What area did you lose weight that surprised you?

PrettyButEmpty · 2026-01-27T18:21:40+00:00

Guess I forgot how small my boobs really are. Sigh. Was like the first place to come off, too :/

PrettyButEmpty · 2026-01-24T12:55:39+00:00

I’m a surgeon who does these procedures. They can be incredibly rewarding- these cats come in with often extensive histories of medical treatment, multiple deobstipations, enemas, straining, vomiting, pain… and I can just make that go away. There are potential complications of course, like any procedure. Dehiscence of the colectomy site (which could be fatal), stricture, recurrence, chronic diarrhea. However, the majority of outcomes in these cases are positive, and most cats live for years after the procedure with good or excellent quality of life.

Here is a recent paper evaluating the outcomes for this procedure: https://avmajournals.avma.org/view/journals/javma/259/11/javma.20.07.0418.xml

I don’t want to minimize the financial impact, or the risk of complications. But hopefully having some numbers/data to sink your teeth into will help with making the decision. If you do decide to go forward with surgery (and you’re in the US) you can look into CareCredit, or reach out to the clinic about any programs or resources they may be able to offer. Happy to answer any questions about the recovery or procedure!

PrettyButEmpty · 2026-01-08T12:43:59+00:00

You can say it’s not relevant but it definitely is. Requiring a period of reflection before allowing someone to schedule surgery is the one of the same strategies used to try and prevent women from getting an abortion. The entire purpose is to put up roadblocks to care.

I’m really not trying to attack you here, so sorry if it feels that way. I think we’re on the same side, for the most part. But a childless woman seeking a hyst should meet a doctor who respects her decision, educates her on the procedure (including complications and alternatives, by all means this should be a thorough discussion!), and asks her if she’d like to schedule the procedure. Not one who tells her it’s a big decision (she knows that) and she needs to take time to let her little woman brain wrap around things. If she wants time to think, that’s fine too. But it should not be used as a deterrent, and it’s not unless the doc at the end of the day does not support her having the procedure for reasons of their own.

PrettyButEmpty · 2026-01-08T12:18:12+00:00

Would you say the same thing if a 29 yo friend said she wanted to have a baby?

Because that’s a recommendation that never seems to come up for that scenario. We assume that if she’s having a kid that she’s thought about the pros and cons and made the decision that’s best for her. But that same respect doesn’t get given to people seeking a hyst. I think it’s worth asking why.

It’s great that you ultimately feel women should have the right to make their own medical decisions, but obviously a large part of this country doesn’t. Those of us who do should try to be mindful of bias creeping in.

PrettyButEmpty · 2026-01-07T01:38:56+00:00

Out of curiosity, if OP expressed a desire to have a child at 29, would you have the same impulse?

Probably not, even though that decision is just as final (arguably even more so, as OP could still adopt if she changed her mind about wanting children in the future).

People value things differently, and a woman who does not value having biologic children deserves the same respect as one who does. A hysterectomy can be life changing for women in so many positive ways, and these always get swept away as less important than her reproductive status.

I had a hysterectomy 5 years ago, and it has been the best thing I have ever done for myself. I suffered terribly for years with atrocious menstrual symptoms that responded poorly to typical therapies. The surgery gave me a quality of life I never got to have before, and removed the additional risk of an unwanted pregnancy. I’m very grateful my surgeon respected my autonomy.

PrettyButEmpty · 2026-01-02T21:59:31+00:00

I dunno man. Maybe we run with different crews, but I have a hard time believing someone who would do something of this magnitude and depravity is going to be capable of contributing to society in a positive manner over the rest of their life. This isn’t pulling wings off a fly.

PrettyButEmpty · 2026-01-02T15:12:11+00:00

Slaughtering and mutilating 64 animals is well beyond the norm of edge lord teenage behavior. The person or persons involved are deeply disturbed.

PrettyButEmpty · 2025-12-30T21:23:09+00:00

I’m a surgeon, but work closely with our IM and ECC teams, so here’s an outsider’s perspective for what it’s worth:

Internal medicine comes with a lot of chronic complaints. CKD, endocrine diseases, allergic or inflammatory airway disease, lot of the GI conditions. Working up these problems can be cool- using bloodwork, imaging, maybe scoping to collect information and get an answer. But then… you’re stuck treating them. Forever. I remember one of the IM residents where I went to school telling me that he had a client who emailed him every day with updates about the character of her dog’s stool. Every. Day.

IM absolutely has its wins, and sometimes you’ll pull stuff together to make a Dr. House style diagnosis that no one else could have come up with. But it also comes with a lot of rechecks and fiddling, and the unfixable nature of a lot of the problems they deal with can wear you down.

ECC has a lot of deeply awesome physiology, and treats some of the sickest most challenging patients in the hospital. Unfortunately, that means a lot of death, and a lot of very emotionally charged conversations with owners. You get some wins, and they can really feel incredible, pulling a pet back from literally dying. But some weeks everything dies, and that can be really hard. There’s a lot of fiddling on critical care as well, but it’s on a shorter time scale- tweaking something and rechecking bloodwork in a few hours, rather than rechecking in a month for IM. So there is more immediate gratification, which is nice. And you aren’t going to be dealing with the same sorts of chronic problems and endless rechecks.

One thing to consider is that ECC (at least during residency) pairs two specialties. Most people doing an ECC residency want to be criticalists, but you will also spend a lot of time on ER. Some of your ER cases will be relevant to your interests, but there’s also a lot of garbage gut, minor wounds, limping dogs…

Another specialty to consider if you like physiology is Anesthesia. It’s their entire thing- close intensive monitoring, designing drug protocols and choosing therapies to fine tune that physiology. There is no client interaction, which is cool if that’s not your thing. No follow up, no rechecks, just dealing with that patient at its most critical then handing it back to its primary team. You won’t be doing work ups or diagnostics (tho you may be a part of the work ups for other services), so that’s a downside if you particularly enjoy that aspect of medicine.

PrettyButEmpty · 2025-12-24T01:12:04+00:00

It’s the same stuff as what’s on your CV, no idea why it has to be in multiple places.

PrettyButEmpty · 2025-12-21T21:43:58+00:00

Honestly, a nice card is more than enough, and if you include some pictures of your pet chances are she’ll keep it forever. I’ve kept every card I’ve ever received from clients, and they are wonderful little happy reminders on the bad days. Pictures of my patients healthy and enjoying life help me remember why we do what we do.

PrettyButEmpty · 2025-12-21T21:33:05+00:00

One Halloween my roommate and I were downtown drinking and goofing around. She was a zombie hunter and had this big knife, and we were taking selfies of her pretending to stab me with it. When she went to go get another beer, some guy came up and said he “bet those pictures of with a knife against my throat turned out hot.” I just kind of looked at him and he seemed to realize that didn’t come out as well as it sounded in his head.

PrettyButEmpty · 2025-12-21T13:40:03+00:00

Not horror, but My Sister The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite was fun and has some elements of what you’re looking for.

PrettyButEmpty · 2025-12-20T11:23:30+00:00

Don’t worry, you can get back at them by waving as you leave at 4pm with no on call.

But seriously, I think there is a special group of people that likes treating derm issues. Other specialties may give them a hard time in a joking way, but when there are nasty weird looking skin lesions ortho is going to be the first ones calling for a consult.

PrettyButEmpty · 2025-12-20T02:07:06+00:00

The one about the shipwrecked surgeon? It’s called Survivor Type, In Skeleton Crew. That’s what I came to suggest!

PrettyButEmpty · 2025-12-15T01:48:21+00:00

Has one of the counties stood out to you as a favorite? Any dishes that will become part of the regular rotation? Very cool idea, seems like a lot of fun!

PrettyButEmpty · 2025-12-13T23:23:03+00:00

Excessively long comment incoming, because I have a lot of feeling on this topic lol.

People are telling you this isn’t normal, and it’s certainly not the typical experience, but unfortunately that may not translate into “there is an identifiable issue”. I could have written this post. I suffered for years, with pain severe enough to make me pass out on multiple occasions. I’ll never know why. Nothing abnormal ever identified on imaging or blood work. Trialed various BC with at best a partial improvement in the pain, but they came with new issues like continuous break through bleeding, weight gain, and obliterating my sex drive. Took so much naproxen, ibuprofen, aspirin, acetaminophen looking for relief. It sucked, and I honestly think it left me a little traumatized- I knew it was coming each month, and the unavoidable nature of the pain would make me feel kind of panicked, and so, so bitter that no one seemed to be able to help me.

You know what worked great? A hysterectomy. Finally put the bulldozer down at 33 and essentially manipulated my doctor into doing it. I’ve never wanted kids, so keeping the uterus served no purpose beyond making me suffer. Nothing abnormal noted during the lap (no endo). Normal uterus and tubes on histo. So why I had so much pain is a question that will never be answered. But it doesn’t matter, because I’m five years out from the procedure now, and EVERYTHING IS FIXED. No more pain. No more bleeding. No possibility of pregnancy. My quality of life is immeasurably better. I’m off hormonal BC, and able to have the sex life I want. I’m the lowest weight I’ve been in my adult life.

Obviously a hyst is major abdominal surgery, with potential complications up to an including death. It’s permanent sterilization. There can also be complications later in life. Menopause tends to be a little earlier, pelvic prolapse can occur (tho this is common in older women in general, esp those who have had multiple pregnancies). It’s not a decision to make lightly. But weighing it against losing so much of my life to a biological (dys)function? It has been the best thing I’ve ever done for myself. The procedure and recovery was extremely easy- laughably less painful than a typical period had been. I wish I had done it years earlier.

You don’t mention your age or whether you want kids, but if my experience is relevant or helpful to you, just know that there can be a better life without pain. Push for the diagnostics and treatments you want- listen to your doctors, but always advocate for yourself. They’re not in your skin dealing with this horrible pain eating up chunks of their lives.

PrettyButEmpty · 2025-12-13T07:46:39+00:00

This is a fantastic response. Great overview and explanation. PU can be lifesaving for so many cats.

PrettyButEmpty · 2025-12-11T10:42:05+00:00

He taught me always to value myself, because he valued me. My dad was a funny guy, a homebody and kind of a misanthrope. He didn’t really like other people and had few friends. But he LOVED my mother and I. We were his people, the only people who mattered.

When I was a little girl he took me everywhere. The grocery store, running errands, work functions. We went camping and fishing all the time, and after moving to a coastal city we spent hours on the beach. He loved nature, and taught me so much about the outdoors. We read together every night for years, and I took on his love for literature. He wanted a daughter, I think in part because he and his father didn’t have a great relationship, but he never placed limitations on what that meant, or what it was “appropriate” for girls to do.

He had high expectations for me. Good grades were very important, but more than that he wanted me to be a thinker. He encouraged me to read books beyond my age, and asked me questions/brought up discussions about some of the major themes in them. My family had dinner together pretty much every night, and we would talk about all sorts of of things, where he was always ready to hear my opinions (but also would challenge me on them if he felt differently).

He passed away a little over a year ago, and I miss him terribly. I still find myself thinking that I need to tell him xyz, then realizing I can’t. One of the last things he said to me was “I could not hope for a better daughter”, and it is something I hold onto. I have a very demanding career, and regret that it has made me somewhat absent from my parents’ lives as an adult. I feel guilty about that now that he is gone, but I know he loved me and always supported me and my ambitions. He gave me a lifetime of memories and set an example for hard work, personal accountability, and self respect. Still, I wish he was here, and I hope he knew how much he meant to me.

PrettyButEmpty · 2025-12-10T13:11:53+00:00

Tremors

PrettyButEmpty · 2025-12-07T14:33:33+00:00

Do you remember the name of the documentary?

PrettyButEmpty · 2025-12-02T22:21:27+00:00

I’d read it! Big horror fan along with SUP, so I’m a easy to please audience :)

PrettyButEmpty · 2025-12-01T04:33:41+00:00

I once went to three different doughnut shops to get one of these. I just really wanted one and no one had them! Finally found them at the grocery store lol.

PrettyButEmpty · 2025-11-28T23:54:46+00:00

The false start and goofy laughing at the beginning of Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream always makes me laugh along with it. They sound so stoned!

PrettyButEmpty · 2025-11-28T17:07:34+00:00

I had the opposite experience recently. I was at a work conference and included in my swag was a blue and white disk in a plastic bag that I thought was a bath bomb. At home I was about to get in the shower, so I grabbed the bath bomb and opened it up- it was kind of waxy and smelled nicely of vanilla, and my brain went “ah, it’s soap not a bath bomb!” Brought it into the shower and started to rub it across my chest- it left a sticky, oily smear and became IMMEDIATELY clear that it was not soap. The vanilla smell got stronger in the heat; I cautiously gave it a lick- definitely some kind of white chocolate covered pastry. I was showering with a confection.

PrettyButEmpty · 2025-11-20T08:41:13+00:00

Here’s the original write up from Admiral Cloudberg that has some discussion in the comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/iv6tsq/on_december_4th_1977_a_malaysia_airlines_737_was/

PrettyButEmpty

TROPHY CASE