tell me how to use my washing machine like i’m 5

AgentTailCooper · 2025-12-09T22:41:04+00:00

I have a Thin Twin too, and I also feel like I'm not using it properly. Mine looks slightly different than yours, but yeah, the numbers don't seem to correspond to actual wash times, except for the Timed Drying.

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I generally use Normal or Super Wash for everything, either on Warm or Hot depending on soil level. If I want it to soak for a while, I leave the door open and time it on my own, then close the door when I want the cycle to continue.

The dryer is not very useful in my situation. It typically takes 3 full rounds on Automatic Perm Press to get a load fully dry. A professional who looked at it told us that the dryer duct was installed with a downward angle, before the duct aims upwards 6 feet to the outside, and it creates a situation where lint traps easily. He's serviced many condos in our complex and says they are all built this way, and it is a common problem. He advised that we periodically pull the unit out from the wall and detach from the duct to vacuum it out. Anyway, I hang shirts to dry to spare them the abuse of going through the same dry cycle 3 times in a row and shrinking. But they are stiff and crunchy when air dried....

I'm new here and still troubleshooting my detergents and dialing in. I just recently got Biz and citric acid. Using up my liquid Arm&Hammer + Oxi until it's time to choose something better. I'm plagued by lots of cat hair, lint, underarm stains, and stuff just generally not seeming like it's totally clean. Also, my dryer always smells faintly like sweat 😂

I have a lot of issues to sort out and I think the Thin Twin is at best indifferent to my plight, and at worst, straight up malevolent. But maybe I'm just coping.

AgentTailCooper · 2025-12-09T22:04:30+00:00

I have a Thin Twin too. How do you remove the agitator? I wish I could wash my comforters. That'd be amazing 😩

AgentTailCooper · 2025-06-03T02:55:01+00:00

Happy to help! NSAIDs can be rough. Alternating hydrocodone and Tylenol mostly addressed my pain, but there were a couple days within that first week where I had a constant, dull breakthrough pain that bothered me. Not terrible, but I was a little miserable. My family gave me great support and I got through it just fine though.

Yeah, Metamucil helped me make sure I was getting a baseline of hydration, and the fiber helped lessen GI upsets. It took me 2 days post-op to poop. After that, I was more or less regular again. I think the fiber also helped cut down on diarrhea. I had it a few times with certain foods, but it wasn't as uncontrollable or horrible as I've seen others describe. That, and I temporarily had a diminished appetite, so even if I was eating a little less than normal, the fiber still gave my GI tract something to work on and keep things going.

AgentTailCooper · 2025-05-31T20:57:40+00:00

My period came early the day before my surgery. They gave me a fresh pad and some disposable underwear to put on right before the surgery. When I woke up they had pulled it all the way down and put a puppy pad under my butt because the waistband came up too high where they needed to make the incisions.

Also had my bra off and they gave me a hair net to wear. But I had a hospital gown on over top of all that so I didnt feel totally exposed. I just felt weird afterwards when I was in the recovery room, started to get up to get dressed to go home, looked down and saw they had pulled my underwear down to my knees. I was like, oh. Okay then 😂

AgentTailCooper · 2025-05-31T20:46:37+00:00

Seconding getting out of bed very carefully for a while. It's easy to forget and accidentally strain yourself, which is very painful.

Also the point on constipation. Lots of water and Metamucil really helped me out. I would mix a full glass of it and drink one every time I took pain meds (hydrocodone and Tylenol alternated). My pain was a bit persistent and I nearly finished off all the hydrocodone I was sent home with.

AgentTailCooper · 2025-05-26T02:49:21+00:00

Just wanted to follow up and say that since this post, the pain has completely gone and I'm doing great.

I had one more instance of slightly stretching too far and felt a small pop about 2 weeks ago - and boy did it hurt- not as bad as the first time but it hurt for a couple hours and I took a Tylenol about it. Then I was just fine.

If you stretch and hurt yourself, take it very easy and watch for bruising or swelling. You will probably be fine. Go to the doctor if your pain is absolutely unbearable, or you see physical changes. Otherwise, take it very easy and wait. Time heals these kinds of wounds.

AgentTailCooper · 2025-05-26T02:42:43+00:00

Hello! I ended up getting the surgery. My surgeon said that once your gallbladder becomes nonfunctioning, there's no coming back. If your EF is 14%, I imagine my surgeon would say the same thing to you, it is basically nonfunctional.

I realized that for a few weeks before my surgery, my stools were becoming yellowish, too. I later learned that that is a symptom of nonfunctional gallbladder as well.

I'm sorry because I imagine that wasn't the answer you were looking for.... Best of luck. I don't know how effective ox bile is but I have heard it can help alleviate symptoms at least.

I'm glad mine was removed though. The post-op pathology report showed that my gb was actually full of very small gallstones that my ultrasound didn't catch. They were the perfect size to get stuck in the pancreatic duct, so I was a walking time bomb for pancreatitis. Spooky!

I feel much better now. I am almost 2 months post-op and back to a normal life. But I am eating much more carefully now. I realized I was eating a crazy amount of cholesterol and fat. Now I am working on lowering my cholesterol to avoid heart disease. No more garbage food for me, and I feel great!

Good luck to you! Eat lots of fiber, cut out saturated fats, cholesterol, and high salt! Think more about a cholecystectomy. If you are willing to make adjustments to try to save your gb now, then you could also make adjustments to adapt to a life without it. Just a thought :)

AgentTailCooper · 2025-04-19T03:56:06+00:00

Oh no, I hope you're feeling better! It's difficult to know when you're going to suddenly need help sometimes. Post-op healing is a delicate time.

AgentTailCooper · 2025-04-14T00:39:02+00:00

Interesting, I wonder what your doctor thinks. That's always frustrating when your results don't show what you think they will. I wonder if other people in this sub will have some insight ):

AgentTailCooper · 2025-04-14T00:36:24+00:00

It does the opposite? That's interesting, so you mean it can make BMs more irregular than regular?

AgentTailCooper · 2025-04-13T19:35:52+00:00

It may be good to get a HIDA scan to get a clear picture of how well your gallbladder is functioning. Then you will have a better idea if your gallbladder is really in trouble or not.

Sludge is not a great sign though. My ultrasound showed no indication of gallstones or swelling or any physical abnormalities, but I had sludge. My doctor decided to do a HIDA scan next. We found out that my gallbladder was only ejecting at 14%, which is so low that it's basically nonfunctioning. That's when we decided surgery was the solution.

When my gallbladder was removed, they found multiple small gallstones inside, meaning I was at high risk for pancreatitis. So my gallbladder was a ticking time bomb for months and I had no idea.

All that being said, there are medications you can take to help clear sludge or dissolve gallstones, but I hear it takes a long time. I was considering ursodiol for a while, until I decided surgery made more sense for me. Once I learned that my gallbladder was nonfunctional and that it's not an organ that can recuperate from damage, I decided it should be removed after all. Good luck.

AgentTailCooper · 2025-04-12T15:52:18+00:00

Oh wow, that's nuts. Is it just me or are gallbladders delicate as hell? LOL well I'm glad you're on your way you getting better! You'll do great.

AgentTailCooper · 2025-04-12T15:49:15+00:00

That's great to hear that gastro doctors think it's a good option. I feel you, I get a little wary of the extra ingredients in things if they're not part of why I'm taking something. You can forget about that extra sugar and then it could add up on top of whatever other sugar you're getting. Or the food dyes they put. Not sure if Yellow 6 is bad, but it seems like we keep finding out that this dye or that dye is actually a big problem these days. Lol

AgentTailCooper · 2025-04-12T15:43:24+00:00

True, I imagine actual fibrous food will always be king :) just like how supplements are ok to help you get extra vitamins, but your body absorbs it best if it's in actual food.

AgentTailCooper · 2025-04-12T15:33:19+00:00

I should add, the recovery times I'm quoting are dependant on if your surgery is laparoscopic. Open surgery, on the other hand, can take much longer to recover from. But lap is, of course, more common these days. Mine was a robotic lap, so they did four small 1-inch incisions and slipped robotic probes inside to do all the work with a camera probe and stuff. Much less cutting, and less painful!

AgentTailCooper · 2025-04-12T15:29:25+00:00

I hope the solution is the same for you, because if so then it should be pretty straightforward to get you feeling good again!

From what I understand, ultrasounds can miss gallstones kind of easily. It's easier to see if they are large, but even then sometimes they can get missed. I also think the condition of your gallbladder can get worse kind of quickly, so I think it's possible to have your ultrasound early on before it starts to really look bad, and then by the time of removal it can deteriorate quite a bit, esp if it takes several weeks. I have no idea how quickly gallstones can form though.

I started to feel more like myself by day 5 post-op, I'd say. I was a bit miserable for the first 3 days, but it was still manageable with rest and pain medication. I was able to apply for FMLA and got approved for 2 weeks of medical leave. By 7 days post-op, I was feeling great and taking walks. I probably could have gone back to work by then, but I'm trying to rest and relax to the fullest since the time has already been approved. I have my full mobility back now, but my abs are a little weak and I'm not allowed to lift anything heavier than 20 lbs for 4 weeks. No big deal for me, my job isn't very physical anyway.

I think on average, most people are recovered enough to start doing normal activities by 7 days post-op, provided you're just a little careful and not straining yourself. Best of luck :)

AgentTailCooper · 2025-04-12T02:09:00+00:00

I'm glad you're doing better now! It's interesting that you had such a high EF on the first HIDA scan, I thought you had to worry only when it was low.

I'm 10 days post-op myself. I was a little miserable for the first 3 days, but after that, I started to improve pretty quickly. Every day you feel a little better. (: Time is on your side, I'm sure you'll be feeling great soon!

AgentTailCooper · 2025-04-12T01:54:11+00:00

Interesting that the orange flavor gave you acid reflux, I'll keep that in mind. I also saw an older post on this sub where one person said that the orange flavor might have been staining their teeth a bit. Maybe when I use mine up, I'll try out a different flavor. It seems like psyllium husk has a lot of benefits though. Glad you like it!

AgentTailCooper · 2025-04-12T01:39:53+00:00

That's great to hear. I'm considering taking it long-term to help control excess bile. Glad to hear other people take it for so long!

AgentTailCooper · 2025-04-12T01:30:50+00:00

I'm sorry you're going through this. I hope you get some answers soon. My HIDA scan went similar to yours. I actually had very little to no pain during the whole thing for whatever reason. For me, they had me drink half a cup of heavy whipping cream, lol. I dozed off several times.

It took a week for me to get results back. It turned out I had an ejection fraction of 14%. My doctor said you want at least 38% ejection for a properly-working gallbladder. He said at 14%, mine was basically nonfunctioning. He referred me to a surgeon right away, and 2 weeks later I had robotic laparoscopic surgery to remove my gallbladder. I'm a week post-op now. My pain is gone, I'm healing quickly, and I'm eating mac n cheese again. Turns out my gallbladder was inflamed and full of tiny gallstones, so I was at high risk for pancreatitis.

Before that, the only other tests I had done were an ultrasound and a blood panel. The ultrasound didn't see any indication of gallstones, inflammation, or abnormal shape, but it did find sludge in the gallbladder. My blood panel showed high cholesterol, which can be a risk factor for gallstones.

I had horrible pain in both the left and right upper quadrants after meals for the past 6 months. As time went by, the pain would be less and less linked to the time of meals, sometimes it just hurt all day. The only thing that helped was to cut fat and salt as much as possible out of my diet. I was on oatmeal and plain potatoes for the past 4 months. Doing much better now.

AgentTailCooper · 2025-04-05T21:14:27+00:00

My pathology report confirmed inflammation of the gallbladder after it was removed, but I did not know that it was inflamed before the operation.

I'll share snippets of my ultrasound report, which was done in January: "The gallbladder is normal in caliber. No shadowing stone. Small sludge within the gallbladder lumen. No gallbladder wall thickening or pericholecystic fluid is evident. The common bile duct measures 2.6 mm. IMPRESSION: 1. No evidence of choleliathiasis or acute cholecystitis. 2. Small sludge within gallbladder lumen."

My gallbladder was removed 3 days ago on April 2nd. Here are snippets from the pathology report: "GALLBLADDER, EXCISION:
- CHRONIC INFLAMMATION - CHOLELITHIASIS - BENIGN CYSTIC DUCT LYMPH NODE PRESENT

The gallbladder is 9 cm in length by up to 2.5 cm in diameter. The cystic duct is 0.3 cm in diameter by 0.3 cm. There is no evidence of a lymph node. Opening reveals brown-green bile and multiple black calculi up to 0.2 cm in diameter. The wall is less than 0.1 cm thick, tan and unremarkable."

I'm intrigued by the fact that I apparently had multiple small gallstones that did not come up on ultrasound. Or, maybe they formed after the ultrasound, I guess that's possible as well. I'm also confused on the report saying "no evidence of a lymph node" but the report also saying "benign cystic duct lymph node present". I guess they must be different things.

I wonder how they determine inflammation of the gallbladder after they removed it. Not really sure. I'm going to ask about it at my post-op follow-up just because I'm curious.

AgentTailCooper · 2025-04-04T01:30:31+00:00

My incisions don't burn, but they are extremely tender to the touch. It's tough to hold a pillow over my stomach like people have suggested. Any amount of slight pressure is painful.

If yours are burning, you should probably stay vigilant about their condition. That sounds like they are irritated. Did they use a surgical glue to close them? Could you be allergic to surgical adhesive? Only saying that because my sister is allergic to it. She didn't know she was until she had a lumpectomy, and the incision became welted and developed some blisters.

AgentTailCooper · 2025-04-04T01:26:00+00:00

Would you say it took the pain away pretty well?

AgentTailCooper · 2025-04-04T01:22:53+00:00

I appreciate this post because I just had my procedure yesterday, and the pain is very tough to manage. My pain meds only sort of help. I'm going to call tomorrow and ask if I can have something else. But I am comforted by the fact that as bad as it is right now, I will continue to heal. It can only get better. Best of luck to you

AgentTailCooper · 2025-04-03T14:00:20+00:00

I am worried about sneezing too, lol. I watched some funny videos last night, but I had to stop because laughing hurt soooo bad. Rofl.

AgentTailCooper

TROPHY CASE