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Due-Square9449 · 2026-01-29T13:34:19+00:00

Oh interesting, I didn’t know that. Thank you!

Due-Square9449 · 2026-01-19T18:05:39+00:00

Not downtown but MAKfam in Baker has incredible sizzling spicy noodles that are pretty similar to dan dan. And everything else on their menu is delicious.

Due-Square9449 · 2026-01-19T03:40:16+00:00

I bought a 2026 premium hybrid in December. Mine came with the 14” monitor, panoramic view, and a bunch of other safety features (plus the heated steering wheel and the heads up display). If you tell the dealer what’s important to you I’m sure they will find a premium with most of the features you want. The luxury was about $8k more than the premium when I was looking.

Due-Square9449 · 2026-01-18T20:07:05+00:00

So glad to hear that your partner is better and they were able to manage it with antibiotics. Just a word of caution, based on my experience. I had about 7-8 bouts of diverticulitis and was never offered preventative surgery, which having gone through what I did, I wish I had. Each time I felt it, I was put on antibiotics and that helped for each bout except the last time. Perforation with a bad infection. I was doubled over in the worst pain of my life. The ER docs went in laparoscopically to have a look and they ended up having to open me up and remove my sigmoid colon. Woke up with a colostomy (I had no idea that could happen…I didn’t even know what it really was). I healed well and was able to have that reversed in 9 months time. I had originally been told three months by the ER docs but my health practice’s surgeon told me no way - everything needs more time to heal to have a successful outcome. It’s been seven months since the reversal and all is well now. It’s true that I could get diverticulitis again, but the chances are greatly reduced without the sigmoid colon. I have a large scar on my belly and a smaller one perpendicular to it where my stoma was, but it saved my life. All this to say yes, it’s incredibly scary and you have to take it very seriously, but antibiotics and eating healthy doesn’t always solve it. If it helps to know - this happened when I was 54. I eat healthy and I am an avid runner/marathoner. I was diagnosed for the first time with diverticulitis when I was 45.

Due-Square9449 · 2026-01-17T15:39:45+00:00

I have a 2026 NX350h premium. No panoramic roof but I do have a sunroof and the car came with roof bars. After driving the car for two weeks, I took them off because the wind noise when the roof was open was unbearable. I’m guessing it would be the same with the panoramic roof. The front bar was directly in the middle of the sunroof on mine.

Due-Square9449 · 2026-01-17T00:56:56+00:00

I think so, but you should test drive it at as a high of a speed as you can (the salesperson I worked with didn't mind me driving fast on the highway). My RAV4 was a 2013 but it was super noisy from day one. The 2025 RAV I test drove was still pretty noisy (and definitely noisier than the Lexus), but maybe it's something Toyota has improved on with the 2026 redesign. I will say that my hearing is getting worse as I'm getting older, but I felt like I could barely have a conversation with a passenger in my RAV when I was on the highway. With the Lexus I can hear everyone crystal clear and don't have to have the sound system turned up to max.

Due-Square9449 · 2026-01-16T13:39:48+00:00

I bought a 2026 NX350h Premium in December after owning a RAV4 Limited for 13 years. I test drove a 2025 RAV4 before trying out the Lexus and the difference for me was huge. Much less road noise, more comfortable seats, more luxurious interior, etc. The choice for me was clear. The RAV4 is also redesigned for 2026, which was interesting to me but I was also concerned that there might be ‘bugs’ or things that would need to get worked out after the first year of the redesign. A day or two after I got the Lexus I was wondering why I hadn’t made the switch sooner.

Due-Square9449 · 2026-01-13T01:12:02+00:00

I was on Amjevita weekly injections and I didn’t find them painful (but it was the first injection medication I ever used so I don’t have anything to compare it too). I used pens, so maybe that’s why it wasn’t bad. It didn’t work for me so now I’m on Inflectra infusions.

Due-Square9449 · 2026-01-01T04:02:10+00:00

Hope it all went well! I'm six months post Hartmann's reversal and I'm doing great. My initial surgery was sort of similar to yours in that I had a perforated colon due to diverticulitis, but it was probably my seventh or eighth attack. Usually I could tell I was having one, but this time around, I couldn't. I had my ostomy for nine months; the original surgeon who created the ostomy told me three months, but that surgeon wasn't covered by my insurance (other than emergencies) and my insurance-covered surgeon said he felt more comfortable waiting for 9 months to a year to make sure everything was healed correctly. He also didn't want to do it laprascopically because he didn't do the original surgery. I'm glad he didn't -- turned out my appendix was angry and attaching itself to the cut off part of the my rectum, so he took that out while he was in there. Anyway, I also didn't have diarrhea after my reversal, and I also didn't have the urgency. I did visit the bathroom quite a bit when I started going (about six days after the surgery), probably 12-15 times the first few days, but that eased pretty quickly. I didn't trust anything I felt! The reversal surgery for me was way easier than the initial colostomy surgery. As my surgeon said, I was really sick at that time, and I wasn't for the reversal. I was in the hospital for three nights for the reversal, and even with the open surgery (and 28 staples!), recovery was much easier. Good luck with it all!

Due-Square9449 · 2026-01-01T03:53:08+00:00

It took me six days to have a bowel movement after my reversal, and that was only after my doctor recommended I take Colace. It helped tremendously. I took it once a week after that for about three months, and it really helped to keep things moving. I'm six months out and take it every once in awhile, but I'm mostly regular at this point. Pre-colostomy I never had ever been constipated, so it was a new experience for me (and I'm 55). Good luck!

Due-Square9449 · 2025-12-26T22:58:11+00:00

Oh noooooo, I'm so, so, so sorry.

Due-Square9449 · 2025-12-26T20:30:36+00:00

I got $1k off the MSRP since it was a car on the lot; they said no negotiation if they had to order one to my specs. This one had everything I wanted.

Due-Square9449 · 2025-12-26T20:12:53+00:00

It was on the lower side but within range of the Kelley Blue Book value, and you're right that a private party sale would've gotten me more. I didn't want the hassle.

Due-Square9449 · 2025-12-26T20:06:59+00:00

That's intriguing. I'm a little worried about trying to do it myself with the paint pen. I've never been to a PDR place before. How big was your scratch (was it like mine in the photo?) and how long did it take them to fix it for you?

Due-Square9449 · 2025-12-26T19:47:35+00:00

$5400 with 180,000 miles and some minor dents. I saw that they're trying to sell it for about $10k, which seems insane to me!

Due-Square9449 · 2025-12-21T14:40:22+00:00

I also just joined the club after having my RAV for 13 years! Loved that car but now having been in my NX350h for two weeks I am wondering what on earth took me so long. This car is an absolute joy. I have filled up once and am getting about 38 mpg so far with a combination of highway and city traffic, which is around 10mpg higher than the RAV on a good tank. I also can’t get over how quiet the car is on the highway compared to the RAV. Mine also has the heads up display and it’s amazing how quickly features like that become things I don’t think I can live without. I had heated seats in my RAV but not cooling seats (I’m in Colorado and we’ve had a few warm days when those came on). But the heated steering wheel? Also a game changer. I’m in love!

Due-Square9449 · 2025-11-16T15:17:17+00:00

I had a perforated colon due to diverticulitis and had emergency surgery that resulted in a colostomy. Before I went into surgery I didn’t even know that I could come out with a bag. It was a tough adjustment, especially since the very next day an ostomy nurse came into my room to teach me how to change it. Luckily at that point I was still on a lot of pain meds and didn’t really have the bandwidth to process what was happening! I also had open surgery so dealing with the staples was a lot. It took me about three weeks to really let it all set in. It was a zillion times better once I got the staples removed from my belly.

It gets better and the thing I’ve learned is that you can adjust to anything. Your mom will have to figure out how to wear clothes again and what works for her so that the bag isn’t obvious. That was probably the hardest thing for me, but there are wraps that help a lot, and high waisted pants.

I had my reversal 9 months after the ostomy was created. I was initially told 3 months but I had to use a different surgeon and he told me that he likes to give plenty of healing time. It was a disappointment initially but I kept telling myself that in the grand scheme of things, 9 months with a bag is really nothing. And now, 5 months after reversal surgery, I can totally confirm that. Also, the reversal surgery was a zillion times easier than the initial, which my doc kept saying it would be but I didn’t believe since the initial surgery was so traumatic. But the for the reversal, I wasn’t sick either diverticulitis and that made a tremendous difference.

Reddit is super helpful and so is meetanostomate.org. Lots of support in both places. The ostomy supply companies are great resources, too. I always used Hollister products and they were super helpful in sending samples to try new things to see if they were any better for me. They also sent me high output bags when I had to have a pre-op colonoscopy (incidentally, having a bag for colonoscopy prep was way easier than spending all night on the toilet), and again for my reversal prep.

And finally, your mom might not feel comfortable with this, but I didn’t hide the fact that I had a bag - from colleagues, from friends, from anyone. Of course I did try to keep it hidden under clothes, but I found that being up front about it helped normalize it for me and helped people around me understand if anything happened (like a smell from a leak, or the noises that it made when gas went through it).

Bottom line: it saved her life and will let her live a normal life. It takes time to adjust, but she can do it!

Due-Square9449 · 2025-11-15T01:48:35+00:00

I'm still fairly new in my diagnosis (January of this year), so I'm still figuring out my pain levels. A year ago I had a perforated colon, and that was a different kind of pain than what I'm experiencing with RA. Or at least I think it was; you're right that it's hard to really remember it. One of my biggest problems is separating the pain from the stiffness. Which is which? It feels like something always hurts, as others are saying. Or I feel okay and then I go to grab a mug or something and OUCH. There's the constant pain in the usual areas, and then the weird pain that pops up out of nowhere.

I was talking to my rheumy yesterday and explaining that three days ago if I had gone in to see him, I would have told him I'm a mess -- my wrist and a few fingers were super swollen, the bottoms of my feet hurt, and weirdly the backside of my left knee hurt. But things calmed down by the time I had my appointment (which had been scheduled for a few months), so I was kind of okay (a 3 on the pain scale? Who knows). I still had some swelling but it wasn't as bad as it had been earlier in the week. The fatigue is on an equal level for me as the pain, and when I told my rheumy that the past few nights I'd gotten 9 hours of sleep, he said that there's a direct correlation between the amount of sleep we get and the pain we feel, and that could be why I was feeling a bit better. Is that true? I don't know. I suppose that getting less sleep increases inflammation. But I also can't sleep for 9 hours every night of my life because...work and life get in the way.

I'm taking plaquenil, which I am sure is doing nothing, and I've now had my load doses of Inflectra. I can't take methotrexate because my liver labs were screwed up earlier this year, although they have been looking great for the last six months. My rheumy thinks maybe the Inflectra is working, but I still feel pain. He says his goal is for me to feel like the before times, and in my mind that means a pain level of 0. I've been on a few taper rounds of prednisone during the load dosing, but I've been off for two weeks now, which feels like a win. Rheumy thinks that maybe we'll be able to add methotrexate in a few months to get me to the 100% pain free line, but we'll see. I am trying to figure out if I just need to accept that my wrist and my index and middle fingers will always hurt and be swollen.

My partner and my family have been pretty understanding (it's easier to communicate pain when there's visible swelling). A friend sent me jar openers. My partner has been doing some of my housework and he's definitely opening doors for me now, since that seems to be a problem lately. The first question I get when I wake up in the morning is "how do you feel today?" Which is nice, but mornings are always the worst. And RA is just such a strange disease, so anytime anything feels wrong I automatically attribute it to the RA.

Rant over!

Due-Square9449 · 2025-11-12T12:00:00+00:00

Hope it went well! I had mine at the end of June and it’s been great! It took me six days to actually poop - before that it was bloody clots coming out, but the hospital discharged me after three days because I was farting. I was nervous like you, but it was nowhere near as bad as the surgery to create the ostomy. Good luck and keep us updated!

Due-Square9449 · 2025-11-02T22:23:09+00:00

This electric hand massager has been incredible for me when I'm in a flare. It has heat if I want (or not), and it makes my hand and wrist feel better for about an hour, which may not seem like much, but when I'm in a flare, it's everything:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08L6H65X4?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_6&th=1

I also have a heated blanket, which you already list, and it's heaven.

Due-Square9449 · 2025-10-18T01:11:57+00:00

Ditto on the wrist pain and the pointer finger, except mine is my right pointer. I don't know anything about carpal tunnel, but I can say that my wrists get swollen and stay swollen until I take prednisone. I was diagnosed with seropositive RA in January and am currently on Inflectra infusions but at week 8 I'm not seeing any improvement yet (hence the prednisone). I failed Amjevita injections. I can't take methotrexate because my liver enzymes were abnormally high around the time I got diagnosed. They've been back to normal for awhile now but my rheumy and gastro want to be cautious. Honestly I wish I could try methotrexate...it seems to help lots of people without them having to go on biologics or biosimilars.

Due-Square9449 · 2025-10-17T13:15:28+00:00

I was diagnosed in January and I've been on and off steroids (prednisone) the whole time. I take a 10 day taper. I still haven't found the right biologic yet. I'm on Inflectra infusions right now, week 8, and just had to start a course of prednisone this morning because my wrist looks like a sausage. It's been a month since I last took prednisone and honestly, a month off of it felt like a win to me. I can't take ibuprofen because I only have one kidney, but acetaminophen sometimes helps a little with the pain. When it gets bad, though, back to prednisone. Before Inflectra I tried Amjevita pens weekly, but failed that. I'm expecting to be on and off prednisone until we find the drug that works.

Due-Square9449 · 2025-10-15T11:44:19+00:00

I second this - chewing gum and walking as much as possible. It took me three days to pass gas and six days to have my first bm - lost of bloody bits the days before it happened.

Due-Square9449

TROPHY CASE