds. On may 16th when I went in for an endoscopy I weighed 97 pounds. The reason I just continue to loose weight is pretty simple; I can’t eat. I can eat a few things, but I can’t eat enough calories on my own to be able to maintain / gain weight. Thus, I am adding a new tasking order to my board. As soon as I get up and running in my powerchair I am going to begin working on getting a G-Tube. You are probably sitting behind the computer wondering “Why does he want a G-Tube?” The answer is simple again, I want the G-Tube so I can enjoy my food again and not have to fret over the fact that it is just plain impossible for me to get enough calories on my own. With a G-Tube I can have two options, either mom can do intermittent feedings during the day like at meal times, or I could have a special pump hooked up at night that would put in 2,500 calories overnight. I don’t know which option I would pick. The intermittent feedings sounds good but that 2,500 overnight via pump sounds awful good too. This is not a critical tasking order… yet. As of right now I am setting the goal that I should have a G-Tube in within the next 6 months.

Explanation of the picture above, that’s all you’re going to ever see of the G-Tube, just that little connector. A cool thing is a few days after insertion you don’t even feel it there, only way you can tell its there is by feeling for it or looking down there.

Well, as you can obviously see it’s been a late night for me. I am going to try to go to sleep now!

Mobility Air Transport

My grandmother lives out in Florida, Fort Lauderdale. We could drive there once we get the lift put in the van, but driving is time-consuming and may create a problem because of my complex medical needs. I was thinking about flying but when I heard that you can’t fly right in your wheelchair I was like forget this crap! So I decided that we would likely have to drive. But, when I was browsing through Yahoo answers I found a question “Transporting a baby to either Cleveland Clinic or Columbia Univ. That’s on a vent?” And found out about Mobility Air Transport (MAT) their planes have a lift on board and have proper approved securement to allow a passenger in their powerchair to ride right in their powerchair without having to do any transfers. This would work beautifully with me because of my constant tilt axis requirement. Their fares are also lower than a regular airline because they charge less the longer the distance and charge no airport tax, landing fee, tarmac fee, or any of that. You also don’t need to deal with the sights and sounds of a busy airport which agitate me because I am autistic, because they fly to any of the 5,000 airports in the United States and international airports. Another great thing is you only need to arrive 15 minutes before your scheduled departure, no security checkpoints, nothing, just drive up get on the plane and FLY!!! I am going to talk to mom and dad and see how we are going to get to Florida, either drive or MAT. Guess which one i want… MAT ALL THE WAY!!!

Medical Logo

Now on my sixth day of being sick. Symptoms appear to be marginally better. Though the spinal and hip pain appears to be worse! And my spasticity is really bad especially my spinal spasticity.

Something that doctors have not investigated yet but me and mom have found is a possible cervical bone displacement as when I felt my neck last night we noticed that the C2 vertebra (spinal bone) is AWOL. We also noticed a pretty obvious scoliotic curve in my cervical spine. We may be scheduling with an orthopedic soon for new full spinal X-Ray series anyway, We will alert the orthopedic of this issue so that they can do special X-Ray series on my neck. Cervical spinal problems are always not a good thing as the cervical spinal cord is extremely sensitive and should a bone or something compress it quadriplegia can occur. Hence, we will be making sure to get an appointment as soon as we can.

Medical Logo

I am still sick as of today. The symptoms are currently unchanged from what they were last night. Sleep pattern for last night sucked horribly didn’t get to sleep till somewhere around 2:00 in the morning, and I was up at 5:00. I am hoping this clears up by next Wednesday since I had to have the neurocognitive testing series at the school rescheduled. Not much else interesting about me being sick, so I’m going to stop boring you with this blog post.

Results of the throat culture came back negative…

cleaned up front page

The new front page now sports a much cleaner look. Less text on the front page since most of the information is now available within this blog. The last.fm radio system is very easily accessible on the front page now, and has the instructions to keep it running even if you leave the page right below it!

Enjoy the new front page look!