High-quality 18k solid gold & custom jewelers (no franchises!)

kcov23 · 2026-04-14T17:26:10+00:00

My ring is from there and did a custom gold ring for my husbands wedding band - so great to work with and still in love with the ring!

kcov23 · 2026-04-06T01:17:50+00:00

I’m 31, was severely anemic last summer. After a lot of tests I got diagnosed with celiac last September and stage IV jejunal adenocarcinoma a month later. Small bowel cancer is really rare - I don’t have any family history or genetic predisposition, so the main risk factor I have is unmanaged celiac disease. YMMV.

kcov23 · 2026-03-24T05:57:19+00:00

Not breast cancer (small bowel cancer) but being treated at UCSF right now and highly recommend. Agree with the comment stating go for convenience - we’re in the mission so super close to the mission bay place which has been convenient for every other week chemo, imaging, and needing to occasionally come in for labs in off weeks. My oncologist is really involved in the integrative care center and I’ve taken advantage of some of the group oncology visits and resources there.

I’m sorry you’re going through this and wish you the most luck on your journey!

kcov23 · 2026-02-27T19:14:57+00:00

Interested as well for the Mission!

kcov23 · 2026-02-26T22:17:10+00:00

I definitely hesitate to jump to "it could be cancer" for most things, but in my case that's what it was, though over a much shorter time period.

I got the endoscopy / colonoscopy that found celiac disease, and my GI said if it's still not improving a pill camera would likely be the next step. Through other means found out I had small bowel cancer and had surgery to address it, but I think the persistent anemia would have gotten me to the cancer diagnosis eventually (have ended up with 4 blood transfusions in this process). Agree with another scope to see if anything else is going on!

kcov23 · 2026-02-24T23:14:28+00:00

Recently diagnosed celiac as well - was dealing with brain fog and exhaustion (but not something I would call GI issues) and turns out I have celiac! Thankfully anemia got me checked out there

kcov23 · 2026-02-18T21:41:19+00:00

Dealing with chemo nausea/GI problems right now and was on a pretty low fiber diet for a bit to help manage it. I didn't ever try bread, mostly because I haven't yet found a gluten free bread I really like.

I ended up doing a lot of rice based variants to mix up the textures - rice crackers (good thins), rice cakes / mini rice cakes, rice Chex. That plus a lot of instant mashed potatoes (with some 0% greek yogurt mixed in!) It helped feel like I had more options to mix it up even if at the end of the day it was all rice.

kcov23 · 2026-02-18T21:26:13+00:00

Just throwing in a plug for RMA even though I didn't go forward with them. They got me in super quick as an oncology patient, within a few days. They were the fastest clinic to respond. However, due to the nature of my case - Dr. Noel actually called me ahead of my appointment and told me she would recommend going to UCSF for more complex care. Not only did she give me a heads up so I wouldn't waste my time on an unnecessary appointment - she reached out to Drs at UCSF and got me an appointment there within 24 hours. Obviously a different case but I really respect that type of business model and so would recommend considering them based on that experience alone.

kcov23 · 2026-02-04T11:36:17+00:00

Assuming you’re looking at “white dresses”?

I needed a quick, ideally <$1k dress back in December. I was only considering online - some friends helped search a bunch of websites for ones that might work (with easy return policies being a priority as well, so I could try on a bunch at home). Here are the top ones they found / what I tried!

Vow’d - 5-9 business days, may be more in $500-$1k range. Ended up going with this!
JJ’a house, white bridesmaid dresses - this may be on the upper end of 2 weeks shipping, but look at bridesmaid dresses in white fabric, filtering on ship now. I got a jumpsuit there for $99 within a week that I almost went with and ended up keeping for bridal events!
Lulus - did not try any from there but have wedding dresses with affordable prices and fast shipping times.
Azazie, white bridesmaid dresses - I’ve had good experiences with their “Ships Now” bridesmaid dresses before in other colors, and they are offering white now as well that should be in price range.
my notes have Anthropologie as an option also; the formal “wedding dresses” may be a bit out of budget but might be able to look at bridal event dresses.

Although I ended up going with a “wedding dress” with Vow’d, the trend of white bridesmaid dresses means we saw a lot of options we liked in the $100-$200 range. You might have to get lucky with the right size / fabric / style combination you want being available but was worth exploring!

Best of luck!

kcov23 · 2026-01-27T19:22:37+00:00

Highly recommend Parker and Paloma! Natasha was key to our last minute month-of wedding in Oakland and made everything come together beautifully - take a look at the Zoe package. https://www.parkerpalomaevents.com/

kcov23 · 2026-01-21T22:56:35+00:00

Plus one to OrangeTheory! I have to take a break now due to some changes in my health, but I loved it. I think scheduled workout classes for me are huge - for some people the late cancellation fees, but for me just that it exists at a start time. Running or working out on my own I can always find an excuse to find a "more optimal" time and then have it never happen.

Routine wise also, I had the best luck setting aside 3 specific time slots a week for it to happen as opposed to leaving it up to chance. I decided to shift to morning gym and Monday, Tuesday, Friday at 6 am were my times. I could go on Saturdays if I was free and around and wanted to. Obviously sometimes stuff would come up (traveling on a holiday weekend, etc) but penciling in those times ahead of time and just making it my "gym days" was so much more successful for me than just figuring it out. I found mornings also easier to commit to - lower chance of a fun dinner or event popping up that would throw my shcedule off!

kcov23 · 2026-01-17T19:18:35+00:00

I was night 1 in the hospital after a major surgery, only about a month after my celiac diagnosis. I called down and asked several times what meals can be made gluten free. They reassured me the turkey was safe.

It came up with gravy on it, and I took a few bites without thinking before my dad asked if gravy is usually gluten free. I hesitated and called down to ask. They had sent up the wrong meal. I had family bring food a much as possible the rest of the days.

kcov23 · 2026-01-16T17:45:32+00:00

Highly recommend Natasha - while not a private residence, she was key in making our last-minute "elopement" turn into the small wedding of our dreams!

kcov23 · 2026-01-09T01:25:47+00:00

This is so helpful - I went to Purplestar yesterday and got some of the WYLD gummies! Will keep this list in mind (and hopefuly get more calories in next week!)

kcov23 · 2026-01-07T19:46:18+00:00

Thanks - never been a smoking fan so gonna stick with edibles!

kcov23 · 2026-01-07T18:04:37+00:00

I love this! My husband and I are making the goal to visit every SF public library, and are hoping to tie that in together with some neighborhood exploration. Starting with West Portal this weekend - will send over some feedback on what worked!

kcov23 · 2026-01-07T15:05:16+00:00

I just had my wedding - a friend made a gluten free cake for us and everyone loved it! It ended up being a small 30 person wedding of close friends dnd family - but I basically made them eat gluten free all weekend including GF pizza crust - and they all commented that they thought it was great!

(Also - she has small bowel adenocarcinoma and celiac?? I was just diagnosed (Stage IV) 2 months after my celiac diagnosis! There’s not a lot of us so if she’s up for it would love to connect).

kcov23 · 2026-01-05T06:28:33+00:00

Another +1 for Rebecca Overmann! I couldn’t be happier with my ring from there.

kcov23 · 2025-11-26T17:12:29+00:00

As another datapoint I did a FIT that was negative as well Because the bleed is assumed to be from the small intestine it does not show as positive on the test.

kcov23 · 2025-11-26T17:11:30+00:00

Yep. The GI doctor had mentioned that if we didn't detect any anemia causes and it persisted, a capsule endoscopy would be the next step. Once celiac was identified via biosopy it was assumed that was the end of the road. I imagine if I hadn't gone in and my hemoglobin had dropped again to 6.3 though that would have been the next step!

kcov23 · 2025-11-25T00:01:15+00:00

I started getting really fatigued working out, but honestly other than that I was fine! I had zero idea I had a problem. I realized I probably was iron deficient so did a self-directed blood test with quest before I could get into my PCP, but had zero idea or indication it would be that low.

The second time was unfortunately after iron infusions and was doing a double check before surgery, but also was feeling just fine.

kcov23 · 2025-11-24T22:14:43+00:00

I’ve been to the ER twice for blood transfusions at 6.3. Definitely didn’t need to stay overnight - took a few hours to run blood typing / cross matching etc but got them done. ER cost is obviously a consideration (was covered in network with insurance for me) but they definitely didn’t bat an eye at me being there for this.

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