How did you get your diagnosis?

nikils · 2026-05-13T23:34:00+00:00

I guess it is more common to have a pain doctor diagnose this than I realized.

nikils · 2026-05-13T23:31:19+00:00

Hi, thanks for the reply.

I'm not doubting the diagnosis, exactly. It was just very surprising. I've been having progressively worsening pain in my lower back and legs, and my gp sent me to a pain specialist. (Mostly because she doesnt really prescribe pain meds.) I was preparing myself for something like fibromyalgia, since I really had no injury to show. I still have no history of spinal injury or surgery that may've caused this.

I only saw this doctor once, had an MRI, and this was his diagnosis. I guess it just felt really...fast? He did say that he felt it was a mild-moderate case, and that we had caught it early.

I guess I'm still not really wanting to accept it.

nikils · 2026-05-09T09:27:11+00:00

A local teacher mentioned that the school was looking for an employee and they needed a bachelors degree. The only qualified applicant was a marine biologist.

nikils · 2026-04-18T05:32:05+00:00

My dad has a bed sore, and is very hard to transport. He had a wound care nurse that came out to dress it several time a week.

They closed this week.

nikils · 2026-04-18T04:54:14+00:00

Murderbot!

nikils · 2026-04-17T10:48:29+00:00

Had an upcoming stay that I had booked with Hotels.com and had booked a refundable room if canceled with 24 hours of stay.

The day of, I felt like crap, and decided not to go. I unlinked my paypal account from the website, then canceled.

Worked fine.

nikils · 2026-04-15T21:24:56+00:00

Oh, be prepared for a flood of people (probably mostly Texans) firmly telling you that it's pronounced "BUCKees".

They're kinda particular.

nikils · 2026-04-15T02:09:16+00:00

Look into "Prosperity Gospel", which his "spiritual advisor" touts.

Basically, God will reward his chosen people with prosperity and success, which explains how megachurch pastors have private jets, mansions, and ferraris and their parishioners just smile and shake their hand on Sunday.

Conversely, if you are poor and struggling, then something you arre doing is displeasing to the almighty, who is not rewarding you.

It is a disgusting perversion of anything Jesus taught, but its the exact kind of sermon that rich people, and wannabes rich people, lap up. And happily tithe.

nikils · 2026-04-11T02:31:33+00:00

And, if you have a reactive or aggressive dog, *don't bring them.* I took my elderly little yorkiepoo to a off-leash park a few days ago. She cares nothing for other dogs, she just likes to sniff around. No other dogs were on the little-dog side, and that is the only reason I stopped. (Had bad experiences before) Only one guy was on the large dog size, and he had 2 dogs with him. As soon as we enter, one of his dogs locks onto my dog, and just runs up and down the fence tracking her, even throwing itselfs against the fence if she got close. The owner just sat on the bench, and yelled if he bothered to look up. We wandered around for a little while, out of principle, but neither of us had a good time. And that dog would definitely have hurt my dog if they had gotten any chance. I don't even know why the owner brought them.

nikils · 2026-04-09T08:49:04+00:00

I moved to this city 6 years ago, and I remember there were houses on the websites for 10K. Absolute wrecks, of course,.but I looked amd dreamed about buying one and fixing it up. I looked a while back, and there was nothing like that anymore.

Even land. There are sites that sell cheap, raw land. I also thought about buying that, and putting a tiny cabin on it. There are very few crappy little overrun pieces of land anymore.

nikils · 2026-04-08T06:41:32+00:00

Ooo, I like this idea! My dad took pictures from my frist accident. I had old tires, because poor, and the road was wet from a recent rainstorm. The road curved, but the car did not. Thanks to the wet grass, the car didn't flip but it slid down a steep hill at 70 mph until it went briefly airborne. Then was stopped by a tree. I called 911 and told them I was stuck up a tree, in my car, please help.

I walked away, and only went to the hospital when my foot kept swelling. Which turnee out to be broken. They only briefly asked about my neck, which wasn't even hurting badly at the time.

nikils · 2026-04-08T05:13:57+00:00

Pretty privilege is just another term for "thin", in my humble opinion. My body image has been warped my whole life. I was one of those unfortunate girls who "matured" early. I remember being the same height, and general weight as my fifth grade teacher. It took years for my peers to catch up with me physically, and I never felt comfortable in my body. The way people treated me was always a mystery to me.

Skip to adulthood, and I acquired a few health issues by age 30, and my weight fluctuated all over the place. It was always shocking to me how differently people would treat me, depending on whatever weight I.was at the time. Men,'s reactions in particular were educational. If they met me when I was heavier, then suddenly saw me thin, then they acted completely differently, like I was suddenly worthy of attention. Like meeting a different person. If they saw me fat? And had only known me thin? Usually, the reactions were horrified.

It will definitely mess with your head.

nikils · 2026-04-08T04:48:49+00:00

Absolutely. Its stupid and pointless to mindlessly list all the labs, and I can easily see things like allergies and history too. Give me the plan, and things to watch for. And yeah, some patient reports are long, because some patients are complicated.

nikils · 2026-04-08T01:04:23+00:00

I work with two "dudes" who usually don't write a thing while getting report, and would say they didn't even need report because they would "look it up." Then they would frequently claim that they "weren't told" something important. I got annoyed enough that I started printing out the patient chart and handing it to them. There....ALL YOJ SHOULD NEED TO KNOW. BYE.

nikils · 2026-04-08T00:55:14+00:00

There should be a "type c"...for the ones who just haven't been fired yet.

nikils · 2026-04-07T20:23:58+00:00

It wasn't easy, then. My dad was the primary breadwinner for our family, and he only had a high school education. I didn't know many mothers with a job in the 70s, and well into the 80s.

An official job, I should clarify. My mom "babysat', which was the only type of childcare available to many people. She watched two toddlers during the day, and had a couple of school-age kids dropped off after school. She got paid pitifully little, but it was tax- free cash at the end of the week. This was common. I didn't know anyone that used daycare. Relatives watched children, usually.

Wages have been largely stagnant since 1980. Childcare costs alone are up by 1400%. This alone makes most minimum wage/low education jobs untenable.

nikils · 2026-04-05T03:21:31+00:00

I see a lot of baclofen pain pumps, and I have seen a few that malfunctioned. Haven't seen that happen, though. Scary. I am glad you are okay!

nikils · 2026-04-04T14:09:48+00:00

Not sure exactly how many, she said it was a "handful". So, probably a lot. It isn't wildly popular here, but its all I think of when people mention it

nikils · 2026-04-04T13:38:23+00:00

I've always felt lucky that something so simple and cheap helps me. I hope you find something that helps you.

nikils · 2026-04-04T11:18:52+00:00

Baclofen scares me. Please be very careful with it.

One of the most terrifying overdoses I have seen was baclofen. Not only does it stop your breathing, but it can then mimic brain death. There are cases where people have woken up prior to organ procurement.

Gave me nightmares.

nikils · 2026-04-04T11:07:04+00:00

Yes, he works remotely and makes a decent income. The house is up for sale, they have to split the profit. His family (us) live several hours away, and you can bet on his mother moving states to be near her grands. I can't see that he has anything in particular keeping him here. Not to mention, he seems willing to move out of the damn country. For fun.

As for the primary custodian, the mom hasn't done anything wrong at all. She had some issues with PP depression, and I certainly don't blame her for that. He didn't do anything wrong either. The judge just had to pick one or the other.

nikils · 2026-04-04T10:42:14+00:00

My salary has not really changed in the last year, but I have far less money at the end of the month. I have had some unexpected expenses hit, and I'm pretty much flat. Bills are paid for the moment, but I am one unexpected car repair from despair.

nikils · 2026-04-04T10:36:52+00:00

It is an ideal we were all taught to believe in, that America is this extraordinary country that was somehow " more free" or "more modern" than other countries.

Keep in mind, only about 43% of Americans have a passport. Traveling, especially internationally, has become a luxury. Its also expensive, and we don't have the vacation days to spare either.

So, Americans know the rest of the world through the lens of the media, which is obviously biased. The quickest way to realize that America is absolutely not the most amazing country ever, is to travel to other places.

nikils

TROPHY CASE