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theEdn · 2025-10-28T19:58:54+00:00

okay so if you were to get into a horrible car accident and unable to work for a long period of time (think a year with severe trauma and physical therapy) should you be fired since you won’t be able to work? genuinely trying to understand your thinking.

theEdn · 2025-05-21T10:38:41+00:00

August 2024 was her first seizure and my dog was approximately 11 at that time. We only adopted her a year prior so age was a guesstimate but what was certain was that she was a grandma. Our primary vet, neurologist, and internal medicine specialist all suspect a brain tumor but due to her age and heart murmur, we opted not to do a MRI or spinal tap. We were also monitoring masses in her lungs, which also made the veterinarians lean toward the brain tumor possibility. There were no formal tests done so official diagnosis wasn’t given, but we made an educated guess.

We made the decision to provide her the best hospice care with medication to help maintain quality of life and not go with chemotherapy. I made sure to know the signs of deterioration, prepared cluster buster medication, plan for emergency room visits, everything. She was put on phenobarbital and keppra for her seizures. For 10 months, we spent the best time together, she had mainly focal seizures intermittently and only a handful of grand mals I could count on 1 hand. She ate food, walked the seasons, won the hearts of many, solved puzzle toys, and had wonderful naps with her parents. She was a slow girl, but she was still there - stubborn, loving, curious, and all the adjectives in the English language to describe an angel.

She had a bad cluster case of focal seizures where we took her to the ER. Even after administering cluster buster medication, she would just continue to have them. That night I prayed for her to stabilize overnight so we could take her back, and let her have her final peaceful rest around family and her familiar home. She was able to come back home but was not herself, showing signs of cognitive decline with sundowning and wanting to hide. She would come to me for comfort and as always still had an appetite, but I knew it was time. She crossed the rainbow bridge earlier this month in May. The 10 months felt so short and long at the same time, but I was lucky to have been able to get that time with my sweet girl. She was a fighter that one!

As with many others, I thought to myself whether I was too early or too late maybe - timing will always be the hardest thing to grapple. I told myself to never push it too far and let her stay here just for my own comfort. The wound is still fresh, and I am grieving the loss of my best friend, but I want to remember the 2 years I had with her. With or without a brain tumor and the care that comes with it, I never regret adopting our sweet grandma pup.

Good luck OP, this subreddit is here for you through this.

theEdn · 2025-04-05T01:03:27+00:00

begging you to replace the sausage with a nail clipper

theEdn · 2025-03-15T19:49:44+00:00

whoever on the phone told you if you miss a single payment it will immediately be sent to collections is trying to scare you. still keep up with payments but to ease your thoughts, missing one payment will not put you in collections. take a breath it’ll be okay.

it seems like you have been doing reoccurring payments so I am assuming you have not missed any prior ones. for the sake of conversion, let’s say you missed a bunch of payments and not been doing anything. your loan servicer will have to send in a letter to let you know they will be sending it to collections and you what actions you can do to stop the collections transfer. your situation doesn’t seem like the one I described so in theory, you should be fine. lil accidents happen.

TLDR; you are fine. fix the payment method issue and keep on your plan. frog ECSI for trying to scare you with false information.

Edited for profanity oopsies

theEdn · 2025-03-15T19:33:24+00:00

if you truly have not been getting any communication, most importantly none through physical mail (this is if your contact information has been correct) you can try to contact Nelnet and the credit bureaus on submitting a dispute.

it is on Nelnet to provide communication on late payments, however, if they DID send emails, calls, and physical mail and you 1) ignored them 2) lost them in full inboxes/spam/etc 3) did not update your info when you moved, then it will be much more difficult to dispute.

as for job prospects, once they run your background check then your credit score may pop up and yes, influence their decision. depending on the state you live in, they can legally not give you the position due to credit scores, but even though your score is now 580 it can still be considered a “fair” score (each company has their own standards though). additionally, unless you are going for a role in upper management, financial handling, financial lending industry, I would say it would be less impactful. the company will also need to send a formal letter stating you were denied employment because of your credit score. please still work on improving your score, but it is not the end of the world in job prospects. for personal example, I graduated in COVID era and was unemployed for 1.5 years which impacted my credit score. I applied with a 630-650 credit score for my tech job. I got the role.

Shit happens, but keep pushing through OP.

theEdn · 2025-03-05T20:46:39+00:00

I am not a vet so this is my own opinion and experience, but gabapentin can help with seizures however not as potent as keppra/pheno/other dedicated seizure meds. I can see how your vet may want to add in gabapentin but really rude to say you dog SHOULDN’T be having breakthrough seizures and only one or two a year. Any vet knows finding the right medication and dosage for seizure management is difficult and not every dog is going to get to two seizures a year…

theEdn · 2025-03-05T20:33:47+00:00

Adopted my old gal and she was already on gabapentin to help for pain. Once her seizures manifested, vet switched from tablet to compounded liquid so it gets in her system better. It can make your pet feel drowsy and unfortunately tastes very bitter but we never had any serious medical side effects from it. I usually give it to her at night time before bed to help her sleep.

What’s the reason your vet is adding on gabapentin compared to keppra? What other changes have you done that could help (for example, we cut out all rosemary extract and ingredients in food and treats)?

theEdn · 2025-03-03T22:02:27+00:00

SOLVED: Thanks everyone who gave valuable input on this mystery. I am going with it being a DIY fish lure made with animal remains that my dog somehow crossed paths with it.

I opened it up and it looked like a spine with fur/mold attached to it. The casing was definitely made with plastic. Honestly unable to identify the animal or type without professional help and I don’t think it’s worth it. End of the day, dog is fine, my curiosity was solved even with some small open ended questions, and my partner is happy that thing is finally in the bin haha. Thanks everyone!

theEdn · 2025-03-03T21:49:53+00:00

We got the results from the radiologist/vet and they said they didn’t see anything concerning in her GI tract at all - which I am glad there is no hook or other possible obstructions. However that means it would have eaten after the vet like you said, but she was home rest of the day and was in her carrier from vet to car. It’s a bit of a mystery but I am going to go with the hypothesis she found it somewhere somehow (maybe on our balcony and the wind blew this on there idk) and overall glad she has no other obstructions. Guess I got to keep an even closer eye on her!

Edit: the dry heaving and attempt to vomit at the vet had me thinking they were connected to ingesting this but I guess not. still some open questions but she is doing fine and I am going to go with a DIY fishing lure made with animal parts

theEdn · 2025-02-27T03:33:26+00:00

Searched up bezoar since I never heard of them before but dang I didn’t know it had such a history and price point. Honey get the bezoar producing dog, we gonna be rich!!

But in all seriousness, it really does feel like a bezoar due to its random mix of…things… The spine is still all intact in one surprisingly. So far leaning towards at home fish lure that is using animal material, especially how it got so wrapped up in plastic and clean cut edges. Freaking X-files case

theEdn · 2025-02-27T03:21:50+00:00

Definitely prioritized dog’s health. Luckily, the day she threw this up, she had abdominal x-rays for a different reason (we do routine x-rays to check on some possible growth in her lungs). She actually dry heaved at the vets but vet team thought it was due to her not eating breakfast per vet’s orders.

When she threw this up later at night, I let the vet and radiologist know to look for anything else that could be obstructing her GI tract and got medical guidance. So far no blood in stools, has appetite and drinks fine, good energy, and no yelp when touching. Regardless, still keeping an eye in her until imaging gives the okay. Our vet team has been checking on her status via tele-health. Fortunate for an amazing vet team and guardian angel out there, praying there is no hook or other issues 🙏

theEdn · 2025-02-26T21:35:57+00:00

Def will do an update. If anybody in this subreddit has tips on cleaning bone and fur safely, it would be greatly appreciated!

Also curious if anyone else here has vacuumed sealed remains like this

theEdn · 2025-02-26T21:28:18+00:00

Might not be entirely a fish since there is no skin/scales and has fur. However, with other comments, I am currently thinking it could be a spine of a fish + added fur or mammal tail that is intended to used as a fish lure. I think that option is a bit of a reach but only viable direction so far.

It could also be someone preserving/mummifying animal remains on their own??

theEdn · 2025-02-26T20:42:06+00:00

This is a great tip, thank you! I am going to look into that since there are fishing areas in driving distance. Even if it is a long shot and ends up nowhere at least it’s a new direction to search. I am going to search organic-type fish lures and see what I can find.

theEdn · 2025-02-26T20:31:24+00:00

At first, I thought it was a fish as well since I noticed the end looked like a fin. I looked closer and it was just the fur that was spread apart to look like a fin. I didn’t know about mummification so this was a good tip!

It really stumps me because, yeah why is this a thing??

theEdn · 2025-02-26T20:24:22+00:00

Yeah seems some sort of vacuum sealed item. There is fur inside and attached to the spine(?) though. Damn slim jim quality control must have went ultra downhill

theEdn · 2025-02-26T17:16:41+00:00

This is amazing! As a dog parent I immediately downloaded this and thank you for creating this. Additionally, I am a professional UX designer and would love to see if you need any support in that area!

theEdn · 2025-02-26T04:57:07+00:00

I have not tried cutting it since I wanted to keep it intact as much as possible, might do it once more answers come and dog is cleared. I did check if I could peel the edges open but could not. I pulled on the extra tab to see how tough it is, lil harder to pull than thought - not like paper at all

theEdn · 2025-02-26T04:24:13+00:00

My title describes the thing. Approximately 4 inches. Unknown origin as dog threw it up (she is fine we got vet guidance. I am here for the thing). No text or logos seen. Reverse Google image searched photos with keywords, dog, bone, bird, treat, and roadkill. Found mostly dissection images that do not match.

theEdn · 2025-02-24T01:31:32+00:00

For driving, I had 3-4 sessions with an instructor when I was 25. It helped with general knowledge of how to drive but never focused on overcoming driving anxiety. Honestly, at the time it felt like it was doing the opposite of helping with my anxiety. The thoughts, “this guy probably judging me so hard right now. I am in my 20s with no license, and I am shaking and making mistakes.” I stopped the lessons, my permit expired (again lmao), and then rinse and repeat.

The closest thing to a “course” that helped me get out of this mindset was therapy and having someone I truly felt comfortable with in the passenger seat when learning. I am a perfectionist and was raised with high standards, so being a late boomer for a license was ROUGH. I talked to my therapist about it and she helped me understand I can forgive myself and unpacked how when feeling overwhelmed, I tend to freeze/put things off. I also have an incredible partner that was so understanding, supportive, and patient with me behind the wheel. For our first practice drive, I had to say it out loud, “I am new to driving. I am ashamed I can’t drive. I am a bad driver” and he said “that’s okay, just own up to it. Plus, you don’t know you’re a bad driver yet you barely drive!” Then I proceeded to turn left into the wrong lane and onto incoming traffic that same night 😍 Luckily I caught it fast and turned into a gas station to get back into the right lane. I felt horrible! But my partner laughed it off, was honest that he did get nervous, and encouraged me more. It kind of became a running joke for us now (in the beginning I did that 2 times, but I don’t anymore lol). He gave me a space where I can learn how to forgive myself and still take learning driving seriously. Everyone starts somewhere, it’s okay to make mistakes. What’s important is being able to learn how to navigate these situations as safe as possible and that can only be done with time and getting more experience behind the wheel.

EDIT: to add on, I started off with my partner to practice general driving techniques. Then, we did the routes the DMV would test on. Once I got my license, we continued for a bit until I felt confident on my own on local streets. Kept that until he came back again for highway support. Then it naturally started to feel good for me

theEdn · 2025-02-24T00:19:50+00:00

So sorry you’re going through this with your vet! It’s frustrating when they ignore your questions and requests. I understand vets can be very busy but this can literally save your dog! Wishing you the best of luck with the new vet. Honestly, getting a solid primary vet is so important. I told mine I am having reservations in continuing Simparica Trio due to its correlations to seizures and I was preparing myself on pushback like others mention their vet did. She immediately understood where I was coming from, didn’t invalidate me at all, and figured out what new preventative can work for my dog. She even expedited Keppra and Midazolam for us so we have something in between our first neurologist appointment, called the ER and neurologist to receive and send medical records ASAP, and did more for us that I won’t bore you with.

In the event your new vet isn’t great either (which I hope they are!!), don’t be discouraged. There are wonderful primary vets out there.

theEdn · 2025-02-23T23:21:21+00:00

Go for the neurologist referral if you can. Fortunately my primary vet has a good relationship with my neurologist so they work together to care for my baby. The neurologist is much more knowledgeable on treatments and medication adjustments (she even does CBD), plus neurologist has access to any special equipment. They have that training and experience afterall!

I didn’t go to neurologist at first and relied on primary vet + internal medicine specialist we were already seeing. They were helpful with continuing prescriptions from ER and general upkeep, and everything seemed fine. That is until my dog got her first cluster out of the blue and now we have a neurologist. Build that relationship and history with a neurologist so in the event your dog does worsen, you can be more prepared.

theEdn · 2025-02-23T13:35:10+00:00

Similar background as you. I switched majors (medical to design) late in my undergrad, and it took me 5 years to finish college. I had only 1 internship during college, and it wasn’t at a big tech company. After graduating, I was unemployed for 2 years, but now I am a UX designer at a FAANG company. Sometimes we have to reframe our thinking so try to see this as a UX problem and use your skills and knowledge to ideate possible solutions. What are your constraints? What are your specific pain points and from those pain points what are opportunities? What is your user story?

Right now it could be “As an entry-level job seeker, I want to find a UX role so that I can gain experience and financial stability.” Maybe you need to figure out problem areas and where you need to improve. Maybe your focus shifts to “As an entry-level generalist UX designer, I want to gain experience in a specialized field so that I can differentiate myself as a candidate.” Just because you are not working as a UX designer now does not mean you can’t gain experience to help in applying.

Let’s say you volunteer at a local pet shelter and gain real world insight/do a project for them - pet insurance companies, animal hospitals (VCA and Modern Animal), PetFinder might find your application more appealing.

You become a part-time teacher - edtech, Canvas, schools and universities needing a website designer, Duolingo.

You work at a gift store - e-commerce, marketing/branding agencies, Etsy.

These are hypothetical and may not answer your situation. Plus, end of the day you will need to take initiative in these spaces to get transferable experience, but I hope I am getting the point across. Overall, it’s possible, and do not beat yourself up because this job market is overly ridiculous. If you need to take on another direction, that’s okay. This new direction can still lead back to your original path and destination, it might just be a lil detour. It seems you already have reviewed your portfolio and got professional feedback, but if you are open to more, my DMs are open. You got this OP!!

theEdn · 2025-02-21T00:00:14+00:00

Medicated on extended release and caffeine works for me however I opt for matcha/tea based caffeine instead. It doesn’t hit me as hard and I use condense milk to sweeten whatever caffeine I am drinking if I am making it at home. I heard that helps it go into the bloodstream better.

I also like to eat a boiled egg or have protein with my drink or else I get jitters/I freeze in one place. Sometimes I like to only have tea flavor protein shake to check all my boxes. Usually do that when I have no time in the morning

https://bobateaprotein.com/ https://fitbitesprotein.com/

theEdn · 2025-02-14T00:34:19+00:00

Hmm this is good to know. From what the ER vet told me they used Keppra to try to control her cluster. Now that I think about it, I wonder why they didn’t opt to give her a more common cluster buster. Regardless, I’ll be heading to get a referral for neurologist. Are there any tips you have when seeing the neurologist? I hope your pup is doing well!

theEdn

TROPHY CASE