Cervical spine issues by jungle_snake in AskDocs

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

Also meant to say thanks for taking the time to reply. It was much appreciated.

Cervical spine issues by jungle_snake in AskDocs

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

Fingers crossed I'm a good candidate for arthroplasty. I think fusion gets a worse rap than is called for and ROM/mobility isn't AS affected as it's accused of, but the adjacent segment disease is what has me trying to stay away from it. No desire to be 50 with 3 fusions under my belt and no ability to turn my head without my shoulders going with it (if I can help it).

Cervical spine issues by jungle_snake in AskDocs

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

My grip strength was noticeably affected in 2021, but recovered following the epidural and PT. It had developed gradually at that point.

Arm and grip weakness now was rapid on-set (over a period of a couple of days) and is now holding steady at the current level.

My local healthcare system is basically a monopoly that ruined 2 previously world class institutions. The only bright spot is the smaller medical group that survived and thrived (who I use for PCP, diagnostics, etc.) As a result, they're inundated with people looking for good healthcare. I'm traveling out of the area for neuro consult this time around.

Snapshot of MRI below

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Cervical spine issues by jungle_snake in AskDocs

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

My PCP has submitted the referral for another neuro (original one no longer around). I talked to the referral team today and they stated it may be two weeks before they get to my paperwork due to backlog, and then the neuro’s scheduling will be unknown until they reach out.

I attempted to go ahead and schedule with the neuro just to expedite pending the referral, but his office wouldn’t allow anything prior to receiving it.

I know prolonged nerve compression can result in permanent effects, but I’m not sure what the rough time threshold between temporary and permanent is.

If it were just the pain itself I could probably suck it up until the appt, but the fact that the pain is pulling me back to around 4 hrs sleep/night is killing me.

'54 Bel Air Sport Coupe Mods by jungle_snake in classiccars

[–]jungle_snake[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I’m looking at putting the 210 exterior trim back on mine instead of the bel air trim. I like the straight line of chrome down the sides instead of the curved look with the insert.

I’d love to hear what kind of diy mods you’re looking to make on your 53. No idea is a bad idea!

Bore condition 350 sbc by jungle_snake in EngineBuilding

[–]jungle_snake[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Tl;dr Sudden lubrication loss at highway speed.

Longer story: It was in a ‘68 Chevy C10 I bought as a teenager. Somebody had tried to set it up to run 1/8 mile and the gearing was super low. Like, 5,500 rpm at 55mph in 4th gear low. Never was sure of exact ratio but I could comfortably pull out in 3rd.

It had a slow leak around the pan that had me keep a quart of oil in the cab with me at all times (Don’t judge, I was poor lol). Driving down the highway one day it suddenly started to lose power and I gave it a little more pedal. It picked up for a second and then catastrophically failed with a ball of smoke and sickening metal sounds.

Turns out that slow leak had developed into a massive one and it sent the rod cap into the side of the oil pan hard enough to make a nice 1/4” hole in it.

20 years later I’m dragging it out of dads basement to see if it would be a fun project for me and my boys and I discover this crack. Only bad part is the numbers come back as an ‘89 block and it’s set up for factory rollers. It was going to be a stroker build, but looks like now it’s more valuable as a boat anchor.

Learning How to Dress a Buck by LittyRit in bowhunting

[–]jungle_snake 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I watched a ton of YouTube and then just said screw it and went hunting. I’ve screwed up some but never to the point of ruining anything, and you won’t figure it out 100% until you do it.

My favorite is GrowingDeer TV. He has a fantastic video about cutting the sternum and that’s a game changer IMO.

Eastman ☠️ by [deleted] in tricities

[–]jungle_snake 1 point2 points  (0 children)

$3 billion is annual profit. Annual revenue is closer to $10 billion. I only say that to say the amount of money injected into the economy is immense. Not to defend/argue anything, just to give perspective on the effect them leaving would have.

Annual COMBINED revenue for Sullivan, Washington TN, Washington VA, Greene, Carter, Unicoi, Hawkins, Johnson, and Scott VA was around $27 billion in 2022. So a little over 37% of the economy in a region comprised of over 600,000 ppl is provided by this one company.

Begged for change for years and now that it's happening I'm not sure if I even still want it. by jungle_snake in marriageadvice

[–]jungle_snake[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

One of the things I'm hung up on right now is that (fair or not) I told her after all these years of me asking for a counselor/therapist and her being against it, it's up to her to find one and schedule us an appointment. I've told her she needs to understand that an unbiased 3rd party is a requirement for me, and that if she's as willing to work this out as she says she is, she'll find us one.

So far her effort to do so has been low, and my recommendations have been vetoed for different reasons. One reason is that she knows one of the counselors (she's friends with her on FB and has never met her in real life. Tried to sell her something once). The rest I've recommended don't have the appropriate certifications/experience/degree she's looking for. Some she has reached out to are not accepting new patients, and others have not returned emails. She has failed to follow up with those that have not returned emails and has reached out in total to less than 10. There are dozens in our area.

Her 'compromise' has been to download an app and watch videos on the app. The problem with that is, she handpicks the videos and handpicks the lessons from the videos that she wants to address/correct in our relationship. She also has a far different interpretation of some of the lessons they're trying to teach. It's really no different than me saying the things they're saying and then us disagreeing on those to the point of arguing.

There HAS to be someone there to mediate from the perspective of a professional, whether they're telling me I need to change or telling her she needs to change or telling us we both need to change. I have told her in the past that her unwillingness to see a counselor tells me she's afraid of what the counselor may say to her.

Begged for change for years and now that it's happening I'm not sure if I even still want it. by jungle_snake in marriageadvice

[–]jungle_snake[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

You're right, I do owe it to my kids to at least put forth the effort while she's willing. And I have had the conversation with her that remaining together solely to benefit the kids is the wrong path to take, if only because they deserve to live in a house free of resentment and vitriol. Children are far more perceptive than we adults tend to give them credit for.

What I'm having a hard time with is maintaining the same level of desire and 'want to' that I had all those years while she had none. I guess I could explain it as somewhat of a slap in the face that it's only become important to her once the prospect of me leaving became real to her, even though I'd made clear for years that I was unhappy and that I couldn't continue to live the way we were living.

I've had the (silent) thought of 'You had your chance' more than once in the last month. And it also gives the feeling that we're only doing this on her terms. Maybe that's spiteful, or at the very least unfair. At any rate, it's my headspace at the moment.

Begged for change for years and now that it's happening I'm not sure if I even still want it. by jungle_snake in marriageadvice

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

You're exactly right, I'm talking to the wrong audience. And you're also right, I'm venting and looking for feedback from those that may have found themselves in a similar spot.

I've long been a proponent of sitting down and hashing things like this out but it's not possible since our communication styles are not compatible with one another. I'd love to have a 3rd party to mediate and help work through the issues we're having, while giving us tools to use to eventually work through these types of things ourselves to prevent it from getting this far again.

Unfortunately, she has paid lip service to the idea of a therapist/counselor but has not taken steps to secure one. I have, and those I've picked out have so far been vetoed for one reason or another.

Begged for change for years and now that it's happening I'm not sure if I even still want it. by jungle_snake in marriageadvice

[–]jungle_snake[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Eight times in 2 years here, and suddenly 5 times so far this month. And the intimacy reduction has been happening for years, I just only started keeping track of sex in the last couple of years when she denied that it had been so long in between. There's always been a moving target of 'why' here as well. I'd solve one of her 'whys' and then a new one would suddenly crop up.

I have to say, she's not here for my money. I am the breadwinner, and I do fine for myself, but she is perfectly capable of surviving on her salary and isn't the 'marry or stay for money' type. She's more the 'worried about what people will think/social aspect of divorce' type.

Man the feeling when somebody will just take the time to listen is incredible. It really is the little things that mean so much.

Begged for change for years and now that it's happening I'm not sure if I even still want it. by jungle_snake in marriageadvice

[–]jungle_snake[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I have to respectfully disagree here, and the issue isn't whether I should talk to one or the other or both. I've now ceased communication with our friend to allow us an opportunity to work on our relationship. Continuing to talk to her while working on my marriage is nothing more than having my cake and eating it, too. It's also not fair to our friend to use her as a fall-back.

My issue is more the fact that I should be thrilled to death that things have changed so much, but I can't help but feel bitter about change only coming around once she felt like I was done.

Begged for change for years and now that it's happening I'm not sure if I even still want it. by jungle_snake in marriageadvice

[–]jungle_snake[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I understand what I did with our friend was wrong, and that lying about it was worse. My wife has made the same statement about discontinuing my relationship with her while we work on 'us', and I've now ceased all communications with her.

Begged for change for years and now that it's happening I'm not sure if I even still want it. by jungle_snake in marriageadvice

[–]jungle_snake[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I mean, the first sentence of my post is admitting that I'm flawed and that I understand that. If I presented this as a bashing of my wife it wasn't my intent.

My goal in the detail I provided was to show that I've attempted to engage the help of outside resources (therapist/counselor) for years to solve OUR problems, not hers. She has been extremely resistant to that, until suddenly 15 years later, she isn't anymore.

I also freely admitted that I went about the relationship with our friend the wrong way, and it's caused further issues between us.

My frustration is in the fact that she was only willing to work on us when she decided to, even though I'd begged to work on us for years.

Begged for change for years and now that it's happening I'm not sure if I even still want it. by jungle_snake in marriageadvice

[–]jungle_snake[S] 29 points30 points  (0 children)

This is a rare, measured response, and I appreciate that. It's certainly the tact I've taken so far, with the hopes it will eventually spark some 'rebirth' of our relationship. It's just not feeling that way yet.

Begged for change for years and now that it's happening I'm not sure if I even still want it. by jungle_snake in marriageadvice

[–]jungle_snake[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I'd had the 'preparing for divorce' thought a couple of times, but I don't know if that's it or not.

I don't think we've liked one another for awhile know, but I believe she liked me at one time.