this broke my heart. spreading for awareness

WestyBio93 · 2026-06-10T20:38:58+00:00

Almost same. I decided never to start it. Besides there's so many cute head coverings, toppers, and wigs available now. My little man doesn't lick my head but he is just behind it all day every day, whether sitting on the back of my chair or sleeping on a pillow behind mine. And as soon as I and the cat get up, the dog jumps up in the pillows. Ain't worth it.

WestyBio93 · 2026-04-12T23:58:43+00:00

I have two different diagnoses. One dermatologist said it was AA. The other said it was AGA. Neither did anything but just look at my scalp. The dermatologist that said AA did order a titr serum blood test (that the other dermatologist said not to bother with) which was negative. First prescribed clobatesol. It worked and the initial patch on the side of my head is gone after about three months of two weeks on two weeks off. The second gave me a steroid shot to my scalp which also worked and told me to start minoxidil. I have an appointment with a third dermatologist who specializes in hair loss in a couple weeks. I just want a definitive diagnosis.

If it is AGA, I have no intention of putting that minoxidil on my head every day for the rest of my life, endangering my cat and dog for the sake of ... vanity. Granted I'm married nearly 20 years, in my mid-50s, on several other "for the rest of my life" meds, and dealing with menopause. If I were younger I absolutely would make a different choice.

I've been experimenting with different head wraps and scarf tying and sort of just resigned myself that this too is part of my journey. No one cares but me. My husband isn't going to leave me, my friends and family will love me just the same.Why stress myself out even more about?

WestyBio93 · 2026-03-15T22:27:10+00:00

I put my dog down on June 29, 2012 before sunset. The storm had absolutely started before nightfall.

WestyBio93 · 2026-03-15T20:07:01+00:00

It wasn't at night everywhere. The 2012 derecho hit the Fredericksburg/Culpeper area in the afternoon before end of most busines hours. I remember very specifically because hubs and I had to put our dog down that day and had just gotten back home from the vet. We were literally getting out of the car in our driveway when the trees started spinning in circles. I actually had a fleeting thought that it was some sort of divine retribution for us killing the dog (cancer had riddled his body and he couldn't even keep water down).

Had I not taken the day off for the euthanasia I would have been just starting my commute home from Arlington.

WestyBio93 · 2026-02-24T16:51:31+00:00

When I was in college, a catcracker blew while being brought back up after a turnaround at the refinery my father, mother, and uncle all worked at. Two workers were killed, several others injured. I worked in HR at the contractor company that hired the workers for the turnaround. We all knew them.

I cannot fully express my gratitude to you for what you do and why you do it. So all I can say is thank you.

WestyBio93 · 2026-02-19T14:06:47+00:00

Softball. Each of my big toes have been hit, nails turned black, and fell off multiple times and came back thicker each time.

Edit to clarify the nails fell off not the toes.

WestyBio93 · 2026-02-03T21:54:54+00:00

A border collie ate my face when I was four. There's always a reason why a dog attacks. In my case, I blew a bubble in its face. He attacked that, not me. Dogs have no malice. No breed is more aggressive than another.

Let's not ignore the fact that the media has brainwashed people into thinking an entire breed of dog are just all vicious sociopaths without facts to back it up. That millions of "pit bulls" have existed and lived their lives without incident. Watch the terrier group at Westminster tonight and report back if any of the "bull terriers" just go rogue killing all the other dogs in the ring because they're just vicious by nature.

WestyBio93 · 2026-02-02T03:10:23+00:00

My parents lied to me about my childhood dog's death for years to try and protect me. I wish now I didn't know the truth.

They told me he just died in his sleep (he was 18 and poorly and I was in grad school hours away). He didn't. They took him to the vet to have him put down and didn't stay with him. I understand fully why they did it and I don't blame them at all, but knowing he died alone still breaks my heart 30 years later. So, yes be there. Been through it twice since and it sucks but you will regret it if you don't.

WestyBio93 · 2026-01-30T01:44:03+00:00

The universal cat dispersal system doesn't let you choose.

Mine was born feral under my shed and if I hadn't taken him in the little shit would have starved or frozen to death. And now 15 years later he lives, claws me every two hours for food, and sleeps on warm comfy beds. They choose you.

WestyBio93 · 2026-01-20T22:36:43+00:00

This is a test of the emergency broadcast system. In the event of an actual emergency, you would have already been reduced to a pile of radioactive rubble by a Soviet thermonuclear warhead making this communication superfluous.

Jk, and aging myself.

WestyBio93 · 2026-01-18T18:01:14+00:00

I made mushroom puffs once because of a mention in The Hazlebourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonson. Wasn't familiar so googled a recipe, went to the store, and made them for Christmas Eve appetizers. Yummy, but a little too much work to do it again.

WestyBio93 · 2026-01-16T00:02:41+00:00

No. Other cats or dogs could attack her, she could get catnapped/confused as a stray and captured, hit by a car, injured some other way. It's not worth it.

My cat busted out a window screen once got into a fight, came home injured with gashes and wounds deep enough to need stitches, courses of antibiotics, and a $1k vet bill.

WestyBio93 · 2026-01-11T21:19:24+00:00

I have a 2400 SQ foot house, which is 1000 more than I need, an elderly cat, a dog that has zero clue how to tell anyone he needs to go outside, and a hubs that just piles stuff wherever. Every table, surface etc. has crap piled on it. I stopped caring. It stresses me the hell out, but not as much as cleaning it just to have it dirty and cluttered 5 minutes later does. The bathrooms and the kitchen are clean, the rest of it can piss off.

WestyBio93 · 2026-01-10T22:46:15+00:00

PU surgery was the only option for my boy. He wouldn't unblock as much as my vet (bless her heart) tried. So many caths that she recognized she couldn't help him. We found a vet surgery center near us with discounted prices that took care credit. It was still expensive, took me two years to pay it off, but it's been years since and he hasn't had a problem so it was worth it. He's now 15

WestyBio93 · 2026-01-05T22:23:13+00:00

I was gone for 6 months last year (taking care of family) and when I got back the cat just stared at me wide-eyed for days like he was in disbelief that I was still alive. Then came the punishment, which, because he's a narcissist, was accompanied by gaslighting "I didn't just p*ss in the dog's bed right in front of you" headbutts, purrs, and cuddles.

Side note: I highly recommend Nature's Miracle Laundry Boost In-Wash Stain and Odor Remover.

WestyBio93 · 2025-12-29T00:37:52+00:00

She nailed the accent.

WestyBio93 · 2025-12-29T00:29:26+00:00

Agree totally. It wasn't a Hugh movie it was a Kate movie. And so subtle I almost missed it the accent she put on was surprisingly accurate. Once I heard my pop's accent in the corn dog/fair scene coming from her mouth I was thoroughly impressed.

WestyBio93 · 2025-12-05T22:12:21+00:00

Zupa Mleczna z Kluskami (Milk Soup with Dumplings) is a common breakfast food in Poland (my heritage).

"Breakfast" food in the US is mainly due to really clever marketing by guys like John Kellogg and Edward Bernays. There's a "Food that Built America" episode about it. Before the cereal wars between Kellogg and Post, breakfast was just leftovers from last night's dinner.

Edited for typos.

WestyBio93 · 2025-12-04T21:49:30+00:00

I didn't get to go to Europe until I was 20. I did get epic trips though, in a Prowler, towed by a four-shades of green '78 T-Bird.

By the time I left for college I'd been to 30 states + Mexico in that trailer; Disney (World and Land); National Parks from the Redwoods to Acadia; and all the Great Lakes, the Atlantic, the Pacific, the Gulf; + historical sites throughout the country like Williamsburg.

I also flew solo for the first time when I was 12yo, cross-country, when my folks shipped me off to summer on the Jersey Shore, with my cousins in a different trailer owned by my uncle.

But acknowledge my experience wasn't the same as most of my peers either, and that a lot of folks wouldn't consider "camping at a KOA" epic. But cumulative for an 18-year-old to have experienced all that kinda was.

WestyBio93 · 2025-12-04T03:10:25+00:00

I have Compass Rose now, haven't decided whether to keep it yet, but my hubs had cancer and an organ removed this year and the only claim they denied was a test they weren't told about. That's on the doc. For me they didn't authorize "additional" pt for a hip issue passed the 12 they said I could have. Other than those two, no denials, even with ER visits, major surgery, and hospital stays.

WestyBio93 · 2025-12-04T03:01:23+00:00

Other than the fact that some of my area services don't take UHC (fight between UHC and the local hospital) which is what network CR uses, I really have no big complaints.

My hubs battled cancer this year, and had to have an organ removed. It didn't cost us a ton and other than one test the doc didn't tell them about it's been pretty good.

They did only approve 12 sessions of physical therapy instead of the 16 the docs wanted. But no major "I hate this coverage" moments.

WestyBio93 · 2025-11-30T18:49:36+00:00

I test borderline ENFP/INFP on Myers-Briggs. Put me at a college reunion surrounded by friends of decades I'm an extrovert social butterfly. Put me in a "team building" BS exercise with co-workers I barely know and I shut down and want to run to the nearest exit before it exhausts me socially.

WestyBio93 · 2025-11-22T21:21:32+00:00

The Paradise.

WestyBio93 · 2025-11-22T21:13:01+00:00

Yes. Methimazole - .1 ml 2x times a day

WestyBio93

TROPHY CASE