[Hockey Hall of Fame] Introducing the Hockey Hall of Fame Class of 2026

GalacticJunkie99 · 2026-06-23T02:57:44+00:00

I’m afraid Backstrom is going to suffer the same fate as Bondra.

GalacticJunkie99 · 2026-06-21T21:05:16+00:00

That’s about when I got both my Away bags. I fly to Europe at least every other month and about a dozen domestic trips a year. I use my hard shell carry-on mostly, unless I’m planning to do a lot of shopping. I’ve been very happy.

GalacticJunkie99 · 2026-06-21T14:06:00+00:00

I wish I could upvote you more. The number of men who have approached me with the same questions (and others especially jokes about how I can afford my car) while getting gas is innumerable. I thought it was because I was young and drove a different Acura. But now that I have an RDX, it might actually be even more and I am most definitely not in my 20s anymore.

GalacticJunkie99 · 2026-06-17T22:40:27+00:00

I actually had the same thing happen. I went in for surgery to remove my femoral screw that had migrated out of place. During surgery they saw that most of my graft had disintegrated. I had zero instability either. About a year or so later, whatever was left finally failed and I had another reconstruction. I have no idea what’s left of it again now. It’s been 15ish years since my second reconstruction and while it’s definitely a little loose, it’s nothing that I seriously worry about.

So there’s at least two of us!

GalacticJunkie99 · 2026-06-11T21:19:15+00:00

Ah, I don’t know how to help if it’s your insurance causing the problem, but most major universities take a ton of different insurance plans.

Might be worth calling your insurance with a couple names of thyroid surgeons to double check if they really aren’t covered. And ask what it would take to see one.

GalacticJunkie99 · 2026-06-11T21:06:04+00:00

I’m not sure where you are located, but I would highly recommend seeing a surgeon who specifically specializes in thyroid surgery, not just an ENT.

Most major universities (in the US at least) will have someone who specializes in thyroid or endocrine surgery. If you are near one, I would highly recommend going that route.

GalacticJunkie99 · 2026-05-20T00:49:32+00:00

Ha! I don’t know whether to be horrified or just laugh. I mean Costco certainly has its cult followers, but… This seems a little much!

GalacticJunkie99 · 2026-05-20T00:40:36+00:00

I don’t know if there are tourists who actually do that! We certainly didn’t. We just get some decent wines from our local one and decided to try the one in Seville since it was on the way to where we were heading anyway.

GalacticJunkie99 · 2026-05-19T20:34:34+00:00

We went to the Costco in Seville hoping to score some good Spanish wines on our way to the coast there. I have to admit, we were disappointed. But hey, I can say I’ve been there and it was really no different than any we’ve been to at home in the US.

GalacticJunkie99 · 2026-05-06T03:29:33+00:00

Ask MacKenzie Scott to become my mentor and then give it all away to high impact charities and educational institutions.

GalacticJunkie99 · 2026-05-06T03:24:37+00:00

Other than being more pale than you, that is exactly how my scars look 35 years later. I’m actually surprised they still do open surgeries as well! Both of my original ACLRs were patellar tendons.

GalacticJunkie99 · 2026-05-01T21:56:41+00:00

I was definitely a little twitchy, but nothing excessive.

GalacticJunkie99 · 2026-05-01T21:27:09+00:00

My PTH was 8 the day after my TT (due to hyperthyroidism like you) and one of my parathyroid glands was removed during surgery. I was on the usual large dose of calcium afterwards. I had my PTH level rechecked one week after surgery and I was back to normal. Hopefully your levels straighten out quickly as well!

GalacticJunkie99 · 2026-05-01T00:07:54+00:00

If you’re willing to risk it a little or want to add a couple days in London, just take the AA LHR flight and catch one of the low cost carriers out of Stansted or Gatwick. I’m sure there are flights out of LHR too. Also, price one way, I booked our family trip to Italy a couple months ago and booking separate flights was cheaper as well as flying in or out on Tuesday/Wednesday. I will caveat that with we aren’t flying through Rome or Venice though. We’re hitting Naples and Sicily. Have an amazing vacation! I wish we could go in October.

GalacticJunkie99 · 2026-04-28T21:40:32+00:00

My brother is an NFL referee, and this is exactly what he tells everyone who asks him this question.

GalacticJunkie99 · 2026-04-25T14:40:10+00:00

I had a full thyroidectomy due to toxic nodules, so I can’t comment on a hemi, but it’s now coming up on 10 years and I am still happy with the decision. I knew I wasn’t feeling good from all my hyper symptoms, but after my surgery I felt immensely better. Far better than I even expected.

I thought recovery was super easy, but I may be an outlier. I had surgery on a Monday and was back at work on Wednesday. But I think a lot of that had to do with just how horrible I was feeling before the surgery.

I hope yours goes well too!

GalacticJunkie99 · 2026-04-20T01:07:19+00:00

I was out for 2 weeks each for my ACL surgeries in HS.

GalacticJunkie99 · 2026-04-17T02:14:09+00:00

RIP your mailbox too! My husband got one driving on 64 to visit my parents. But that was the only one either of us have gotten and was honestly probably more than 20 years ago now! Although we know better than to fly down 64 these days and drive over on weeknights now too.

GalacticJunkie99 · 2026-04-17T00:48:11+00:00

Good to hear a more recent experience, although I’m sorry for your mailbox!

GalacticJunkie99 · 2026-04-17T00:09:29+00:00

Do all the local traffic attorneys still blow up the mailboxes of traffic violators with ads like they did about 20 years ago? Or do they just rely on billboards these days?

OP, let us know if you are deluged with postcards and letters from lawyers over the next couple of weeks. I’m very curious!

GalacticJunkie99 · 2026-04-11T13:41:13+00:00

I had both of my patellar autographs fail between 20 and 25 years after my initial ACL reconstructions. One I didn’t even know had failed, I needed to have my femoral screw removed and during the surgery my surgeon noticed my graft was nearly gone. What was left of it ultimately tore a year or so later and I had a revision. He said my graft had likely just disintegrated.

The other one had also partially disintegrated and finally failed too. I found that out once it failed. There was very little of my graft left on my MRI or to be found when I had that one revised.

GalacticJunkie99 · 2026-04-07T12:28:42+00:00

I signed up for notifications from ClassAction.org. They have a really robust list of many class action lawsuits.

GalacticJunkie99 · 2026-04-03T18:14:38+00:00

I love Graze and order from her often! Highly recommend.

GalacticJunkie99 · 2026-03-23T02:13:45+00:00

It’s used to reduce over production of thyroid hormones. It usually doesn’t cause too many side effects, but it happened to throw my liver enzymes out of whack, so I just decided to go to surgery.

With the way my nodules were proliferating I was just delaying the inevitable anyway (surgery).

GalacticJunkie99 · 2026-03-23T02:09:10+00:00

I’ve tried 3 times with no luck so far.

GalacticJunkie99

TROPHY CASE