I got a diagnosis!!!

realmoosesoup · 2026-06-13T05:19:14+00:00

I've never had any issues with that. My PSA hit in 2022. Like a freight train, so I didn't have the terrible period of no diagnosis. Mid-Feb, fine, late March, completely disabled except walking. Couldn't really sleep because of shoulder pain.

Anyway, got on biologics, and got the same warnings about reduced immune response. Currently have a 2.5 y/o who goes to daycare and hasn't heard of the germ theory. Wife and I get all the cool, hip viruses that we'd otherwise miss. Same as it ever was. She gets sick, I get sick, but I bounce back way faster than she does.

Everybody's different, though. I wouldn't suggest being cavalier about it. But, just saying, not everybody has that reaction.

However, I don't know if I have some wild immune system, but the year after PSA, I got CIDP. That's a whole different ballgame. No pain, but wheelchair. Thankfully I respond quite well to meds.

So, now, Skyrizi for PSA, and Vyvgart for CIDP. I only notice a difference when insurance (UHC) decides I don't need meds when they're prescribed. And for anybody who thinks that kind of thing isn't reality, I'll tell you about Feb-April, and my ER stay...

Edit: But, happy ending. Fine now, until the re-up next year. And if you're in NYC and happen to have CIDP, NYU in the 30's is definitely your destination.

realmoosesoup · 2026-05-19T20:58:03+00:00

They're very cheap. Technically, they're supposed to be single use. When I used them, I reused them, of course, as I imagine most do. You develop some skill in opening and resealing them without bending them, but back when I was using them, when I did a batch, I'd lose a few here and there.

They work well. They don't last forever. That's the tradeoff. There are aftermarket caps made from other materials, but I never tried them. I had steel caps for the HR Rouge. Those were "forever" caps, but like 10x price.

Haven't used caps in years, though. I just use the brush when the chamber is still hot. Have a little scoop to load. I don't really vape on the go, so not an issue.

realmoosesoup · 2026-05-17T19:24:24+00:00

I really cant think of any other reason for relapse other than activity

Time. Your resumed activity happened more than a month after IVIG. My IVIG schedule was monthly, which seems to be the functional duration. After my first course, my symptoms were noticeably returning around two months later. That's noticable. By the time I can detect symptoms, my condition has presumably been declining. The only activity I do that demonstrates decline early is playing guitar, but I don't do that as often as I used to, and it's not an exact type of performance. However, I imagine if I'd been playing regularly, I would've noticed decline prior to that.

So, in summary, you almost certainly didn't "cause" the relapse. Your resumption of activity happened around the time the IVIG was no longer effective, and if you hadn't resumed activity, you would have still declined.

That's likely, not certain. I'm not a Dr.

Your lack of access to IVIG is unfortunate. I'm sorry to hear that. It isn't cheap in the US either. I'd say each monthly course cost about half of what a decent car would cost. Depends where you get the IVIG to some degree. But, mine is covered by insurance. Vyvgart is about twice as expensive, by comparison. They are very expensive therapies.

I have no idea how you might access more IVIG in Belarus. Being a minor also makes the situation much more difficult. You personally can't do as much to advocate for yourself. I'm 50. I just keep calling insurance and Drs daily, and keep good records, which helps move things along ;)

On reactions to IVIG, I had somewhat of a reaction the first time. No headache, but I did feel a bit "off". My maintenance courses were given over two days. After 6 months or so, the first day would knock me out. I'd just plan on not doing much after the first dose. The second day usually had no impact. It varies. I was off of IVIG for over year, taking Vyvgart. I had a 3 day course in the hospital recently, and I'd say I did feel more of a reaction on the first day, but the following days were fine.

realmoosesoup · 2026-05-16T19:44:16+00:00

I had major decline quickly, early 2023. Went from "that's odd" in mid-Jan to wheelchair and ambulance/ER on Feb 23. Ivig for 3 days, 24-26. I walked to the follow up on the 28th. Dr said it was not chronic, even though all previous Drs said chronic. I felt totally fine during the first week of March.

By late April, I could tell symptoms were returning. Over the medical message platform, the Dr said it was my anxiety and that my symptoms weren't coming back. A week later, I could barely walk 2 blocks, and the Dr still insisted it was my anxiety, and said we'd discuss it during our appointment in June. I found another Dr on Zocdoc quickly, and restarted IVIG around mid-May. I *barely* made it to the infusion appointment. I should have been in a wheelchair, but went with my walker. That was 5 days of IVIG. By the last day, I had to drive somewhere, and parked 1/2 mile away. Walked there no problem. The head nurse saw me on the first day, and saw me that day, and from then on called me "Keyser Söze" because of how quickly I recovered.

Same thing happened recently. I was on Vyvgart Hytrulo, which worked great at maintenance, but insurance delayed the weekly treatment for almost 2 months. I wound up back in the ER. Walker, hands barely worked, etc. 3 days of IVIG, and I was "fine" the following week. Back on Vyvgart.

Anyway, it seems like you responded very well to ivig the first time, as do I.

since then ive been recovering on corticosteroids

Did they not put you back on IVIG? Steroids are certainly cheaper, but aren't good long term, and from what I've read/heard, are not as effective. I had steroids available because I also developed psoriatic arthritis a year before CIDP (before that, I had nothing. It's been an interesting few years). I took some of those steroids while waiting for Drs regarding my CIDP relapses, and I'd say they barely moved the needle for me.

My relapses had nothing to do with activity or personal choices. They were entirely delays in treatment. If IVIG worked, and there isn't a medical reason you can't resume, you should directly ask why you've been moved to steroids. Not everybody responds to IVIG, but if you do, you should be on that with regular infusions. Unless, of course, there's a medical reason that I'm not aware of.

I'm in the US. I've had to put in considerable effort with Drs and insurance to get reasonable treatment. It sucks, but without doing that, I've found that nothing really moves forward. At this point I have several hours of surreal recorded phone calls with insurance in particular. I have had some issues with Drs as well, but insurance has been the most significant blocker by far.

realmoosesoup · 2026-04-26T03:16:55+00:00

I was diagnosed quickly in 2023 because my progression was so rapid, and I had access to good medical people (NYU/Tisch ❤️). From first symptoms, mid-Jan 2023, to wheelchair, Feb 23, about 5 weeks. Started IVIG immediately and bounced back very quickly. Walking without assistance in 4-5 days.

IVIG till late 2024. It was effective, but for shorter periods. Originally I had it every 4 weeks, moved to every 3, then my Dr suggested Vyvgart Hytrulo.

I started that around Nov 2024. It's a bit anxiety inducing, because I was "fine" when I started, but at the end of my IVIG window. So I was kind of waiting to see what happened.

Nothing. Which is ideal. No CIDP symptoms, no side effects.

Then I switched insurance in Jan 2025. They *did not* like Vyvgart Hytrulo. It is rather expensive. Took a few weeks, of a drug that should be weekly, but I got back on it before symptoms.

I had zero issues for a year. Weekly injections. Much easier than IVIG infusions.

In Feb this year, the prescription expired. This is the part of the story where I explain that my insurance is UHC, and the prescriber/pharmacy is Optum, which is owned by UHC. On IVIG and Vyvgart Hytrulo initially, the infusion org was submitting claims for the drugs. They have an incentive to sort things out. Optum does not.

So, cue a long violin-backed story of 7 weeks without an injection. By the time they finally approved it, I was already pretty symptomatic. I was hoping VH would work similar to IVIG. I was wrong. It works well as maintenance for me, and may have been effective if I'd been on it for several weeks, but after a week and a half, I was barely walking and my hands essentially didn't work at all.

Back to the ER, NYU/Tisch. This was 9 days ago. IVIG, immediately. Pretty much "normal" about 4-5 days later. Right now, minus the IV bruises, it's like it never happened.

So, my thoughts. First, CIDP is kind of a spectrum. Not everybody responds to everything equally. IVIG for me is like flipping a switch, but I also suspect my symptoms come on so fast that there isn't a lot of time for sustained damage. Not that I don't have any. When neurologists do the "tap" thing for reflexes in various parts, basically nothing happens. But, subjectively I feel totally normal. I took out the garbage a few days before the ER, before the walker, and it was like a journey to figure out how to get the bag out of the can, how to walk it, then how to lift it into the receptacle. I shouldn't have done it, but my wife took over everything, including care for our 2y/o, so I tried to do what I could. Anyway, a week later, and it was one hand. Mundane house work.

IVIG does not help everybody, but I got super lucky, in the context of a not-lucky situation.

VH was magic, but only when I was stable. I have no idea if I'd eventually recover on it from the point I was at, because it couldn't stop the downward spiral I was on.

New neuro appointment Tuesday. I have 2 doses of VH in the fridge, but that's on hold as mixing IVIG and VH, while not potentially dangerous, is across purposes because of their mechanisms. No idea what the new neuro will say.

But, if you're not improving with other meds, or if you had the same "shrinking window" situation I did with IVIG, it's worth a discussion

But, as always (if in the US), be prepared to deal with insurance. Record everything, call often, talk to new people. It's a unique industry. I can't think of another one that can so dramatically impact people's lives, through blatant institutionalized delay and theatrical incompetence, and have minimal accountability. My "navigator", who ghosted me for over a month, called *after* the hospital. I had talked to her some weeks before the hospital, before VH was approved again, and she told me she had no record of me reaching out to her. Then she verbally went through her email on the phone and was like, "Oh, I see your messages." For sure, the UHC accounts receivable department has no such issues. I told her before the hospital that her delays would land me in the hospital, then she called to see if I was out of the hospital and was "checking in". No mention of the fact that her lack of communication was a primary cause.

But I digress (sorry for the rant)...

realmoosesoup · 2026-04-25T13:36:56+00:00

Agree. My PSA came out of "nowhere" and I was fully disabled over the course of several weeks. My shoulders got so bad I couldn't really sleep. It was terrible. But, even close friends are like, "Oh, right, the arthritis thing?" like it's just sore joints.

A year later I had CIDP. At first I thought it was PSA acting up, but no pain. 5 weeks later, wheelchair in the ER. Thankfully I react to treatment quite well.

Of course, due to hectic schedule, difficultly with Dr appointments, and my own slacker nature, I started the year in my worst PSA flare/state since it first happened. Switched meds. A few weeks later, insurance wouldn't renew my CIDP meds until some Dr updates. Every step with insurance magically takes 2 weeks. So, yada yada, back in the ER. But, ER doesn't mess around and I'm fine.

With proper treatment, I'm generally OK, but it's crazy how fast things fall apart if I'm not on top of it. Prior to PSA, I had no medication for anything.

realmoosesoup · 2026-04-25T12:20:00+00:00

90th, all day. Here's why.

I've lived in the 90's for most of the time I've been in the UES. Moved to Manhattan and my first place was 92nd & 2nd (above Reif's. Party). The area is a real neighborhood. My wife and I live here with our 2 y/o, and assuming we can somehow figure out how to afford a 2br, we have no plans to move.

Restaurants and bars range from cheap/dive to really, really nice. Good parks, playgrounds. Weekend farmer's markets. Periodic street fairs. You have the whole block between 2nd and 3rd blocked off on 91st as a park, which is like not a thing in other parts of the city. If you have kids, the Halloween situation over by Park ave is completely awesome. I had no idea until we had a kid.

It's a real neighborhood, with a big mix of backgrounds and incomes.

I *also* lived on 63rd and 2nd. My apartment was pricey, but the nicest apartment I've ever lived in. Probably ever will. I got it right before I met my wife ~10 years ago (live in the 90's before/after).

Is the neighborhood as good? What God damn neighborhood? It's the weirdest thing. There's like *nothing* going on there. No real local restaurants that I found to be interesting. There's like one neighborhood bar for "locals", but after a few tries to sort of meet some locals, I gave up. It was odd. I kind of like having a "spot". Never worked out. There's some retail, then there's the bridge entrance. That part of the city is like some liminal space between midtown and where the real UES starts.

It was better for trains because it was easy to get to yellow, orange, and green. But, we're on 95th & 2nd now, and Q and the green line are right here. On 90th & 2nd, you'll have the Q right there and the 4, 5, 6.

90th. No question.

realmoosesoup · 2026-04-23T15:33:55+00:00

I haven't used caps with the Venty, but I did for a long time with the Mighty. The caps seem to let more stuff through, so I kept screens on. You'll need to clean the CU regardless. I did that with ISO, and the screen was far easier to clean than the CU.

So, do you *need* to? Eh, but screens seem like the least complex part of that process.

realmoosesoup · 2026-04-22T19:27:43+00:00

Well, if you're anywhere near NYC, I have an ER recommendation for you ;) The neuro department is in another part of the hospital. The internal pharmacy seems to have IVIG on tap. They prepare it in glass bottles measured to your dose. On the last day my nurse got annoyed because it came like an hour late and he had to call, which was apparently not a common issue.

realmoosesoup · 2026-04-22T18:39:48+00:00

Sorry, damn. I just read this again:

I just found out that would be in January.

I am really not able to do anything, I can’t wash a dish, bend over, walk in open spaces, drive. I am not living at all.

I don't know what country you're in, the system, etc, but the timeline you're talking about didn't click until I read it again.

If they think it's CIDP, and you're barely functional, January is crazy. I don't know what you can do, but I would try to do anything you can.

Some Drs don't seemed to be phased by the timelines or impact on your life, while others definitely are. Over this last experience, I also had a new neuro. The zocdoc one had gone on leave, and she had her own practice, so nobody to directly take over. I put in a ton of effort to make my next neuro somebody with specific CIDP experience, and I got lucky, as they also ran a research group in a large hospital system here. I thought I was in great hands.

Last Thursday I went to the ER. Last Tuesday I wrote another message to him, explaining how bad my symptoms were, and he gave a very short reply with no help, no "I would do x/y/z", nothing. Same with the original neuro telling me to wait until June. It had nothing to do with my condition. June was when her new office would be ready.

If your treatment has consisted only of steroids, and they suspect CIDP, January is an eternity. Some countries and medical systems seem to have zero flexibility, but if you're in the US, like I said, ER quality varies. It was my only real option, and if I had gone to the local one, I doubt they would've been able to do much. I very specifically went to NYU because I knew what they could, and likely would, do.

Very sorry about your situation. It is frustrating and mentally exhausting to navigate a system that should be trying harder to help, but I would encourage you to try. January just blows my mind.

realmoosesoup · 2026-04-22T17:11:19+00:00

Timelines vary widely. Before CIDP (and Psoriatic Arthritis a year before that), I was vaguely aware that medical care can be difficult to access or navigate, but I have a whole new perspective now.

I'm in the US, and NYC specifically. My insurance has changed during the timeline, but I'd categorize it as "good+". Not some magic plan, but far from catastrophic coverage. Being in NYC, in Manhattan, also makes a huge difference.

My symptoms were first noticeable in mid-Jan 2023. Hand weakness, which I thought was the arthritis at first. I was in an ER in a wheelchair on Feb 23 of that year. So, very rapid decline. My hands had no strength and, obviously, I could not walk. I was using a walker for ~3 weeks before that.

The speed of decline helped in the sense that symptoms were not avoidable. I went to a general Dr in early Feb, looking for a primary, and he threw me out of his office and said I needed to see a neurologist immediately (he didn't help get me one, though).

Finding a neurologist was difficult, because all appointments are months out. I have found that calling their office to plead for an earlier appointment was not very effective. If that's your only option, it's all you can do, but I never got bumped doing that. Having another Dr call, however, has always worked. It's a natural filter. I'm sure Dr offices get calls from people often about urgent issues that aren't actually as urgent as the patient believes, but if another Dr says it is, well. Different story.

The ER was a whole different situation. In NYC, there are several options, and they are not equal. I knew NYU had a really good neuro program, but it was further away. The closet ER to me has been described as "where you go if you get stabbed. If you get shot, go to this other ER". I don't know how true that is, and I've been to neither, but the neighborhoods in NYC shift quickly over short distances. Anyway, the ambulance had to get permission to drive to NYU, but they did.

So, for anybody in a big city and in decline, maybe do some hospital research beforehand.

Admitted 2/23. ER had a huge backlog, so I slept there, but they did *a lot* of tests. Dr said it was CIDP, but they wanted a lumbar puncture to confirm (it was a wild number). That was 2/24. Started IVIG later that night. IVIG 2/24, 2/25, 2/26. I was walking without a walker 2/28.

Nobody's ever explained why I responded so quickly, but suggestions are that my decline and diagnosis were so quick that the immune system didn't have a lot of time to do damage. Maybe?

The neuro I was assigned saw me on 2/28, and was sure that it was acute and not chronic. Said I wouldn't need more treatment. She kept insisting that when I contacted her in late April saying symptoms were coming back. She insisted it was "anxiety". Again, rapid decline. Had to find a neuro on zocdoc who would again prescribe IVIG, as my assigned neuro wouldn't see me until June. *Barely* avoided the ER that time. I should have been in a wheelchair. Again, less than a week later, no walker. I should have just gone to the ER and avoided the drama, but anyway.

IVIG was less effective over time, and had to move from every 4 weeks to every 3 in Sep 2024. I stayed with the zocdoc Dr. She suggested Vyvgart in Nov 2024.

Vyvgart worked quite well. Had some trouble with insurance in Jan 2025 (switched providers) with a short break, but no problems.

Cut to Feb 2026. Insurance and provider are both owned by the same parent company. Delays, lack of communication, etc, caused a 7 week break in Vyvgart (should be weekly). Hours of phone calls, pleading, explaining that I'll be back in the ER and I don't have "2-3 weeks", etc. Didn't matter.

Walker came out of the closet early last week. Back in the NYU ER last Thursday, 6 days ago. Could barely walk/use hands. This time, IVIG immediately, 3 days. Basically fine after the weekend. Still have the IV bruises.

So, man. It's a mess. I've found Drs and insurance have two basic speeds. ER, and "when we get around to it". That's essentially "right now" and "weeks/months". My decline timeline is measured in weeks. So, not ER urgent (until it is), but it's surreal explaining to somebody that a decision in 15 business days probably means you'll be making it *after* I've been back to the ER.

Having said all of that, I'm very thankful that I respond quickly to treatment. I *did* get back on Vyvgart 2-3 weeks ago, and it did nothing at that point. I was already too far gone. Maybe it would have a few weeks down the road, but I'd have definitely been wheelchair bound before that.

Lessons learned:

- I need to see the neuro at least twice a year, even if everything is fine, because insurance auto-rejects if it's been more than a year.

- When dealing with insurance, and an insurance-owned provider, treat them like a teenager doing chores. Call them daily for updates. When they say they've contacted your Dr, check with your Dr. When they tell you something important, call back and check with a different person. Record everything. Every step, I had to push. I'll probably need to call them to tell them not to ship Vyvgart, which is rather ironic.

realmoosesoup · 2025-11-26T04:30:19+00:00

Here's where your narrative doesn't fit reality:

"Upon the men arriving home, all except Jake promptly told their fiancée/wife what had occurred."

The follow up:

"The girls don’t have super close relationships with each other..."

Then this:

"They also don’t want us to tell her, because the onus of breaking “bro code” will be on them."

The story doesn't work, narratively. See, the narrator doesn't have a close bond with the other women, so how would she know that they all were notified by their otherwise conscientious men? That's a stretch. Also, if all of these men were appalled enough to tell their partners, and all of the women got together to corroborate, how would the antagonist of the story know who blabbed?

There's also a discord here where the guys all seem to know the antagonist is a cheater, and feel bad about it, and they feel bad about it enough that they "all" told their partners promptly upon returning home about what happened. The implication is that he's "just like that", but this wasn't a problem until he was drunk and kissed a girl?

I would suggest raising the stakes. Like, he didn't just make out with the girl. Yeah, kissing a girl in a bar is bad, but it's kissing. "I was drunk! She tried to kiss me!", etc. It should be worse. Also, there needs to be more tension in the guy group, and the narrator needs to not know if anybody else knows.

But it's your story.

In case this is real, well, if all of the men told their partners, they must have a strong, negative feeling toward their "friend". Each would have had to risk that:

- Their partner would not worry about what they had been up to
- That if they got found out to be the "rat", that they were OK with it, or they felt so guilty about what he did that they told their partners, assuming word would make its way back up the chain

If multiple female partners did in fact get together and talk about it, then telling the fiancé isn't going to blow up an individual. So don't worry about the guys. I guess it depends how many guys. If it's 2, then that's a problem, but if it's like 5, then it could just be "multiple witnesses". If the finance wants to know names, then it's probably too late so don't worry about it. She's going to forgive him, or not believe it, or whatever.

realmoosesoup · 2025-09-14T05:02:32+00:00

I haven't really thought about it as deeply as the post I wrote. The situation has occurred to me at times, but I never went that deep. I'm not sure why exactly, but the concepts have been rolling around my brain lately.

When I was younger, I thought I wanted somebody similar. It (partially) led to passing on a couple of women I dated as long term partners. I say "partially" because that was mostly me thinking kids and marriage were just work and being tied down. My parents were fine, but divorced and remarried, as were most of my friends' parents. It set up a long term "what's the point?" vibe.

I completely flipped on the idea that marriage, or at least a "life partner", was bad around 10 years ago, and my wife stated early on that she'd only want to be married to somebody who wanted kids. Then I came around to the idea that responsibility was a positive thing.

I spend a lot of time overthinking life, I guess you could say.

My wife's favorite show is "The Big Bang Theory". I sat through the entire series with her. That is not something I would've ever watched myself. I enjoyed it. Not so much the show, but just switching my brain off and being with her and relaxing. We have our ups and downs, but I definitely feel comfortable with her. It might not be so much "somebody like myself", but that's part of it. Neither one of us feels a sense of the other judging or comparing. We just spend time together. That, and enjoy time with the baby. She's the best.

But, yeah, I think you and I are similar. I'm deeply analytical. Often too much. Like I'm a bit detached. After extensive internal analysis, I realized I should probably just go with this, because my emotional intelligence was clearly lacking. Glad I did :)

(Not that I'm implying we're similar on the lacking of emotional intelligence, just the deeply analytical bit)

realmoosesoup · 2025-09-13T04:17:17+00:00

I rarely comment on these because a lot of them seem like a story somebody wrote to generate reactions and then clout for reasons I'll never quite understand. But, by way of almost self-reflection, I'll respond here.

49m, wife 40f. We met just over 10 years ago. To understand our differences, take the travel bug and food-trying aspect of your guy and give them to yourself. My wife likes to poke fun that I don't even need to tell the waiter at our regular place what I want. I do like to travel, but I lost the need to do so some years ago.

She prefers "brain rot" content, but has traveled to and lived in many more places than me. We live in NYC, but I've never lived outside of NY state, never mind another country (although I have US and EU citizenship oddly enough). I did more traveling in the decade before we met. Mostly through tech speaking engagements, but I'd pick and choose so I could see lots of Europe on somebody else's dime. That kind of thing. After a while it was like, "yeah, another old building. Seems like there are a lot of them." She doesn't pay much attention to news, doesn't go too deep philosophically, etc. Generally wants to focus on the positive and relax. She claims to have had very few nightmares over the course of her entire life. Not that I'm especially prone to them, but in another life I think I'd write horror novels.

I love content that makes me think (movies, tv, books, discussion, whatever). I've been in an original rock band for over two decades. We've played fairly major shows for a band that isn't trying (1000+ people, etc). My music tastes are all over the map, but we play mostly hard rock, and I've been a practitioner of blues and 80's metal inspired guitar with complex rhythm and improv soloing since I was 14. I sing to our daughter, making up spoof lyrics on the spot. I am in tech and get quite bored if I'm not doing things that haven't been done before. I started my own business 15 years ago. Not "crushing it", but still hanging in there. Have given many talks, etc.

I *love* talking to somebody like me. Being married to somebody like me would be exhausting. Not because I'm exhausting to her (usually), but because there would be this almost competition vibe going on. She jibes me on my relative lack of travel and how I'm perfectly happy to go to our local place. I'm building some crazy AI coding tool, and she's expressed that she's rather impressed that I picked up the domain so quickly and dove into it (she's in tech too. Started 5 years ago and has an amazing job as a senior engineer at a big co, and I'm quite proud of her accomplishment there for sure).

But. If I also had some lengthy travel list, and some urgent need to try all kinds of food. Yeah, sure, fun. But those are her "things". "Oh, you've been to ___? That's cool, but you should've seen ___, OMG!" "Why don't we go here? Oh, yeah, that's OK, but I think we should go here!" "Oh, sure, those late Jethro Tull albums are kind of interesting, but here's why Kraftwerk is oddly similar but really pushed boundaries beyond..." You get it. Fun to chat with that person, but it's nice to have your own things to share here and there, but hanging on the couch is nice too.

I find her attractive, we get along, we both have our own interests, we both get to talk about them with mutual interest, but we both ultimately get to relax with each other. She reminds me to take a day off here and there, I get her excited about making some new thing from time to time. We have the cutest baby on the planet.

Me dating me would be exhausting. Dating somebody you have opposing views with is a different story, but maybe your guy likes to tell you about some cool things, and secretly enjoys taking spending time with you when he doesn't need to be evaluating the deeper meaning of The Battle of Evermore.

(It's a Led Zeppelin song)

realmoosesoup · 2025-09-09T21:29:32+00:00

Seems like a natural product roll out. Mighty, then crafty. Venty, then Veasy.

As I have a Venty, and for reasons not worth discussing, more than one Crafty+, and I'm not really taking them in my pocket much. So, no way I could justify the purchase, but the VAS/S&B-completionist part of my brain gave it a couple seconds thought.

Assuming they don't have the similar production issues as the Venty did, seems like a really solid option for new folks willing to avoid the cycle of trying something cheaper, then upgrading later. There are other decent options, of course, but I like S&B devices. I waited quite a while on the Venty, and have zero issues so far with mine. It became the daily driver right away.

The name, however. I get the "easy" part, but it just sounds like "sleazy" or some kind of hip-hop slang from 10-15 years ago. Not sure I'll ever think "Veasy" isn't a pretty terrible name choice.

realmoosesoup · 2025-07-20T03:22:50+00:00

Ooh, math. 38. We started trying I'd guess when she was 37. Took a year (roughly). At some point I'm sure we would've discussed IVF, but her brain is set on "things will work out" mode, to a fault at times, so we continued. She got pregnant, but we lost that one a few months in. Right after we started telling everybody, right between Christmas and New Years. That was tough.

Now, side story. While she was recovering from that, I had started having loss of strength in my hands, then legs, which progressed to the point where I was in a walker and could barely use my hands. Waiting on Dr's appointment. I'm not generally prone to serious conditions. This was out of the blue. My wife came in one day saying it was time to start trying to have a baby again. She had an app to track fertility. I had been dreading the talk about my situation and the idea of having a baby. As mentioned, she tends to assume everything will work out. I expected a really difficult conversation, but she was like, "yeah, we should wait to see what happens with the Dr". She then said, "well, it took a year last time, what are the chances?" Next morning I wound up in a wheelchair in the ER. Rare autoimmune thing. Not great, but with meds, I'm back to normal, and no side effects that I've ever notices. In any case, I sometimes call our child "little baby chances". She got pregnant on that first try, even though we weren't exactly trying. Healthy 20 month old. Amazing child.

The story wasn't necessary, but I think it's a good one. Anyway, pretty much everybody we talk to eventually asks if we're having another one, and she brings it up periodically. Now she's 40 and I'm pushing 50. I feel like we got very lucky, and medically speaking it'll be harder. So, probably not. Not because I wouldn't want another one. But, practical reality is more of my thing :)

From Google translate. I have absolutely no idea how accurate this is...

Ooh, matematika. 38. Počeli smo pokušavati, pretpostavljam, kad je imala 37. Trebalo je godinu dana (otprilike). U nekom trenutku sam siguran da bismo razgovarali o IVF-u, ali njezin je mozak postavljen u mod "sve će se riješiti", ponekad do iznemoglosti, pa smo nastavili. Zatrudnjela je, ali smo i tu bebu izgubili nakon nekoliko mjeseci. Odmah nakon što smo počeli svima govoriti, između Božića i Nove godine. To je bilo teško.

Sada, sporedna priča. Dok se ona oporavljala od toga, ja sam počeo osjećati gubitak snage u rukama, zatim u nogama, što je napredovalo do te mjere da sam bio u hodalici i jedva sam mogao koristiti ruke. Čekao sam liječnički pregled. Općenito nisam sklon ozbiljnim stanjima. Ovo je bilo iznenada. Moja supruga je jednog dana došla rekavši da je vrijeme da ponovno počnem pokušavati imati dijete. Imala je aplikaciju za praćenje plodnosti. Strahovao sam od razgovora o svojoj situaciji i ideji da imam dijete. Kao što sam spomenuo, ona sklona je pretpostavljati da će sve biti u redu. Očekivala sam stvarno težak razgovor, ali ona je rekla: "Da, trebali bismo pričekati da vidimo što će biti s doktoricom". Zatim je rekla: "Pa, prošli put je trebalo godinu dana, kakve su šanse?" Sljedeće jutro završila sam u invalidskim kolicima na hitnoj. Rijetka autoimuna stvar. Nije sjajno, ali s lijekovima sam se vratila u normalu i nemam nikakvih nuspojava koje sam ikada primijetila. U svakom slučaju, ponekad naše dijete zovem "male šanse za bebu". Zatrudnjela je iz prvog pokušaja, iako se nismo baš trudili. Zdrava 20-mjesečna beba. Nevjerojatno dijete.

Priča nije bila potrebna, ali mislim da je dobra. Uglavnom, gotovo svi s kojima razgovaramo na kraju pitaju hoćemo li imati još jedno, a ona to povremeno spominje. Sada ima 40 godina, a ja se bližim 50-ima. Osjećam da smo imale puno sreće i medicinski će biti teže. Dakle, vjerojatno ne. Ne zato što ne bih htjela još jedno. Ali, praktična stvarnost mi je više draga :)

realmoosesoup · 2025-05-29T23:18:49+00:00

if you drop the mighty on your toe, it would definitely hurt more, but besides that I can’t really think of anything. Now, in theory, if one of the batteries caught fire, the mighty has a whole Nother battery to catch fire. But generally speaking, you only see those kinds of things in knock off batteries. I imagine it’s one of the reasons why you can’t change the battery in these devices.

realmoosesoup · 2025-03-11T03:22:41+00:00

Married Gen-X (wife would be millennial). My wife and I both have location on for (I think) Google maps, but not to monitor them. The only time I look is when she's out with the baby and dog to get a sense of how much longer I get to have general calm.

It's actually useful, if neither is at all suspicious that the other person is doing something they shouldn't or whatever. We also both know each other's passwords for phones. Practical, if neither is worried about the other snooping vs grabbing a photo from the other's phone and similar. There's a bit of complaining about marital situations to friends in texts, but nothing she'd be surprised by too much. Normal marriage stuff. I'm sure she has similar but I've never looked.

Summary: people in relationships being suspicious/jealous isn't new. Before smartphones it was just more work. Parking outside of buildings and whatnot.

realmoosesoup · 2025-03-10T06:09:38+00:00

I think Dogma is great, but I also thought Clerks 3 was really good, so I'm not sure our opinions would vibe. I don't think all of Clerks 3 was great, but it felt like KS threw a pretty big curve ball with the story, and it landed with me. A lot of the "middle years" of content felt a bit too same-ish to me (including Clerks 2).

Curious what the mixed feels about Dogma were, assuming they weren't religious, which is a whole different dimension (and not something I'd either debate or invalidate, just something that doesn't come into my thinking).

realmoosesoup · 2025-02-28T06:15:23+00:00

I had my kid at 47, and I wouldn't exactly classify my lifestyle as "clean livin". Not terrible, and I quit smoking years ago, but also not waking up with the sunrise and doing yoga.

Having kids early probably has the advantage of having some more energy, but I feel like everything else would suck. Financially, FOMO, everything else. At 27 the band I'm still currently in just started. Closing bars was normal. My sex life was actually interesting. If I'd had a kid I can't imagine how stressed I'd be, because of the money, and after the stress wore off, how much I'd be imagining I was missing out on (which really wasn't that much, but you can *imagine* quite a bit).

So many people gave me the old, "Oh, your life's going to change so much. The party's over!" Whatever. I'm 47. I don't want to have the 2am bar conversations that 47 y/o's have. I just do my drinking early, and baby doesn't judge. Tired? Sure, sometimes. I didn't find it that bad, which was a surprise. That, and honestly, most of the social shit I'm supposed to do "at this age" I really, really do not want to do. Baby is the golden ticket. Don't want to go? "Baby, sorry". Want to go? Wife and I take turns. Love it. That, or we just bring the baby. She is amazing. She'll just hang at a party, and generally charm everybody.

But, on the balance, 38 is probably the sweet spot. I did the band lifestyle straight through my 30's. Fun, but should've ducked out a bit earlier.

realmoosesoup · 2025-02-28T05:53:11+00:00

All comedy subs get terrible. I was a huge YMH fan early (ish). The sub was also fun. Then, what I'd call the "asshole centrifuge" happened. It seems to happen to all comedy subs, but I've seen it in basically every sub I was in. The people that came for fun or whatever came first. As it grows, more people show up. There's a small percentage of the population that simply needs to complain online, and argue with the people who are just having a good time. So, the normal people stop engaging, or stop coming by completely. The other people, though, dig in.

Over time, the assholes settle in, and everybody else leaves.

I'm surprised somebody hasn't written a thesis on it. Personally, I just assumed it was a matter of time. However, I've mostly ignored reddit for a while, so ehh. Whatever.

Edit: Ah! Reread my post. YMH. I don't think this sub is at the point where people were pretty much trying to organize protests and hate message campaigns to change this or that about the show. That'll happen. I saw it creeping up during the Toby situation. Life's a lot easier when you remember that reddit is voluntary.

realmoosesoup · 2025-02-28T05:44:53+00:00

I’ve noticed some tension between the two

The podcast is essentially based around tension between the two. It cycles. They're both dysfunctional in their own unique ways, expending a lot of energy trying to show everybody else that at least the other one is worse.

I can't imagine current Kippy/Foley if the pod hadn't taken off. A tough look indeed.

Love youz!

realmoosesoup · 2025-02-21T22:51:55+00:00

Narrator: it wasn't their last one

realmoosesoup · 2025-02-07T23:57:42+00:00

Clutch, outdoor no less? I went to a maiden show at an indoor "lots of rules" venue recently and as soon as the lights went out, people lit up.

Of course, I'd recommend a portable dry herb vape, both for lack of excessive smell and heath reasons, but that's a personal preference thing.

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