My ALS Journey: 11/n

This update is a special one. I want to explain how I can still provide classes, mentoring, and presentations.

What Keeps me Alive

First of all: I want to stay in touch with you by writing or speaking. I was, therefore, extremely depressed when I recognized that I could not move my arms or speak with a strong voice. To be precise, I can only move three fingers of my left arm, and you must put your ear on my mouth to understand me. This limitation made writing a blog post or speaking highly exhausting because I had to take a 5-minute break after each sentence. Additionally, I could not work for more than two hours a day. This is also the reason I answered e-mails only with a few words.

Almost all my limitations are gone, and I can do what I love. I can write at half my original speed and speak with my original voice. On the 27th of June, I gave a presentation at the Munich C++ user group. I was a bit nervous, but it worked out pretty well.

Let me write about how I overcame my limitations.

Writing

I use Windows Access to dictate my text. This works pretty well in English and German. Afterward, I fix the many failures using a virtual keyboard and a special mouse. I switched to a left-hand mouse with a trackball. This mouse allows me to hit all the buttons on my virtual keyboard.

Speaking

When I wear my ventilator, my voice is as good as before. This has two significant advantages. You can understand me, and so can Windows Access. Sometimes, the ventilator exhales or inhales while I’m speaking. If this happens, I have to repeat my sentence.

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Thanks a lot to my Patreon Supporters: Matt Braun, Roman Postanciuc, Tobias Zindl, G Prvulovic, Reinhold Dröge, Abernitzke, Frank Grimm, Sakib, Broeserl, António Pina, Sergey Agafyin, Андрей Бурмистров, Jake, GS, Lawton Shoemake, Jozo Leko, John Breland, Venkat Nandam, Jose Francisco, Douglas Tinkham, Kuchlong Kuchlong, Robert Blanch, Truels Wissneth, Mario Luoni, Friedrich Huber, lennonli, Pramod Tikare Muralidhara, Peter Ware, Daniel Hufschläger, Alessandro Pezzato, Bob Perry, Satish Vangipuram, Andi Ireland, Richard Ohnemus, Michael Dunsky, Leo Goodstadt, John Wiederhirn, Yacob Cohen-Arazi, Florian Tischler, Robin Furness, Michael Young, Holger Detering, Bernd Mühlhaus, Stephen Kelley, Kyle Dean, Tusar Palauri, Juan Dent, George Liao, Daniel Ceperley, Jon T Hess, Stephen Totten, Wolfgang Fütterer, Matthias Grün, Phillip Diekmann, Ben Atakora, Ann Shatoff, Rob North, Bhavith C Achar, Marco Parri Empoli, Philipp Lenk, Charles-Jianye Chen, Keith Jeffery,and Matt Godbolt.

Modernes C++ Mentoring

Be part of my mentoring programs:

"Fundamentals for C++ Professionals" (open)

"Design Patterns and Architectural Patterns with C++" (open)

"C++20: Get the Details" (open)

"Concurrency with Modern C++" (starts March 2024)

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Thanks, in particular, to Jon Hess, Lakshman, Christian Wittenhorst, Sherhy Pyton, Dendi Suhubdy, Sudhakar Belagurusamy, Richard Sargeant, Rusty Fleming, John Nebel, Mipko, Alicja Kaminska, Slavko Radman, and David Poole.

My special thanks to Embarcadero
My special thanks to PVS-Studio
My special thanks to Tipi.build
My special thanks to Take Up Code
My special thanks to SHAVEDYAKS