Jonathon (or JR?),

Good to meet you, I'm Kendall, 44 (45 in three weeks), and married to
Janet.  We both have CP, (her-spastic athetoid quadraparesis; me-left
hemiplegia and some affects to right leg, and a laundry list of other
non-CP medical conditions).  Sorry to hear about the losses you've had
recently.

Sounds like you've been through "the mill" in trying to reach a
diagnosis.  Did your symptoms get gradually and progressively worse, or
was it a fairly sudden (less than a year) change?

We live in Wyoming, and are "parents" to three "kids" with a total of 12
legs, two garden variety cats and a 75 pound Chowbrador (Lab/Chow cross)
dog.

Kendall 

An unreasonable man (but my wife says that's redundant!)

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one
persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all
progress depends on the unreasonable man.

-George Bernard Shaw 1856-1950


Hi,   I'm new.  I should introduce myself.  I'm arriving at a very sad
time...
  :(  2 of my friends died recently.  (Within the past year.)  So when I
hear these things, it hits home.

I'm Jonathan Rand.  Spastic, athetoid quad...  Nonverbal.  Official
diagnosis
of CP but no one knows wats really going on.  The condition acted like
MS at
first...  Episodal, progressive.....  Now, static.  I'm also visually
impaired,
had open heart surgery for a congenital condition....  & that's most of
it,
although not all!  :)

I WAS a musician & an artist.  I wrote 50 songs, over the years.  I
think
EVERYTHING is lost now.  There's no written record or recordings of my
latest & best stuff, & after years of not being able to practice the
music,
its faded from my memory.

Call me PROFESSOR GADGET, because I designed my own assistive devices to
help me shave & open doors etc. .  I only just got my mouse alternative
up &
running.  I call it The SNAKE.  I'm assembling a second snake to enable
me
to draw again.  I'm hoping to be able to make drawings of a speech
machine I
invented.  I think it'll enable someone to generate speech at a near
normal
rate of speed.  No waiting while u type, "look,


out,



                       he's,







got,                                  a,









                       gun!"


Anyway, I guess that's enough?

Except 2 say that it's a very lonely existance.  I have no normal
friendships, & absolutely no love.  Basically, its just me, my
powerchair,
"';GOO-GOO," & my RATHER PRIMATIVE speech machine, "Little Stevie
Hawking,"
("Stevie," for short)!  Traveling through time, headed for the
inevidable!
:)

Sounds depressing?  Well it is!  So I came HERE, looking for people who
might share some of my experiences.

OK, that's really it!  :)

                                  JR