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  • Nicki
  • Member Since Jun 24th, 2006
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Recent Comments:

Seriously? That's the best the camera guy could come up with?!?
LMAO @ #29! I can almost hear him saying that.
Love the show! But not cool, dude.
Wow, she looks normal. Good luck to you, Amy!
Team Kate! All the way! She may be a bitch, but she has to be with 8 kids to raise. Jon couldn't get his thumb out of his ass long enough to do anything useful. He's standing up for himself NOW? Oh please! He's having a mid-life crisis at the ripe old age of 32 and wants to relive the youth he thinks he missed out on.
To Jamie (Post #21):

'They do it already on Medicaid... Why do you think they pop out so many kids? It's free for them....'

Not EVERY person dependent on Medicaid "pop out kids" in order to get free medical benefits. Many families who rely on Medicaid programs truly are hardworking people who simply can't make ends meet. I work for one of the largest health insurers in the country and yet I simply cannot afford the extra $5000 a year just for the premiums and prescription co-pays for my disabled child. And this is my out of pocket expense before a single doctor or hospital visit ... or any other medical treatment. So don't assume EVERYONE sits around on their a$$ to collect benefits because they don't want to work. Many simply cannot afford the "luxury" of healthcare.
Geez, how did an article about a prominent businessman getting an organ transplant become a heated debate over socialized healthcare? Obviously, whether or not Steve Jobs has insurance wouldn't be an issue for HIM. But can't everyone just wish the man well and go on your not-so-merry way?
Geez, are her 15 minutes not up YET?!?
How awful for the family. My condolences at this difficult time.
First, I'd like to express my deepest sympathies to the family on the untimely passing of their beloved son and brother. I can only imagine the pain and sorrow they are dealing with right now. This is truly a tragedy.

There have been numerous rumors and much speculation about Jett's true condition ... specifically that he had Autism or some type of Autism spectrum disorder. While there is no way for any of us to know for sure as we do not know the family personally, I can relate to some of what is being reported based on my own experiences as a parent of an autistic teen. My son (also named Jet and 16 yrs, old) took Depakote on and off for several years. It is an older medication that has been on the market for a very long time and it primarily used as a mood stabilizer for persons with Bipolar Disorder ... or for individuals who have issues with varying mood swings and aggressive behavior. It is also sometimes used to treat migraine headaches, but not as often now because there are new medications on the market with fewer side affects. It is RARELY used to treat seizures for the same reason, newer available meds with fewer side affects. Depakote does have a couple of serious side affects including hair loss (which could explain the close crop haircut Jett has been seen with in recent years) and severe weight gain. I often wondered why earlier pictures of Jett from 5 - 8 years ago showed him to be a thin, lanky child ... and why he carried extra weight more recently. The same thing happened to my child as well. The weight gain became such a serious health issue that my son had to be taken off Depakote and given a newer, similar drug called Topamax.

Seizures are common for people with Autism, although certainly they can occur in individuals who have no history of Autism as well. And while it may very well be true that Jett was once diagnosed with Kawasaki disease, there is no correlation or medical studies linking the disorder to developmental disabilities that could have the same characteristics of Autism. CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, even stated that Kawasaki was a medical condition seen primarily in younger children, perhaps up to the age of 8, but that for a teenager to still experience symptoms of the disorder was very unusual.

Recent pictures of Jett often showed him almost always wearing large earphones when out in public. This is something my son does as well because of sensory issues. Crowd noises bother him tremendously and the earphones help filter out a lot of the noise and allows him to focus on his hand held video game or mp3 player he often carries with him in order to cope with being around a lot of people.

While the fact that Jett experienced frequent seizures may certainly be the reason a teen may require extra attention such as a one on one assistant, it is also likely he required the extra supervision due to Autism. My son requires constant supervision as he has issues with adhering to boundaries and has no real fear of any danger. He also has to be given medication 4 times daily and would otherwise not bother to take it if someone did not physically hand it to him and instruct him to even though this has been part of his daily routine for over a decade. I've also been through the baby monitor phase and door chime phase when my son's behavior warranted it. He often would walk right out the front door and take off down the street so the door chime was necessary to alert others in the house that he may have possibly left.

Again, my observations are merely speculation as it there is no possible way for me to truly know what physical or mental impairments Jett Travolta experienced. But the similarities between him and my own child are uncanny. For whatever reasons John and Kelly felt they couldn't - or shouldn't have to - share Jett's true condition, the fact that they loved their son immensely was blatantly obvious and I don't think anyone could ever dispute that. I sincerely hope that they will one day find some peace from the tremendous pain they are currently sharing over the loss of their beloved son. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.
Let the hive mind of Engadget get that for you.
"I'm in the market for a new phone and money isn't a limitation. I'm also not partial to any particular US carrier, but here are some of the features I'd like to have: WiFi, GPS, good coverage in lots of places, push Gmail (a must!), physical keyboard (a must!), a touchscreen, decent battery life and a relatively slim body. And please, nothing that has a fruit logo on it. No offense to the fruit fans, though. Thanks!"

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