Was diagnosed about a year ago, haven't had any new symptoms until recently. I noticed sharp ear pains, some ringing, etc. I think I've developed sjogrens because my eyes and mouth are dry often. I know it involves salivary glands, so does that also affect ears?
My ears have been drier that usual, and I don't know if that also causes ear pain and maybe hearing loss. I also have random sore throat and some pains on the sides of my neck.
If any of you have similar symptoms and have asked a doctor about it, please, let me know what they had to say about it. I'm seeing my rheumatologist in October, and I'm going to ask him questions about it anyway, but in the meantime, anything is appreciated!

22F, 5’6”, 140lbs, only taking Sprintec birth control.
I had my tonsillectomy this morning. It’s been ~6 hours post op. One tonsil was more swollen than the other and now that side of my face is more swollen as well. When I touch that side of my face/neck or lay down on that side of my body I hear air in my ear being released. I can’t even really tell where the sound is coming from but it sounds like it’s inside of my ear. It sounds like a fart or a squeak noise haha. My dad even could hear it when he felt my neck for swelling and it released air. Is this normal?

I lost my dad to cancer about 6 months ago, and I’m terrified of dying like he did. I’m a perfectly healthy 16 year old kid, and even though I know it’s incredibly rare, I’ve been in constant panic over it for months now. I assume that every mole on my body is melanoma or that a headache means I have a brain tumor. I’m getting over a cold and noticed a bump on the back of my neck today. It’s only on one side and I made the mistake of looking up what might be wrong and was told by the internet it was lymphoma. I know the is isn’t likely the case but I’m still terrified by all of the what ifs. I have pretty severe ocd and I’m going to try and work with my therapist on this, but it’s just so difficult going about my life worried I’m going to die from cancer.

*WARNING - this is gonna be a very long post. I also provide a lot of anecdotal recommendations and advice based on my experience and what my CRS told me, but I am not a doctor, so do not take the information I provide as medical advice. *
I’ve been here a long time, and this post is an updated version of one I made several months ago. I feel obligated to give back and report on how things are going for me so that maybe I can help someone else on their journey like so many others have helped me on mine.
I’ve made other posts on this sub, but here is a detailed rundown of my journey:

Beginning of August 2023 -

• Had a gnarly bm at work, and of course the tp they have there is literal sandpaper. I like to make sure I’m spotless Down Under so I absolutely annihilated my butthole in an effort to achieve sparkly cleanliness. I immediately knew I overdid it cuz of how bad my bh was stinging but I figured it would clear up in a day or two.

I have learned a valuable lesson from this and I cannot stress this enough: DON’T MAKE THIS MISTAKE. USE WETS WIPES AND A BIDET. Standard tp is VERY unforgiving. If you do use tp, don’t aggressively rub, gently dab.

• A few days pass and the pain worsens. I have another bm, lots of blood but relief. I’m unsettled but move on with my day. My instincts were telling me something doesn’t seem right but I wanted to see if time would heal me.
  
• I notice some little pus spots in the following days when I dab with tp, which immediately put me on high alert. I look back there with a mirror and see a little pimple looking thing very close to my anal opening. I’m alarmed but decide to give it another couple days to see if it went away on it’s own. Spoiler alert: it didn’t.
  
• I go to local urgent care, and as is the trend in this sub, I get misdiagnosed with having an ingrown hair and given antibiotics. Also told to do sitz baths and hot compresses to help it drain. The meds helped shrink the pimple and it went nearly flat, but after the course was finished, that “pimple” came back with a vengeance and turned into a proper abscess. It filled up and abscessed over the course of about two days.
  
• Woke up for work and had trouble walking and sitting. I immediately knew what was up thanks to having thoroughly explored this sub by this point, and educated myself on what I likely had going on. The urgent care had told me to follow up with general surgery if I had continued problems, but l knew to go right to a specialist. Thankfully my insurance doesn’t require referrals. Through an insane amount of luck and perhaps some divine intervention, I was able to see a CRS the same day I woke up with the abscess. Bedside I&D with local anesthetic, and it hurt BAD. Immediately relieved of abscess pain though. CRS checked for fistula at this time too, but did not see anything. I was hopeful the I&D would be the end of this for me. (Spoiler alert x2: it wasn’t.)
  

September to October 2023 -

• Went in for follow up with CRS at two weeks from I&D. Still having minimal pus and blood drainage, so I’d been keeping gauze tucked between my cheeks all this time. I was hoping against hope I was just healing slowly. He took one quick look and immediately decided that things didn’t seem right. Gave me the option of EUA with possible fistulotomy vs. seton placement OR I could try to live with things. I decided on surgery knowing the quicker you tackle fistula, the better. I didn’t want it getting worse or risk branching off. Scheduled for surgery end of October ‘23. I was devastated this wasn’t over with, and kept thinking about putting things off til I had more savings and better insurance next year - but I eventually made my peace with things. I didn’t want to suffer any longer than I already had. Health and happiness is WAY more important than money.
  
• I&D site never healed properly during entire wait time. Abscessed again twice, burst on it’s own. Kept it draining with sitz baths and religiously kept it cleaned. Lived with gauze between my cheeks 24/7. Constant drainage of blood and/or pus (yellow, green, brown). Carried my “butt kit” everywhere, which was a pack of baby wipes, some 4x4” gauze sponges, and a handheld bidet. One of my biggest recommendations is investing in a portable bidet for cleaning up after bm’s in public, get one off Amazon! LIFESAVER.
  
• The worst part of the interim between that follow up and my surgery date was honestly the waiting. Not knowing how bad it actually was back there, seeing various amount of drainage every day, varying levels of pain, the frustration of how much time it takes to clean myself up after bm’s. The mental aspect of this condition is truly debilitating. PLEASE make sure to take care of yourself and be kind to yourself as best you can. Make sure you have a support network you can talk to. Do things you enjoy. And for the love of all things, DON’T doom scroll this sub or the internet at large. Although it helped me educate myself and the positive stories were reassuring, I definitely messed up my mental state getting worked up over worst case scenarios.
  

October 27, 2023 -

• Surgery day! Everything went SUPER well, I could not be more thankful for my outcome. CRS was so chill and kind, answered all my Qs pre and post op. Woke up to find out it was a very superficial fistula, barely any sphincter involved, and got a fistulotomy! (CPT Code 46270). CRS said specifically that as far as depth of cutting required, “only a few sheets of paper” deep. I’m feeling quite good. Bleeding of course, but not terrible. Was prescribed narcotic pain meds but haven’t used them yet. Pain 1/10 for now.

October 28, 2023 -

• Still feeling decent, but I can feel the soreness intensifying today. I reckon it’ll be even worse by tomorrow, but we shall see. Bleeding continues but seems lighter. Spent nearly all day sleeping yesterday when I got home from the hospital, and I plan on relaxing in bed all day today as well. Making sure to keep pressure off the booty so I’m laying on my sides or angling onto one of my butt cheeks if I’m on my back.

October 31, 2023 -

• Happy Halloween! Still hangin’ in there. Drainage is about the same volume wise, but it’s more pink and clear-ish fluid than blood now. Had my first bm’s today. (I typically poop every 2-3 days so I wasn’t too stressed about how long it’s been since surgery day.)
  
• It definitely sucked and I was a bit backed up, so my first bm was a bit hard and on the smaller side. Pain was maybe 4/10 during and right after passage, and gradually subsided within an hour to a 1/10. Minor bleeding. Took milk of magnesia in the morning to encourage a proper bm, which I finally passed in the afternoon. This one was a bigger bm and hurt quite a bit more, 6/10, lingering pain afterwards that gradually decreased to a 2/10. Used handheld bidet to clean up, NO tp whatsoever. Dabbed with a wet wipe to make sure I was clean. Took an extra long sitz bath (15min) right afterwards which really helped calm the pain.
  
• As far as what my pain feels like, it’s a combination of stinging and soreness, mostly an achy sore feeling though. Post bm, it’s radiating from my butthole out into my buttcheeks and toward my tailbone a bit. I have a very high pain tolerance so it’s manageable. I’ve been sticking to Tylenol.
  

I still have no idea what the actual wound looks like, I have zero interest in finding out right now lol.

November 6th, 2023 -

• I am now officially a week and some change out from my fistulotomy. The past week definitely had it’s ups and downs both physically and mentally.
  
• I did wind up taking one of my narcotic pain meds on day 4 and 5 due to lingering pains from a bm. Pain started subsiding a bit by later in day 5 and into day 6, but intensified a little on day 7-8. BMs still hurt quite a bit but not nearly as awful as the first one post op. Warm soapy sitz baths have been my absolute best friend to help with any pains back there. I also have a detachable shower head for further rinsing and cleaning after all of my sitz baths.
  
• Drainage overall seems to be reducing, and I’m seeing less blood. There’s a bit of a light yellow goopy substance mixed with the blood when I check my gauze now. I’m not worried about it as it does not smell and seems to be a normal part of the healing process for fistulotomy wounds according to my research. Obviously my CRS will have the final say. My follow up appt is on the 16th.
  
• I walked around for a few hours at a local bacon festival with family yesterday, which was some much-needed fun, but I definitely went a bit overboard with walking and was a tad sore afterward. Very manageable pain though. I will definitely regret eating the amount of bacon that I did but YOLO.
  
• I try not to allow myself to think too much about all this, but it’s still hard contending with the feeling that my body betrayed me and the healing process will be long and not linear. I keep reminding myself that this is a journey, not a race, which helps recenter my mindset.
  

8.5 weeks to 11 weeks post op -

I have my last follow up with my CRS at 8.5 weeks. He's surprised I'm still not fully healed, but not concerned. He said it could take "a few more weeks" and drainage is to be expected as long as there is any kind of wound. He released me from his care.
A couple weeks later, I had a scare where I randomly had a quarter-sized blotch of pure blood on my gauze. A nervous wreck, I call my CRS and was told that it's highly unusual for bleeding this far out from surgery, but not cause for worry unless it got worse and/or did not stop bleeding. I was given the choice to wait it out or head in for an appointment - I chose to wait and see. I didn't bleed like that again and I moved on.
I assume that the surgery site had healed into a shallow fissure at this point and it opened up.

5 months post op -

• Generally feeling good, but still have very light spotting of yellow drainage. It is not constant. I continue to take at least one sitz bath daily with a little epsom salt in water as hot as I can safely tolerate. I rinse off in the shower afterward. I still occasionally tuck gauze between my cheeks to monitor drainage and keep things dry.

Present Day, 7 months 1 week from Surgery -

I still feel wary declaring this, but I can say with reasonable confidence that I have completed my healing journey.
I stopped using gauze entirely around the 5.5 month mark and checked drainage levels by gently dabbing with tp after restroom visits. I think I completely stopped seeing the little yellow drainage dots at 6 months.
I also had a very strange incident on the opposite side from my surgery site at 6 months; while washing in the shower, I felt 3 lima-bean sized lumps in my inner cheek tissue that felt a bit tender, and an overall firmness that was not present on my other cheek. I freaked out at first, but decided to take the "wait and see" approach. Those lumps did eventually disappear over the course of about 3 weeks, and I still have no idea what they were. I had been doing a lot of physical work at odd angles and sitting on flat hard ground prior to this, so I think I maybe strained a muscle back there and maybe had some fatty tissue buildup??
That aside, my anus still occasionally feels "odd" and I experience what I assume are nerve pinches from the scar tissue, but I feel great and am living my life more or less like I was before this all happened to me - with some habit changes.
I still use my portable bidet when I need to use the bathroom in a public place, and do not go anywhere without said bidet and a pack of wet wipes.
If I'm at home, I always hop in the shower and wash after a bm so I know I'm sparkling clean back there. I don't think I'll ever shake the need to do this. The trauma from this experience is Too Real. I'm still nervous to get back on my bicycle, but I think I can safely do so if I choose to.
I cannot stress this enough - trust your body and trust the healing process. It is unlikely to be linear, and even if your doctor gives you a healing timeline, it probably will not be accurate.
Some people are lucky and actually heal quickly, but others could take closer to a year - it depends on SO many factors. I had a super fast and super simple fistulotomy, and it took all 7 of these months to feel back to normal. So, don't lose hope if it's taking you longer to heal. Be kind to yourself, give yourself grace, and live your life as fully as you can.
I can't tell you what exactly happened, but some kind of switch in my brain flipped at about the 4 month mark and I just stopped getting myself so worked up over this. No more obsessing, no more doom scrolling. I refused to go back to my CRS unless I literally had another abscess in my ass - which thankfully did not happen.
If a setback happened, I just shrugged and kept going. I was SO tired of letting this thing rule my life. I didn't stop caring for myself, but I sure stopped letting my anxiety get the better of me.
I have learned a lot from from this experience. Namely that it's important to separate reasonable amounts of caution and care from unreasonable obsessing. I'm anxious by nature and have a TON of health anxiety, so this was incredibly difficult for me to overcome.
Obviously, if something is clearly wrong, go back to your CRS - but getting riled up over every single minor setback isn't worth the stress and anxiety, and patience truly is a virtue.
I’ve added some extra notes below in case anyone finds them helpful.

Diet, Hygiene, and More -

• I’ll admit that my appetite was horrible for the duration of me dealing with this condition. I didn’t eat much and did a LOT of fasting because I was afraid of having bm’s. I highly recommend not doing this to yourself. I felt fatigued constantly.
  
• Post-op diet is high fiber and generally healthful. CRS said I could resume my normal diet immediately, minus spicy food and alcohol. I’m making the personal choice to eat healthier on my own. I’m eating a lot of soups, whole grain toast, plain skyr yogurt with granola and mixed fruits, bananas, apples, etc. Basically anything easy to digest but also full of nutrients.
  
• Colace stool softener is great and I highly recommend using it pre and post op! Milk of Magnesia is also very good to help get post-op bowels moving.
  
• Make sure you keep your butt super clean and dry at all times pre AND post op. Change your gauze every time you use the bathroom. I would wash back there every night with my removable shower head and some gentle castile soap (I use Dr. Bronner’s brand). Make sure whatever soap you use is UNSCENTED, soaps with scents in them could cause unnecessary irritation.
  
• I started using Calmoseptine ointment with approval from my CRS around the 10-15 week mark (I don't remember when exactly I started, only that I waited until I was confident I'd finished the bulk of my healing). It's nice for creating a moisture barrier as well as helping with discomfort, but it's very messy/sticky, so be aware of this!
  
• For those wondering, I completely abstained from sex until I reached the 4 month post op milestone. It was partly to make sure I was well-healed, but I also had a horrendous self-image and felt anything but sexy all this time. I'm incredibly grateful to my partner for giving me so much patience, it was incredibly hard for both of us.
  

There have been multiple articles about how in 2024, companies are going "woke no more."
A few years ago, it was not uncommon for companies to take bold, public stances on various prominent political and social issues such as Black Lives Matter, LGBTQ+ rights, abortion, embracing "stakeholder capitalism," opposing Trump's immigration ban from several Muslim countries, officially endorsing Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden in their respective elections, etc. Mainstream corporate America invested heavily in ESG and DEI initiatives.
However, with the mass tech layoffs starting in 2022, which kicked off layoffs in other industries, ESG and DEI roles have been dramatically slashed, as companies became more lean to focus on revenue generation and profit. Even workplace affinity groups have been receiving less funding for cultural events.
In the face of potential legal challenges, companies have been rethinking corporate diversity hiring, and affirmative action initiatives, moving more to a purely merit-based hiring system.
And notably, companies like Google which used to have a history of employee protesting over social issues (see here and here), had a zero tolerance policy of employees protesting the war in Gaza and Google's contracts with Israeli companies. Those protesters were swiftly and brutally fired, with Google CEO Sundar Pichai coming out saying politics is not appropriate to discuss at work. This is despite Google tolerating employee dissent in the late 2010s.
Some argue that the Israel - Hamas War also triggered an anti-woke backlash, because while BLM, trans rights, abortion, etc., have broad support among those who are socially liberal, Israel/Palestine is an issue that divides the political left. See all of the Democrats upset over Joe Biden's handling of Israel/Gaza, with some saying they won't vote for him or even calling him "Genocide Joe."
Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences will no longer require diversity statements in hiring process. Job applicants will no longer have to submit diversity statements when applying to Harvard University's largest division. MIT will also stop asking faculty applicants for diversity statements.
Even in our culture more broadly, you have Big Iger, CEO of Disney, publicly coming out in early 2024 and saying he thinks over the past several years, Disney focused too much on socially progressive messaging on LGBTQ+ issues and race as opposed to creating movies and TV shows that first and foremost entertaining. He says Disney will be pivoting away from DEI in programming.
I'm finishing up my first year at HBS, and a professor I chatted with said the zeitgeist is definitely shifting, with the social landscape in corporate America being far, far different in 2024 from how it was in the late 2010s, especially after Trump was elected in 2016. Back then, it became "cool" to be outspoken on left-wing social issues (much of corporate America remained fiscally conservative).
However, over legal challenges, the divisive Israel/Hamas war, and anti-DEI backlash, corporate cultures are going back to more of the zeitgeist in the 2000s and early 2010s, where politics is a "taboo" subject, and those who speak openly about it at work will be penalized and potentially fired.
My professor said this has mirrored what he's seen in our HBS class. He said the Class of 2025 is noticeably much less politically outspoken than even the Class of 2022 or Class of 2023. Even as the Israel - Gaza war rages on and the undergrad campus was a political flashpoint for demonstrations and encampments, the business school students have largely stayed silent.
My professor said even in 2022 or 2023, before October 7, he heard more students speak up openly on both sides of Israel and Palestine, but since then, after the initial attack, both sides have said publicly quiet for the most part.
And this goes for other social issues like trans rights, abortion even, etc. People are still likely personally socially liberal and will vote Democratic in the election, but aren't shoving their opinions down others' throats.
Moreover, in the past, students used to show more interest in "social impact" type roles, such as impact investing, nonprofit consulting, DEI roles, Human Resources, sustainability, etc. Now, students by and large are focusing on mainstream capitalist make me money roles, like investment banking, consulting, tech product management (to the extent it exists), with a huge swing toward finance recruiting.
Does this track with what you are seeing? To me it's interesting, as it shows a reversion to the 2000s era culture as opposed to a continuation of the late 2010s. The 2020s are shaping up to be a VERY different cultural decade than the 2010s at this rate.

Hi all,
I have tracked down the model for the battery replacement for my M5 which has a swollen battery. I got the back cover open but not seeing a plug/connector for the battery, is it on the other side of the board? do i need to remove the screen side to access it?

Quick Note: added Necrom Section. also note this time it is 12 days, not usual 7 :)
Activation: ingame Crown Store -> ESO Plus tab → click “Free Trial!”.
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INSTANT or QUICK Freebies:
Dungeons DLC: - Shadow of the Hist: Heroic personality -- Enter either the Ruins of Mazzatun or the Cradle of Shadows (Shadowfen) - Horns of the Reach: Bullhorns emote -- Enter either Falkreath Hold or Bloodroot Forge (Craglorn) - Dragon Bones: hat: Renegade Dragon Priest Mask -- Enter either Fang Lair or Scalecaller Peak (Bangkorai/Stormhaven) - Wolfhunter: Werewolf Hunter Hat -- Enter either Moon Hunter Keep or March of Sacrifices (Reaper’s March/Greenshade) - Wrathstone: hat: Ayleid Royal Crown -- Enter either Frostvault or Depths of Malatar (Eastmarch/Gold Coast) - Scalebreaker: outfit style: Dread-Aurelian Mask -- Enter either Lair of Maarselok or Moongrave Fane (Grathwood /Northern Elsweyr) - Harrowstorm: Emote: Wickerman Mishap -- Enter either Unhallowed Grave or Icereach (Bangkorai/Wrothgar) - StoneThorn: Pet: Energetic Dwarven Shock-Spider -- Enter either Castle Thorn or Stone Garden (Western Skyrim/Blackreach: Greymoor Caverns) - Flames of Ambition: Outfit weapon style Fire-Forged Maul -- Enter either The Cauldron or Black Drake Villa (Deshaan/Gold Coast) - Waking Flame: Scorion Pyreling non-combat pet – Enter either Red Petal Bastion or the Dread Cellar (Glenumbra/Blackwood) - Ascending Tide: Abyssal Embrace Face Markings - Enter either Coral Aerie or Shipwright's Regret (Summerset/Rivenspire) - Lost Depths: Mulberry Hermit Crab non-combat pet - Enter either Earthen Root Enclave or Graven Deep (both surface entries are in High Isle/Amenos, so if you don't own High Isle chapter use map to teleport inside or group with a friend, who is inside and teleport to them) - Scribes of Fate: has no “immediate” loyalty reward. Despite declaring the “Lost in the Woods” emote being granted for just visiting Bal Sunnar or Scrivener's Hall, actually it is rewarded on completing BOTH dungeons on Normal difficulty (relevant discussion: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/629124/official-discussion-thread-scribes-of-fate-update-37-now-live-on-pc-mac ) Entry points: Bal Sunnar – Stonefalls & Scrivener's - Hall The Rift. - Scions of Ithelia - Bascially, nothing. Completing both Oathsworn Pit and Bedlam Veil in Normal yeilds you only 10 Achievement points, nothing more.
Game-maps.com has ESO+ group dungeons color-coded on the Tamriel map: https://game-maps.com/ESO/Tamriel-ESO-World-Map.asp
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Zone DLC:
- Orsinium: Pet: Echalette -- Enter Orsinium capital city (also: quests for Orzorga provisioning recipes, get Briarheart dagger quest reward for your StickerBook) - Thieves Guild: Pet: Jackal -- Enter Abah's Landing. Unlock TG skill line (also grants Thieves Guild Leathers costume) - Dark Brotherhood: Personality: Assassin -- Enter Gold Coast zone. Unlock DB skill line (the second quest in DB story unlocks the Shrouded Armor costume) - Clockwork City: Pet: Scintillant Dovah-Fly -- Enter the Brass Fortress (also do quests for provisioning recipes, the later are bound, so it worths the efforts). Collecting Precursor dummy fragments is up to you as it is quite time consuming and the dummy itself has too low HP. - Murkmire: Pet: Verdigris Haj Mota -- Enter Lilmoth (quest Death Among the Dead-Water rewards with a Fire Rock memento) - Dragonhold: Outfit Style: Topal Corsair Hat -- Enter Southern Elsweyr (questing unlocks other pages). Questing unlocks Mask of Alkosh hat and The Za’ji’s Dragonguard Uniform costume - Markarth: Outfit Style: Arkthzand Anfractuosity Shroud -- Enter The Reach (questing grants head and body markings, and Witchwise Headdress hat collectible) - The Deadlands – Oblivion Explorer’s Headwrap - Enter Fargrave for the first time (its’ wayshrine is unlocked) - Firesong- Firesong Obsidian Mask – Enter Galen
- Summerset: nothing immediate. fish in Artaeum for bound provisioning recipes (otherwise they are obtainable by purchasing Waterlogged Psijic Satchels, which is an expensive lottery), unlock Psijic skill line (progressing it also unlocks buying bound furnishing recipes at the Artaeum trader). Also one of three Antiquities leads for Music Box “In Dreams and Memories” drops in Summerset. And fast to obtain “Alinor Allemande” dance emote from the Antiquity lead.
- Elsweyr: nothing immediate. (Despite parts of Peryite Skeevemaster costume drop in Orcrest public dungeon, parts of a Grisly Mummy Tabby pet drop in Rimmen Necropolis all these are not bound and may be purchased from Guild Traders any time), zone quest unlocks Hall of the Lunar Champion housing (a free manor sized house!!), and Dragonslayer Style head & shoulders outfit styles. Three wings of the Hall of the Lunar Champion manor are unlocked by completing 1) Elsweyr story, 2) Dragonhold story, 3) completing both Lair of Maarselok and Moongrave Fane on normal difficulty. Also completing Sunspire Trial on normal unlocks purchases of the beautiful Akatosh Chancel doors (furnishing for housings) for 100K gold from Achievement furnisher in Rimmen.
- Greymoor - nothing immediate, but Antiquities are numerous.. It takes like 6 ..7 hours to level up Scrying and Excavation up to level 7 to be able to get mythics (faster moving speed is preferable – get crafted Adept Rider set or Coward's Gear set). I did it on 3 characters and stayed at Artaeum doing first greens, then cycling between greens and blues till a purple lead (one time per location) at level 5 scrying (normally 3..4 hours depending on how fast you do move). Then i preferred to stay at Artaeum for approx 3 more hours repeating green-blue cycles to get level 7 (the alternative is to go Green-Blue-Purple in the base game zones & Artaeum (purple part is non-repeatable on account) to unlock the 100,000 gold Al-Esh Ascension Coin lead, but you have to unlock Eyevea (by completing Mages Guild questline) and get 10 in scrying to dig for this gold), and, basically, as other zones are bigger and you would most likely have to kill mobs on your way – this method of skill line progression would take more time then staying in small cosy Artaeum. Well.. this is up to you to decide.
Alcast has a good & comprehensive Antiquties guide: https://alcasthq.com/eso-antiquities-system-guide-greymoor-chapte His guide also includes a link to the levelling guide, where author recommends green-blue-purple method. ESO Hub has good information about Mythics and theirs leads https://eso-hub.com/en/sets/category/mythic Friendly reminder: Mythics are reconstructable at any time (and theirs level is fixed CP160), but not deconstructable.
There are some cosmetic Antiquities items https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Antiquity_Leads#Cosmetics_and_Outfit_Styles
Also pick up the Alinor Allemande emote (Summerset), and, maybe Aldmeri Symphonia music box. Also get fancy crafting stations: Anvil of Old Orsinium, Druidic Provisioning Station, Daedric Enchanting Station, and the Shipbuilder's Woodworking Station. The Ebon Dwarven Wolf mount is 17 parts, so it might take you too much time to get them all in one week, though it is doable, if the random number generator is loyal to you. DisplayLeads addon is awesome and extremely helpful (https://www.esoui.com/downloads/info2651-DisplayLeads-withLocationInfo.html)
- Blackwood nothing seriously big, but you can get a free Bog Dog pet (Lost in the Wilds quest) and some nice furnishings (including a canoe). Companions are not on the table. To kill your time there is the 15 pieces Blackwood Tapestry antiquity furnishing (check Alcast for the guide if interested). Also Thrafey Debutante Gown is a stylish costume obatined with 50 Scaly Cloth Scraps (tradeable) fragments from the Silent Halls public dungeon.
- High Isle. Again, nothing immediate. Cosmetics include non-combat pet Jerall Rescue Dog acquired during Tales of Tribute questline, non-combat pet Coral Haj Mota: 25 Coral Haj Mota Decoys from the Spire Of The Crimson Coin and 25 Coral Haj Mota Lures from Ghost Haven Bay (these are tedious to get tradeable fragments)
Courtly Traveling Attire costume plus head and body marking you get during the zone story line quest Nighthunter's Cowl hat is one lead Antiquity
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- Necrom. Nothing immediate. Long term offers include: Emissaries Enclave - big house, 28 quests 1.5M gold, The Fate Scryer Costume – completing the quest “Chronicle of Fate”, shroom tender style - different style pages unlocked by achievements, new ToT desk – Almalexia. nix-ox steed mount would be hard or, probably impossible to get, I can not tell for sure (please comment on that), Abyssal Cephaliarch’s Face Art – completing the quest “A Hidden Fate”, Body Art – completing the quest “A Calamity of Fate”. Also The Prism of Moribund Sapience – completing the quest “In a Troubled House”. The Meln’s Soul Gem memento – completing the quest “Spirit of Fate”
Necrom Master Angler achievememnt unlocks Shroomtender Shoes style, though i normally do not mention Master Angler achievements for DLC zones, as catching all them rare fishies consumes the enormous amount time and only one other Master Angler achievement rewards directly - becoming the Deadlands Master Angler allows to purhcase a Sulfur Pool achievement furnishing. So them fishing shoes style is for the most reckless of you, daredevils! I don't have that much time to complete that. :
Other Shroomtender style pages are unlocked by doing all deleves, world bosses, quests and other activities in Necrom zones.
Berylglow Nix-Ox Steed mount requires the Savior of Necrom achievement with 5 coditions. The third of these is Complete all 3 Daily Job achievements for Necrom's Stalwart Protector one of three requirements for that is "Complete 30 Bastion Nymic Daily Quests for Ordinator Tandasea in Necrom" (i doubt participating in your friends' shared daily Nymic counts, if you have already completed your own daily Nymic, so, here, in my understanding, is the catch. please, correct me if i am wrong and 30 Nymic (as well as 30 WB and Delves dailies) can be done in a week) link: https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Savior_of_Necrom (these 30 Nymic dailies also unlock a Obsidian Dwarven Sphere pet, though, again, i doubt it can be done withing a week)
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UESP page with the images of loyalty rewards: https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:DLC_Loyalty_Rewards
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What works:
- Thieves Guild, Dark Brotherhood, and Psijic Guild skill lines skill line will persist, allowing looting Thieves Troves and Psijic portals. Blade of Woe still continues to function (Please, keep in mind that is per character! Psijic quest (it is long) unlocking the line (and subsequent ones (long too)) is fun only first 9 times.., after that it starts becoming annoying)
- Housing purchased in DLC zones will persist, on exiting the house you would not enter a DLC zone, but teleport back to the location from which you have teleported to your house
- Furnishings exceeding non-ESO+ limits will stay, but you will not be able to re-add them if accidentally put away
- you would be able to allocate/deallocate Skill Points (with respec or by loading an Armory build) in the TG/DB/Psijic/JC/Scrying/Excavation skills you have already unlocked while progressing these skill lines.
- Antiquities will still allow you to scry from the map (though I am not sure it was intended by Zenimax)
thanks go to u/LordAsheye for the instructions: https://www.reddit.com/elderscrollsonline/comments/10kdvem/comment/j5rqmpd/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3
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What does not work:
- Jewelry Crafting skill line still requires Summerset (after ESO+ expires you can not access JC crafting stations if you don't own the DLC), but it makes a lot of sense to research Infused, Bloodthirsty and Swift traits for reconstructing stickerbook jewelry (thanks Kelinmiriel for this tip) as at any time you can buy the Transmute Station or visit your friends houses/guildhalls where the said station has been already deployed.
- You would not be able to further progress DB, TG and Psijic skill lines (if not maxed them) after free ESO+ trial ends.
- You can not play Tales of Trubute (if you have no access to High Isle) after trial end
- Companions of Blackwood and High Isle are decoupled from the zone for ESO+ Free trials (but, of course, work for the real subscriptions), Companions of Necrom are not accessible, because Necrom is the latest Chapter, which is not unlocked with ESO+ (trial or regular)
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OTHER EASY THINGS to do:
- re-log with each character to make materials they carry to go into the Crafting Bag (after event it will turn into "extract-only" mode)
- unlock TG, DB and Psijic skill lines for each of your characters (looting a thieves trove is enough to unlock the TG line, so if you are lucky to spot the thing that saves a trip to Hew's Bane)
- collect skyshards, lorebooks, unlock exploration and questing dyes and achievements, check achievement furnishers (as they offer quite a lot of inexpensive and nice furnishings)
(LovelyNorth has an excellent achievement furnishers visual guide: http://lovelynorth.com/achievementfurnishings/)
- dye your costumes (this is done per character, so the same costume may be dyed differently on different characters)
- dye your Companions costumes (if you have Blackwood or High Isle or Necrom and unlocked them Companions)
- refine your raw materials, preferably on a character with the best refining passives and Meticulous Disassembly green CP star slotted
- if you do crafting dailies, then pack your CraftBag with everything. I’d suggest depositing a LOT of style stones (basic ones are 15g each at vendors located near crafting stations), potency runes (again, vendors), Ta runes, Mudcrab Chitin and Violet Coprinus. If you craft furnishings stock up with furnishing materials as well.
- pack your houses with 2x storage (utilize 2x furnishing limits at houses of any size)
- do the treasure maps (might be purchased at the Guild Traders) pointing to otherwise restricted zones
- if you decided to train Antiquities, then acquire new and do the existing leads in the unlocked DLC zones (if you decide to max up Antiquities skill lines (for the Ultimate difficulty furnishing leads) - the easy way to get level 7 lead (Void-Crystal Anomaly furnishing) is to harvest nodes in Coldharbour, as it drops surprisingly often there from resource nodes)
- attune your crafting stations to Order's Wrath (High Isle), Law of Julianos (Wrothgar) , New Moon Acolyte (Southern Elsweyr) (also: Clever Alchemist, Wretched Vitality, Mechanical Acuity (CWC), Coldharbor Favorite, Stuhn's Favor, Heartland Conqueror, and Ancient Dragonguard are quite good options too (imho), but that is you, who decides on that matter and most of the GuildHalls normally have them crafting stations).
- it is worth mentioning you can open your geodes to use doubled (1000) transmute crystal limit (though after the event you would not be able to add new crystals unless you consume the existing ones to make theirs number to drop below the “normal” 500 limit)
- purchasing alchemy ingredients to pack your CraftBag with is up to you (this may help to level up new characters uber-fast using batches of pre-crafted Master Achemy Writs), as well as buying uncommon style materials (for future gear crafting Master Writs). However, for both of these purposes I’d suggest just to subscribe to ESO+.
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TIME-CONSUMING ACTIVITIES:
- collect Bound-On-Pickup group dungeons DLC gear for the collections book (unbound may be bought)
- quests and dungeons for rewards, achievements and collectibles (like Elsweyr free housing or Elsweyr+Dragonhold Epilogue free flying pet, undaunted trophies.. Pirharri the Smuggler assistant, etc etc..)
- doing DLC dungeons for bound gear, skillpoints, achievements (including skins for achievements in veteran DLC dungeons), motif pages drops and trophies
- if you are for good DPS sets: on normal Falkreath Hold (for Pillar of Nirn) is soloable, just block minotaurs heavy attacks. Frostvault (for Tzogvin's Warband) is soloable too, just get tanky to kill the troll. And you don’t need 60+ runs as you get armor pieces rather quick so you can reconstruct them later (for 50..60 crystals, not 25, but, anyway..). Weapons require more runs, though..
- doing DLC trials with friends for skins, gear and achievement. UESP: https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Trials
- Zones story quests reward with skillpoints (especially smaller zones: CWC -8, Murkmire – 7, Southern Elsweyr – 6+3, Markarth – 6+3, The Deadlands – 6+3, Firesong – 6+3 (6+3 means 6 from smaller zone DLC plus 3 from epilogue quests completing one year arc (if the appropriate big zone DLC story line completed))). (Thanks to u/RadioRy for this recommendation) Also: warning: it takes only several hours for these storylines if you rush the dialogues, however – rushing is not recommended if you are for stories or RP.
- do public dungeons group events in Summerset Isles, Northern Elsweyr, Greymoor, Blackwood, High Isle and Wrothgar for the skill points (Atoll of Immolation is, technically, a public dungeon too, but does not reward you with a skillpoint. Enter it from The Deadlands, not from Blackwood)
Game-Maps.com has the excellent public dungeons maps https://game-maps.com/ESO/ESO-Public-Dungeon.asp
On PC use the Urich's Skill Point Finder addon to check your quests, skyshards and dungeons skillpoints https://www.esoui.com/downloads/info1863-UrichsSkillPointFinder.html
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- check UESP full list of mementos: https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Mementos (“DLC and Chapters” is a sepatare section), maybe you would like to unlock some
- completing skill lines (DB, TG, Psijic)
- complete maps (do world bosses if you please)
- complete fishing Achievements
- do DLC dungeons with friends on veteran difficulty for skins, costumes, titles and other nice rewards
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Now some details about fashion for those, who might be interested in that stuff. Skip if not.
Five sections below do not include veteran hard-mode dungeons and trials rewards and achievements, as not 100% of the players do these activities. Let’s talk relatively easy things, OKay?
(Base Game, Morrowind, and Imperial City goodies are not included for the obvious reason – no connection with ESO+, though Shadowfen skeleton or Vvardenfell Scarlett Judge costume are mentioned in the comments each and every time). Dyes are too numerous, so I decided not to overload this document. Check UESP for dyes, please.
I also skipped titles, mementos and emotes to keep this text reasonably compact.
GETTING COSTUMES (not including the ones from the tradeable fragments)
- Antiquarian Field Garb & Antiquarian Robes - gained by progressing scrying and excavating antiquities - Regalia of the Orsimer King - completing Orsinium storyline quests - Cavalier of the Sworn Oath Old Orsinium Sentry Trinimac's Penitent Knight - questing in Wrothgar - Merchant Lord's Formal Regalia - obtained by progressing Thieves Guild story quest - Shrouded Armor - you get it at the very start of Dark Brotherhood story-line quests - Thieves Guild Leathers - you get it just by starting Thieves guild questline - Za'ji's Dragonguard Uniform - completing Southern Elsweyr questline - Oblivion Explorer Garb – obtained during The Deadlands zone story - Courtly Traveling Attire – complete High Isle zone story - Black Hand Robe – complete Dark Brotherhood story - The Fate Scryer Costume - obtained during Necrom zone quest
HATS (not including “instant” ones)
- Nighthunter's Cowl Hat – Antiquity on the High Isle - Ironclad Sarcoshroud – Antiquity in The Deadlands - Helm of the Black Fin – obtained during Blackwood zone quest line - Arkthzand Insight Vertex Shroud – Antiquity in Markarth DLC - Witchwise Headdress – obtained during The Reach story line quests - Dwemer Crown - the Antiquity lead drops from the group event boss in Nchuthnkarst public dungeon in Blackreach - Mask of Alkosh obtained by completing the Dragonhold main questline - Madgod’s Turban obtained with “The Lunacy of Two Moons” side quest in Northern Elsweyr - Psijic Skullcap is obtained on completing the Psijic Order quests line
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NON-COMBAT PETS (not including “instant” ones)
- Phoenix Moth – awarded on completing Galen’s story line quests - Jerall Rescue Dog – obtained during Tales of Tribute quest line - Coral Haj Mota – combined from (tradeable) fragments from both High Isle public dungeons - Dremnaken Runt – obtained completing Blackwood + The Deadlands epilogue quest line - Bog Dog pet – obtained by exploration achievement in Blackwood (check ArzyeLBuilds guide https://arzyelbuilds.com/eso-lost-in-the-wilds-achievement-guide-blackwood-free-pet/) - Dwarven Scarab – 7 parts Antiquity from Markarth DLC. Thought Zeni claims they improved the drop rates, they still deserve much better :( - Somnolent Void Rot - obtained during Greymoor + Markarth epilogue quest line - Solitude Silver Wolf – obtained during Greymoor story line quests - Regal Dragon Imp flying pet obtained during Season of the Dragon Epilogue quests
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FACE AND BODY MARKINGS (not including “instant” ones)
- Y’ffelon’s face and body marks obtained during Galen story quest line - Stonelore’s Legend Face and Body marks obtained during High Isle zone story - Fargrave Soullatice Face and Body obtained on completing The Deadlands story questline - Ysgramor’s Chosen Face Marking – antiquity lead in Western Skyrim - Ysgramor’s Chosen Body Marking obtained during Greymoor story quest - Dwemer Face Markings – antiquity lead from Colossus Charging Station WB in Blackreach - Dwemer Body Markings – antiquity lead from the boss of The Scraps delve in Western Skyrim - Face & Body Imprint of the Psijic Order are obtained during the Psijic Order quests line in Summerset - Abyssal Cephaliarch’s Face Art – completing the quest “A Hidden Fate” in Necrom - Body Art – completing the quest “A Calamity of Fate” in Necrom
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SKINS
- Barkroot Blessing is 10 parts antiquity from Galen https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Barkroot_Blessing (i will be honest: I gave up with this skin after using 25+ Galen treasure maps with zero freakin’ lead drop; may the luck follow you, tamrielings!:)
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OTHER COSMETICS
- Ascendant Lord’s Greatsword – style page awarded for completing High Isle + Firesong epilogue quests chain - Eldertide Style – shoulder style Antiquity from Galen Treasure Map I - Pelin’s Paragon outfit style pages drop from Tales of Tribute dailies rewards containers - Bog Blight Funerary Mask Style – hat style Antiquity from Blackwood - Leyawiin Brigadine Shield Style – obtained by completing Blackwood zone story line - Malign Ambitions Crow – major adornment obtained during story line quests in Blackwood - Antiquarian's Pickaxe is a two-handed weapon style acquired by reaching the max rank in the Excavation Skill Line - Wolf of Solitude Replica Sword is one-handed weapon style obtained during Greymoor storyline quests - Karthwatch Sigil Shield outfit style is also obtained during Greymoor storyline quests - Wolfcrown of Solitude adornment obtained on finishing Greymoor story line quests - Topal Corsair outfit style pages are awarded for completing different quests in Southern Elsweyr - Ancient & Pristine Moon Crescent Styles are sickle-like one-handed weapon styles obtained by completing side quests chain given by Vastarie NPC in Northern Elsweyr - Skyterror Dragonslayer Style are helm and shoulder outfit styles granted during Northern Elsweyr storyline quests - Mystic Eye Psijic Cuirass outfit Style is obtained during the Summerset zone story - Psijic Warden Gauntlets outfit Style is also obtained during the Summerset zone story - Shroomtender outfit pages are a reward for completing various achievements associated with the exploration of Necrom
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DAILIES
UESP has a comprehensive list of dailies and how to unlock them: https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Repeatable_Quests
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FURNISHING PLANS
(though I would not recommend this because of cooldowns and limited time of the Event, but this is still a good clean family entertainment to diversify your activities. Wrothgar: loot Old Orsinium; CWC: steal in Brass Fortress Basilica; Summerset loot Shimmerene Monastery; Murkmire: steal in Lilmoth and Bright-Throat Village; Northern Elsweyr: loot Rimmen Royal Palace (Dragonhold added no new furnishing plans); Greymoor: loot Nchuthnkarst; Markarth: loot Bthar-Zel (unlocked during the zone quest); Blackwood: steal in Leaywiin Castle; The Deadlands: steal in The Bearer’s Rest in Fargrave, High Isle: loot Castle Navire, Galen: steal in Maltheo Rouillac's House in Vastyr). Necrom loot in Sailenmora Crypts (you have to start the "a thif to catch a thief" quest, but NOT finish it, otherwise you lose access to this place (very juicy from the start, now seriously nerfed))
Swap characters after blue or purple plan drop (the cooldown for blues is one hour per character). I would also suggest to swap characters after you start getting white furnishing plans. Slot “Homemaker” green CP star.
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OTHER LONG-TERM ACTIVITIES:
- doing Museum quests for unique furnishing items and costumes ( https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Museums )
- farming bound collectibles fragments in public dungeons (https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Fragments)
- digging mythics and other antiquities (wolfie mount, music box, dance emote, face and body markings, cosmetics, and fancy furnishings, as there are many great-looking Antiquities furnishings)
- do the surveys and refine as much as you can to stock up your CraftBag (ideally to hold up till the next ESO+ free event)
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- DO THE SOLO ARENAS: the Maelstrom Arena weapons are still great, also the Vateshran Hollows weapons are good and achievements (unlocking skin and dyes may be done on a veteran difficulty).
BlackRose Prison weapons are also good, but you would prefer to go with friend(s), as this group arena is noticeably harder than the soloable nDSA.
(reminder: Curated drops in Arenas work only on the final chest)
Completing veteran MA unlocks Maelstrom Baron polymorph, completing veteran VH unlocks Void Pathosis skin.
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TIP: Set up your priorities!
As there are a LOT of things to be done and time is the essence, I’d suggest getting instant freebies first (it takes less than an hour) and then focus on what you consider the most important (like mythics, or trial/dungeons gear, or some free stuff requiring questing, or dailies, or just exploration, etc) as this depends on what brings you the most fun. The ESO is a MMO game, after all!
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Be sure to check the comprehensive list of collectibles compiled by Benevolent Bowd (benevolentbowd):
https://benevolentbowd.ca/games/esotu/eso-making-the-most-of-it/
http://benevolentbowd.ca/games/esotu/esotu-unlockable-collectibles/
Friendly reminder: collectibles, mementos, emotes, dyes and currencies are account-wide.
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If I have missed anything essential (I intentionally omitted Base Game, Vvardenfell and Imperial City things as they do not depend on ESO+), please, post that in the comments to help making this guide better. Thank you.
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Good luck, friends.
Have fun
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P.S. FAQ: the most frequent questions are:
- How to activate the ESO+ trial? - Normally the magic sequence is: inagme Crown Store, select the ESO Plus tab, select “Free Trial!” ( official instructionhttps://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news/post/66079 ) - How long does it last? - Normally seven days. Check the official site for precise information. Event ends on June 19 14:00 UTC - is this once in a lifetime promotion? - No. You can participate in all the subsequent ESO+ free trial events whenever they happen - How often such promotions do happen? – it is hard to say, normally 2-3 times a year, but there are no schedule and warranties. - I am already subscribed. Do I benefit from this event? - Not really. - Does this week adds to existing subscriptions? – Nope. - Does free ESO+ trial unlocks Warden & Necromancer classes ?– Nope. - How long does it take to pick up all of them instant loyalty rewards? - Normally less than an hour. - Any free mounts? - Ebon Dwarven Mount from Antiquities. There are also other mounts but it depends. Mounts are granted for trifectas DLC Trials achievements, but they are really hard to obtain, as it takes highly coordinated capable group to achieve vet HM speed-run no-death. Antiquties wolf mount could be unlocked in one week but this takes some serious no-lifing. :) - What will happen with the Craftbag? - it will go into “extract only” mode, you will not lose your materials. u/Kelinmiriel explained the order materials are consumed when crafting: the game uses 1) any stolen materials you're carrying, 2) materials from your craft bag, 3) non-stolen materials in your inventory. You have no choice about this. - Do I keep all these collectibles and items I have obtained? – Sure!
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Stay safe, folx!

(26F) A few months ago I had pretty severe left-sided neck/shoulder pain for a week and a half from, I assume, sleeping on it wrong. I also spend almost all day every day drawing at a desk, so I’m sure bad posture and excessive use had something to do with it. Since then, it’s not super painful anymore, but it’s still quite swollen/enlarged and the muscles above my clavicle and around my neck feel gnarly as hell. My range of motion is normal, but I do hear popping noises and weird shifts when I move my arm around. Sometimes I get dull pain similar to pins and needles on the top of my shoulder, which I assume is nerves coming into play as well. Any advice for fixing this? Any stretches or exercises that might help? I just want the swelling to finally subside. Thanks in advance!

Please help!! Any advice is most appreciated!
Breed: Shih Tzu Age: 11 Weight: 4kg
She was not neutered and had pyometra about 7 months ago. She had surgery and recovered after which she was healthy and back to normal, however she started trying to eat cardboard and dirt.
Last week she suddenly stopped eating for 2 days. The vet did an ultrasound and found liver lesions, kidney stones and a distended gallbladder. She was given antibiotics and put on IV for 3 days. On the third day about 2 hours during IV, her neck suddenly tilted to the side and she has no longer been able to walk or stand.
She wasn't able to urinate for about 36 hours and after another ultrasound, they found free fluids in her gallbladder and kidney. Another blood test found her lymphocytes are high and her hemoglobin is low.
The lab technician said that she has an overall failure in most of her organs. The vet recommended more IV, antibiotics, neurobion and RBC syrup.
Hospital visits make her very stressed so I decided to bring her back home and have been giving her blended chicken soup/chicken pieces, water, RBC syrup, Dextrose and RL orally. I have added small doses of taurine and glycine supplements and methylene blue to her water as well. She is able to urinate about twice a day with support.
Tldr my dog has liver lesions, kidney stones and a distended gallbladder. Is it possible for her to get better? I am in contact with the vet but I would like a second opinion if anyone has experienced something like this
More context: I live in a small town in a developing country so I don't have access to all the best equipment or medicine.

So pretty much started pressure in my lower forehead around the beginning of September last year and it has been constant ever since. While the headache itself never felt like it got worse I just felt it in difference spots from time to time like back of my head or the side of my head. I have been doing everything to try and fix it hydrating more, proper diet, working out 4-5x a week daily sunlight, spending time walking de-stressing, focusing on my sleep, and massaging my neck. But nothing seems to be working, and as of recently my anxiety has been a lot worse like a constant pit in my stomach, drowsiness from 12 to 2, I just keep on getting random symptoms every other week now. Does anyone else relate to this or am I the only one suffering?

Please, I need some words of encouragement because I feel so utterly miserable and defeated.
I had 3 impacted wisdom teeth out on Monday 3rd, so I'm on day 5 currently PO. I read online before the surgery that day 3 would be the peak and then I'd get better from there, but boy this has not been the case for me.
I can't eat ANYTHING other than soup because there is some serious damage to my tongue and lips. They're covered in ulcers and sores, and my tongue feels super swollen with limited movement. It feels as though there's a huge sore going across the left side of my tongue, so even swallowing liquids hurt.
I decided to call my surgeon today and she informed me (because they didn't immediately after the surgery for whatever reason?) that they had to break(?) my left jaw to remove that tooth and the pain in my tongue is because the entirety of the inner left of my mouth is still swollen, recovering from that.
She gave me a single dose of IV steroids to help with the swelling and told me to use Defflam mouthwash to help with the mouth sores.
I genuinely feel like this is my life forever now. I can't eat, I can't talk properly, all I do is drool, and the pain sucks. Please has anyone been in a similar situation and found improvements relatively quickly after day 5?

I thouht it could be good to write my experience down and put my feelings into words. My girlfriend and I broke up while still being in love and here I explained how the break up was. I wrote this to read it back to realize it’s truly over. It’s long and probably will only really make sense to me, but I just needed to get it off my chest.
It all started on the 3 of june in the hart of Paris a day before my birthday although it probably started way before this day, but we were just to scared to see it yet. I will first start talking about the break up itself, but it’s very likely I will start going back to other things.
On the third of June we were sitting in the park with the view of Paris and the Eiffel Tower knowing we needed to have a conversation about what happened the day before. Because on the second of June we were laying in bed before we were supposed to have dinner and go out after. The dinner before going out never happened, but she opened up to me that she was feeling not connected in the last 2 weeks. At the time I think it was hard to pinpoint why this was the case. We tried having an open conversation about it, but it ended up in the same problem we always run into.
She needs me more emotionally while I need a more rational conversation about it. Honestly I still don’t know if this was our main problem, but it made conversations like this so much harder. I feel like there was never really a conclusion to our fights about her being more emotionally. This was a very recurring theme. Every time we would feel a disconnection we would have to have a fight about this exact problem. After talking about it we would be okay for a few days until we felt the disconnection again. In the beginning of our relationship we would have this fight every other week, but we needed this conversation more the longer we were together. Because of having this disconnection so much we felt like we needed to always see each other. We started seeing our friends less and rarely did activities outside of each other. Every weekend was reserved for us.
Our weekends had very high points, but also every weekend kept having lower points. The lower points would keep getting lower and it was destroying the both of us. This was just such a hard thing to realize since it was an incompatibility that wasn’t changeable and we really tried fixing it, but it just never worked. We knew it didn’t work, but we just wanted it to work so badly that we tried to ignore it.
Going back to the second of June we had the conversation (fight) we were always having and I tried being rational again. At this moment I think she already knew we were going to break up, but I told her we are going to try again. I told her the next day we would sit together and write all the things down that are wrong. It was horrible seeing her like that crying and I could see she was so hurt and she knew what she had to do there, but didn’t have the strength to. These moments, we had so many of them that I started feeling numb about it. I almost didn’t feel sad or anything really, there was just nothing I felt. I think this was part of our problem since I could never really understand what she was feeling.
Later that night we went out to the pub crawl she organized for us. We met some really nice people and we acted like nothing was wrong. I told everyone how lucky I am with a girlfriend that plans a whole trip to Paris for me. After getting super drunk we started dancing, kissing and laughing again. We had some horrible pizza and got the taxi back to our apartment. We were extremely drunk and horny and started making out in a way tougher way then we would usually do even when we were having sex it was so rough. It kinda felt like we knew this could be the last time and wanted it to be hard to feel something. Feel something we were not feeling anymore. The thing I was always afraid of was hurting her since she was never good at giving her boundaries. That was this time as well at some point she started crying and going completely silent. Ofcourse we stopped and I tried comforting her and saying it was all okay. Moments like this always scare me since I think I did something wrong and hurt her.
I think now that we are broken up I hope she will find some one that respects her boundaries and can read her how I did and stop. I think this is a part where I am still really afraid of and really hope she gets better at. Perhaps this was another thing in our relationship that was bad. I think I was always a bit scared something might happen to her. Even during sex I had the feeling I needed to keep asking if she was okay.
I’m probably side tracking a bit again so now to the third of June. We woke up and I got us some breakfast and we went to a tour through Paris. After we went for lunch with some one we met at the pub crawl. This was so fun we were just bombarding him with questions together, but also delaying the conversation we were supposed to have.
We were walking towards a park to sit down and talk, but I just couldn’t start the conversation because I was to afraid of where it would end. After playing a uno game (which I think I won) I just kept ignoring the problem and kept talking. She told me to write down 22 things I learned. Since the day after I would be turning 22. While writing all the things down she started to lay down in the grass in a way I couldn’t see her face. I could feel something was wrong, but I chose to keep writing things down. When I came to point 22 I wrote something along the lines of “I learned how to be in a relationship and even though it’s hard it’s worth fighting for”. When she read it she knew she couldn’t lie anymore and told me she doesn’t think we are working together. Honestly I don’t exactly remember how this conversation went just that we did a lot of crying. I also remember she wanted me to agree with that that it’s not working and the best thing for us to do was break up.
In our relationship we made all the decisions together and this was the last decision we had to make and we had to make this as a team. I think at the time I still didn’t want to believe it, but we both knew it was going to happen. We got a bus back to the appartement and had a hard conversation on the couch. Here it really started to hit me and I realized that I love her to much to keep holding on to her and if I truly want the best for her she should not be with me. I realized in this moment we could never be truly happy if we would stay together and we would just tear each other apart.
I think what made all of this harder is that we still love each other so much and we aligned on everything in life. We just had this one incompatibility that we just couldn’t fix and so many more problems started coming from this main problem.
I think the best way to explain it is to see it as a tree. We planted this tree together and that’s when we were already emotionally not aliened. I see the tree trunk as the main problem and this tree trunk kept growing. Out of this tree trunk there started to grow branches (problems coming from the main problem). We kept trying to cut these branches off, but the more we cut off the more there would start growing again. And the tree kept becoming bigger with more branches and we couldn’t keep up anymore taking them down. This made us come to the conclusion the only way to get rid of all the branches was to cut the tree trunk and start growing two separate trees, so we could focus on our own branches to make a happy tree.
It just makes it so hard since everything reminds me of the tree we grew together and it makes it so hard to focus on growing my own tree. Also not knowing how her tree is growing and if she is able to cut down all her branches in her own. I just know for now it’s for the better until both our trees are healthy and maybe then we can see how our trees have been growing and perhaps start one day on growing a smaller tree again together with more less branches. We know it could never be the same kind of tree, but it’s a nice thing to look forward to.
Back to the apartment where we kept talking for hours. Some times one of us wanted to reverse this decision and the other person would comfort them and say this is the right thing to do. The whole evening we kept switching roles of either comforting or being comforted. We kept helping each other by reminding the other person we needed to do this.
Waking up together in June 4 my birthday. When I opened my eyes the first thing I saw was her looking at me and it make me burst out in tears. At the time we thought we would still sleep one more night together, but more about that later. She went to get breakfast for us, but I could barely eat it was like there was a stone in my throat the food couldn’t pass. We would only be taking the train back home at 17:00 so we still had a whole day in Paris. We spend most of the time crying and holding each knowing these would be the last moments.
It was such a painful day, I never cried so much as then. I told her it was best to not have sex anymore, but the emotions got the best of me and we gave in. It was such a weird feeling of feeling so connected in this moment, but knowing it would be the last time. After we felt so numb and just didn’t know what to feel anymore.
After getting dressed and cleaning up the apartment we closed the door behind us. We biked through the city to get to the train station to go back home.
The most horrible part was still to follow. We spend close to 5 hours together on this train still comforting each other and sharing our last kisses together. We talked about how we would do this and shared how scared we were of going to go on a new adventure alone.
We also realized it was best to go no contact and to not drag it out anymore and don’t sleep together one last night. It hurt so much knowing the next time I would go to sleep she would not be there. We just both knew it was the right thing since otherwise it would just end up hurting us more.
Now the worst part was where we had to officially say bye. We were on the train station and I had to set her off in her train. In the 10 minutes before the train was going to leave she started to beg me to please not say bye yet and she was too scared to do so. Ofcourse I also didn’t want to say bye I never wanted this moment to come, but I knew this is what we needed to do. I told her “this is what we need to do just think about the tree”. She kept saying no, but I insisted and gave my boundary she could not sleep over in my house and needed to go home. I told her once she arrived at central station I would call her a cab home.
There were 3 minutes left before the train would take off and I held her hand walking her to the doors of the train and put her in. In these 3 minutes I have never seen her so extremely broken, crying and shaking. She kept begging me saying it was to fast and she is to scared to be alone again. I still held my ground, we held each other one last time, while giving one last kiss. I heard the whistle from the train and gently pushed her deeper in the train and while the doors were closing we both said “I love you”. I knew from now on it was definitely over I could still see her through the window crying and shaking and I started showing her to breath slowly and it started to hit me from now on I could not support her anymore and we wouldn’t be seeing each other for a while.
I texted her when her train arrived asking her where she would stand to get in the cab so I could order it. She said she would like that, but a minute later she changed her mind and told me she would wait for the bus to come. I felt so proud of her for starting the journey alone from that point and know how strong she is and it gave me a bit of rest knowing she can do this without me.
If you ever read this I will always have love for you in some type of way just not how it once was. I hope one day we can slowly get in each others life again and build a strong friendship. I’m still missing you everyday and it’s been hurting me so much not knowing how you are doing.
I will be looking forward to how good you will be doing in life and starting a happy family one day with some one that matches you a 100%.
Stay strong I love you.

I am a 32 year old female. Mother of two young kids. I have been shedding more than the normal amount of hair for almost two years now. It's been alarming. I have spent the last two years trying to figure out reasons why?? (postpartum hair loss, stress, nutrition, bad habits, genetics, alcohol, weed). After making many changes, quitting the weed and alcohol, taking different supplements (beef liver, vitamins), changing my lifestyle and habits- I have ruled out every one of these reasons being THE reason why I have been losing my hair over time.
To describe my hair loss, basically every time I run my fingers through my hair, at least 2-4 hairs come out. EVERY TIME. And when I shower, I will always have a nice handful of hair that sheds. No particular pattern of hair loss, it just sheds from any place on my head. I am at a point where I have lost so much hair volume that the idea of going any more bald consumes me and stresses me out.
I am not religious, but I am a spiritual person. I believe in past lives, I believe that I have a team of spirit guides and angels that help me along my journey here on earth. I believe there are spiritual meanings behind the illnesses we undergo in our bodies. I also incorporate the knowledge of Ayurveda into my life and have been doing so for years. Ayurvedic daily habits, herbs ect. Although after having children and from life getting so busy, these habits and usage of herbs dwindled down a lot and are not as strong as they once were.
Today I consulted with a spiritual intuitive that I have used in the past, a few years ago. I wanted to have a consult with my spirit guides/healers/my team to see what they had to say about what is going on with my health and my hair loss. This was kind of a last resort kind of thing I suppose, after trying to figure it out the logical way myself for months.
I decided I would share what they had to say here on reddit, simply because I myself have spent much time on reddit trying to read other peoples stories about hair loss (and many were unsuccessful). Maybe my own story could provide help to someone else out there.
To keep it short and simple, my healers said that the problem was not nutritional, and I was not experiencing deficiency. The energy in my body has been shifting, bringing in more light. This healing/clearing/releasing has also thrown off my glands and endocrine system, and that these organs simply needed time to readjust. I will say that after 2020 COVID time, I went through so many spiritual awakenings that were extremely overwhelming to endure (spiritually and mentally, although no physical side effects.) It wasn't until fall 2022 that my hair loss began. And my guides said that my timing of this physical change was sort of chosen for whatever personal reason I'm not exactly aware of.
Their suggestions for me and my hair loss:

1. Tulsi tea, every day. To settle and balance my system. (I drink coffee daily and always wondered if this was a problem or contributor for hair loss and they said as long as it is just a cup a day to get me going that was fine. Don't make it an all-day thing). I did find an unused bottle I bought a while back, so I'll start taking these tablets but will also buy the tea bags to drink daily.
2. My internal stress and tension may "feel normal" since I do work a ton and raise children, and adding on too many suggestions would basically stress me out trying to find time for them. EXA- trying to find time every day to sit down and meditate uninterrupted. But they did say that it is important for me to at least take moments in the day to just stop periodically, take a breath, and just reset. Close my eyes. Breathe. Find small moments to just manage this inner tension.
3. Triphala daily (I actually already do this, kind of..not daily though) triphala is best taken at night. I am taking two tablets.
4. Ashwaghanda daily. I can't find my big bag of powder I once had. I may just order some tablets for convenience. I will use my intuition on how much to take and at what time, but will do every day.

They said that in three weeks I will notice my results. I will come back in three weeks to update.
I used to read a lot of people saying that they started getting hair loss after having COVID. I mean, I know so many people who got COVID and never lost hair. What it maybe there are other people who are just going through some sort of spiritual awakening and hair loss is also just some sort of side effect from it. I feel like a lot of people "woke up" during covid because of so many ridiculous things happening in the world making people start to question things they used to believe? Just a thought I wanted to share.
I love my guides, my healers, my team, whoever they are. I know they are there because my life always feels so divine. By divine, I mean that I know there is always something more going on behind the scenes. There are too many "coincidences" that can't just be a coincidence. So many synchronicities I have. Seeing my angel numbers is one of them, and a daily thing that no longer raises my attention because I'm so used to it. (I see 444, 1144, etc daily on clocks, cars, phones, anywhere.) Right after my session today I got on the road and the car in front of me had 444 on their plate. I do feel some upliftment from my session and am grateful and excited to see what unfolds.

I have been GM'ing for around 2 or 3 years, and ever since I met my group I'm kind of the resident GM. My friends have ran campaigns and One Shots as well, to varying degrees of time, and we all have GM'd at least once for each other, but I am the one who usually takes the ropes.
I have taken a (Very long...) Hiatus from GMing because of work and college, but I am aways looking foward to learn and better my games for my players, so I have been watching some videos about GMing. After having a bit of an epiphany after a video I watched, I made a post in our discord group about how I realized I might be a little too attached to the stories I write, and how I saw a Game Master as a storyteller, which made me often overlook player agency since I was "Telling a Story" instead of letting my players do it for me. And then one of my players had a reaction I really didn't expect, and it made me really upset with myself as a Game Master.
She made a joke about how I am finally dropping the "Gm VS Player" Mentality. Which rubbed me the wrong way, because I never agreed with this philosophy, I aways saw a GM as somone who should work with the players, and not against them. Yes, I do enjoy giving my players hard challenges to overcome, and I thought, since I aways ask for feedback... that they felt that it was rewarding to overcome them, but it was NEVER my intention to play against them.
I asked her to elaborate, because what she was describing (Even if it was a joke) did not sound like me AT ALL. And she confessed that she aways felt like in moments where she should feel powerful and cool, I have shut her down. She says that regardless of the feat she accomplished, she felt like was not rewarding them properly. She said I felt like I had some kind of senseless war, in which for every move a PC might have I would have something to counter. And even confessed that sometimes she would plan behind my back, with other players, because she was afraid that if I were to know their plan I would find an answer that would lead to their failure.
That... felt like a huge throat punch, because I never prepped this way, at least not intentionally. I have, yes, often thought about 'Counters' for some player's moves, but I though that removing an ability in which they rely on once or twice would create for an interesting challenge, perhaps I did it too often? Now that I look back on it there was a time this player in particular seemed really upset with a counterspell in particular... But anyway, I never meant for my players to feel powerless, and I never thought I was playing against them.
Another player mirrored some of her concerns, while the other two didn't feel the same, that's half my table tho!
That hit me really suddenly, because I thought I was really taking the players side in this... I made active effort to include their backstory, and to engage with their ideas whenever they came up (Kind off, I am a bit rules lawyerish, but I have aways TRIED to find a way for players to do what they want, with little to no bending of the rules)
I aways thought I was really good at communicating with my friends, ever since I started playing TTRPG's I've learned that communication is the most important aspect of any table, so I ask for feedback very... very often.
I have had a conversation with this player before, and she had mentioned that she doesn't feel rewarded properly, but at the time I belived she was talking about loot, and not that she felt like I was making her feel less important. (Tho now that I had that conversation again, loot does seem to be a part of it, and another player shared this sentiment)
I am feeling really bad after hearing this, they assured me they still enjoy playing my games, and listed the things they do like about me GMing, but even still... to know that my players plan behind my back because they don't trust me, and that I am taking away their heroic moments, that makes me feel like shit, how does one even enjoy TTRPG's if they don't get to feel rewarded for overcoming obstacles?
I want my players to feel powerful, I want them to have fun, to feel important, I want them to have highs as important as their lows, I want them to be challenged but to feel awesome when they do overcome those challenges. And I honestly believe that if I am failing to make my players feel special, then I am being a really bad GM.
Is there anything I can do to fix this? Anything I should pay more attention to? Any hints?
I just really love those people to death, they take time of their week to come to my place, sit down at my living room and play pretend for four to six fucking hours, almost every week... so I really, really want to give them the experience they deserve.

Part 2
​
It was late when I got back home but for as tired as I was, I knew that I wasn’t going to sleep a wink.
​
I went into my computer room and opened up my laptop, before plugging in the USB the bartender had given me. There were four folders on it, each one containing the feed from a different camera in the Rooster. I clicked into one of the folders at random and picked through the video files inside, looking for the stretch of footage that I needed. It didn’t take me long to find it either.
​
I clicked into one of the video files, and watched as the chaos of the Red Rooster played out before me. People drinking, flirting, laughing. Living their lives. Nothing I hadn’t seen before. I let the footage play for a bit, before getting up to grab myself a couple of beers from the fridge. When I got back, I started skipping through the video, waiting for the moment my two victims showed up.
​
When I’d taken the bartender's statement, he’d told me that he’d seen the two before, both separate and together. He didn’t know their names, but he knew their faces. Other patrons recognized them too. One of them had identified the red haired girl as ‘Kayley’ and had mentioned she lived down at River Ridge, a trailer park outside of town. Nobody had been able to name the Elegant Woman, although a lot of patrons had said they’d seen her around before.
​
Apparently, both of them usually came to hook up, leaving with a different stranger on most nights. Odds are, they’d why they were there on that night too. They’d come in at around 8:47. The Elegant looking dark haired woman seemed to be the one taking the lead, and seemed to be the one doing most of the talking. She and Kayley went to sit at the bar, talking amongst each other all the while. I couldn’t say for sure what they were talking about. Even if the file had audio, I doubt I’d have been able to single them out over the crowd. They looked at ease though.
​
They shared a couple of drinks. Nothing seemed that out of the ordinary. I took a sip of my beer, watching them. Eventually, Kayley got distracted talking to a man further down the bar, while the Elegant Woman stayed at the bar, drinking casually as if she had all the time in the world.
​
The man in the suit came in at around 9:12.
​
My attention shifted to him the moment he came in through the door.
​
He fit the description that every witness I’d spoken to had given about the shooter. A tall man with a red beard in a black suit who was wearing a pair of reflective sunglasses despite the fact that it was 9 at night. Even beneath his suit, it was easy to tell he had a good physique, and his crew cut implied a military history to me.
​
Red Beard took a seat at the bar, a few seats down from the Elegant Woman. He ordered a drink, and nursed it for a bit, discreetly looking around at the other patrons of the bar but not seeming to look directly at either the Elegant Woman or Kayley. He just drank his beer, and when he was finished, he got up and switched seats, moving to sit beside the Elegant Woman. She looked over at him, putting on a charming smile as they talked. I almost got the impression that they were flirting with each other.
​
They kept talking for a while and as they did, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. If I didn’t know what was coming next… it would have caught me completely off guard. When she turned to take a sip of her drink, the gun appeared in his hand, almost without warning. She didn’t even have time to react before he shot her at point blank range. Three bullets straight to the chest.
​
I saw Kayley spin around and freeze up. Her entire body tensed, as if she was ready to lunge at the shooter. If that was her intention though, she never got the chance. He put two bullets in her without even thinking, then without so much as a glance backward, he took off toward the door.
​
I rubbed my temples, watching as the chaos of the aftermath unfolded. Some people called 911. Some, like the bartender, ran to the aid of the bodies. I saw myself run in through the door less than six minutes after the shooting had happened.
​
That was where I stopped the video.
​
I took another sip of my beer, and sighed. I rewound it a little bit, watching as the shooter came in and watching as he left. I might recognize this man on the street if I saw him, but other than his red hair and sunglasses, there wasn’t really much to go off of.
​
The way he left… he walked away almost casually, as if he had someplace to be. He didn’t run. He didn’t panic. He was cold, calm, and professional. I guess that fit with the other murders, didn’t it?
​
I steeled myself to review the footage again, this time from another camera. Maybe there’d be something from one of the angles that I didn’t see. I checked the angles of the other three cameras. Two of them wouldn’t offer me much. One of them didn’t even catch the shooting. But the last one…
​
The last one looked promising.
​
It was situated near the back of the bar and through it, you could see out a window onto the street. It wasn’t the best view… but it was different.
​
From that angle, I could see a black sedan pull up to drop the man in the suit off. I saw him walk in the door and sit by the bar and from there, the scene played out the same as it did before. The man in the suit shot the two women and he left.
​
He strode out toward the sedan parked out front, got in the passenger seat and the sedan took off like a shot. There’d been a getaway driver. Interesting…
​
I set my unfinished beer down. I could drink the rest of it later. I needed to go on a little drive.
​
It was around 4 AM when I returned to the Red Rooster. I parked my car on the street, exactly where the black sedan had parked, and got out. The downtown area around me was dead silent. Lifeless almost. There wasn’t another soul in sight. But that was fine by me. That just meant that there were no distractions.
​
It didn’t take me long to find what I was looking for. There was a bank across the street and I walked toward it. The doors were locked, but that was fine. I could see what I needed through the windows.
​
Bank machines.
​
More specifically, bank machines with cameras. Cameras that were pointed right at the Red Rooster.
Perfect.
​
***
​
I was off shift the next day, but that just gave me time to get some actual work done. It was probably better I do it all from home. This case was Di Cesares now. I wasn’t sure what she’d do if she caught me working on it, and I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to find out. Judging by those fangs in her mouth, she wasn’t human either. Hell, I wasn’t sure if she was actually even from the State Police… I got the impression that Sheriff Smith didn’t seem to think so. But if she wasn’t with them, who was she with? Why hadn’t the State Police sent someone else? Had she done something to them? Even if she had, I couldn’t just believe that the State Police wouldn’t notice something like that.
​
No… there was something else going on here. But I could figure that out later.
​
First things first - I needed to review the footage from the bank machines. The bank was more than willing to give me access to the footage when I asked. They knew who I was, they knew what had happened and they knew why I was asking.
​
Once I got back home, it didn’t take me long to find what I was looking for. Just as I’d hoped, the bank machines had recorded the car that had been waiting outside the Red Rooster. I couldn’t make out the license plate from the footage… but I could see enough to identify the make and model of the car.
​
An Audi A6 Sedan.
​
I’m not much of a car guy, but I can say that there’s not a lot of Audi’s in rural Ohio. Even without the license plate, this shouldn’t have been hard to find. I made a call to a buddy of mine in the BMV, told him what I was looking for and within the hour, he had the results for me.
​
It turns out, there were actually only eight Audi A6 Sedans registered in our county and all of them were registered to the same company.
​
Apostle Security.
​
Naturally, I did a bit of research on them. Apostle was a mid-sized private security firm based in Cincinnati, although they had a few other offices in Ohio and some of the surrounding states. It’d been started by a man named Joseph Cray about ten years ago, although beyond that I couldn’t find out much about their history and really, I didn’t care. Their website didn’t list any offices in my county… but the BMV seemed to say otherwise. My friend there had given me an address outside of town and even if I was off duty, I figured that no one could give me any guff for taking a little scenic drive. And if I just so happened to see some black Audi’s that looked like the one that had been parked outside of Red Rooster last night… well, maybe I’d pass that information along to whoever was on duty at the time. I’m pretty sure it was Biggs and Hoffman. They could decide whether or not to tell Di Cesare. It would be completely out of my hands.
​
I headed out to my car, plugged the address I’d gotten into my GPS and took a little drive.
​
As I drove through the backroads leading out of town, I felt a sense of quiet apprehension. Maybe I was being naive, putting my hopes on this lead. But I’d done the work. If Apostle really was behind this, it would make sense for them to have some sort of location in the county. If I was right, maybe I wouldn’t find all the answers to this surreal mess of a case, but I’d at least find the shooters. That was something. At least people wouldn’t be dying anymore.
​
Christ… I still didn’t know what to make of the victims. The gills on Kayley, the fangs on Patricia Russell, the fractures on Geoffery Vickers bones. Maybe these people really were monsters? If so… maybe these shooters knew that. Maybe that was why they did it.
​
But even if that was the case - I still couldn’t just leave a roving kill squad to wander around unchecked. The way things were going, it was just a matter of time until one of the victims was just some innocent bystander. I passed by a familiar sign as I neared the edge of the county. An advertisement for the local Volkswagen dealership.
​
‘You’re in Smith Country!’ It declared, along with a prominent smiling photo of Aaron Smith himself. I’d always found that sign a little creepy. The eyes and the smile were both a little too wide. It made the man look downright unhinged. I’d never actually met Aaron Smith in person, despite working for his older brother. The Sheriff would mention him from time to time and I could see the family resemblance, but it was hard to imagine the face on that sign sitting down to an odd Sunday dinner with Sheriff Smith.
​
To be fair, they probably didn’t talk much. I don’t think Aaron Smith himself even lived in town anymore. He owned a bunch of other dealerships scattered around southwest Ohio. Smith Volkswagen was just the oldest. But the sign had been there forever, and why fix what ain’t broken, even if it is creepy as hell?
​
Either way, just past that unsettling sign was my destination. Once upon a time, it’d been a small auto garage that had long since gone defunct. It’d been closed down since before I moved to town. From what I’d seen, Smith Volkswagen had used the property as an additional lot to store the cars they had no room for, from time to time but it didn’t seem like they did that anymore. Now the place just looked completely dead. There were no cars parked out front, Audi or otherwise.
​
I pulled into the parking lot, and checked the address I had to make sure it was correct. This was definitely the place. I parked my car and got out, before making my way to the front door. I found it locked.
​
Naturally.
​
Guess my luck had to run out somewhere. Maybe this was a dead end? I already knew I probably wasn’t getting inside without a warrant, and I didn’t exactly know what my chances were of getting one.
​
I tried the door again. It still didn’t open. From the corner of my eye, I noticed a security camera by the door. I stared up into it. The presence of a camera probably didn’t mean much. Whoever owned this property probably wanted to deter adventurous kids and urban explorers from going in. Maybe it was nothing, but I still couldn’t help but find it interesting.
​
I considered just going back to the car but didn’t want to feel like I’d wasted my time, so I figured I’d snoop a little bit. I took a quick walk around the perimeter, peeking in through the windows that I passed. I didn’t see much, but judging by what I could see, this place wasn’t abandoned. I didn’t see anyone inside, but the inside looked awfully clean for an abandoned building.
​
Going out around back, I noticed that there were garbage bags in the dumpsters out back. Not a lot… but enough to confirm to me that there were people here. Maybe this wasn’t a dead end…
​
I heard a sudden mechanical whirr from the other side of the building that made me pause. I rounded the corner, moving along the back of the building just in time to see a convoy of five black Audi’s rolling out of the garage door, one after the other. They turned onto the road, moving almost in perfect sync as they headed toward town. I felt a knot form in my stomach as I watched them go.
​
I’d found the cars I’d been looking for… although if they were going somewhere, odds are that we’d be getting a call about it all too soon.
​
My heart was beating faster in my chest.
I knew I couldn’t just sit there and watch. I knew I needed to do something.
So I did.
​
I ran back to my car as fast as my legs could carry me, leaping behind the wheel and keying the engine. I tore back out onto the road, speeding after the convoy. I didn’t know what my plan was. I didn’t have a plan. I just knew that if I didn’t do something, people were going to die.
​
The convoy turned away from downtown, following the river north. They passed by the River Ridge RV park, moving further down the road towards the outskirts of the county. It was hard to say exactly where they were going. There wasn’t much out that way, not for several miles. But they were moving with purpose and so was I.
​
About ten miles past River Ridge, I noticed something up ahead. Flashing lights, like what you’d see on a squad car, although there was no color to them. They were just white.
​
The convoy in front of me finally began to pull off the road. I could see them passing another Audi, this one outfitted with an LED bar. Two men on the road waved them off. Both of them were dressed in well pressed suits and wore reflective sunglasses. One of them was bald with a very thick dark stubble, and the other had a familiar red beard and military crew cut.
​
The knot in my stomach grew tighter as I drove toward the men, waiting for them to stop me. I reached for my pistol, ready for them to make a move. They just waved me on, barely even looking at me. I still kept my hand on my gun as I drove past, watching Red Beard and Baldy like a hawk.
​
I could see two other men behind the parked Audi with the flashing lights out of the corner of my eye. They were on the ground, fidgeting with something. It took me a moment to figure out what it was.
​
Spike strips.
​
I’d seen them before. We’d used them back during my army days at vehicle checkpoints and while we’d never had to use them while I’d been working as a city cop, we did have them.
​
They were setting up an ambush here. The five Audi’s that had pulled off the road parked along the shoulder further down. I could see men in suits getting out of them. I didn’t see any guns… I guess they were still partially trying to be subtle. But I still had a feeling that they were armed.
​
I kept on driving, going further down the road. Stopping and confronting these men wasn’t an option. Maybe they weren’t interested in making a mess by shooting any random schmuck who passed by their little trap, but that didn’t change the fact that they were probably dangerous. Charging in and dealing with them by myself wasn’t a smart idea. So instead, I reached for my phone, and I called Biggs.
​
He answered on the first ring.
“Hey Sawy-”
“Ethan, we have a situation,” I said. “Who’s on duty with you right now?”
“Right now it’s Hoffman, why what’s going on?”
“Call Hoffman, call the Sheriff and call Lopez. There’s going to be another attack.”
“What? Where?”
​
“I’ve spotted some suspects setting up some kind of ambush ten miles north of River Ridge. How soon can you be here?”
“Twenty, thirty minutes, maybe?” He said, “Sawyer, where are you right now?”
“I just passed the ambush point. They’re gearing up for something, now move your ass!”
“Y-yeah, of course!”
Biggs hung up immediately, and I pulled off to the side of the road. I took a deep breath, before checking the magazine of my pistol and getting out.
​
I wasn’t going to charge in needlessly… but I needed to have eyes on this situation. It’d be easier if I could get closer on foot. Leaving my car behind, I dipped into the woods along the other side of the road, letting them hide me as I walked back along the road toward the ambush.
​
The river whispered beside me as I crept through the trees, and the steep incline leading down toward the river helped keep me low and hidden from sight.
​
I could see the flashing white lights of the parked Audi, and watched as they suddenly went dark. Red Beard was speaking into a walkie talkie, and on the far side of the road, I could see several men waiting by the five parked Audi’s. This time, they had guns. Assault rifles, by the looks of it.
​
I was right. There was another attack coming and it was coming now.
“Fish market’s on the move, gentlemen. Put out the nets!” Red Beard said.
​
On his order, I watched one of the men pull the spike strip across the road, while Red Beard addressed the men on the far side of the road. He spoke like a drill instructor and the men he addressed carried themselves like soldiers.
“As of right now, we are locked in on this operation! We run things smooth, we run it clean, we get the job done. No mistakes like last time! No stragglers! Understood?”
“Sir yes sir!” Came a familiar chorus.
​
After a few minutes, headlights appeared further down the road. I watched them from my vantage point, praying they belonged to Biggs. But the oncoming vehicle was too big to be a squad car. This looked more like an RV.
​
No…
​
This was a whole convoy of RV’s. Most likely coming from River Ridge.
​
I couldn’t count them all, but they were all heading towards the ambush… and that was when the pieces slowly began to click into place.
​
Kayley, the girl who’d survived… the girl the people at Red Rooster had been able to ID. She’d lived at River Ridge. If she and her friend from the other night weren’t human… then there was a damn good chance that there were others just like them there. Other women with gills. I guess River Ridge would be the perfect place for them… it was quiet, away from the hustle and bustle of downtown and close to the water. Whatever these people were… it’d just about be the perfect place for them.
‘Fish market’s on the move.’
​
That’s what Red Beard had said.
​
The other killings hadn’t exactly been low key… if there were more girls like Kayley at River Ridge, odds are they’d heard about them. And odds are that once they realized they were being targeted too, their first instinct would be to get the hell out of dodge. That would explain why they were carrying out this attack in broad daylight too. They weren’t going off of their own schedule, they were trying to catch the monsters as they fled. And now their targets were here… drawing closer and closer to their massacre with each passing second.
​
There was no sign of Biggs or anyone else. They still had to be at least fifteen minutes out… probably more.. By the time they got here, the shooting would probably already be over.
​
I couldn’t let that happen.
​
For the record - I knew that what I was about to do was extraordinarily stupid, but I didn’t see a whole lot of other options. I couldn’t allow them to ambush those RV’s. I couldn’t. I didn’t really stop to weigh the pros and cons in my head. Sure, I knew that what I was about to do had a chance of survival that was damn near zero… but hey, everyone dies sometime, right? This was the only option I had available to me. In a lot of ways, it wasn’t really even a choice I made. I just did it. I took aim at the nearest target, and I fired.
​
I saw one of the men by the car, the bald one with the scruff grab his shoulder and stumble back a step. He wasn’t dead, but he was hurt. I shot at him again, but he was low enough to the ground and far enough away that I didn’t hit him. He hastily dragged himself off the road and behind the Audi. He still managed to stand, so clearly he wasn’t in that bad a shape.
​
The moment he heard the gunshots, Red Beard spun around, drawing his own pistol as he did. I knew that he saw me. I could see his expression creasing into a scowl the moment he did. Our eyes locked for only a split second before the air was filled with the sound of gunshots.
​
POP. POP. POP.
​
I felt a white hot pain sting across my arm as one of his bullets grazed me, and even though I returned fire I doubt I hit him. Red Beard dove behind his Audi, but behind him I could see his little kill squad moving in.
​
I couldn’t count how many of them there were. More than ten. Fifteen, maybe? Twenty at most? Who could say.
​
I retreated back into the trees, skidding down the forested incline toward the river as I waited for the gunmen to come for me.
“Keep off the road!” Red Beard snarled, “Watch your fire! Wait until you have a shot!”
He must’ve been trying to salvage this operation… Although from where I sat, the RV’s looked to be slowing down. Seems they’d noticed the gunfire.
​
Red Beard glanced in the direction of the RV’s, and I could see the gears in his head spinning. This was all going wrong… but he didn’t seem the type to give up. On the road, the lead RV moved to make a U turn. I could see Red Beard watching it, and took a pot shot at him. It didn’t hit him, but it did shatter the driver's side window of his Audi.
​
Roaring in frustration, Red Beard fired three shots back at me.
“Goddamnit! Fuck it! Squads 1 and 2, kill that son of a bitch! 3 to 5, intercept the convoy, NOW!”
​
I saw some of his men back off, running back to their cars. The rest moved onto the road, coming after me. I fired at them, and I saw one of them stumble back as I shot him dead in the chest. But he didn’t die. He stumbled, but picked himself right back up.
​
Great, they were armored too.
​
I was punished for poking my head out by a burst of machine gun fire. The trees by my head splintered as I dove down into cover. I lost my footing, sliding further down the incline toward the river. The only reason I didn’t fall all the way down was because I caught myself on a tree. Looking up, I could see about eight figures at the top of the incline, coming down off the road. One of them spotted me and opened fire. All I could do was scramble out of the way and roll further down the hill toward the water.
​
Gunfire followed me, but I couldn’t see who was shooting. I couldn’t see where they were. I couldn’t stop to try and get a shot. There were too many of them. I dove down to safety behind a fallen old tree. Bullets rained down on it, tearing off chunks of bark and sending splinters raining down on me.
​
I gripped my gun tight. My blood rushing in my ears. Somehow… I always wondered if I’d die like this. Dug into the dirt, with bullets whizzing past my head. Maybe there wasn’t any other way for me to die? Who’s to say? But I’d be damned if I didn’t take at least one of those bastards down with me.
​
I took a deep breath. Steeled myself for what I was sure was going to be my last stand.
​
Then, gun in hand I rose to return fire.
​
Only when the rifles went off, they weren’t aimed at me.
​
I could see the eight figures standing in between the trees, but they’d turned away from me. They were shooting at something else now, although I couldn’t immediately see what. I just saw a shape, moving between the trees. I heard the ground shift and saw a cloud of dirt fly up. One of the armed men was sent screaming down the incline, into the river. I wasn’t sure if he’d survived the fall or not.
​
One of the other men opened fire, only for the shape to grab his rifle, I saw them force it down, before lunging at his throat. He screamed as they sank their teeth into him, but didn’t seem to be able to put up much of a fight otherwise. Two of his friends opened fire on him, hoping to kill the shape that had him in its grasp. The ground seemed to shift beneath them, sending both of them down the incline and into the river. Within seconds, whoever or whatever the hell this was had just taken out half of the men who were supposed to be killing me.
​
They tossed the man they’d just bitten to the ground and for the first time, I got a good look at my savior. Clementine Di Cesare’s mouth was smeared red with blood. Her sunglasses were absent and in her blue eyes I could see an unsettling calm. As if this wasn’t so much different to her than any other mundane chore.
​
The remaining gunmen seemed to freeze at the sight of her, not seeming to know how to react until Di Cesare moved. She was fast. It was hard to tell if she was running, or if the ground simply shifted beneath her. She lunged for the nearest gunman, kneeing him in the stomach and tossing him aside like he weighed nothing, although while she dealt with him, the man beside him got off a lucky shot.
​
Before Di Cesare could deal with him, he emptied half his magazine into her chest… but she didn’t fall. Hell, there wasn’t a scratch on her. The guy who’d shot her on the other hand?
​
Blood dribbled from his mouth. His body jerked violently as he collapsed to the ground. It was as if he’d been the one who’d gotten shot, not her. Di Cesare barely paid him any mind, regarding the final two men with that eerie calmness.
​
I could see one of them stumbling away, trying to get back up the incline. The other one just gritted his teeth and decided to fight on until the end. He was smart enough to know that shooting her wasn’t going to work, so instead he pulled a combat knife from his jacket and charged at her, as if it would do him any good.
​
Di Cesare barely even reacted. She sidestepped him and casually sent him down the incline into the river below. I saw him tumble down into the river before crashing into the water below with a final scream.
​
Di Cesare watched him fall with a quiet disinterest, before her attention shifted to me. I took a step back, half expecting her to come for me just like she did with the others. Instead, she simply wiped the blood from her mouth before she turned away from me, and headed back up the incline, moving with purpose.
​
I hesitated for a moment before following her. Di Cesare stepped out onto the road and surveyed the scene before her with an intense gaze. Whatever Red Beards plan had been… clearly everything had gone catastrophically wrong. I could see some of the black Audi’s on the road, trying to follow the RV’s, although the one that got the closest to one of the RV’s near the back of the convoy got rammed by it and sent careening off the road.
​
The tires of Red Beard’s Audi screeched as it tore back out onto the road. I saw him behind the wheel, sparing Di Cesare and I a single glance as he took off at top speed. I raised my gun to shoot at him but Di Cesare seized me by the wrist, stopping me from doing so. I looked over at her, confused.
“Let them run,” She said calmly. “We know where they are now.”
​
She looked down the road, back toward the fleeing RVs, and seemed momentarily content. One of the five parked Audi’s, driven by the survivor of the group who’d gone after me sped onto the road and Di Cesare regarded it with quiet disinterest before walking over to the road spikes and beginning to move them.
“Help me with this,” She said coolly.
​
I hesitated for a moment before doing exactly what she asked.
“You called for backup?” She asked, as we dragged the spikes off the road.
“I did,” I said. “Wait, you’re not with them?”
“No,” She replied plainly. We packed away the spikes but left them at the side of the road. Someone else could collect them as evidence. “I was with the RV convoy.”
​
I raised an eyebrow at her.
“You were with them?” I asked. “So you knew about the attack?”
“I knew it was likely,” She said. “Although I didn’t expect you here, Deputy Sawyer,”
She tilted her head at me.
“Working behind my back, I see.”
​
“I was following up on a lead,” I said. “I tracked the vehicle that last night's shooter used to a garage just on the edge of town. I saw some cars leaving and figured it was probably bad news, so I followed them here.”
“I see… you’re quite sedulous, aren’t you?”
“Well I couldn’t exactly sit around given the past few days, could I?” I asked. “What the hell just happened back there, on the incline? How did you… what the hell did you do? I watched someone shoot you, then die of their own gunshot wounds! How the hell did you do that? What the hell are you?”
​
The questions spilled out of me without much thought, although Di Cesare didn’t seem to care much.
“That’s a question with a complicated answer,” Di Cesare replied.
“Uncomplicate it, then!”
“I’m an old soldier, same as you,” She said. “Maybe I know a little bit of magic… maybe I’m not entirely human anymore, but that’s what I am at my core.”
“Vampire…” I said quietly.
She didn’t answer, but there was a look in her eyes that told me I was right. At this point, after seeing what I’d just seen, I wasn’t in much of a state of mind to doubt it.
​
“So that trick with the bullet wounds… was that a vampire thing or a magic thing” I asked.
“Attribution spell,” She said. “Makes me harder to kill. Not a lot gets through it. I’ll tell you what. Give me your car keys, and I’ll answer any questions you have later.”
She extended a hand to me.
​
“I’m sorry, my car keys?” I asked, “Why?!”
“I need to follow the RV’s to make sure they make it out of the county safely. You said you’ve called in backup. You still need to be here for when they arrive. So… I’ll be borrowing your vehicle.”
I hesitated for a moment, before swearing under my breath and handing my keys off to her.
“Do what you’ve got to do…” I said under my breath.
​
She nodded.
“It’ll be returned to you when I’m done, no worse for wear.”
With that, she pushed past me and walked toward my car and all I could really do was just watch. She took my car, and sped off after the RV’s, leaving me in the road to clean up the mess.

On March 15 I got vertigo, then the next day woke up with a respiratory virus from my son. The feeling of disequilibrium after the vertigo never went away. On March 24 went to lay down and had a strong tension in my abdomen, almost like an ab muscle was cramped. Ended up with diarrhea and shivering uncontrollably, and insomnia.
Since then I've been dealing with:
Horrible Insomnia
Neck weakness
Neck pain
Neck stiffness
Back pain
VERY tight muscles in neck/traps/back
Sore all over
Severe fatigue
Shakey legs
Daily headaches
Feel floaty/disoriented
Vision issues
Muscle twitching all over
Vibrations in torso and neck
Low appetite
Strong uncomfortable tension in stomach
Electric shock feeling in neck and brain when falling asleep. Causes me to be paralyzed temporarily with difficulty moving=swallowing/breathing, extremely uncomfortable and causes Derealization, confusion, static vision. Seizure?
Blank mind/altered consciousness when trying to sleep. Feels like I'm on some insane drugs.
Sound sensitivity
Tinnitus
Trouble breathing and swallowing at times
Anxiety/panic
Derealization
Depression
Cold intolerance/shivering cold
Brain fog
Still getting some green phlegm from lungs
Hard lymph nodes in neck
Brain and neck MRI without contrast normal, CT angiogram of head normal. Blood tests normal so far besides low CD8, High IgA, low IgM

Sore Throat Viral-Various aspects-
A sore throat viral can cause pain, scratchiness, or irritation in the throat, all of which are typically made worse by swallowing. Pharyngitis, which produces a sore throat, is most frequently caused by a viral infection like the flu or a cold. A painful throat brought on by a virus fades on its own.
[caption id="attachment_6872" align="alignnone" width="300"] Sore Throat Viral[/caption]
In order to prevent problems, streptococcal infection, a less common bacterial cause of sore throat, must be treated with antibiotics. Other, less common causes of sore throats can require more comprehensive treatment.
The signs of a sore throat viral can vary depending on the source. Among the warning indicators and symptoms are:
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Obsession
Prologue
The room was impersonal, white and deathly hot. One table, three chairs, two people.
Intense eyes that are seemingly devoid of light. Hands, sticky and red folded in a semblance of calm. Tears sliding over an emotionless face dragging lines in the blood that didn’t dry yet.
The question that gets asked by the strict face on the other end of the table hangs in air between them, the air smells of iron.
‘why?’
after what seemed like an hour there comes a monotone answer:
‘Because i loved her’
Today is the day the world will end, and I will be the one to do it. The realization of what we are about to do sits heavy in my stomach but it is the only way, the only way She can be.
My girlfriend, I can't fathom why She would even choose me. We are traveling in my car, She is so beautiful. I feel guilty, She deserves so much better. She falls asleep, trusts me enough to be alone with me. She is my life, my death. My beginning and my end.
I gently shake her awake, we are there. The wind blows, white blonde hair tries to escape. Her scars shine in the sun, glitter and make her surrealistic. Broken and glued back together with gold. She takes my hand and laughs, her eyes change into little half moons.
A short walk from the meticulously picked parking lot, to the end. I am enjoying my time, She is here.The world is happy, despite everything.The world feels real. She does it, She saves me.
I relish in her now that it is still possible. We are prepared. We have to walk a little, a last cup of coffee, a conversation about everything except our plans. I can’t help but stare at her. Will I be able to honor my promise? I can do anything, for her
Who am i to reject her.
I can see her enjoying her time, something I haven't seen in a long time. I edge it into my memories.This day is special to her. Sacred, a last chance, a last wish
We walk on, she takes my hand again, warm and comfortable. I look at her as much as i can, white blonde hair, green blue eyes, a light scatter of freckles. Remember it, never forget it.
It has been a long time since i have seen her laugh this much, I love her. A tree and a street. We are at the place we have to be. I ask her one last time, are you sure? and i think; are you able to do this to me? Are you sure you are able to do this to me? Is it worth it? Is it worth the end of the world?
I look at her scars, woven gold on her body and know, the last scar will be the last and most beautiful i will reach in this life. I don't see a way out, I don't see any choices. Captured in her will, her love, her revenge. Her will and her desperation is the only worth I have. So I ring the doorbell. My hand goes to my bag, Just in case. She already has it in her hand
The door opens and there is a man. Elegant and put together. A wolf in sheep's clothing. Her eyes betray fear, desperation, rage and sorrow hiding her smile. She changes into stone, and fire and hell.
Before I know it there is a syringe in his neck, and he gets pushed inside. Tears stream over her cheeks, rivers of grief, weakness and fury. She becomes even more beautiful and powerful. A Goddess of vengeance, blood and the end.
I walk behind her and close the door, lock it and help her drag the body of the man that broke her. I know what he has done.
She didn’t have a chance, no hope, no mercy. When he was done with her she was a broken soul, smashed to pieces. Violated and murdered again and again. The only thing that remained was a hollow cocoon.
And i fell for her. I wanted to fill her up, glue her together with gold and rubies. And this is how, this is her only chance for peace, for vengeance and the peaceful nothing.
I am her last chance.
And I love her too much, I am not selfish enough. So I help her drag him, plant his paralyzed body on the couch and wait for her to return.
Is she wearing a white dress on purpose?
The world becomes unreal with the first stab, even more surreal then it already was. I stare, transfixed and obsessed. I follow how the knife goes in and out of the body. Staring at how her dress slowly changes into the color of life and death. How her rage spreads with the smell of blood. Until she is completely exhausted. And she laughs, in a way I have never heard her laugh before. Free and exuberant, all chains broken.
Then she walks up to me, still holding the knife.And in a split second of madness, I feel fear. Dread I had never felt before. Fear of death and damnation. But she turns the knife around and gives me the handle.
This is my hour, this is my time. This is the most important thing I will ever do in my life.
We agreed to this. This is her last wish, a last effort to give her happiness and bliss. There is no way I am going to decline, I don't have the right. So I take the knife, the sharpness and the cold that signal the ending of my world.
She falls on her knees before me. The trust and weakness she shows me by exposing her throat to me makes my heart swell with love. I caress her neck and give her one last heartwarming kiss full of passion, trust and surrender. I look pleadingly at her for one last time and ask with tears that keep streaming without end: ‘ Are you sure?, are you able to do this to me? Are you sure you are able to destroy my world for your freedom? Please tell me you want to live, please tell me that you can live for me?
She shakes her head, and I don't have a choice. My life is hers and she is my world. She wants to lay the world to ruin, so who am I to deny her that.
One last kiss, one last hug, and one last touch.
Then the knife slits through her throat, my face fills with tiny splashes of her life, tears won’t stop coming. As if a dam has broken in my soul.
The world is dead, the end is here.
Regret slithers through my veins, like a deadly poison. I try to stop the bleeding in a blind panic, I cry, and kiss and hug.
I am a monster.
As if I have been drained, a feeling of emptiness dawns on me, I am numb and calm, as I have never been before. It is as if I am in a trance, the world becomes unreal, the blood around me is a movie, a nightmare without end.

I had some blood work done after fatigue, anxiety, and high heart rate:
TSH was 0.64. Normal range is 0.55 - 4.78 uIU/mL
Free T4 was 0.99. Normal range is 0.89 - 1.76 ng/dL
T3 was not tested. Also had an ultrasound on my thyroid due to come and go sore throat. Found a couple of small "inconsequential" nodules. Doc was not concerned and said have another scan in a year just be safe.
Doc said thyroid probably isn't the issue but all the women on my (33F) mom's side of the family have thyroid issues. Should I push back?

Good afternoon everyone. I had a real quick legal question involving my injury at work.
A few days ago I was on my way to a meeting. As I was walking past an elevator, a 70 pound cart rolled off at a hight of approximately 12-13 feet and struck me. The resulting blow knocked me unconscious and bloody. The resulting injury has left me with major whiplash in my neck. I have a very injured nose (luckily not broken but it was very swollen), and some residual soreness in my knees, hip and back.
As it turned out, the previous user of the elevator (it is an open elevator in a production plant), did not properly secure the cart, causing it to roll over the edge on its way up.
I have requested video of the incident from fellow supervisors but have yet to receive it. I have not talked to our safety supervisor about the video yet as I do not want them to feel any pressure as these types of incidents can lead to big legal issues which I am not sure I want to pursue as of this moment. Especially because I really love my job.
I was taken to the hospital in an ambulance and did receive an x-ray and cat scan that showed nothing overly serious. I was told had I not been wearing my hard hat/bump cap the outcome would have been very different. I did get drug tested and breathalyzed at work (as is company policy when ever there is an injury) and came up negative for both (I don’t drink often and have never taken any substances).
Legally speaking, what are/should be my next steps? Is this going to be a large legal matter when I return to work next week? Should I prepare anything for my return to work? Is this an instance where I do pursue my own legal agenda?
Note: I do not believe (or hope) I will have any long lasting pain issues. Granted I am on a lot of pain killers right now and it is still to early to tell if there will be prolonged neck and back pain.

The grey streaks began to turn to pinpricks of light, and a massive grey shape in the distance. As she watched, the titanic form of Thermopylae station resolved into her vision. She never thought she’d be seeing it again this soon. Vicky hefted her bag on her shoulder, feeling the Star of Terra bouncing against her uniform as she moved. It was very odd, the way people had reacted to her the last few days. Most seemed in complete awe of her, some called out to her by name. She had given polite nods, but she felt odd regardless. Most times when she was among the rank and file no one even glanced her way besides the men who thought she was attractive and, well, the women too. She just wasn’t used to being… This. As she made her way through the transport the other crew and servicemen parted for her like a wave. It got quiet when she grew near. Some people had even taken pictures of her as she passed.
“They’ll never believe I saw Victoria Brandy!” She had heard more than one person say, in different wording, too many times to count. She had been taken onboard two different ships, first the Secretary, then the Drake, and both times she had immediately been requested to report to the captain’s quarters, where praise had been heaped on her without end. It was getting old, fast, and extremely uncomfortable. She wasn’t a glory hound. If she was she wouldn’t have volunteered to fly a Drone Cutter in the first place. God alone knows how many of her flight instructors wanted her in a fighter, and she had lost count of the amount of times she had been told that she was hurting her own career. She had been fine with that, especially once she had met Jess and Kukat. For the sixth time that day she felt the soul crushing want to see her crew again, and she wondered how they were coping with this change. Both of them had been given battlefield commissions. Both of them were serving as sensor operators. She had been given her own promotion, and she hated the weight of it.
She came to the door and waited, not wanting to even see the station. Most definitely she did not want to turn around and catch anyone else fawning over her. She had had more than enough of that as well. She stood there and drifted in her own mind, remembering clutching onto Jess before boarding her transport, how Kukat had made a soft sound in her throat and how Jess had broken down into tears. What she remembered more than anything was how everyone had just been standing there, watching them. They had actually clapped when the three of them said goodbye to each other. Vicky, Jess, and Kukat, where once they were almost inseparable, were now going to be light years apart. She felt like crying all over again. For two years she had turned down promotions until this one had been forced on her, but there was nothing she could do about it now. She heard an automated voice, and braced herself for the bone vibrating chill of passing through the shield wall of the station, but it never came. For the first time she looked around, then glanced to the side, looking back at the viewport. Thermopylae’s shields, shields that had been raised for as long as the station itself had actually existed, were down. Something about that in and of itself felt completely alien to her, but then she faced forwards again. All she asked for right now was to report to the station, and not to have a big deal thrown about her arrival.
When the doors opened she knew she should have seen it coming. Flashes bombarded her from every angle even as the ramp was being lowered. Cameras were pointed her way, bright lights were shining on her from recorders, from journalists and reporters being held back by an armed security detail. She wanted to crawl away from the lights, but she merely began walking down the ramp. She was so blinded by the lights she almost ran into the man waiting for her at the end of it. She recovered just before she barged headlong into him, in fact the only thing that stopped her was seeing the vice admiral stripes on his shoulder, and the shadow of him cast by the lights.
“Commander Brandy.” The vice admiral said, leaning close over calls for her name. “Welcome to Thermopylae.”
She let her bag fall and saluted, knowing this song and dance far too well at this point from having been subjected to it so many times. “Permission to come aboard.”
“Granted.” He said, then he leaned down and picked up her bag before she could. “I am Vice Admiral Renald, second in command of Thermopylae.” He motioned towards a distant hanger door, then began walking, and Vicky immediately started keeping stride with him. She noticed he was leading her away from the cameras. “How was the trip from the front?” He asked politely.
“It went well.” She replied, keeping her eyes a bit to the ground. Once again the whispers, the looks. Renald didn’t reply, in fact, suddenly Victoria found herself keeping a brisker pace through the hanger with him. She heard several calls to ‘make a hole’ to give them room to move through, and when the doors opened to the station proper Victoria didn’t look up. She missed the zero g cockpit of the Thumper, she missed the quiet of her own thoughts when she was not on it. Subconsciously she followed the admiral’s stride, not even noticing a slight gravity change that marked a different hull she was now in. She followed the admiral’s pace through a turn, then suddenly she realized that the whispers had stopped. She looked up to find herself and the Admiral walking through an empty passage. Her shoulders almost instantly deflated, and for a moment she carried on walking, even though Renald had stopped. She looked back at him and was surprised to see the look of compassion on his face, and caught her bag as he tossed it to her.
“It’s a lot isn’t it.” He said, putting his hands on his hips and looking at her as she shouldered her pack. She only nodded in reply. She didn’t know what to say, she didn’t even know if it was ok to talk, if she was ok to talk. A rush of emotions ran at her all at once. She had barely been alone for six days. Renald waited for a few moments, then he nodded to her. She almost deflated at that moment, her shoulders sagging, and she let the weight of the last week show. She finally looked at him, and his grin was genuine, “Welcome to being a hero of the Terran Front commander.”
“With all due respect sir, the cameras are a bit much.” She said, and he laughed.
“Well, don’t worry about that garbage from here on out. Part of having your face on every broadcast in the last week means that you get the special treatment.” He said, and he motioning to the stencil on the wall. The markings of United Earth Service number 55203 was fresh and maintained, the ship name that had become part of Thermopylae underneath, the Anapolis. “This section of Thermopylae was emptied out two days ago, the crew of the Lexington was sent ship side, so you’ve got most of it to yourself. Your quarters are down there.” He pointed to the end of the hall. “Open door to the left. The Quarrel is going to be here in a few days.” He put his hand back on his hip and looked to her. “Officially as of now you are on administrative leave for three days. I heard you were cooped up in a medical ward since the Battle of the Sands.”
Vicky raised an eyebrow, “The Battle of the Sands?”
Renald shrugged his shoulders, “Something about the planet in the system, how it was just a desert. Some journalist said it and it’s kind of stuck now.” He motioned towards her room with his chin. “Anyhow you’ll have some privacy, your station has a few numbers on it if you need something. Food, new linens, a few ground pounders to toss out anyone with a camera…” He turned and started walking away. She smiled at his back.
“Thank you!” She called out, but he only raised a hand and gave a slight wave. She turned, and for the first time since her crew had left the medical ward of the Barrowmore, she heard the quiet. The only sound was a pleasant hum of the power conduits. Compared to the noise, the whispers, and the looks, the silence was a godsend. She turned and headed back to towards her temporary quarters. As she stepped through the door, she was greeted by soft earth tones. The stark white of the passageway was a distinct and almost jarring comparison. The walls were a warm beige, the room spacious, more spacious than her old quarters on the Vellacore by a half. The bed was large, the sheets and pillowcase beige like the walls while a thick comforter was a dark brown. She immediately saw the panel by the desk, almost laid out in dark brown. She was reminded of an old adage she had heard, ‘Rank has it’s Privileges.’ Well, she didn’t know what to do with all of this privilege. As she stepped through the door she touched the panel on the wall, closing the old model sliding door with a button. She came to a stark realization, that this was actually crew quarters, not even officer quarters. The sheets and other accessories of the room, they were relics too or at the very least faithful recreations, from a time before humanity had been forced to sacrifice comforts for survival. She put her pack on the desk, then looked around the room. She walked up to the bed, unbuttoning her uniform top. She couldn’t ever remember having a bed this size. She saw a wall hunger, and hung up her top, then she sat down on the bed. A few moments later she was under the thick comforter, fast asleep.
When she woke up her eyes flew open and she threw herself out of the bed. She grabbed her shoes and began shoving them on her feet, when suddenly she remembered that right now she didn’t have any place to be. She let her shoes go back to their place on the floor. For a moment, she just stared at the walls of the room. Then, without another word, she reached over to a panel beside the bed and tapped the light control, then slowly lowered the light level. Seconds later her head hit the pillow, and she stared at the darkness over her. The last thoughts before sleep took her again were of Jess and Kukat, and drifting in zero g, somewhere between the stars.
Ten jumps away, another person who shared her last name, eyes, and hair stood at stock still attention. Vince Brandy didn’t know why the Ghouls had been assigned this honor guard detail, but at least it came with cake. After seeing the barraki, he was shocked it wasn’t carrot cake. Seriously, they looked just like rabbits. Five foot tall, hippity hoppity rabbits, with longer fingers on the paws and little thumbs. The Field Marshal had all of the ship boarders, probably because they had nothing better to do, on display in front of the shuttle. When the barraki leader got off of it he had nearly broke military bearing. Sure the chua looked like smart geckos, but if you put a picture of a gecko and a chua side by side you’d notice immediate differences. The turinika looked like really big flamingos when you got right down to it, and from what he’d seen of the shesvie they looked like a cross between an eagle and a big cat, like something Janet had called a gryphon if you made one look really smart. The barraki though? They were just straight up rabbits! Their nose even did the little thing that made it wrinkle. They stood like rabbits, used their front legs to brace them…. Oh hell did he just see one hopping? Very quickly Barraki Order was becoming Bunny Order in his mind.
As Simmons and their leader exchanged greetings the barraki’s ears perked up and then flattened again, and Brandy pursed his lips. The two began moving through the honor guard, heading towards the bridge. Brandy remained at attention, even as other large, long eared barraki came out of the shuttle and quite literally hopped after their leader. It seemed like it took a year from them all to clear out, even longer for the call for dismissal, and as Brandy relaxed his shoulders he looked to his left to Jessup. “Ok. Tell me you sa…”
“... Dude they’re rabbits.” Jessup said, looking side eyed at him. “Like, just flat out rabbits.”
Brandy furrowed his brow, “Like… The chua…”
“... They look like geckos. I know. But these guys are just straight up rabbits. It’s uncanny.” Jessup shook his head, “I damn near did a double take.”
“They might look like rabbits, but I’ll tell you this, their sensor and communications systems are no joke.” Another voice chimed in, which made both Brandy and Jessup turn. Someone from the Grave Diggers by the patch on their arm, “They can pick up anything, and I mean anything. At least that’s the rumor.”
“Sure you’re not talking about the ears?” Brandy said, and the two men grinned at him.
“Well considering the ears I guess it’s no surprise they found out about the turnika before us.” The Grave Digger said, “Although if they were to be spe…”
“Wait wait wait, but about the turinika?” Brandy interrupted the Grave Digger. “We haven’t heard anything.” The Grave Digger raised his eyebrow and then he smirked.
“Civil war.”

Don't read if you're squimish
About a year half back I got an industrial piercing. Loved it since and I've never considered taking it out. One thing about cartilage piercings is that they are notorious for slow healing and with some they don't heat at all so a few end up deciding it's not worth it and end up taking them out. For me it wasn't too bad. People often see a bar through my ear and think it was painful but it was actually the most worry free, least maintenance piercing I have. Within the month I was able to sleep on that ear. Around 3 months in I stopped taking extra measures to clean it and I'd just use some soap and water when I showered. Around 3- 3.5 months in I stsrted being able to use my motorcycle helmet without issue
Anyway as far as I could tell it was already healed. Last night I was unloading stuff from my trunk. It's a camaro and the opening is small, the trunk is deep. Add to that how low the car sits. I was being lazy and leaned in to my side to look to the end of the trunk. I felt the latch/hook on the trunk press against my ear..
The thing with these sorts of things is that you can't actually "feel" if something is touching the ear or the piercing since any pressure will be transfered to your ear regardless.
Well, turns out the way I leaned in was perfect for the latch to go in between the ear and the bar. Me thinking it had just pressed up against the surface of the bar, I finished what I was doing and pulled away.....
I immediately know somethings off. The quick pain from my ear then immediate flow of blood. Blood stsrt flowing from the top hole down my front of the ear. Couple seconds pass and I can feel the bleed dripping down the back of my ear. Eventually flood flow turns into small puddles on the flood as I'm panicking wondering what to do.
I get inside and try to wipe off the blood to see if it had actually ripped the hole but there was too much blood. After a few min I get in the shower do my thing, blood stops. I tried to look at the hole but it's too swollen. I take some ibuprofen in an attempt to not develop piercing bumps and go to sleep.
In the morning I notice the holes, little less swelling but it tore open the hole a little
Edit: don't mind me, I need a haircut https://ibb.co/9vhPvjZ mom did always tell me to not get piercings and I looked gay and stupid. guess she was right. But hey, did I learn my lesson? No. Will I take my piercings out? No. Do I look gay and stupid? Perhaps lmao