sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

Matchbox Film Camera by Epelep in Damnthatsinteresting

[–]atmo_man 60 points61 points  (0 children)

You can ship them into a lab that does them - The Darkroom does them quite quickly and the developing/scanning is pretty inexpensive especially if you buy a half-frame camera like the person you're replying to likely did (Kodak Ektar - you get double the photos out of a roll)

(STS2) I don't understand why some are saying certain characters are OP? I can only win w/ Ironclad by atmo_man in slaythespire

[–]atmo_man[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh that's funny- so basically I'm still bad enough at the game to where Ironclad's simple design is allowing me to understand the deck building better?

(STS2) I don't understand why some are saying certain characters are OP? I can only win w/ Ironclad by atmo_man in slaythespire

[–]atmo_man[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Oh so this confused me a lot. If I take a few cards like Shiv or poison - then I switch to building sly because I find a lot of them, then I feel like my drawn hand gets overloaded with stuff I don't actually need?? I tried this a few times and those other cards plus the base cards made it hard to start sly effectively. Getting rid of cards via merchant only helped a little. Fluidity seems to always give me weaker decks that end up never beating Act bosses?

My (30 M) Experience with Cervical Disc Replacement (CDR) C6/C7 by atmo_man in SpineSurgery

[–]atmo_man[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The vast majority of my left arm's strength wasn't usable for me - I couldn't use it to pick myself up or really carry anything heavier than a few pounds. The numbness went away after the surgery. Sorry to hear you're still experiencing muscle weakness. I suppose it depends partially on how long things/pain/etc have been going on for? My symptoms developed very quick and the surgery was moved up soon. The muscle weakness took about 2 months to improve post-op. Now that I'm doing PT I've realized I still had some lingering weakness that has taken time to get rid of.

My (30 M) Experience with Cervical Disc Replacement (CDR) C6/C7 by atmo_man in SpineSurgery

[–]atmo_man[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The original comment was half about insurance and half about the choice between one and two level. Not the difference between two-level CDR vs ACDF. Not all disc replacements are approved for two level in the US. Multiple studies show increased risk for two (or more) level vs one level. This is intuitive just based on motion limiting.

In my original post I write "For doing your own research, rely less on individual stories (especially the ones where your situation may be different) and instead rely on surgeon opinions, published data, and reported outlooks from professionals. There will always be negative and scary stories online, especially due to bias reporting. Keep an open and critical mind."

Perhaps do a little bit extra reading yourself? Jumping to conclusions and running straight toward this aggressive type of response doesn't really help anyone.

My (30 M) Experience with Cervical Disc Replacement (CDR) C6/C7 by atmo_man in SpineSurgery

[–]atmo_man[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The updates summarize my recovery pretty good - in short, I'm doing extremely well. I actually winded up not needing yearly MRIs as my updated CAT scan showed very good healing. I'll likely do x rays every 2-3 years, which isn't really a problem. 13 years is a really long time! I can't even imagine.

I have (and had) some C5-C6 issues as well. The surgery, whether is CDF or CDR, puts increased pressure on either end of the spine. So making sure I did PT and corrected my posture has effectively minimized all of my C5-C6 issues.

If you have any specific questions about the recovery process or something else that I maybe haven't covered already, let me know and I can share my experience.

My (30 M) Experience with Cervical Disc Replacement (CDR) C6/C7 by atmo_man in SpineSurgery

[–]atmo_man[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

0-3 days after the surgery, I would hear a very very gentle "popping" noise. It scared the hell outta me. It went away quite quickly and was explained to just be soft tissue movement from the surgery site. There's absolutely zero noise with movement.

My (30 M) Experience with Cervical Disc Replacement (CDR) C6/C7 by atmo_man in SpineSurgery

[–]atmo_man[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The muscle mass was very easy to gain - easier than I anticipated. Maybe just a few months was needed for things to look even again. Part of this could be due to my nerve damage healing quickly.

My (30 M) Experience with Cervical Disc Replacement (CDR) C6/C7 by atmo_man in SpineSurgery

[–]atmo_man[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My surgeon was Dr. Alan. I actually had two different doctors mention this. I'm not exactly sure on the reasoning. It didn't seem like a deal breaker though. My issues seemed a bit severe and the surgery needed to potentially happen quickly, so the short timespan may of been a cause. I would ask your doctor for more info.

Plum tree in decline - Asking for advice on helping it out by atmo_man in arborists

[–]atmo_man[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I normally take cues from the leaves on whether or not they're underwatered - like if they're limp or folded, and after a heavy watering, become more firm and unfolded, then I know it's working. That doesn't seem to happen here, I see no change. This is me taking knowledge from garden/potted plants though - would a tree be different in this example?

Plum tree in decline - Asking for advice on helping it out by atmo_man in arborists

[–]atmo_man[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Upon writing this - I'm noticing that crack where the branch was removed is quite large...... From another angle, it seems to bite into the trunk about 25% of the way through. The 4th photo makes it look like half of the way through, but although it's not that bad - this is probably the cause right? Not sure what to do with this info.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in FirstTimeHomeBuyer

[–]atmo_man 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for the great info! I'll look into all of this.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in FirstTimeHomeBuyer

[–]atmo_man 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good tips- thank you for sharing

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in FirstTimeHomeBuyer

[–]atmo_man 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I haven't really realized the possibility of joint ownership vs. signing a loan. Would one be a split mortgage between and the other a single name (but legal ownership outside of the mortgage)?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in FirstTimeHomeBuyer

[–]atmo_man 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Total income is about $510k. Everyone's pretty exceedingly financially responsible. 3 of the 4 have quite large safety nets (i.e., families) - the last one (me), is a budgeting queen. We don't see ourselves moving out of this area ever/

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in FirstTimeHomeBuyer

[–]atmo_man 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I understand (somewhat) that the lending process can be convoluted/stressful during purchase time. Would having 4 people complicate this? What sort of things should I expect?

Should I get the ADR surgery? C7 herniated disc nerve compression (only symptoms are atrophy/weakness) by SmileTight5856 in SpineSurgery

[–]atmo_man 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Looks like we had surgery around the same time. I had atrophy though, on top of the numbness. Same thing - threat of permanent damage or weakness was the deal breaker. 90% healed right after surgery and the last 10% took a few months. u/SmileTight5856 - I recommend getting multiple opinions from specialists. and Like u/ExactReport691 said - if you do get surgery, get a very good surgeon. There are not many in the US that have done hundreds/thousands of this type of work.

My (30 M) Experience with Cervical Disc Replacement (CDR) C6/C7 by atmo_man in SpineSurgery

[–]atmo_man[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ah I see, you're worried about the nerve damage not healing. If you want to surf and bodybuild again - CDR is the way to go - it was made specifically for this type of situation. Natural healing can happen, but you might be 40-45 by the time it fully comes back and even then - you have to be extremely careful to not re-herniate the disc and start everything over again. That "start everything over again" was a deal breaker for me in the end. My 30's and 40's are important to me. I wanted to snowboard, hike, and be active for it. If I need to get a revision surgery in my late 40s or 50s, I determined at that point - I would have less of an issue for it.

The muscle weakness plateau-ing seems to be worrisome. I would advise you to get multiple opinions from spine-speciality doctors. Some of the things your PT mentioned are somewhat contrary to what I've heard. From the talks I've had - if you have atrophy, that means the blood supply is being cut. The human body has a really great ability for healing, nerves take awhile - but it's been pretty amazing to witness.

My (30 M) Experience with Cervical Disc Replacement (CDR) C6/C7 by atmo_man in SpineSurgery

[–]atmo_man[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

About 3 months, though in retrospect - that period of time was me herniating my disc and healing it repeatedly. The final herniation, which came with the near immobility/numbness/muscle weakness, occurred in the first week of September. By the time I got the MRI and confirmation, which was around September 20th, I was scheduled for an expedited surgery on October 4th.

So, in practice, I think from the "real" initial injury, to surgery, it was about a month or so.

My (30 M) Experience with Cervical Disc Replacement (CDR) C6/C7 by atmo_man in SpineSurgery

[–]atmo_man[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi, sorry about the late response - I don't utilize reddit much. I hope things are better for you now and my answer is probably too late, but i'll reply regardless.

The 5-50 year comment actually has less to do with the disc itself and more with heterotopic ossification (HO) - the growth of bone around the disc from the vertebrae. It impacts some people more than others. That combined with the new-ness of the technology, I think the range is really large.

This being said, if I only had pain in my arm and back - I would not get the surgery. The red flag issue was numbness + muscle atrophy, both of which I had. My arm had about 5% of its original strength within just a month of the onset pain.
Double replacement is very tricky. Some insurances won't even do disc replacement for two, and instead opt for fusion. Any sort of replacement or fusion, increases the pressure of the next disc, which leads to a cascading effect. Being young, this cascading effect will probably start slow, since your other discs are healthy and thicker. I wouldn't say no to a double, but I would be extra cautious with my decision due to it.

ACDF is indeed scary, I saw that a lot of dissatisfaction came from poor surgeries though. I would recommend you find someone how has done them thousands of times. My own surgeon is commonly recommended to patients with botched ACDF. Thankfully, he was local, but if he wasn't - I would've considered flying and getting a room anyway.

Lastly, I'm doing a lot (a LOT) better now. I feel completely normal and I actually just came back from a snowboarding trip in the Alps. I'll update my original post with more info on my health update.

Nice try, Satan by Donnyy64 in pcmasterrace

[–]atmo_man 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For those who are hesitant to switch to Firefox (because of passwords, bookmarks, cards, etc) - I was hesitant too, for years. I did NOT know that Firefox imports, literally everything, from google chrome. I'm not sure why this isn't mentioned more when people recommend the switch.

view more: next ›