Glands swollen and throat red

I'm not looking for answers exactly, but I really hope someone can help me navigate this problem I'm having with my grandfather because I'm at a loss. Thank you in advance 🙏
My grandfather is 92. He's been remarkably healthy and strong his whole life until last October when he fell off a stepladder trying to trim his bushes and broke his hip. After a partial hip replacement, he could no longer go on walks. He couldn't lift his right foot and lost a lot of sensation. Despite this, he actually did recover somewhat and regained some mobility.
Then, last month, he was hospitalized due to fluid buildup/retention around his heart, plus heart inflammation. From this, he was prescribed an antibiotic for an infection, the probable cause of the inflammation, and a water pill to reduce swelling. And Eloquis for A-fib, plus metroprolol.
He took the antibiotic and metroprolol, but I just found out he never took the water pill. I visited him the other day and noticed his legs had gotten really red and swollen. Sores had formed on his ankles and they were weeping fluid. I took him to a doctor, who told him that he needed to take the water pill because of the severe swelling and stop taking the Eloquis due to low blood counts.
I helped him fill his pill box and told him everything he needed to know. But I just found out that he didn't take the water pill for even one day after I left. He's convinced that it's giving him diarrhea, which he is having pretty badly now. I told him that it was probably from the antibiotic and that he should take a probiotic to help his digestion recover. Of course, that didn't work.
I'm concerned that he continues refusing to take the water pill. His attitude has now become, "it's my body, so it's my choice." But if he has a stroke or a heart attack and becomes invalid, he's going to be everyone's problem, and it's not going to be his choice anymore. I'm not saying that to be selfish - I'm saying it because being a burden to other people is the LAST thing he wants in the whole world. That's just the way he is. So that's what I need to prevent from happening.
I just don't know what to do if taking him to a doctor and having her explain everything and him agreeing to it just didn't actually work. One of the problems is that his eldest daughter is an anti-vaxxer and anti-medication type of person whose attitude when he asks her advice is basically, "dad, it's your choice, whatever you want to do." Of course, she's hundreds of miles away, and I'm the grandson down here dealing with the repercussions of her "encouragement."
I'm sorry, that was long. Does anyone have any advice that I haven't thought of? Even advice on alternative treatments for the swelling and diarrhea would be most appreciated.

Had a virus about a month ago (typical sore throat and sinus pressure) directly followed by strep a week later. Took Amoxicillin and cleared it up then throat started hurting again a few days after the antibiotic and has been red and started getting these blister looking sores appearing. Doctor gave me something called magic mouthwash and it helps numb things up and soothe, but they are still appearing and throat is still irritated after 4 days using the mouthwash. Any suggestions on what’s going on? Just a byproduct of the strep from 2 weeks ago?
I'm 38M, 5'10", 140 lbs, white. I also have Ankylosing Spondylitis and take Cosentyx monthly and Celebrex when needed. I’m actually due for my Cosentyx injection but I'm hesitant to take it right now. Rhuem told me to wait until any infection is cleared up. I don't feel sick, no fever, and I feel fine besides the mild throat irritation.

I'm not looking for answers exactly, but I really hope someone can help me navigate this problem I'm having with my grandfather because I'm at a loss. Thank you in advance 🙏
My grandfather is 92. He's been remarkably healthy and strong his whole life until last October when he fell off a stepladder trying to trim his bushes and broke his hip. After a partial hip replacement, he could no longer go on walks. He couldn't lift his right foot and lost a lot of sensation. Despite this, he actually did recover somewhat and regained some mobility.
Then, last month, he was hospitalized due to fluid buildup/retention around his heart, plus heart inflammation. From this, he was prescribed an antibiotic for an infection, the probable cause of the inflammation, and a water pill to reduce swelling. And Eloquis for A-fib, plus metroprolol.
He took the antibiotic and metroprolol, but I just found out he never took the water pill. I visited him the other day and noticed his legs had gotten really red and swollen. Sores had formed on his ankles and they were weeping fluid. I took him to a doctor, who told him that he needed to take the water pill because of the severe swelling and stop taking the Eloquis due to low blood counts.
I helped him fill his pill box and told him everything he needed to know. But I just found out that he didn't take the water pill for even one day after I left. He's convinced that it's giving him diarrhea, which he is having pretty badly now. I told him that it was probably from the antibiotic and that he should take a probiotic to help his digestion recover. Of course, that didn't work.
I'm concerned that he continues refusing to take the water pill. His attitude has now become, "it's my body, so it's my choice." But if he has a stroke or a heart attack and becomes invalid, he's going to be everyone's problem, and it's not going to be his choice anymore. I'm not saying that to be selfish - I'm saying it because being a burden to other people is the LAST thing he wants in the whole world. That's just the way he is. So that's what I need to prevent from happening.
I just don't know what to do if taking him to a doctor and having her explain everything and him agreeing to it just didn't actually work. One of the problems is that his eldest daughter is an anti-vaxxer and anti-medication type of person whose attitude when he asks her advice is basically, "dad, it's your choice, whatever you want to do." Of course, she's hundreds of miles away, and I'm the grandson down here dealing with the repercussions of her "encouragement."
I'm sorry, that was long. Does anyone have any advice that I haven't thought of? Even advice on alternative treatments for the swelling and diarrhea would be most appreciated.

To summarize, I (f, 35) feel like my immune system is completely reversed. As a young kid, I don't remember getting sick more often than average. However, since late adolescence, I noticed an uptick in my falling ill.
It started with getting strep throat frequently, which came to a head when I was 17, and got strep, mono, and tonsilitis at the same time, resulting in hospitalization. After that, they removed my tonsils.
At the same time, I noticed that I began getting full body hives frequently. Red, bumpy, itchy skin all over for seemingly no reason. I changed to hypoallergenic everything - soap, detergent, anything topical, etc. I'd never had any allergies when I was a kid, but in my late teens, developed an allergy to cats, dogs, dust mites, perfume/scents, topical anything, detergents, grass - you name it. And these allergies seem to be getting worse over time. Started with a little tickle in my throat, but now it's sneezing, crusty, itchy, swollen eyes, respiratory issues, throat swelling, hives/itchy skin.
Since then, it seems to be getting worse. If exposed to any illness, I nearly always get it unless I've had the vaccine recently (covid & flu for example). When I go to any social event, I usually fall sick afterwards.
I just don't want to live like this anymore. I'm scared to socialize. I avoid taking my children places if I think it will be crowded. I have to constantly cancel plans because I'm sick.
Does anyone know if there is a condition that causes this overreaction to environmenal factors, while also suppressing immune response to viral/bacterial infection? I'm stumped and doctors I've seen have said it's just how my specific body works (it's genetic).
Is there anything scientifically proven to help with boosting immunity? My research says lifestyle changes - which I've already implemented.
Thank you!

About a month ago I (38F) went to the ER with a kidney stone. Afterwards, the IV spot on my forearm had this massive bruise that lasted over two weeks, and the vein hurt for another two weeks after the bruise was gone. I didn't think much of it.
Yesterday the pain suddenly shifted from my forearm to up past my elbow. It became a dull pain (like 4 on the scale), then faded to more like a 2. It is swollen, and my skin is slightly red. I can feel a firm spot under the skin where it is painful. The pain literally moved. The original spot no longer hurts.
So my amateur googling suggests that I have a blood clot. Should I just deal with it, or is this something I should go to urgent care for? I am on hormonal birth control which I know affects blood clot risk. I am otherwise healthy and fit.

I’m a guest advocate, 5 days straight I was scheduled to work the positions that require the most talking and running around. Everyone in my store has been well aware that I despise being talkative all day long and tend to not talk at all when I’m drive up unless I’m with a guest or grumbling profanities cause my stuff isn’t done properly or my times have gone down. I go on a lovely week long trip tomorrow and have a concert while I’m on my trip that I’ve been trying to see for over 5 years. Well. Having to be in check out and guest services 4 days straight and in drive up for one 6 hour shift killed my feet and throat. Unfortunately drive up day was rough, I had called my roommates trying to figure out who was going to be taking care of my cats as my hire backed out while I was at work and was fuming and cussing pretty heavily. So last night I felt my throat get sore and my nose all runny. I woke up and to nobody’s surprise my lymph nodes are swollen and I’m in severe pain. I called out last night because I knew this would happen, whenever my throat is sore from talking too much my lymph nodes swell. My TL called me in a panic/fit of rage at 7:30 am- half an hour before my shift was supposed to start. I couldn’t talk so I handed my phone to my wife on speaker and had her explain that talking and swallowing hurt and that I’ve gotten sick and just need to rest. My TL demanded that I have to be the one calling out if I’m sick. I called out through the app and my wife was aware of this, she quickly told TL to check my time for target for my call out and said once again that I’m sick and called out properly.

I plan to elucidate a lot of material in this group, because a lot of the attacks revolve around the character of "pedophile" Mohammad, but few are aware of the historicity of the rest of the characters in the fantasy cult of Islam.
Aisha is one such character. In my day to day life as a pretentious Shia Muslim, I curse this nonexistent character all day long. (The Shia version of Islam, in contrast to the Sunni version, reveres different characters from Islamic history, and hates a certain set of them), but in my Ex-Muslim mind, when I'm alone, I know that just as is the case with Mohammad himself, Aisha did not ever actually exist either. As I've continued to say, a lot of the fairytales of Islam are amalgamations from various different sources that existed before, during, and after the creation of Islam concocted into a cult of religion.
Noteworthy hatred that Shias have for this character includes the fact that IF Mohammad actually existed, he is regarded as a pedophile by the rest of the world through HER narrations.
But one thing that strikes me in particular about this fairytale character, is an Islamic battle, known as "the battle of the camel." In that battle, according to the myth of Islamic history, Aisha was riding a red camel, and was leading an army against Ali Ibn Abi Talib, a very legendary Islamic character that I plan to deconstruct later on.
In the Shia world, Aisha is regarded as a whore. To backup this claim, Shias cite several Ahadith from Sihah al-Sittah (the 6 Sahih sunni works of Ahadith), from her narrations about breastfeeding men, to her narrations about cleaning cum, to her narrations about a man sleeping over at her place and then washing cum off his clothes the next day, to a lot of other sexual Ahadith that she has narrated in the Sunni works of Ahadith.
A nickname that the mythical prophet of Islam gave to his mythical wife, Aisha, is "Homayra." Which simply means "the Little Scarlet/Red One."
In the case of Aisha, we have 3 things to note: 1. Red Camel 2. Whore of Arabia 3. Homayra (Scarlet/Red)
The book of revelations in the Bible extensively talks about the whore of Babylon, along with other passages in throughout the Bible. The whore of Babylon used to ride a scarlet beast, and she is oftend depicted in red dresses, etc.
In the case of the whore of Babylon, we have 3 things: 1. Red beast 2. Whore of Babylon 3. Red dresses
It is interesting to see that when the Abbasid Islamists were creating their fairytale Islamic religion, where they got their plentiful sources of inspiration from. Neither did Mohammad himself, nor did any of his friends, wives, or enemies ever actually existed.
While other ex-Muslims are using the Sihah al-Sittah and the Quran to create a picture of Mohammad in their heads as a barbaric pedophile mass murderer, and then proceeding to denounce his religion; I am arguing that all of it is fake and a fabrication of later generations, who were simply writing stories. Through government coercion and political support, these stories were later used to create a full fledge cult that was shoved down people's throats through several centuries of propaganda.
Persians of those times were very good at the art of propaganda. Even the word "Media" is Persian 🤦🏻

On April 17th I took a pregnancy test which cane back positive (this was a Wednesday), the weekend before I took one it came back negative. For the first 2ish weeks my breasts and nipples were very tender and swollen, then I started spotting brown. The breast tenderness went away upon the beginning of spotting. I had a pelvic exam this past Friday (5/10) and my cervix appeared closed. My original 8 weeks appointment was supposed to be 5/15 but I went yesterday 5/13 instead. On the scan all that was shown was a 7.5mm sac with a yolk, no embryo and because of the spotting the doctor told me either it’s too early or theres a miscarriage. My HCG level was 3995 and they dated me at 5 weeks 4 days. I haven’t had enough spotting for a pad or any bright red but this is day number 9 of spotting and my pregnancy symptoms are pretty much gone (tiredness and tender breasts). Does anyone have any similar experiences and it turned out positive…? I have my next scan June 5th and Im a nervous wreck.

As If It Were Kismet: Prologue
Matt tore through the brush, blind in the dark. He didn’t care where he was going. He only knew he needed to be elsewhere. Far from here.
Behind him a creature howled that shocked his mind. It’s form was cruel and dangerous, though female. Nothing like the young woman she had once been. Nothing but a girl, a small and slight female.
It’s guttural growls and howls only grew closer as Matt tried to pick between seeing where he was going and getting away. The few times he looked he caught sight of the creature behind him. Hopping through the air with a speed that told him he was being toyed with. As if he were a mouse being played with by a cat.
But the reflex in him to run kept him going. His adrenaline going as hard as it could. The tightness and burning in his core tensing and locking up as his legs felt like there were being burned from within while taking on more of a heaviness.
His lungs were starting to betray him as he tried to gulp big breaths of air but only rapid and shallow breaths were all that he could manage. His brain was starting to burn….and then he was falling.
Falling down the side of a hill he saw the creature dart in a spring towards him, imperceivably fast almost. Catching him in mid air it seemed.
Managing to wrap its body around him and cushion his impact against the ground as they rolled. His mind barely took in what was happening during the roll. Only starting to understand what was happening once they were still.
The creature's triple D-cup breasts were unmistakably pressed hard against his back as he laid facing up at the night sky.
For a few seconds the world stilled and the needle light pain hitting the center of his brain took over for the cooking heat his brain had felt. His whole body felt heavy and reluctant to move.
Even if he could have really moved, a dull ache came over his limbs making them feel stilled and trapped as if by immeasurable amounts of sand that had engulfed him.
Slowly the arms holding him started to move. Moving so the creature's hands could start exploring him. Causing Matt to unstoppably let out a pathetic moan that made him go cold inside as hands lifted up his shirt and started to touch his exposed stomach and then his chest.
He would have whimpered so pathetically had he not still been in the depths of terror.
As its hands felt and groped his pecs he tried to situp as if to get away. For his efforts, his reward was a hand around his throat and a collection snarls and growls against his ear. A beastly, guttural voice spat words at him while somehow holding a feminine tone.
“Don’t move….I don’t know if I can calm down…”
Her words were not helped by her moans in his ear and the subsequent kissing of his ear. The flesh of his ear going between her lips as she moaned and seemed to pant. Releasing it and licking the side of his face with a moist warmth. He could feel its spittle, viscous and coating his flesh where the tongue touched. He could smell something in his saliva. Something that subtly entranced him.
Matt went stock still with fear and the confusion of mixed arousal. He barely perceived her right hand traveling lower on his body. A surprised moan and shudder echoed in the night from Matt’s lips as she took ahold of him. Her hand above his pants but still….stimulating him.
A light squeezing and almost probing of her digits kept him aroused and confused within her grasp. Resigning himself to the strange fate, Matt looked up at the stars as his mind tried not to shatter under the strange maelstrom of events and sensation that had started mere minutes ago.
His mind was only more confused as a slight figure, feminine in build, how it seemed to thunk the ground audibly as she landed on her feet out nowhere. Her knees barely bending under the pressure of the landing. Yet dirt was kicked up anyways and some of it onto Matt. Feeling it pepper his shirt and pants as it fell.
The figure, lit only faintly by moonlight, roared some dark tone Matt could only perceive as a demon as her eyes went bright with a crimson light. A light in the darkness that should not have been. “Let him go you bitch.” Was its words following the roar. Spittle escaping its mouth with faint droplets hit Matt's face.
The creature holding him by his throat and crotch seemed to tighten the grasp of both hands as it roared back. “HE IS MINE!”
The figure paused with a moment's hesitation. He was also her quarry. She had felt his fear without him knowing. His confused arousal. His fear. His terror.
And now he laid at the center of a struggle between two monsters. Unsure of who he wanted to win.
As If It Was Kismet Ch. 1
Matthew Berkshire hadn’t seen his mom in two years. Not that he had seen her much over the last six years.
A messy divorce between messy people and mom’s chaotic want for a life in Alaska had been one of the most…upsetting times in life. Setting him up for so much of what had defined his life thus far but then that had really started two years before he ever turned.
His ear buds were basic and simple. A part of cheap five pack, common for his life as he was known to lose little things. Small things. They had a mix of metal and hard rock playing in them. Some classics, some alternative. Whatever made him feel something, anything. Even if it was hate. Anger. Rage. It was better than feeling numb. Not belonging.
The escalator down to his lone bag to go with his lone carry on showed his mom waiting for him. His had a type, that’s for damn sure. Not that it helped him in the genetics department as he was stuck at 5’9” to go along with his mother’s five foot even as his dad stood six foot. Forever leaving him to feel small, to pale, under his dad’s shadow. Did he ever stand a chance?
The guy next to her with the unkempt former seventies porn stache was “Dave.” He’d met him twice when his mother came and visited him in Florida. To his credit the guy didn’t look annoyed. Kind of concerned kind of which made Matthew want to break his frozen look but he was well practiced. Having removed any note of sadness from his face through much…tribulation.
His mother’s look on her face betrayed a hint of worry as the bruises on his face lightly showed up close. Saying his name was his like a distant echo that belonged to someone else.
Dave cut in and pulled out his right headphone. “What the hell bud, they knock you hard enough to hurt hearing? Your mom’s asking how you are doing.”
Matthew pulled out the other bud and grunted an empty “sorry.”
“You still have bruises after two week? What did they do to you?” His mom’s voice was full of worry. Something he hadn’t heard in….too long. Too long to make him feel anything. To ever make him believe there was any sincerity to her words. To not think her voice and mannerisms were an act. An act by someone who…wasn’t really there.
“It’s only fair. I took a nose. Fractured a couple orbital bones. Left one with having to get his jaw wired shut. And one will never walk right again for what I did to his knee cap.” Matthew said it all with a bored and disinterested tone. Perhaps well rehearsed.
“My man, handing out ass kickings, not bothering to take names.” Dave was quick to be the typical man’s man about it. Matthew wasn’t quite done yet. Lifting up his shirt to expose the right side near his kidney. Revealing a nasty scar from a six inch blade. “Luckily they gave me this first so they could rule it all in self-defense. The fuck didn’t get it in more than inch before I ruined his knee cap and then I took the nose of one of the fucks holding me.” Now he chose to smile keeping the well practiced dead look in his eyes.
No retorts. No questions. Just horrified looks on their faces. As he liked. As he preferred. They could hate him. They could be disgusted by him. But by God they would fear him.
“Well the doc did a good job sewing you up.” Dave commented uncomfortably. “Dissolving sutures. Ain’t they grand.” He smiled again and let it abruptly fall off his face and started walking to the carousel for the baggage claim.
Waiting and making small talk with Dave as his mother stood in silence. He was not the little boy she abandoned. The little boy she left with an angry man. While never hitting him. Left him in constant fear till he turned twelve and just didn’t care anymore. Something snapped. Broke. And he didn’t care if he died. Didn’t care if he stole. Didn’t even care if he killed. He just knew not to get caught. Something left over from his grandfather’s wisdom which came to make more and more sense with each passing year of life since that thing inside him broke.
Finally his bag came around and Dave went to try first to grab it but Dave practically leapt ahead of him. “Is that your grandfather’s rucksack bag?” his mother asked in a perplexed voice.
“Figured it’s been around since Viet Nam. So it’d serve me better than any of the worthless stuff they called luggage.” Dave commented after Matthew’s words. “Well hell yeah I still got mine from Desert Storm. You know the first one.” Dave laughed and Matthew eyed him oddly. Be it in the south or whether it was Alaska, country boys are country boys he guessed.
The car ride to the two people’s house, as Matthew thought of them. Was uneventful and full of vistas he imagined metropolitan types wetting themselves over. At most they meant isolation to him. Furtherness from the world as there were no mountains in Florida. And what mountains he had last seen in another state had been when he was eight. Another life, to Matthew it felt like. A life alien to him.
As If It Was Kismet Ch 2
Dave and his mom’s place was some two story type tucked into a tree line far up an elevated point. It was by no means the highest point in the mountain but it certainly felt up there.
Rocks were where the driveway should have been Matthew thought. Grabbing his backpack and rucksack from Dave’s jeep was no hard thing for him. Matthew was in formidable shape for someone his age, maybe even five years older. He had gotten a mix of fairly big shoulders and arms along with the chest to go for it when compared to most kids his age. A side effect of working out at least twice a day. First thing in the morning, some time in the evening, and the school’s gym when had had a good semester in school before he had to leave Florida.
Dave tried to come up and help him but Matthew walked past him towards the house. His mom was not sure what to make of his demeanor. Matthew was not the sweet kind boy he had once been. But she had been gone from his life essentially for a long time.
Ushering him into the house she cracked some joke he did not hear. He was too busy looking about and seeing a mix of old outdated decorating mixed with the strange and odd flair of his mother. Color contrasting against drab and dated. Like brightly painting over an old home that was falling apart he thought.
“Your room is this way Mattie.” His mom brightly intoned.
Without expressing any interest he followed his mother. Still faced and nonplussed. Just going along with the current. Pushed and pulled with its roll like a piece of driftwood.
The room was simple. A single small bed. A set of rubber weights with a curl bar and barbells. “Your dad said you were into weight lifting so we got you a bunch of stuff. Dave says it looks like his department’s gym almost. The woman’s smile felt very alien to him.
“Thank you. I appreciate it. I’ve got most of my stuff from home.” Matthew starting unpacking his rucksack and pulled out cables of repetitive and mixed colors. A single plastic barbell handle. The ruck sack could be filled with water bottles for added weight during pushups he figured. Remembering a Michael Keaton movie he watched with his dad post-Batman movies where he played a convicted killer using plastic bags filled with water for weights.
Matthew caught movement outside his lone fairly large window that could let him step out onto the roof of the house given its layout.
He saw a number of people running together through what he guessed was the backyard of the property, not that it had any fences to mark boundaries
They wore clothes that looked similar yet different from each other at the same time.”Oh those are the Johnston’s. Really nice bunch of people. Been on the mountain for a long time Dave tells me.”
Matthew looked at the group of people running and noticed the lack of resemblance. “They are related?” Matthew quizzically asked. Seeing a black and possibly a hispanic person amongst the bland looking white people.
“Oh well they are all adopted but for one or two of them…besides the parents of course. The family has a long tradition of taking in orphans they say. Real nice of them to do that don’t you think.”
Matthew looked at his mother and the hosier accent made no sense to him as he arched his left eye brow. Her and his dad were both from Florida. Born and raised. Sure her parents were from New York city but…
Matthew shook his lightly without turning to look at his mother as his vision was grabbed by one of the runners in particular. A girl of moderate height. Soft brunette. A plain beauty he figured with a slim build….and lack of remarkable breasts and rear to make any note of but….girls in general were his type at his age.
She was pretty enough. He couldn’t deny that but he found himself transfixed by her visage.
But the way she turned and looked at him, especially at that distance felt very disconcerting to him. Even if she was smiling like…she was a taste of a bright shiny day. Somehow.
Matthew’s mom noticed the exchange and smiled to herself with closed lips. “Oh that’s Vicky. She’s your age I think. Very sweet girl, who does the charity functions. You know bake sales, blood drives, car washes and the like. I think you should get to know her. Might be good for you.”
A truck horn sounded a couple of beeps in rather succession. “Oh that must be Mack, he said he might come by later this evening but he seems early.”
Matthew’s mother turned and left his room. Leaving Matthew to exchange a few looks with the alluring Vicky as she turned her head away from him to talk to the others in her group and look back at him.
Still Matthew’s left eyebrow was arched. In a way that reminded him of Spock from Star Trek that he and his grandpa used to watch on some streaming service or another.
As he heard ambient chatter elsewhere outside the house he figured to check it out as the alluring sight of Vicky would be around he figured. It was dull to stare at artwork. He was a boy who preferred jet skis and the like. Something he could ride and enjoy immensely. Even if at times it got him stabbed.
As If It Was Kismet Ch 3
Matthew sauntered out of the house and down the rockway that stood in for a driveway.
A few new people had come over from what he could first surmise of the situation. As he got closer it was obvious they were indigenous people. A couple of grown men…and a girl?
She was mousey. Maybe five foot. Hiding behind glasses and a big camo jacket that was far too big for her. It looked made for a grown man and the backwards trucker hat on her head kept her long black a beautiful mess of sorts.
She was cute in a way. A little androgynous but she had a cute energy to her. She reminded him of the more tomboyish Puerto Rican girls he had gotten into back in Florida. Given the deer corpses in the back of the truck….probably more dangerous to play with given the men in her family.
Small chatter passed between the adults when the girl noticed but turned away, trying to hide the tiny hint of a smile.
“Oh Mattie, this is Mack. He works with Dave at the sheriff’s department and John, he’s with fish and wildlife.” Matthew nodded at his mom’s words with some blankness as he looked at the deer the in the back of the pickup truck.
“Gale tells us you hunted with your dad some in Florida and Georgia.” Mack offered with a light hearted laugh camouflaged by his big simple and cheery but husky way he spoke.
Looking in the back of the truck he spoke. “We used lever action thirty-thirties and Mosin Nagants in seven-six-two-fifty-four-rimmed.” Mack and John whistled in an exaggerated fashion. Leaving Matthew to wonder if they were mocking him.
Mack spoke. “Well we just used thirty-odd-six in a custom gussied Garand.” That caught Matthew’s attention. “You have a Garand…” Matthew finally demonstrated interest in anything. “My dad has an SVT-40 and a Hakim 8mm but he always wanted a Garand but was too cheap to buy one.”
Gale, his mother, chimed in loudly. “Oh his Dad loved his guns but was such an odd duck about how he bought or why he bought them. Never made sense to me how he wasn’t a collector but he didn’t get the latest and greatest.” Gale laughed uncomfortably. At least it seemed that way to Matthew.
Matthew pointed to the girl with an underhanded pointing hand. “And who is this? A cute little mute mouse or does she have a name?” Dave and the other men laughed.
Mack again spoke. “Well you people call her Rebecca, she’s my adopted daughter.” Matthew was taken aback by what he heard. “You people?”
Rebecca kindly spoke with a soft but almost melodic voice as she struggled to maintain eye contact. “White people or rather not members of our tribe. It’s just easier to appease the colonizer kind of thing. Borrowed from when the Jesuit missionaries chased us up here.”
Mack stepped in. “It’s just easier to have white people names than have them try to say our tribal names. And we don’t want them shortening or Anglicising our names kind of thing.” Rebecca stepped back into the conversation cutting off her adopted father. “It’s an insult to our history basically.”
Matthew cocked his head sideways raising his eyebrows shortly before letting them drop. “Well as soon as I’m eighteen I’m out of here and back to Florida so I’m a sort of involuntary colonizer of sorts. So I won’t be taking any of your land from you. The Seminoles on the other hand are still shit out of luck.”
Rebecca’s smile caused Matthew to reflexively smile. Mack made the moment more awkward. “See Becca, I told you someone off the reservation would like you some. You just have to be creative.” Mack laughed in a chiding manner…Matthew presumed. He sensed that he was the butt of some kind of cultural joke. Like marrying a white guy was some sort of insult or mark of shame. That kind of thing.
Rebecca turning away from him was not something he had been expecting. Her then getting in the truck in a huff left the group in a silence for a moment.
Dave spoke to break the awkward silence. “Well just bring the truck to work on Monday and leave it for me to grab up.” Mack acknowledged Dave and they started to get off as Rebecca looked at Matthew for another instance. Matthew couldn’t look away for some reason as the two seemed to lock eyes for an instance.
Till Vicky and family seemed to come jogging down the road. While Matthew’s eyes diverted from Rebecca’s. Hers did not till she realized he was looking elsewhere. And her vision found Vicky and what had been a hint of smile on her face turned glum and disappointed.
Matthew did not look away from the vision of Vicky but instead of a starry eyed fool looking longingly. It was a baffled look. Well baffled for him, with his eyes drawn narrow and night with a focus.
There was something about her…he couldn’t quite put a name too. The way she appeared to him. One second brunette. The next second blonde or blonde like. As if the color appeared in her air and disappeared in fractions of seconds. Much the same way her body almost seemed to…shift…very subtly…smoothly. A nicer bum. Larger breasts. And then back to a simple and plain form. Feminine no doubt. Attractive. But not so…remarkable.
As If It Was Kismet Ch 4
The next two days passed without incident. Nothing of any real substance or challenge to note.
Matthew got settled somewhat and started working out almost immediately. Exploring around the woods but Dave told him not to go far. Especially without a hunting rifle. Dave had left a simple semi-auto Winchester out for him. His bear gun as Dave referred to it with its four round magazine. But Matt figured till he got some practice with the rifle to leave it alone. He made a hiking stick like his grandpa taught him and treated it over a low fire. He would take some electrical tape for the end his hand would grip around. Plenty enough to ward off anything smaller than a bear he figured.
The ride to school was a pain in the neck but simple enough. Dave would let him use a clunker pickup truck he had laying around. It wasn’t pretty but it would get him to and from. Even if it was from the eighties and still backfired on occasion. But for now Dave and his mom took him on their way to the sheriff’s department.
It wasn’t much of a school. It wanted to be modern but its fifties original construction was very obvious. It serviced the pipeline families and familys’ of fisherman who worked the seasons in between their time at the pipeline.
Matt was to report to the principal for some reason Dave and his mom wouldn’t share. Which annoyed him but he figured it was to read him the law of land. Small towns with their big views of the outside world and like.
Dressed in jeans, a grey sweatshirt under a light jacket with steel toed boots set him more apart then he expected. His buzzed head didn’t help matters. Already he was feeling like a stranger in a strange land but he was quite strange after all. And he liked it that way. Normal people were so pathetically disappointing to him.
A secretary or assistant or some such led him to the principal’s office. Where it reeked of real wood that was old and fabric and upholstery that needed to be updated for the last twenty years, Matt figured.
“This is Matthew Berkshire, Principal Andrews.” The man was turned with his back to the door and he was quick to wave her off as he turned her around.
He was an older man. Fat and large. Tall with a body built like he had once been fit and a demeanour of annoyed and irate already as he fixed Matt with a scowl and look of disgust. Another worthless government whore. Matt thought to himself. His father and his grandfather had bestowed unto him a natural disrespect for government workers and the figures that wore unjustified authority as a shield but pretended the weight of the state was not at their back ready to crush all who resisted. Little figures of valor pretending to be mighty and alone but acting with the tyranny of the state and all the backing.
“Mr. Berkshire, please sit down.” His tone wasn’t unusually hostile, just gruff. As if he had better things to do.
Matt complied and took a seat in the chair while maintaining a friendly facade. Not everyone was an enemy. And not everyone needed to be an enemy. Even if anybody could be any enemy. There was no reason to make enemies you didn’t have to. Another of his grandfather’s bastardised wisdoms.
“Well I looked over you file and you have quite the history Mr. Berkshire.” Matt resisted qiuping back a joke. Instead he waited for Principal Andrews to continue as he remained nonplussed and looking as if he felt no need to respond. A simple head tilt with dead eyes looking back at the principle as if he was not even there would suffice.
Matt’s reaction or lack of a reaction rather made Principal Andrews only narrow his eyes with examination. He was not used to a kid not responding to him. Especially with his gruff and hard act going on.
“Well by all accounts you moved here after some problems at your last school. A fight broke out and you did some real harm to your fellow students it appears.” Of course, he would take the side of the perpetrators. School administrators always did. Especially when they weren’t white. Just a fact of the times. Cowardice and pathetic mediocrity was the way they leaned, like good government workers sucking the dick of Big Daddy government. Worthless whores.
Matt chose to reply. “Oh you mean the criminals that stabbed me. Got arrested at the hospital and then pled to felonies. Yeah Florida, with the American counties are good like that.” Principal Andrews went real still. No shame. No fear. No penitence. He didn’t like that.
“Well be it as it may Mr. Berkshire we don’t tolerate that kind of behaviour here…” Matt cut him off responding with a deadpan tone. “You mean self-defense meant to save one’s own life while the cowardly and pathetic school workers look on with zero interest but to keep their money rolling in and will allow known gang members with records of violent acts and crimes that should have them expelled many times over, where in certain Democrat counties such cowardice and idiocy empowered a couple school shooters?”
Principal Andrews looked at the Matt with a note of disgust. “Look here Mr. Berkshire, your beliefs matter not one bit here. This isn’t Florida. We don’t like our way of life being disrupted by outside agitators who have problems with authority.”
Matt did his best not to roll his eyes and let the older fat man drone own as he dead-stared him. Lifeless and without emotion.
The man came to a finish and Matt spoke up without having listened to him or paid him any attention. “Great now that’s taken care of. Can I please get to class and finish my sentence of two years at your wonderful school?”
Principal Andrews huffed and snorted before calling in Vicky. Vicky stood in the corner after entering with a quiet and seamless presence. Matt felt disturbed and tried not betray his feelings as the young Vicky was perceived and not perceived to be moving.
Principal Andrews made the introductions and Matt nodded back. She was to be his chaperone for the day. They had the same classes and she was to show him the ropes so to speak. The ins and outs of the school. The locations of their classes.
He recognized her. It was hard not to. The way her appearance seemed to shift fluidly almost. The petite and skinny brunette ever so lightly had a big bust and blonde hair with curves added when she seemed to shift before his eyes. Like watching a film but each frame had a different person.
Matt didn’t say anything about it. Even if he did he would only be acknowledging his crazed state, if he had one. If.
Unlike an obedient puppy dog he got up in a slow and awkward fashion and followed behind her as his oddly disproportionate frame allowed. Causing her a note of concern for some reason. As if she was seeing something she shouldn’t have been….Or he was just weird. And Matt could admit to himself he was just weird. Part of his charm, he would jest about it at times. Not that he had many people to jest to now.
As If It Were Kismet Ch. 5
Following Vicky into the hall off to their first class was simple. She exchanged small talk and he slightly smiled as if to obviously suggest he was just being polite.
Inside his head, Matt was trying to figure out if he was having a psychotic break. The way Vicky looked kept changing and he looked at the other people around him and they stayed the same.
He was searching his mind as they were walking. And thus he wasn’t paying attention to where he was looking and so fell to his face forward over his feet seemingly out of nowhere.
A series of laughs erupted as it sunk in that he was obviously tripped. Like in prison this was a challenge to his superiority. If he let this pass he would be mocked and sneered at by this same group of boys. He wouldn’t walk to them like he was going to do nothing like a little bitch.
In a rage he turned and punched the stomach of the first face he saw. Some typical blonde haired wannabe jock. He knew from experience not to aim for the ribs. Instead he needed to aim for where he thought the belly button was.
Yells and screams blindly echoed around him as his after the punch he followed up his elbow of the opposite arm slamming into the face of the jock. Harder than a fist, the elbow struck the jock’s jaw and seemingly dropped him against a locker. Just in time to catch an errant and soft punch to the nose that sure enough hurt but did little to slow him down as his dad had taught him to fight through the pain. Blood and scars happened. They were a natural consequence of life to a man.
Taking the punch and falling further into his red state Matt headbutted the punch thrower before another guy arm bared his throat from behind. Which he managed to get his grip on the arm over a letterman jacked and jerk the unprepared boy to the side with him still latched on.
A few feet away from the lockers Matt knew his only chance was to jump and push off the lockers and knock the boy to the ground and so he did. He heard a thunk of the boy’s skull bouncing off the ground and he turned to pull out of the grapple.
The beatings he had taken from his father, the grapples, being choked unconscious. Had prepared him for fighting little bitches who didn’t know what a fight was. It wasn’t gay porn with rabbit punch fists flying.
Blood was running down his face and the pain started to hit him as the threats had been eliminated. Only then did he remember to breathe. Taking breathes as Vicky came up to him with tissues and took a hold of his nose.
“Owww owww owww what the fuck my nose could be broken.” He said to Vicky as she pulled his head up and back.
“It’s ok Carl. It’s done.” Matt tried to look to see who Vicky was talking to. It was a boy taller than his 5’9” by more than a small margin. The boy eyed him bored and annoyed before speaking. “What happened here?” An unoriginal line but one Matt couldn’t be a smart aleck about. “Well you see there was an outbreak of tripping and we all tripped over my dick. It happens.” Matt was about to laugh when Vicky seemed to pull up while still gripping his nose causing Matt no small amount of pain which he audibly evidenced.
Vicky spoke in a tone he wasn’t expecting. As if she was accustomed to issuing orders. “Keep Iris away from the hall till we sanitize the site. We have blood from at least three people contaminating the site. And have Jake bring me a spare jacket and shirt for this moron.”
Carl seemed to acknowledge her orders and seemed to blink away. Maybe the punch hit harder than he expected. He had no time to wonder as Vick took her hand away from his and pushed him against the lockers. With ease he had not been expecting from her form and stature.
Before he could respond Vicky licked his blood covered chin and then his lips and spoke to him. “Focus on me you little blood bag.” Her tone had an annoyed yet feminine sneer.
“Look into my eyes. Look at me. You belong to me. You are just another food source in a collection of food sources.” Her eyes were a beautiful hazel Matt thought. Almost green. Pretty like jewels in some old treasure collections. The eyes he could get lost in before kissing her. Finally Vicky was just a slight and petite brunette and he thought she was beautiful.
She would make a hell of a girlfriend. Some cute thing he could see laying on the beach in Florida on their sides laughing and smiling before trading light kisses while hands wandered innocently. Before his mind could drift further he felt her lips on his. It took him a second to mentally grasp the kiss but his arms were around her back as her hands were at his sides. His eyes reflexively closed as he saw hers close.
It was ineffable to Matt. Beyond words, what was happening. The kiss, the moments beforehand. The way his brain tickled with electricity and gentle warmth. He had never had a kiss like this and he had traded more than a few kisses with at least a few girls.
The kiss was like a warm bath with his consciousness slipping beneath the surface. Their lips only parted to try new angles and approaches as Matt struggled to take in breath. It was a moment he could have stayed trapped in for….he didn’t know. But a curt throat clearing by another girl pulled them out of the moment.
The girl was taller than Vicky. Blonde. With slight curves. Vicky addressed her bewildered and gobsmacked, and perhaps a bit embarrassed. “Tina?”

As If It Were Kismet Ch. 5
Following Vicky into the hall off to their first class was simple. She exchanged small talk and he slightly smiled as if to obviously suggest he was just being polite.
Inside his head, Matt was trying to figure out if he was having a psychotic break. The way Vicky looked kept changing and he looked at the other people around him and they stayed the same.
He was searching his mind as they were walking. And thus he wasn’t paying attention to where he was looking and so fell to his face forward over his feet seemingly out of nowhere.
A series of laughs erupted as it sunk in that he was obviously tripped. Like in prison this was a challenge to his superiority. If he let this pass he would be mocked and sneered at by this same group of boys. He wouldn’t walk to them like he was going to do nothing like a little bitch.
In a rage he turned and punched the stomach of the first face he saw. Some typical blonde haired wannabe jock. He knew from experience not to aim for the ribs. Instead he needed to aim for where he thought the belly button was.
Yells and screams blindly echoed around him as his after the punch he followed up his elbow of the opposite arm slamming into the face of the jock. Harder than a fist, the elbow struck the jock’s jaw and seemingly dropped him against a locker. Just in time to catch an errant and soft punch to the nose that sure enough hurt but did little to slow him down as his dad had taught him to fight through the pain. Blood and scars happened. They were a natural consequence of life to a man.
Taking the punch and falling further into his red state Matt headbutted the punch thrower before another guy arm bared his throat from behind. Which he managed to get his grip on the arm over a letterman jacked and jerk the unprepared boy to the side with him still latched on.
A few feet away from the lockers Matt knew his only chance was to jump and push off the lockers and knock the boy to the ground and so he did. He heard a thunk of the boy’s skull bouncing off the ground and he turned to pull out of the grapple.
The beatings he had taken from his father, the grapples, being choked unconscious. Had prepared him for fighting little bitches who didn’t know what a fight was. It wasn’t gay porn with rabbit punch fists flying.
Blood was running down his face and the pain started to hit him as the threats had been eliminated. Only then did he remember to breathe. Taking breathes as Vicky came up to him with tissues and took a hold of his nose.
“Owww owww owww what the fuck my nose could be broken.” He said to Vicky as she pulled his head up and back.
“It’s ok Carl. It’s done.” Matt tried to look to see who Vicky was talking to. It was a boy taller than his 5’9” by more than a small margin. The boy eyed him bored and annoyed before speaking. “What happened here?” An unoriginal line but one Matt couldn’t be a smart aleck about. “Well you see there was an outbreak of tripping and we all tripped over my dick. It happens.” Matt was about to laugh when Vicky seemed to pull up while still gripping his nose causing Matt no small amount of pain which he audibly evidenced.
Vicky spoke in a tone he wasn’t expecting. As if she was accustomed to issuing orders. “Keep Iris away from the hall till we sanitize the site. We have blood from at least three people contaminating the site. And have Jake bring me a spare jacket and shirt for this moron.”
Carl seemed to acknowledge her orders and seemed to blink away. Maybe the punch hit harder than he expected. He had no time to wonder as Vick took her hand away from his and pushed him against the lockers. With ease he had not been expecting from her form and stature.
Before he could respond Vicky licked his blood covered chin and then his lips and spoke to him. “Focus on me you little blood bag.” Her tone had an annoyed yet feminine sneer.
“Look into my eyes. Look at me. You belong to me. You are just another food source in a collection of food sources.” Her eyes were a beautiful hazel Matt thought. Almost green. Pretty like jewels in some old treasure collections. The eyes he could get lost in before kissing her. Finally Vicky was just a slight and petite brunette and he thought she was beautiful.
She would make a hell of a girlfriend. Some cute thing he could see laying on the beach in Florida on their sides laughing and smiling before trading light kisses while hands wandered innocently. Before his mind could drift further he felt her lips on his. It took him a second to mentally grasp the kiss but his arms were around her back as her hands were at his sides. His eyes reflexively closed as he saw hers close.
It was ineffable to Matt. Beyond words, what was happening. The kiss, the moments beforehand. The way his brain tickled with electricity and gentle warmth. He had never had a kiss like this and he had traded more than a few kisses with at least a few girls.
The kiss was like a warm bath with his consciousness slipping beneath the surface. Their lips only parted to try new angles and approaches as Matt struggled to take in breath. It was a moment he could have stayed trapped in for….he didn’t know. But a curt throat clearing by another girl pulled them out of the moment.
The girl was taller than Vicky. Blonde. With slight curves. Vicky addressed her bewildered and gobsmacked, and perhaps a bit embarrassed. “Tina?”

On April 17th I took a pregnancy test which cane back positive (this was a Wednesday), the weekend before I took one it came back negative. For the first 2ish weeks my breasts and nipples were very tender and swollen, then I started spotting brown. The breast tenderness went away upon the beginning of spotting. I had a pelvic exam this past Friday (5/10) and my cervix appeared closed. My original 8 weeks appointment was supposed to be 5/15 but I went yesterday 5/13 instead. On the scan all that was shown was a 7.5mm sac with a yolk, no embryo and because of the spotting the doctor told me either it’s too early or theres a miscarriage. My HCG level was 3995 and they dated me at 5 weeks 4 days. I haven’t had enough spotting for a pad or any bright red but this is day number 9 of spotting and my pregnancy symptoms are pretty much gone (tiredness and tender breasts). Does anyone have any similar experiences and it turned out positive…? I have my next scan June 5th and Im a nervous wreck.

31F. About a week ago I had some bumps develop on my neck. They looked somewhat like cystic acne but felt different - they were a bit itchy and hurt if I squeezed them. I tried taking allergy meds and applying hydrocortisone 1% thinking it was hives, but it didn’t help. I switched today to polysporin after 5 days of hydrocortisone in case it is bacterial but I’m not confident. Currently, there are more bumps than when I started, but they are smaller, no longer painful or itchy except one, and sort of look like they’re healing except that they’re still red and more plentiful than when I started. The rash isn’t anywhere except the front of my throat. Any ideas what it could be? I’ll try to add a photo to the comments

One. Two. Three. Four.
All four nails were removed and the crowbar rattled onto the coffin's wooden lid. Butch and Tony leapt with false hope upon seeing that the 5th time was the charm. Butch crouched down. He tossed the coffin's contents out behind him, many small bags he believed to be filled with coin or some valuables. Tony caught each bag, opening them up to examine what's inside.
"Ey, Butch, there's uh nuthin in these?"
"Waddya mean there's nuthin in em?"
"I mean I checked em all and they're just filled with junk."
"Well check harder." Butch ordered his cohort as he rummaged through the corpse's clothing. Butch would pause briefly upon taking notice of a few characteristics of the coffin's resident. It was a boy of young age who look no older than 15, maybe even 13, from Butch's judgement.
He bore saturated coarse brown hair and the fairest of skin. Butch tugged loose an amulet before wrapping its chain around his hand and pocketing it. Most notable to Butch was the flush of red that painted the boy's cheeks.
"I checked harder Butch, nuthin, just junk."
"Yeah ... yeah, say uh, Tony come ere." The crouching Butch waved his partner over. Tony tossed the final empty sack to the ground and sauntered to Butch's side.
"What's up Butch?"
"Say uh, ya notice sumthin a little 'off' bout dis one?"
"Yeah, it was a waste of diggin, got nuthin but junk."
"Yeah yeah, but uh don't dis fella look a little 'fresh' to ya? Of the 'just buried' variety?" Butch led.
Tony placed his gloved hand to his chin. "Say yeah, I think ya might be right. ... That explains it, the chap was already robbed by whoever smoked em! Lemme get ahold of what eva wise guy made us go through all this diggin fa nuthin."
"I don't think that's it, Tony. Pretty sure if ya smoke someone, you don't go through the trouble of puttin em in a coffin and nailin it shut." Butch inquired.
"Well, so we're a detective now, are we? Well Mr. dead body exput, what do you think happened?"
"I dunno Tony, but I uh ... I think we should call it a night."
"Eh." Tony shrugged. "Not against the idea. Gettin pretty early anyways, best not to test our luck."
The two grave robbers turned to collect their belongings and whatever of the 'junk' on the ground they thought they could make a few easy bucks off of. Their skill set was quite variable. They weren't just grave robbers, but living robbers and conmen too. They didn't doubt they could sucker someone into to buying one the useless pieces of homemade mumbo jumbo they'd looted from the coffin.
Fingers ratted against the wood of the coffin as a hand gripped its side. Butch & Tony whom had their back turns stiffened up right.
"Say uh, Butch, you ... you wouldn't happen to be takin any ventriloquist lessons by chance wouldja?"
"No, Tony. I heard it to."
"What are ya thinking? Zombie?"
"No, no, too fresh. Vampire maybe?" Nodded Butch while biting the dry skin on his lips.
"E̵h̷. Y̷o̵u̶'r̸e̴ n̵o̶t̴ t̵o̷o̸ f̶a̴r̵ o̵f̵f̷ r̵e̶a̸l̸l̵y̶." Sounded the many voices of the boy, from behind. "I̶ t̶h̵i̷n̸k̸ t̵h̵e̸ t̸e̸r̷m̷ i̶s̴ 'w̵i̶t̷c̸h̸'? N̷o̸ w̸a̶i̶t̷, 'w̶a̴r̴l̵o̸c̵k̵' I̸ t̸h̷i̶n̸k̴. P̴r̵e̸t̶t̵y̴ s̷u̴r̶e t̶h̸a̸t̶'s̴ w̴h̶a̶t̷ t̵h̴e̷y̴ c̸a̸l̵l̷e̵d̸ m̷e̴ b̵e̵f̴o̶r̶e̸ t̷h̸e̷y̵ p̴u̴t̵ m̵e̵ i̵n̷ t̸h̴e̶r̶e̷. H̶e̴y̵ u̷h̴, m̴i̷n̸d̶ d̸r̸o̴p̴p̶i̸n̷g̶ t̶h̶a̶t̴ a̸m̴u̸l̵e̶t̶ y̸o̶u̷ s̷w̴i̶p̴e̷d̷ e̴a̴r̶l̶i̵e̴r̵?"
Butch reached a shaking hand into his trench coat and gripped the amulet before stiffly extending his arm to the side and releasing his clutch to drop it. Both men saw the amulet pause mid-air and shoot backwards.
"T̶h̸a̷n̶k̷s̵ r̸e̵a̴l̵l̸y̸." The boy thanked. Both men felt a hand pat them on the back. "W̶o̴u̶l̶d̸ h̷a̸v̶e̸ b̷e̵e̵n̴ a̷w̸k̶w̵a̷r̵d̴ f̵o̴r̸ ̸y̷o̶u̴ t̵o̷ r̶e̷f̴u̸s̵e̵ a̷n̷d̶ t̷h̷e̶n h̷a̶v̷e̵ ̸m̶y̸ l̵i̶b̴e̵r̸a̸t̴o̷r̵s̷ t̴a̵k̶e̵ ̸m̴y̴ ̸s̶p̴o̴t̶ i̸n̶ t̵h̷a̶t̵ c̷o̵f̷f̴i̵n̷. T̸w̸o̵ p̶e̵o̷p̴l̷e̵ w̶o̶u̵l̸d̴ m̵a̵k̶e̴ i̶t̴ k̵i̶n̴d̷a̷ c̷r̴a̵m̸p̴e̴d̵, d̶o̵n̷'t̸ y̷o̷u̶ t̷h̵i̷n̶k̷?"
"H̶e̴y̴ y̷o̴u̷ l̴o̶o̷k̸ l̵i̴k̷e̷ y̴o̴u̶ h̸a̵v̸e̸ g̷o̸o̴d̷ t̷a̸s̵t̸e̴? C̵o̶u̷l̷d̴ y̴o̸u̶ p̴o̷i̸n̸t̵ t̷o̶ t̸h̶e̶ n̴e̷a̶r̴e̷s̵t̴ i̵n̸n̶? T̴a̵v̵e̷r̴n̵? W̷h̵a̷t d̵o̶ y̸o̸u̴ c̴a̸l̴l̷ i̶t̸ n̷o̶w̸?"
Tony raised a shaking finger and pointed in the direction of the closest pub. "P-pub." Tony informed.
"T̵h̷a̶-" The boy broke into a few coughs. "Woah was my throat dry! 'Pub' ... 'Puuuub' funny word. Thanks! I never got the chance to try a drink before they put me underground, father always said I was too young. 🎼B̴u̶t̸ f̵a̴t̵h̴e̴r̸'s̷ n̶o̴t̶ a̴r̸o̷o̸o̷u̶n̷d!🎶 See ya!"
The boy ran between the men skipping & cheering at his new found freedom. He even performed a leap (with remarkable hang time). Though he did pause before getting too far away from the men. The boy turned with an innocent finger on his cheek.
"Oh yeah, friends, you should probably s̸k̶i̵p̶ t̸o̸w̵n̴." He forewarned. "You p̴r̶o̴o̸o̴b̴a̷b̵l̴y̴ won't want to be a̶n̶y̸w̷h̶e̵r̴e̴ near here tomorrow night."
The boy delivered a beaming close-eyed smile before resuming his excited race to try his first drink.
"Hey uh, Tony, my aunts makin dinner in the next town ova, you uh ... wanna come?"
"Yeah Butch, let's get outta here!"
And with that, the two men skedaddled.
^{{origin post was deleted by user}}

Hello! I'm a 35/F in Canada, with a history of mild asthma. Non-smoker In early March I got strep throat - doc never did a swab but my tonsils were swollen & patchy white/black. She gave me amoxicillin and that helped. 2 weeks later I could feel something brewing in my chest, I tried to fight it on my own but ended up stopping by a pharmacy where he gave me salbutamol + 5 days of prednisone. That kind of helped, so I ended up at the hospital because of thr weight on my chest. Chest xrays came back clear, that doc gave me amoxicillin again and the round purple inhaler, advair. Went back to the hospital a week later. Doc took blood work, everything was normal (rbc was slightly elevated but was never mentioned) I was still coughing up phlegm, I couldn't sleep on my right side or I could feel the weight of my chest and start coughing again. Mid-April things finally started getting slightly better, but then they seemed to go back to square one a week later. I've been to the hospital + a clinic x2 now, got an EKG done it was normal....got more prednisone and was told to double up on the advair. Takes the edge off but it's not helping overall. A repeat xray last week showed nothing
Now in May I'm still coughing - seems dry during the day and wet at night, I can only sleep on my stomach or sitting up but wake up constantly coughing. If I lie on my side I get a bad wet cough that makes me feel like I'm choking. Sometimes I cough so hard I puke, or I can't seem to hold my bladder or I get pain behind my left eye..like a Charlie horse but in my eye. My chest hurts, my throat is sore from all the coughing. Same with my stomach muscles. When I take a breath in, I can feel pain on my right side/right lung?. If I turn my neck, lean forward, hiccup etc I start coughing again.
At night I take 2 puffs of salbutamol, 2 puffs of advair, an allergra, nasal spray and 2 tablespoons of benelyn and a tea with honey to help a scratchy throat
I go back to see the clinic dr today, I'm miserable.
Thank you in advance

On April 17th I took a pregnancy test which cane back positive (this was a Wednesday), the weekend before I took one it came back negative. For the first 2ish weeks my breasts and nipples were very tender and swollen, then I started spotting brown. The breast tenderness went away upon the beginning of spotting. I had a pelvic exam this past Friday (5/10) and my cervix appeared closed. My original 8 weeks appointment was supposed to be 5/15 but I went yesterday 5/13 instead. On the scan all that was shown was a 7.5mm sac with a yolk, no embryo and because of the spotting the doctor told me either it’s too early or theres a miscarriage. My HCG level was 3995 and they dated me at 5 weeks 4 days. I haven’t had enough spotting for a pad or any bright red but this is day number 9 of spotting and my pregnancy symptoms are pretty much gone (tiredness and tender breasts). Does anyone have any similar experiences and it turned out positive…? I have my next scan June 5th and Im a nervous wreck.

On April 17th I took a pregnancy test which cane back positive (this was a Wednesday), the weekend before I took one it came back negative. For the first 2ish weeks my breasts and nipples were very tender and swollen, then I started spotting brown. The breast tenderness went away upon the beginning of spotting. I had a pelvic exam this past Friday (5/10) and my cervix appeared closed. My original 8 weeks appointment was supposed to be 5/15 but I went yesterday 5/13 instead. On the scan all that was shown was a 7.5mm sac with a yolk, no embryo and because of the spotting the doctor told me either it’s too early or theres a miscarriage. My HCG level was 3995 and they dated me at 5 weeks 4 days. I haven’t had enough spotting for a pad or any bright red but this is day number 9 of spotting and my pregnancy symptoms are pretty much gone (tiredness and tender breasts). Does anyone have any similar experiences and it turned out positive…? I have my next scan June 5th and Im a nervous wreck.

On April 17th I took a pregnancy test which cane back positive (this was a Wednesday), the weekend before I took one it came back negative. For the first 2ish weeks my breasts and nipples were very tender and swollen, then I started spotting brown. The breast tenderness went away upon the beginning of spotting. I had a pelvic exam this past Friday (5/10) and my cervix appeared closed. My original 8 weeks appointment was supposed to be 5/15 but I went yesterday 5/13 instead. On the scan all that was shown was a 7.5mm sac with a yolk, no embryo and because of the spotting the doctor told me either it’s too early or theres a miscarriage. My HCG level was 3995 and they dated me at 5 weeks 4 days. I haven’t had enough spotting for a pad or any bright red but this is day number 9 of spotting and my pregnancy symptoms are pretty much gone (tiredness and tender breasts). Does anyone have any similar experiences and it turned out positive…? I have my next scan June 5th and Im a nervous wreck.

On April 17th I took a pregnancy test which cane back positive (this was a Wednesday), the weekend before I took one it came back negative. For the first 2ish weeks my breasts and nipples were very tender and swollen, then I started spotting brown. The breast tenderness went away upon the beginning of spotting. I had a pelvic exam this past Friday (5/10) and my cervix appeared closed. My original 8 weeks appointment was supposed to be 5/15 but I went yesterday 5/13 instead. On the scan all that was shown was a 7.5mm sac with a yolk, no embryo and because of the spotting the doctor told me either it’s too early or theres a miscarriage. My HCG level was 3995 and they dated me at 5 weeks 4 days. I haven’t had enough spotting for a pad or any bright red but this is day number 9 of spotting and my pregnancy symptoms are pretty much gone (tiredness and tender breasts). Does anyone have any similar experiences and it turned out positive…? I have my next scan June 5th and Im a nervous wreck.

I have been battling with what I believe to be Candida over the course of almost 2 years. I will jump straight to the point. My main symptoms are a white coated tongue (becomes very dry when speaking), pressure on the throat area, pain and swollen under the left and right rib cages, especially apparent after I’ve had eaten something. This almost feels like a bulge, a little hard to explain tbh.
I first when to my GP and he couldn’t properly diagnose me. Instead, he sent me to get an ultrasound to see if I have an enlarged spleen. The results came back clear, no enlarged spleen. Still symptoms persisted, so I had my blood work done to check if I had Leukaemia. Blood work was clear and seemed to be healthy, only lacking lower than normal iron levels.
After I lost hope with my GP, I tried my luck with a natural path. He diagnosed me with a yeast infection in my small intestine. He basically had me on a Probiotic and a few other supplements for over a year, and I was doing the anti candida diet during that time as well.
During the course of this time suffering from this, I have tried the fruit based diet, carnivore, animal based and now I’m basically just sticking either eating whole foods, that would include fruits, vegetables, meats, etc.
A few months back, I visited another doctor and he said I most likely have acid reflux and the coating on my tongue is a result of that. Now, fast forward until today and I’m going to be getting a test done to see if there is anything going on inside my gut. After the results come back I will get referred to a GI doctor.
I really would appreciate some advice here, I just want this get better and I just want to understand what is going on, since there has been a number of different doctors all telling me different things. I would really appreciate everyone’s feedback. Thank you!