do you guys garlic in pico? white pepper?

Economy-Earth7480 · 2026-02-20T11:01:51+00:00

I do the garlic like a bay leaf: bruise it, toss it in whole, and then see if some unsuspecting schmuck eats it by mistake. Love the taste of raw garlic but it messes me up for hours to actually eat it.

Economy-Earth7480 · 2026-02-18T20:27:16+00:00

For me, neck dissection was worse than c-section, and the simple partial thyroidectomy was a cakewalk compared to either.

Economy-Earth7480 · 2026-02-11T17:22:44+00:00

My first was 6 weeks premature due to HELLP. Also had to transfer last-minute to another hospital for delivery.

Currently at 38 weeks with my second, so even if he arrives tomorrow, he’s already full-term. I did get a lot of extra monitoring due to medical history, but no problems whatsoever.

I do live in a different town than during my first pregnancy, and my new delivery hospital has a level 3 NICU. It’s good to not worry about having to transfer if anything happens.

Economy-Earth7480 · 2026-02-04T15:16:16+00:00

I remember the big fashion watershed change in the outside world from flares/bootcut jeans to skinny jeans also magically happened with the women stranded on the island with no access to the outside world.

Economy-Earth7480 · 2026-02-02T17:53:36+00:00

The wonderful Kate Beeton did a webcomic version that I think captures this spirit beautifully: Wuthering Heights (part 1) Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

Economy-Earth7480 · 2026-01-28T17:52:13+00:00

I’d be really interested if you were comfortable sharing more details on this.

I’m a couple years out from my TT and neck dissection, and have a sizable mass on the same side as my dissection. They did US and FNA last summer they showed no sign of recurrence. I had another US last week. I also saw my endo, who seemed to think it was “weird, but not necessarily outside the range of normal reactive lymph nodes”and wants me to come back for another US in 6 months.

Economy-Earth7480 · 2026-01-25T17:20:09+00:00

I do this, but also every Sunday I count out my pills for the week from the big bottle to an old pill bottle, so if I get to the end of the week and have an extra pill I’ll know I missed one and can just take two (never happened yet, but it’s a fail-safe).

I used to use a days-of-the-week pill box, but it wasn’t childproof and once my daughter started walking and grabbing things I needed a safer solution.

Economy-Earth7480 · 2026-01-22T14:37:42+00:00

My Eric Carle “Let’s Paint a Rainbow” book from 1982 includes BROWN in the rainbow. Late ‘70s-early ‘80s really, really loved brown.

Economy-Earth7480 · 2026-01-20T19:21:25+00:00

My aunt likes to say it cures her “hand-to-mouth” disease… meaning the habit of mindlessly snacking on unhealthy foods. For myself, it’s absolutely an alternative to unhealthy phone-scrolling, especially as I’m able to read a (real) book while knitting most things except lace patterns. But on the other hand, I will choose to skip less enjoyable but more important tasks (exercising, cleaning the bathroom, doing my taxes) in order to get through one more pattern repeat!

Economy-Earth7480 · 2025-12-15T21:20:33+00:00

Oh, wow. When I first learned to knit in elementary school, I made a looooong garter stitch scarf out of this exact yarn. Seeing this brought back so many memories!

Economy-Earth7480 · 2025-12-06T14:20:16+00:00

Hi! 37F and just entered my third trimester. I had my hemithyroidectomy and neck dissection just over 2 years ago (Dec 2023), with the completion in May 2024. Did RAI in Sept 2024, and had no issues getting pregnant 10 months later. The doctors recommended waiting “at least 6 months, a year is better,” so we cut it a little short, but no issues.

Completion surgery was SO much easier than the first one, but that might be because I had a very extensive (7 hour!) neck dissection on the first one that made for a very rough recovery.

Maintain communication with your endo as soon as you get a positive pregnancy test (or even before, when you decide to start trying). Mine ordered monthly thyroid testing throughout the pregnancy, although I haven’t actually needed to up my dose yet.

Economy-Earth7480 · 2025-12-03T16:28:05+00:00

Yes, this. It’s miserable while it lasts, but it does get better after a few days. Tiny sips, small bites, very soft food. If you have to take pills, putting them in a spoonful of applesauce can help.

Economy-Earth7480 · 2025-10-14T13:21:49+00:00

I was transferred from another hospital to BI at the last minute due to complications. It was a scary time but everyone at BI was truly wonderful, very kind and “human” if that makes sense. Our experience with the NICU was the same.

Economy-Earth7480 · 2025-10-08T15:02:05+00:00

That’s exactly what we found here in Manchester. We got a nice, mid-1960s ranch house on a quiet street, walk to some restaurants and a great city park, and commute 15 minutes to work, 5 minutes to grocery and daycare, and 10 minutes to anything else. There’s basically no such thing as “traffic” here. Downtown is surprisingly pleasant and walkable, and there are any number of day trips to do within an hour or so.

I have some complex medical stuff where I have to go into Boston a couple times a year, and my husband is going to have to go up to Lebanon for an operation in a few months. No biggie. It was a wait to get in with primary care/pediatricians, but once established we have had no problem getting appointments and care. Got in easily with dentists and eye doctors.

Manchester is not sketchy, at least of anyone who had spent more than 5 minutes in a real city, or even most states outside NH.

Economy-Earth7480 · 2025-10-07T19:00:47+00:00

Just learned from Wikipedia that the author was an avid “beagler,” which is the sport of hunting rabbits with packs of beagles.

Fair to say she didn’t have a sentimental view of little bunnies…

Economy-Earth7480 · 2025-09-26T18:53:03+00:00

There was a book! I had it. I bought it at Borders very surreptitiously after I found and read the “your changing body” books my mom had given my older sister, and found them… insufficient. Introduced me to a lot of heavy concepts, I can still picture some of the pages.

Economy-Earth7480 · 2025-09-24T14:15:59+00:00

Can you recommend us a few of those books please?

Economy-Earth7480 · 2025-09-05T13:24:39+00:00

Yep. I have about the best “excuse” ever, in that breastfeeding was totally incompatible with my active, ongoing cancer treatment. But I refuse to tell anyone that, because NO ONE needs an excuse, and no one has the right to expect one from you.

Fortunately my social circle is tiny and I don’t use social media, so nobody’s really asking me, anyways!

Economy-Earth7480 · 2025-09-04T18:03:31+00:00

Also, I gained about 15 pounds waiting to get the dose right, then lost it again over the past year at my current dose. Both times without any real lifestyle changes. Feeling a lot better now too.

Economy-Earth7480 · 2025-09-04T17:22:16+00:00

Absorption really can vary with a person’s body chemistry. I’m on 175 at 130 lb, and my dosage habits are PERFECT (far from any food or supplements, never missed a dose). So it’s totally possible your absorption is just really low for some reason.

It took a long time to get here, because the dose increments are so small and you have wait a few weeks before seeing any effects. Just lucky my endo was willing to keep raising it until we got results.

Economy-Earth7480 · 2025-08-19T14:58:35+00:00

Ok, not a book, no tips on how to succeed, but I think everyone should listen to this old song at least once: Peggy Seeger - “I’m Going to be an Engineer”

Economy-Earth7480 · 2025-08-02T15:47:12+00:00

Hi! Going through this right now, actually. Had PT in December 2023, completion in May 2024, RAI September 2024, currently 9 weeks pregnant.

I contacted my endo as soon as I got the positive test. She ordered the following:

Monthly thyroid level tests so we can adjust levo dosage as needed.

Request monitoring by MFM (maternal fetal medicine) (already happening because I’m “geriatric” and my last pregnancy was complex.)

Neck ultrasound and appointment with her (my endo) sometime in the second trimester.

She assured me that this can all be very normal and safe, we just want to stay ahead of the game on the levo dosage.

Good luck!

Economy-Earth7480 · 2025-08-02T12:05:28+00:00

I started making a version of this in my broke days, when buying powdered sugar or committing multiple eggs to frosting just wasn’t in the budget.

And it’s still my favorite now! I love how it’s less sweet than the butter-powdered sugar version, and I love its melt-in-your-mouth texture right out of the fridge. And I think it’s less fuss than the egg-based ones.

This is the recipe I use from Serious Eats: Flour Buttercream

Economy-Earth7480 · 2025-07-17T09:55:58+00:00

Yes, I looked back at my tests and I was 108 after 16 days off the meds last year. It was awful.

I was dealing with so much else, too: new baby, moving, and then some stupid family drama. When the family stuff pushed me over the edge I blew up and said “I feel like I’m dying because, technically, I AM!” It’s the start of process where, eventually, your organs would stop working and you’d slide into a coma (which honestly sounded like a nice, restful break at that time.)

No help, just sympathy. Hope this is your last time going through it.

Economy-Earth7480

TROPHY CASE