Today I am launching a new feature on my blog:  Guest Blogger Du Jour.   I’m starting off with a bang thanks to my friend Lynn Smith.  Lynn is fairly *new* to autism and biomedical treatments; however, you’d never know that by talking to her.  This is a woman who has taken the autism bull by the horns and has tackled its ass.  Lynn’s not messing around, she’s out to bring her daughter back from the abyss of an ASD.  So without further ado, I present you with my first ever guest blogger, Lynn Smith ((and the audience roars)) [if you are interested in a guest blogger spot, please email me at charlieinwonderland@yahoo.com]:

The purpose of this post is to share our story of getting insurance approval for Dr. Arthur Krigsman through our insurance company, which will be referred to as “InsuranceCo” throughout the piece.

On April 28th we had our initial phone consult with Dr. Krigsman to review my daughter Beth’s medical history and lab results.  It was determined that the next steps would be having her scoped, pill cam, and biopsy procedure.  These were scheduled for June 2nd in Austin, TX. (more…)

UPDATE II:  It’s Sunday, the last day of my Cinco de Linco Loans Weekend Fundraiser for Lend4Health.org.  I set a lofty goal of $1000 in $5 loans.  So far, I’m up to $730!   If 10 of you would make a $5 loan to each of the 5 kids, I’d reach my goal.  Can you spare $25?  Remember, it’s a loan… you’ll get your money back!

UPDATE: I AM ONLY $270 AWAY FROM MY GOAL OF $1000 IN MICRO-LOANS FOR THE KIDS ON LEND4HEALTH!!!  PLEASE BE KIND AND OFFER UP A $5 CINCO DE LINCO LOAN (MAKE SURE YOU DESIGNATE IT AS SUCH)!  REMEMBER, THESE ARE LOANS, NOT DONATIONS.  YOU’LL GET YOUR MONEY BACK!

CLICK HERE TO GO DIRECTLY TO LEND4HEALTH TO SEE THE KIDS AND LOAN $5!!

There are currently SIX FIVE loans open on L4H: Aydan, Alec, Jordan, Tatum, Jaden, and Jonathan #2

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Did you see?  Did you see?  Brandon’s loan was fulfilled!  Yippeeee!  That means Charlie is the lone boy up on L4H requesting a loan.  As I said yesterday, I’m not sure if it is a conflict of interest for me to promote Cinco De Linco, and also be on the site requesting a loan.  So here’s what I’ve come up with, if you think it is, don’t participate this month (unless another child is put up on the site today); however, if you think it is NOT a conflict of interest, go ahead on over to Lend4Health and chip in!  We greatly appreciate it!

Here’s a shortcut:

**Here’s a thought, you could hold off until another child is put up on L4H, then make your loan and call it a “belated Cinco De Linco loan” – that would work!  So do whatever you are comfortable with!

It’s that time again! Please hop over to Lend4Health (Lend4Health.org) and make a small loan to adorable Kostantinos! Let’s get his loan funded!  **Don’t forget to designate your loan as a Cinco De Linco Loan – do this on the “Review Your Payment” page by clicking on “Add Special Instructions To Merchant”.

To date my loan-drive has raised over $800 (Tori, is this correct?)!  You can read more about my Cinco De Linco loans for L4H HERE, HERE, and HERE.  I started all this with Lincoln Loans (which evolved into Cinco De Linco Loans) HERE.

Also, take a few minutes to watch this special message from Tori over at Lend4Health!

UPDATE II 8:16AM Central Sunday: I see we’ve raised $50 so far for Ethan.  He only needs $125 more for his loan to be fulfilled.  Please consider hopping over to Lend4Health and loaning $5, $10, or even $100!  Imagine how good you’ll feel when Ethan is able to get the testing he so desperately needs.  It is the season of giving…

UPDATE 8:20PM Central Friday: I’ve decided to make this Cinco De Linco a weekend bender.  I see we’ve only raised $40… I think we can do much better than that!!  Right!?!  Come on… if you guys can just lend $5 … it WILL help Ethan, I promise!  $40 down, $135 to go!!  Let’s do this thing!

Okay, I admit it, I missed my Cinco De Linco fundraiser last month.  My excuse will not be acceptable to some of you, and for that I am sorry; but, here it is… I, Jeanne, the biggest arachnophobe in the history of arachnophobia, was bitten by a Black Widow spider on my wrist while rummaging around in our garage prepping for a garage sale.  If you’ve ever read THIS, you’ll understand when I say I went into shutdown mode.  A spider bite?  Me?  FYI: Red wine is a great way to self-medicate your psychosis away… well, it was for me.  Once I realized what was happening to my arm, I started seeing deadly spiders everywhere… of course no one else saw them… just me. I guess it’s kind of like when someone starts talking about bugs and some people start getting the itchy-scratchies.

Okay, no more dwelling in my poisonous spider hell, I’m here to raise some money for Lend4Health.  More specifically, I’m here to raise some money for little Ethan.  His mom has this message for us all:

Ethan is the oldest of three children, and he is a fabulous big brother. He received his official diagnosis of PDD-NOS from a psychologist on October 29, 2008, and saw his DAN! doctor for the first time the following day! She is wonderful, but we were all pretty overwhelmed with the amount of testing and the costs involved, but we will do whatever we can!!! The hardest thing is thinking that we will have to forgo treatments that could really help him because we don’t have the means financially. Please support our family in this process and we promise NEVER to give up on Ethan – how could we?!?!

Ethan’s loan request is for $605.  So far Lend4Health, through some very generous lenders, has raised $430!!  That means we only have to raise $175 to fulfill the loan!!  We can do that… right?!?!

So come on everyone, let’s all pull together in Cinco De Linco fashion (we raised $700 last time around) and get this boy’s loan funded!

CLICK HERE TO HELP ETHAN!

September 5th is Cinco De Linco!  You’re probably wondering what in the heck I’m talking about…  Well, let me explain, Cinco De Linco is a new holiday to be celebrated on the 5th day of every month!  So…. Happy Cinco De Linco everyone!

I know, I know, now you’re wondering how you are supposed to celebrate Cindo De Linco.  Balloons?  Maracas?  Margaritas?  Well, sure, if that makes you feel better, go right ahead.  A little party never hurt anyone.  But while you’re at it, hop on over to Lend4Health and loan one of the kids $5, or more than $5 – just make sure you designate your loan as a Cinco De Linco Loan!

What are you waiting for?  Take the five dollars you were gonna spend on that gormet coffee and loan it to a kid in need!

And remember, I’ll be celebrating Cinco De Linco on the 5th day of every month… I hope you’ll join me!

TRICARE Management Activity Desperately Needs A New Name!

I began seeing red at roughly 3:00 pm on the afternoon of Monday, August 25, 2008. This is a new way of seeing red for me. I have been in a serious funk since then, and when I am in this kind of funk; my typical positive, good natured and humorous self goes on a far away vacation. Damn… I wish I could join myself on my vacation because I sure as heck could use one! The only way out of this funk is to share the truth, and in doing so, hopefully be giving voice to countless others to speak their truth as well. (more…)

**Okay everyone, there are only 28 hours (as of 8PM Tuesday, Memphis time) left of Lincoln Loan Days!!  Thanks to those of you who did pop over to Lend4Health to help out!  For those of you who have not had the chance, please hurry!  Tori is keeping track of any monies loaned during my call to action for Lincoln Loans, and I’d like to see at least $100 total in loans generated from my post.  Do it for the kids y’all!

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I woke up at 3:30 this morning.  I couldn’t sleep.  This seems to be a witching hour for me, as I find myself wandering the house at this time several days a week.  When I can’t sleep I will usually hop online to check some of my favorite sites.  This morning was no exception.

I clicked around and read some blogs, and then I clicked on Lend4Health.  I know you are all familiar with this site by now, from my own blogging and by many other bloggers, as well as media stories.  If you have visited the site with any regularity, you’ve probably noticed that Tori will occasionally post a quote.  This morning, instead of a quote, she put up this message: (more…)

From Reuters:

Autism Class Action Filed Against Blue Cross

DETROIT, July 1 /PRNewswire/ –

The father of an autistic child has filed a class action lawsuit against Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, and it was set for hearing by Judge Sean Cox in Federal Court. Mr. Chris Johns alleges that the insurer has wrongfully refused coverage for his child’s therapy and care. The suit alleges that Blue Cross is required to provide coverage for the care under the terms of its policy, but that it has not done so in bad faith and in violation of the federal ERISA statute. (more…)

Mike and I hardly ever travel.  I can count the number of times we’ve stayed in hotels together on one hand. There just hasn’t been time.  In the last 9 months we’ve traveled more than we have in the past three years.  Something we’ve both noticed is the fact that hotels have serious plumbing issues… toilets that don’t flush (I think this has happened to us at every single hotel we’ve stayed in), sinks that don’t drain, and showers where you’re standing in 8 inches (or more) of water.  This isn’t something that only happens at “affordable” hotels, we’ve had this experience at a Ritz (ATL).  Before you go thinking we’re rolling in dough, Mike’s mom works for the Ritz so we were able to get an affordable room (and that was 3 or 4 years ago). (more…)