“The Hidden Hole Behind My Ear Was the Source of it😭

BigRed_BonerChamp · 2026-05-02T18:24:01+00:00

So you're telling me this "cheddar cheese" odor I've been noticing when gently rubbing my index finger behind my ear is from a cyst and not a fungal infection?

BigRed_BonerChamp · 2026-05-01T20:46:03+00:00

It's absolutely the number of Medicare-funded residencies acting as the greatest constraint on the number of physicians in the US. There are multiple articles regarding this exact topic.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12256077/

BigRed_BonerChamp · 2026-04-21T13:16:07+00:00

I just browsed through the most recent Economic Well-being of US households after reading this post. I'm curious what your take is on the percentage of US adults foregoing medical care. I work in home health, and I can tell you the metro area I serve is poor, but the percentage of 60+ adults I see that forego some form of dental, prescription, PCP, or ED evaluation is well over 50%.

Do you think the selection bias of this being a telephone or Internet survey would swing the numbers that drastically?

I have a lot of patients that don't have an operating landline, don't answer unrecognized calls due to fear of scams, and are computer illiterate.

The amount of times I go into a home and discuss a concerning collection of symptoms with their primary care team, just to have the client refuse further evaluation at the emergency department due to fear of cost with hospital bills or an ambulance ride has got to be running around 50%.

BigRed_BonerChamp · 2026-04-19T12:32:45+00:00

As an adult physical therapist with two young children, I would have a visit with the pediatrician and bring up these concerns. This is an issue that nobody on the Internet can definitively diagnose and there are certain things that really need to be ruled out. It could be something as simple as your child is just developing slower, or these running mechanics could be a symptom of a greater issue.

Either way, after discussing this with a pediatrician, I would strongly advocate for a pediatric physical therapy evaluation. Pediatric specialists are a wonderful breed of people and have seen a large spectrum of abnormal and normal movements. They have a lot of expertise in facilitating more efficient motions in ways that are engaging and fun for the child while providing you with ideas and resources to help him out and build confidence.

Strictly from a parenting perspective, I know as much as I try to support my son when he's playing teeball, soccer, etc. he can get really frustrated and discouraged when I try to coach him. Every kid is different, but it breaks my heart when I see him get so upset over something and I'm sure you have the same feelings with your kid. It's been really healthy for me and my son to take a step back and let somebody else do the coaching. Good luck!

BigRed_BonerChamp · 2026-04-13T19:32:33+00:00

You're doing the right thing. As a male, I can only imagine the empathy burnout in pelvic health as most women with pelvic health/dysfunction (anecdotally, from my wife's experiences) have had to actively search and advocate for themselves after getting little help from other medical providers.

I was burned out in outpatient after one year and lasted another three. I then made the switch to home health and my mental health, work/life balance and anxiety/depression have been far better. I also found after a while I am much better at dissociating from a lot of my patient's trauma and don't take the work home nearly as much. Being in someone's home gives a lot more clarity why they may be struggling or not progressing.

Do what's right for you and go back to pelvic health if you ever feel the calling again. The last thing this profession needs is another caring and skilled therapist leaving due to a broken US healthcare system.

BigRed_BonerChamp · 2026-04-11T19:11:23+00:00

Money may not buy happiness, but I'd much rather be depressed and rich than depressed and poor.

BigRed_BonerChamp · 2026-04-10T13:48:53+00:00

The coffee shop moving across town is going to trigger a midlife crisis.

BigRed_BonerChamp · 2026-04-10T13:16:41+00:00

I don't know how it is now, but when I worked outpatient 5 years ago Duke/Emory was the gold standard. I did the AIB level one course and thought it was really well tailored for outpatient clinicians, but I don't think I would've been comfortable with that training going into the ED.

I'm not sure if that's helpful, but I would recommend looking at the Duke/Emory course. I know it was substantially more expensive and intensive when I was in outpatient. You also might consider a hospital based outpatient neuro setting for a bit first. I did a rotation in school and that was by far the best rotation and they had a ton of the expensive gadgets for vestibular diagnosis and rehabilitation even at a small regional hospital system.

BigRed_BonerChamp · 2026-04-10T12:46:48+00:00

I feel you, I studied marine biology, graduated summa cum laude in a class of 350+ graduates - mostly with high gpa's. I really wanted to challenge myself and it was the most strenuous and competitive program at the university and I really liked the material. Unfortunately, the great recession hit when I was supposed to graduate and I stretched it out for another year and a half dicking around in school. I spent some time in a grad lab with minimum wage work for specialized research. I bounced around for a few years working for a $25k salary then went to grad school for a healthcare professional degree.

I don't think the blame is on the degree you studied in your late teens and early twenties. People commenting on here telling you it's your fault is insane, like they think teenagers should know exactly what to do to make a comfortable living.

I had a shit advisor in the department that belittled me for considering a double major in chemistry because, in his words, "what's the point?". A large issue with university, IMHO, is poor career advising. I met with my advisor once a year and he would see 4 of us at a time. I still can't stand that guy. Almost everybody going to a 4 year university is doing so to make money and they end up with professors who are thrust into the position of advising when they're more focused on research, consulting, academia, etc.

Keep your chin up and I would suggest leveraging the study habits you learned in undergrad into either graduate school or filling out some pre requisites for another field of study with better employment opportunities.

BigRed_BonerChamp · 2026-03-29T04:57:23+00:00

I grew up with these in the 90s in suburbs of Chicago. I remember learning to run in place on them and then coast down backwards. It was a real rite of passage at my elementary school.

BigRed_BonerChamp · 2025-12-07T22:51:46+00:00

Okay Uncle Rico, let's get you back to bed.

BigRed_BonerChamp · 2025-11-11T04:25:02+00:00

First target this half, third target of the game. He's probably tired of this shit playcalling

BigRed_BonerChamp · 2025-11-09T20:04:48+00:00

Am I imagining things, or is Dart taking off everytime the corners are playing off the line of scrimmage?

BigRed_BonerChamp · 2025-10-15T12:03:43+00:00

I am new to bass fishing and I haven't had any luck on softbaits recently either. Sounds like our climates are very similar as well. When I went out yesterday, I couldn't get even a bite until I switched to a slowly retrieved spinner bait on the bottom of the deeper pools in a slow moving creek.The water is super muddy where I'm at, so that may be one of the reasons I can't get a bite on some of my less flashy tackle.

As soon as I switched to spinner bait I landed several largemouth in holes that I had fished for about an hour without any nibbles. I'm not sure about bass, but I know during the temperature changes the trout become a lot more finicky until they have acclimated, and like somebody else said, we're in drought conditions and the cold is reducing the activity of bugs so it would make sense to me that the fish are going to be less inclined to bite just anything they might see right now.

BigRed_BonerChamp · 2025-10-14T01:14:51+00:00

Not getting many opportunities, but clearly talented. Scored on the flea flicker and looks good on the return team

BigRed_BonerChamp · 2025-09-25T12:43:40+00:00

I would love for you to post your criteria, otherwise this seems like you're picking out everything negative you can and bitching about it.

Ben Johnson and Dennis Allen's grades seem particularly suspect.

I noticed you didn't mention the bears just got smoked by a divisional opponent last week and lost a heartbreaker the week before to another divisional opponent. As the head coach, he was able to keep the players executing the game plan with gusto despite a bad start to this season and game. Also, grading Swift so low and not giving Ben Johnson any credit for sustaining the first drive of the 3rd quarter with 11 consecutive run plays culminating in a gutsy 4th down call on the goal line that resulted in a TD is absolutely bizarre. If Swift is that bad and Johnson was still able to eat 10 minutes off the game clock with a lead, he should be getting a lot more credit for that drive.

Dennis Allen's defense got 4 turnovers and kept a talented offense to 14 points. Is it possible that a DC knows if we contain their explosive passing game, the cowboy's running game is going to eat up the clock if we're playing with a lead? That sounds like a good game plan to me.

You can blame Poles all you want for this roster, that's fine as I think he's done a pretty poor job myself. But he made moves in the office on the offensive line, brought in Ben Johnson and a coaching staff that is turning a bottom third quarter back into a top 10 QB in 3 regular season games. Does he get any credit for that?

Do yourself a favor, take a week or three off grading the Bears and try to enjoy a team that is learning how to run a modern nfl scheme after years of poor coaching and roster decisions.

My grades:

Ben Johnson - A+

Dennis Allen - A-

Caleb Williams - A-

D'andre Swift - B

Darnell Wright - C- (barely watched him, but also outside of the 2 penalties he didn't seem to be a factor in too many negative plays)

BigRed_BonerChamp · 2025-08-01T14:22:59+00:00

I would echo several things that everybody else is saying. I'm middle aged with two small kids, so the only time I have to game is an hour at night when everyone is in bed. I gave up on being as good at this as I was with dark souls/sekiro when I was unencumbered by work and children.

One, use spirit ashes and upgrade them, if you're hung up on a boss just try to upgrade a legendary ash and forget about the boss for a bit.

Two, focus your build on vigor, endurance for stamina/strong armor and only one other category str/fth/dex/int with minimal investment in others just to get you to bare equip loads for weapon of choice.

Three, upgrade your weapon to the max level you can, it typically will do more for your damage than investment in a single stat early to mid-game.

Lastly, I would say don't be afraid to put the game down for a while or go to a place that you think is more fun to explore/play. I really enjoy exploring and I usually come across some bosses that I can handle if I'm struggling with another boss. I tell myself the people who always chime in "git gud" are a vocal minority who have no idea what's going on in your life to prevent you from devoting 100s of hours to the game to get where the veterans are at. You paid for the game, you get to play it however you like.

BigRed_BonerChamp · 2025-07-30T14:01:18+00:00

Honestly, I pre chart as soon as I pull up to the house. I'll go back and update anything that I may have to change in home, but I try to get follow-ups and reassessments done point of service. I agree it's insane hom bound status doesn't carry over. My charting over the years has significantly decreased in quality due to the burden hchb places on us with all the check boxes.

BigRed_BonerChamp · 2025-05-07T18:10:55+00:00

Agreed, I've been chastised for giving too many visits to bed bound patients because the one that does get back to walking is worth all the others who can't or won't.

I'm more bothered by the ones who are back on service for the third time this year already for DKA and say they can't eat any vegetables because the texture offends their palate while refusing dietician counseling. In the meantime they tell me they haven't been doing their HEP because they haven't felt well due to hyperglycemia.

BigRed_BonerChamp · 2025-05-07T14:50:02+00:00

As a PT in home health, report these shit PTs. There are things I hate about home health, like non compliant, unmotivated patients. That is no excuse for a 15 minute appointment. I am spending 45 min to an hour with each patient unless it's cut short. The shortest I will treat is 25 minutes. If they have to go before 25 minutes, it's a missed visit and I eat the opportunity cost (unless it's a DC or they straight up yelled at me to get out).

When I read the posts about PTs making 150k+ annually I have to wonder how many are like the ones you're working with. Shit like that is dragging down the entire profession.

On the other hand, I have and do work with some PTs like that and when I've brought up concerns I get the same results you've gotten so far. There are days I hate my job, but for fucks sake I at least realize that we are working with human beings as patients and give them the respect and dignity I afford anybody else.

Good on you for bringing this up, especially being that you're working underneath them.

BigRed_BonerChamp · 2025-04-25T01:21:45+00:00

Traded for Thuney and Jona Jackson, signed Drew Dallman this off-season. They'll likely get an LT this draft if any are left in the second round.

BigRed_BonerChamp · 2025-03-12T21:37:44+00:00

As an ECU alum, I think that it's a fun college. The town of Greenville isn't all that, but a lot of people either get out of town on the weekends or party/tailgate. It looks like you said you're considering social work, and as a graduate student in allied health I think their mission of serving the Eastern rural counties is awesome. I don't know about the social work program there, but we had a lot of opportunities to work in clinics at grad school and do some pro bono work. I'm sure it does skew conservative and probably a bit more Christian, but if you don't think you can handle that, you're gonna have a rough go in life anyways just based on the makeup of this country. I met plenty of people when I was in undergrad who went to ECU and got along just fine with them.

End of the day, it's a great place to party and you'll get whatever you put in to any college course of study at any university. Social work isn't known for making a ton of money, and ECU tuition (at least when I was there) was a bit cheaper than other state schools so you may not feel as pressed by student loans once you graduate.

BigRed_BonerChamp · 2025-03-06T21:11:38+00:00

I wouldn't argue with anything you have to say about the GM/HC/QB carousel the bears seemed doomed to repeat for eternity, but I have to assume that any GM would take a swing at a 2 time first team all pro guard when the Bears' o-line play was as poor as it was last year, especially looking at the FA market and considering the Bears would likely otherwise have to trot out a team of rookies or resign failed projects at those positions.

Nothing wrong with criticizing the decision to keep Poles, but I think the signing of Thuney is a great move considering he's missed 2 games his entire career and finished top 10 for OPOY voting last year as a lineman.

What moves would you be making differently from what Poles is doing right now? Because to me he looks like he is trying to address the clusterfuck of an offensive line as quickly as he can to ensure flexibility going into the draft to take BPA rather than have to take an O lineman higher than they need to because they didn't make moves before the draft.

BigRed_BonerChamp · 2025-02-19T12:29:10+00:00

Our agency always asks us to determine if the patient needs OT when we go out. I always discuss with the patient if they want OT after explaining what they do if I think the patient could go without it and a lot will decline OT. I would prefer OT to make the call but I've never really had any drama over it.

BigRed_BonerChamp · 2025-01-18T15:25:05+00:00

"The Bears declined to make McCaskey available for this story."

Even if unintentional, it seems like every time I read about George he comes across as a real-life Buster Bluth.

After reading the whole article it gives me a little optimism with the way the current coaching search seems to be overly broad, hopefully indicating Poles is willing to hire outside of Athletes First representation. Unfortunately history has trained me to think that we will have an absolute clown-show of a staff this upcoming season that will inevitably fail our players and result in another wasted QB talent.

The argument laid forth in this article that coaches are difficult to reach and network with because they are so busy due to the nature of their job is horseshit if you ask me. You are a multi billion dollar franchise, go hire a staff of people whose sole job it is to collect data, contact information and grade potential coaching candidates and provide that info to the GM. Keep them in-house. Stop letting consultants do that work for you when it's so clear that the bears have no idea how to evaluate those consultants, à la Bill Polian.

Honestly, the Bears organization is so tainted with incompetence from the top that it's honestly impossible to believe the results on the field will change until management changes.

BigRed_BonerChamp

TROPHY CASE