Hello and welcome to my website.  My name is Thomas Anthony.... but,....  just Tom is fine.  This welcome page is Intended to offer a brief introduction to who I am, my focus with this site and parameters that frame my persona in this effort.

    Fifty six years old, originally from New York, met a woman and settled in Alabama.  I've been here now for the last twenty five years.  The Lady who convinced me Alabama was the place to settle into isn't here anymore, but she left me with a wonderful daughter who's now in her twenties and conquering her own little world with unique style and flair.

      I'm a Father, son, friend and businessman.  I believe those who know me consider me a "stand up guy".  My New York upbringing keeps that aspect, "a stand up guy", in the front of my mind.  If you're not from New York, Chicago, Detroit etc., I'm not sure you will understand the concept.  Interestingly enough, if you get the concept,... it's considerably  important and means something.  But if you don't understand it, it's not important at all and we'll just move on.

     I've been dealing with MS for almost the entire twenty five years I've been here in Alabama.  Earlier I mentioned the "stand up guy" thing.  I introduced that aspect of my personality to transition into this paragraph.  From day one my doctors suggested I apply for disability, but no.......  in my opinion "stand up guys" don't do that.  "Stand up guys" don't whine, show weakness or hold their hands out.  Actually, in hindsight, guys with more pride than brains act that way.  Smart guys weigh their options and make intelligent decisions.  Anyhow, long story short, over the last twenty five years life kinda happened and now I'm incredibly tired and thinking of looking for a life boat.  Life has a way of doing that to everyone, not just the people with challenges.  My pride is also getting tired and disability options are looking better by the day.  Apparently, the pride lesson is one of the lessons I come into this lifetime to address.

     Sorry, I said long story short so I'll get to it now.  When I started to inquire about my disability options, everyone knew a little bit, but nobody really had solid answers to the obvious questions.  I've been doing this medical thing for quite awhile now and all the medical people I know fell into the "know a little" category.  I decided to set aside some time, do the research and document my findings on a website that could be easily accessed by people riding the same ride as me.  The first thing I Learned was that all the "know a little" answers I received earlier ..... they were mostly WRONG!  There is an overwhelming amount of information available, but the word overwhelming doesn't even start to do it justice.  It's government bureaucratic craziness with the: title this, subpart that, section A, subsection 1 and on and on.  Then there's the vendor side of the situation with the lawyers and advocate groups, many with substantial websites, offering their slanted input also.  Please don't misunderstand me.  Most of the medical people, some of the lawyers and the advocates groups are great and I truly respect and appreciate their Intent.  But geezzz.... like I said, overwhelming don't even come close to describing the collection of intertwined fact-innuendo-condescension-threat/intimidation and just excessive general "verbiage" I encountered .  I can only imagine they're paid by the word, with bonuses for words and abbreviations that nobody knows or terms that just plain elude pronunciation.  So I collected, filtered and triaged as much as I could take and posted my disability findings on this site.

     My next thought is now that I have a website, maybe I should use it to it's full potential.  After finalizing my disability research, I'll set up a blog, a suggested links page and even promote a little e-book I'll be publishing soon about my experiences with, and attitudes toward, illness and healing.  I came across a poster once showing a girl whining and explaining the grass is greener etc.... The poster then explained how her grass would also be green if she would just water it.  It pretty much summed up my attitude toward illness and healing.  Don't whine, act!  Intend to Choose .. then .. Choose to heal...... and move on. Maybe you can't completely heal yourself today, but you can certainly take steps toward that end and also take steps to improve your quality of life.  (Please read the next few paragraphs before you take offense.)

       Communication, Compassion and Unconditional Love are all huge factors in my life.

      Since you have read this far, you have already noticed poor grammar, bad spelling and improper use of capitalization.  All of those mistakes were intentional and fall into the communication category.  Yes, it's offered incorrectly, but the important words get capitalized, the commas and ....(dots) provide breaks giving the sentence structure the  power I had Intended.  Although I may not be the sharpest tool in the box, I truly can both spell and write correctly.  I have Learned that words have power and the use of the proper adjectives can both give and take away power from a topic.

      In my writings, you will notice I aggressively belittle MS and/or any other disease that's in the conversation.  It's certainly not Intended as a cruel or rude action, as I have a huge amount of compassion for anyone challenged or suffering.  My wording is Intended to take as much power away from the disease as possible.  My using adjectives in this manner is a good example of Unconditional Love.  Doing so will provide a less powerful image of the disease in the subconscious mind of the person having the challenges.  Maybe this effort offends that person, but the end result outweighs the hurt feelings dramatically.  Subconsciously, their mind gives the disease less power.  It's now weaker and less overwhelming.  A tough Love kind of thing.  Unconditional Love.

      Being aware I am a Spiritual being, I have substantial respect for all belief systems.  That would also include those who Choose not to believe at all.  I understand all the different belief systems are basically doing the same thing, although they may be taking different avenues to the same end.  They are all Intending to recognize and honor their God as best they can.  This is a patient support website and I'm sure everyone here understands, after a serious diagnosis, how quick we want to get real close with our God.

      Oh yeah, almost forgot ....... I'm also dealing with this annoyance of a disease.  I won't let my life be defined by this nonsense, but I can understand how part of my life will be defined by how I deal with it.  Notice my new website.  It's a part, be it only a small part, of how I'm dealing with it.  But there's so much more.

      Please join me, and my newly found Friends, as we Learn and explore together.  You may want to join in our blog "Intending to Heal" and share some of your experience, or maybe you want to inquire about some of ours.  You may also want to check out our Helpful Links page to research something, or possibly you know of a link that can help others and we can add it to the list.  Finally, you may find my brief e-book "Choices - Intend to Choose" interesting.  However this site fits into your world,... welcome and Namaste.

- Thomas Anthony