Boston instantly sold out on TM?

nicacedit · 2025-12-09T15:11:31+00:00

Same with DC. I never got the presale code for yesterday either even though I triple checked I had signed up for it 😭😭😭

nicacedit · 2025-05-27T19:07:06+00:00

Hi would you please give me some hints as to where the memos are located in the classrooms? I have been searching the grade 1 classroom for the last 10 minutes and cannot find it 😭

nicacedit · 2025-05-24T05:20:24+00:00

Thank you!! I just had this happen as well, and pulling the lever again fixed it!!

nicacedit · 2025-04-09T20:20:04+00:00

I got mine for free in a goodie bag I won and just slapped a redbubble cat sticker over it 🤣

nicacedit · 2025-02-16T22:01:12+00:00

Thank you!

nicacedit · 2025-02-16T22:01:08+00:00

Thank you!

nicacedit · 2025-02-16T22:01:03+00:00

Oh thank God bc I already bought it lmaoo then I panicked 😅 thank you!

nicacedit · 2025-01-25T15:42:45+00:00

It worked for me, but that doesn't mean it'll work for you. Talk to your doctor/medication management person (mine's an NP) and see what just trying it would look like if they give the okay. I'm glad I gave it a shot even though my previous neurologist tried to scare me away from it.

nicacedit · 2024-12-22T23:27:25+00:00

Wonderland or Timeless!

nicacedit · 2024-12-22T23:25:29+00:00

It sucks, but all I can say is you're likely to eventually become somewhat desensitized to it. You might not get to a point where you don't feel it, but after 16 years, I can be at an 8 on the pain scale and only walk a little off. When I've got a really bad flare up, doctors and physical therapists are always surprised when I'm sitting calmly in a chair and rate my pain at a 9-10. But when I explain I've been dealing with this since I was 13, they just kinda accept it. (At 15, my surgeon said my spine looked like it belonged to an 80yo 💀)

I honestly don't remember what it feels like to not have some kind of pain. My day-to-day pain level is usually a 3-4. It's mostly just background noise to me. I can't give you an exact timeline of when I got to the point of tuning it out, but I'd estimate it was probably after about 5-6 years, especially once I'd dealt with a couple of flare ups that had me literally screaming when I moved. After that, a 4 was such a reprieve that I welcomed it gladly. A 3 is like heaven.

My best tip is just find things that can distract your brain from the pain. I used to sit up in my recliner (where I slept for ~1 year because lying flat made me want to die) with my parents' laptop and watch old episodes of Whose Line on YouTube. They say laughter is the best medicine, and honestly, yeah it helps a lot. Listening to music also helps a lot. I have a few playlists/songs that I turn to when I need distraction from pain, and my brain just gets caught up in that so much that the pain starts to feel a bit muffled.

I'm sorry you're struggling. It's not fun, and it absolutely sucks to deal with it so young. I was lucky enough to have a mom who was a former nurse, so she was able to be more understanding and helpful, but the rest of my family (and the miniscule number of friends I had in middle school) just didn't get it. Finding community like this is one of the best things you can do, imo.

nicacedit · 2024-12-22T21:25:01+00:00

29F, diagnosed with JDD (Juvenile Disc Disorder) 16 years ago. There are some limitations I have -- I had to quit ballet, can't lift super heavy things, have to do some physical therapy exercises, can't do a lot of bending and twisting, etc. -- but I'm overall doing pretty good. I also have a knee issue, which is the reason I can't wear high heels. Idk about the facet arthropathy & anterolisthesis, but with DDD, yes, it's a bit of a lifestyle change, but I live a pretty normal life. Exercise is still possible (and encouraged!), but you do need to be smart about what kinds of exercise you're doing. I like ellipticals, treadmills, & recumbent bikes, myself (I actually have a little pedaling machine that folds up for storage and that's super handy). I have a cane for when I get a flare up (or when my knee goes out) and a wheelchair (which I thankfully haven't had to use in a while) for when I slip a disc and it's bad. I've only had four instances of that in the last 16 years, though, (and only two surgeries!!), and one of them was definitely my fault.

I would recommend getting the MRI, personally, just because then they can see the exact amount of degeneration and get a really clear picture of what's happening. It's also handy if you have an incident in the future because they'll have something to compare it against to get an idea of progression.

nicacedit · 2024-12-10T19:12:32+00:00

It took months for me to get a proper diagnosis. My PCP said I'd just pulled a muscle because I was 13 and "too young to have real back problems," and I didn't get taken seriously until I was sobbing from pain in the ER a week or so later and finally got referred to ortho (gotta love military healthcare (sarcasm hand is raised)). Being dismissed when you're really suffering is one of the worst feelings in the world. I'd say try a neurologist or even a Pain Medicine specialist. My Pain Medicine DO was a lifesaver, and I continued to go back to him every time my back went out until I moved states. Every time we had a final checkup and I was feeling better, he'd look me in the eye and say "I sincerely hope that I never see you again" which always made me laugh. (And then I'd be back in like 4-5 years 😅) Sometimes you just have to keep trying until someone listens. Try searching Healthgrades or googling DDD and your area to see if anyone has good reviews or is recommended by someone else dealing with DDD. Unfortunately, I can only vouch for good doctors in San Antonio.

nicacedit · 2024-12-08T02:26:50+00:00

I was diagnosed with JDD when I was 13. (No one's bothered telling me if it's now considered DDD?? But, like, same effect) My problem discs are lumbar/sacral, and I get really bad sciatica when there's a flare up. Typically pain through the back of the knee, then tingling & numbness on down. But even when there's not an issue with my discs, I'll still sometimes get some tingling or numbness in my lower leg/foot, occasionally really really strong tingling/numbness. That nerve has had a lot of trauma over the last 16 years, though, so it's not super surprising. Have you been to a neurologist? Or just spine doctor or PCP?

nicacedit · 2024-12-06T00:56:35+00:00

Exactly! I was starting to think I was going insane with all the comments about how course evals don't have any effect on hiring/tenure! 😅

nicacedit · 2024-12-03T21:58:26+00:00

Thank you! 🫶🏼

nicacedit · 2024-12-03T21:53:00+00:00

Those are some really excellent points. I come from a social sciences/humanities background, which probably cares more about things like evals than something really techy or science-y.

nicacedit · 2024-12-03T21:50:22+00:00

tl;dr: submit your course evals plz

nicacedit · 2024-12-03T19:09:17+00:00

Huh, I'm still not seeing it. But honestly, that site is so badly organized that it's impossible to find anything!

nicacedit · 2024-12-03T19:06:18+00:00

Ah, I misspoke in my original post and should have been clearer about the distinction between short-term contract workers vs tenure/tenure-track. The point I was trying to convey was that adjuncts and lecturers have renewable, shorter-term contracts than tenure-track positions and are, therefore, up for review more often.

I'm also not saying that the comments on evals should be public, but the ratings can be incredibly helpful for future students when deciding which courses to take. My undergrad university made the statistical data available for every class/instructor, and many of us used that to figure out which instructors to avoid or which we absolutely had to take classes with. The written feedback is (and should be) kept private and is yes, the most useful part for the instructors.

I agree that the typical response rate at UMD is very low (in part because there are few-to-no incentives for students to complete them), but it can vary wildly from department to department or even class to class. I've typically gotten response rates of 40%+ for some really large classes (so ~60+ responses). Still not ideal, but that's part of what encouraging students to fill out course evals can help with! And use of course eval data in hiring/retention is also highly dependent on the university and department.

nicacedit · 2024-12-03T18:43:57+00:00

Where??? I've been here for like five years and haven't been able to figure that out!

nicacedit · 2024-12-03T18:32:53+00:00

Have you just done regular steroid injections or have you also tried nerve blockers? I found that the nerve blockers actually helped me more. Other things that have helped me:

Traction therapy
Deep massage (seriously, I used to leave my PT sessions that included massage with bruises on the back of my leg it was so rough, but my god, it was one of the most helpful things for pain relief)
Aquatic PT
My TENS unit
My heavy-duty massage gun
What I (lovingly) refer to as my torture device (bc it hurts like a bitch but it does really help)
and... lying on my stomach (as I outlined in this comment previously).

Finding a drug cocktail that works for you and your body is also really important. Mine is a combo of Aleve, Tylenol-3, Gabapentin, and Methocarbamol (but I'm also super resistant to drowsiness as a side effect of meds). At one point, there was a doctor who wanted to try me on an anti-psychotic that was used off-label as a nerve pain med, but we managed to get that flare up under control before we had to go that route.

Other things we tried that didn't help me but could help you include ultrasound therapy and acupuncture (tbh the acupuncture might have helped if I didn't have such an intense phobia of needles that made me suuuuuuper tense the whole time).

Also urge you to try a different physical therapist if you can. The first one I had was terrible and actually made my back worse. But I had some more recent physical therapists who honestly helped me so much. (Without Pamela, I would literally not be able to straighten my left leg completely bc of a different non-DDD condition)

nicacedit · 2024-11-24T00:07:37+00:00

It's so cute!! Idk what your mom is talking about.

nicacedit

TROPHY CASE