At Databases subject we are creating a database for a health care company.
I already created all the entities but now i need to populate the database (these are translated from Portuguese):
● 5 clinics, from at least 3 different locations in the Lisbon district
● 5-6 nurses per clinic
● 20 doctors specializing in ‘general practice’ and 40 others distributed as you see fit across up to 5 other medical specialties (including at least ‘orthopedics’ and ‘cardiology’). Each doctor must work in at least two clinics, and in each clinic every day of the week (including weekends), there must be at least 8 doctors
● Around 5,000 patients
● A minimum number of consultations in 2023 and 2024 such that each patient has at least one consultation, and on each day there are at least 20 consultations per clinic, and at least 2 consultations per doctor
● ~80% of consultations have an associated medical prescription, and prescriptions contain 1 to 6 medications in quantities between 1 and 3
● All queries have 1 to 5 symptom observations (with parameter but no value) and 0 to 3 metric observations (with parameter and value). There should be ~50 different parameters for the symptoms (no value) and ~20 different parameters for the metric observations (with value) and the two sets must be disjoint.
● All addresses are national and follow the Portuguese format, ending with postal code: XXXX-XXX and then the location.
The professor recommended using chatGPT for this but it isn't very helpfull.
Is there any website that i could use to help me? I can give more details if needed.
Thank you in advance!

I’m currently living in a nursing home and rehab facility recovering from a hemmorhaggic stroke that has paralyzed my left side and has left me wheelchair bound and unable to take care of myself. I suppose that since I try to do my best to do things on my own before asking for help, the other residents here don’t seem to see me as a fellow resident and they tend to expect me to be able to help them with their needs and problem. Depending on the problem, I do try my best to help if I’m able- the housekeeper raided your blinds all the way up so now the lamppost outside of your window is shining into your room? Ok, just let me go grab my reacher tool and come out in the hallway so that I can get into your room… You want me to go get the nurse? Well, let me see if they are available-“ the nurse is on their lunch break, I will check in a bit t see if they have returned and then I will let them know that you need them.” You need to be changed? Okay, I will turn on your call light so that the CNA will come and you can let them know that you need to be changed…” & so on and so forth. There is a resident down the hall who is in her seventies and she is a very nervous woman, I think of her as a ‘Nervous Nelly’ she speaks in a rush and she always sounds like she is on the verge of crying. 95% of the time she says something to me or asks a question, I have to put my hand up in a ‘stop’ position “I can’t understand you, take a breath and say it again slower.” Just now she came to my room in a rush and word-vomited on me. After getting her to slow down and repeat herself, she said “”can you give me a laxative, I haven’t gone in two weeks!?“ “I don’t have any but you could ask the nurse.”-“I did but she won’t givemeany!” ‘Nelly’ has memory problems so I very much doubt that she has not been able to shit in two weeks as the nurses will give yo something to help you go after three days. So she has most likely been having bowel movements and has forgotten. She was a statue in my doorway still expecting me to do something for her about it until I informed her “I can’t give you something that I don’t have . I don’t have any laxatives and I can’t force the nurse to give you anything. Thankfully she accepted that answer and either went back to her room or went to go bug the nurse agai. I’m just so confused about what the hell she was expecting me to do- run down to the store and buy her some laxatives!? Then come back, remove all of the seals one-handed, administer it to her and hold her hand while she shits??

Hello! Back in early April I had a pretty severe stomach bug, about 10 days to stop having what I would consider diarrhea.
Then I was pretty good for like a week, then started having some pain in my ankle on 19 April. By 21 April my ankle was so swollen I had to use crutches. I had no idea what was happening. I already had crutches from a previous injury so I just got around on those for like a day and a half hoping it would just go away, unfortunately it did not. I went to an ER, they did an x ray, nothing broken, after 5 hours they sent me home. Went to my PCM, they just reflexively referred me for an MRI and PT. When I finally got to the PT she was uncomfortable trying to do anything with my foot because it was so swollen and had a rash on it.
That night I went to a different ER, They were a lot more thorough. They did a lot of blood draws and even drew fluid from my ankle itself. Most importantly, they gave me a referral to rheumatology.
When I finally got to the rheumatologist, they were quick to say it was almost certainly reactive arthritis. They had asked the ER to do a test for HLAB27, but the results weren’t back yet. He wanted to do another draw of fluid from my ankle, which I was not crazy about, but he also said he’d inject a steroid which would help bring the swelling down and make it so I could walk again. This I wanted very much. He did give me the steroid shot and 2 days from that I’ve been able to hobble around without my crutches, but it’s very painful first thing in the morning and gradually gets easier to walk around by evening.
The rheumatologist asked about my eyes, and though I said one of them had been producing some gunk, and maybe had a mild case of conjunctivitis, they were fine. He presciently advised me of ophthalmology walk in hours. A few days later I would need that information as my left eye has basically gone blind, extremely cloudy at least, I could “see” but it was as if through thick smoke. If my other eye were nearly as deprecated, I would not be able to function as a sighted person. This was quickly diagnosed as Uveitis. I’ve now been on 3 different eye drops for 2+ weeks to try to control the inflammation in my eye. The vision has only slightly improved in it, but it seems to be on a positive trajectory. The ophthalmologists were also the ones to tell me in a follow up that my HLA-B27 results back positive, and they were pretty bleak about the prognosis.
Now, I’m not sure if it’s the latest front in my reactive arthritis, or a consequence of my hobbling gait, but my left knee (the side opposite my compromised ankle) has become stiff and swollen. It’s a little painful to bend it fully. I’m paranoid that it’s going to continue swelling and become another impediment to me walking normally. My lower back has also begun to stiffen and I am paranoid that that is ankolysing spondilitis. The toes of the foot with my compromised ankle are also swollen, I fear those joints may become fused. I told my husband about these concerns and he’s now afraid I’m becoming a hypochondriac. He’s been fantastic throughout this taking care of me and bringing me things when I couldn’t walk, even driving me to work some days when it really hurt to drive. But his reaction to that made me sad and made me worry about whether all of this pains and debilitations are the new normal for my life.
Thanks to anyone for reading. It’s been helpful reading through the posts here and seeing what everyone else has been going through and especially hearing about recovery timelines. I’m open to any advice. The rheumatologist in our first encounter mentioned getting more aggressive with oral steroids or biologics, when we last talked I felt like everything was on the mend and my knee had only just started acting up and I was sure it was because of my hobble. Now I kind of want to reach back out and ask to start on all the oral steroids and whatever else will get me back to normal and keep this from ever happening again.

On Wednesday I was granted a PRO against my daughter’s father. I arranged for OFW to be used for communication regarding our daughter. I had to wait a few days for my fee waiver to be accepted, so I gave consent for him to communicate with me through text (WI restraining order). I have since gotten access to Family Wizard.
I’m seeking a bit of advice prior to my appointment at a family law clinic. I’ve been trying to arrange visits with my ex, he will not agree to these visits unless they are on his terms. I’m trying to gradually increase our daughter’s time away from me (primary caregiver) because she is just 13 months old and exclusively breastfed. She’s never slept without me there, still wakes to nurse, and hasn’t spent more than 4 hours from me at a time. I’ve communicated my willingness to work on night weaning and creating a small stash of milk. I have sent multiple sources on developmentally appropriate transitions for children her age going through parental separation. I want our daughter to be happy, healthy, well-adjusted. I don’t want to compromise her ability to form secure attachments or traumatize her by thrusting her into a completely new routine and keeping her from her trusted caregiver for extended periods of time before she is ready.
My ex is unwilling to visit her in the city we’ve always lived in. He tells me shorter visits aren’t fair. And when I expressed anxiety and doubt regarding overnights right out of the gate, he accused me of denying him time with his daughter. He has never helped with overnights since she’s been born, these have solely rested on me. He’s a heavy sleeper and if I ever needed anything I couldn’t get myself, it would require me shouting his name and shaking him. I’m very anxious she will be left to cry herself to sleep in his care, and CIO is something both us agreed we’d never do.
I’m sitting here reading and researching how to set her up for the best possible outcome. He’s concerned with the fact that he hates the city we’ve lived all her life and doesn’t “want to dick around for hours” with his daughter. He’d rather have her at his moms, nearly 40 minutes away. I don’t want to be seen as uncooperative, I just really love my daughter and want to do 50/50 in a way that honors and respects her development. What do I do? Am I being unreasonable and unfair?

I really wish I could just “do a thing” instead of constantly seeking social interaction, and subsequently being very bad at. I often stare at message logs for 10-20 minutes before working myself up to saying something. I prefer voice chat because then I don’t have to hesitate, I can just go with the conversation.
I always become paranoid that people hate me, and that they want me to never speak to them again. I can convince myself entire servers hate me sometimes… Or that they’ll do the “mean kids” routine and all make fun of me for the first thing i say.
Does anyone else struggle with incessant worry and paranoia that you’ll say something stupid and everyone will target you because of it? I feel like everyone can sense my metaphorical social score being near 0. I try so hard to be likable, and I get told I’m a good person often… but I don’t believe them. Because I have to try, trying means faking in my mind. It should come naturally… I know that’s not true but it’s “what the brain says.”
I recently got put on Dextroamphetamine and it helped only by placebo on day 1, after that day now I’m just lonely at 100mph. I shouldn’t be lonely though, I have a partner whom I love dearly. But it’s not his job to take care of me 24/7. I don’t want to bug him and keep him from work just because I can’t be alone.
I hope everyone is doing well. If anyone else needs a call buddy, my PMs are always open to the community.

Written May 18, 2024 A quick recap Dotty(Real name Dorothy)was an elderly woman I met in 2018 that my mom and I left at a nursing home in Tarzana California on May 20, 2022 to go see our cousin graduate in North California. On our return May 25, the CEO and founder of the home Sargis Avazyan refused to give dotty back by emotionally convincing her to stay at his facility and now won’t let her leave or let any family or friends call her as he just wants her there indefinitely for money. He is also doing this to other elderly from his indirect words I’ve taped as he’s very controlling and arrogantly boastful over “His” elderly residents
Fast forward to now and I’ve been gathering info on him for two years and compiling it on my iPad in my investigation to free dotty and the other elderly. I told the community Care board in Woodland HillIs who oversees the operation of Nursing Homes in the Tarzana area in CA about him last Feb 2023 and met with this cop May 2 2024 at the West Valley Community Police Department as this police department oversees Tarzana CA along with other general areas near this area. He gave me his card with his name and said he along with other cops will attempt to help me free dotty and the other elderly. I will attempt to free her before or after May 25, 2024. I will broadcast this live on twitch at the facility during the police raid so people can know to be careful when giving there elderly to a nursing home as you might not see them again so follow me on Twitch at Justinxrw if you wish to see what elder isolation in a nursing home looks like and the signs to beware of and to be notified when it goes live.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared for my safety but more so, the elderly have a right to see their families since no nursing home can make that choice except them to see their families or not. The only issues that prevent me from doing this apart from being scared is that my mom says that “If I do this, she’ll tell everyone in our complex I abused Dotty” since “dotty” wrote/filed a detainer wanting her house back from us naming us abusers at his facility and that my mom may possibly disown me for doing this as she now hates dotty after learning what she did to her children, which I’m perfectly ok with as I’m giving the elderly a chance to fight back as Sargis is a Kidnapper as far as I’m concerned or sure if his nursing home is legal(I’ve researched). I guess I’m caught in a dilemma on if I should to this since this has consequences for me

[FIRST][LAST]
Atlantis Commission
Officer Report - Lieutenant Colonel John Shepard
CLEARANCE LEVEL 5
Well this had definitely been a very interesting couple of hours. This dimension and its people had very odd opinions and ideas. Apparently the prey species of this dimension were all obligate cowards, whose instincts compelled them to be non-violent and run from threats. At least according to themselves. There were apparently some of them who were “predator diseased” as they called it, a disease which often resulted in increased violence, aggression, lack of empathy, and unheard like behavior. It sounded to me like some form of infectious psychopathy, but the venlil assured us it shouldn't affect us since we were predators, which didn’t really ease my fears, but hopefully it was something we could figure out when we got home if it ever became a problem.
Gotta love mandatory quarantine periods woo hoo!
As scary as this odd disease sounded, my main concern at the moment was to try and turn a professed coward into someone who could at the very least defend themselves.
I looked down to the table of gear ahead of me and then over to the mostly naked Venlil to my side, and then even farther to Tiel’c who thought It would be a good idea to help oversee Farva’s rapid fire training course. I fiddled with the bluetooth earpiece which was rigged up to one of our handhelds to run a translation program to speak directly with the captain. A big step up from our unknowingly one sided communications earlier.
I stepped on the other side of the plastic table and placed my hands down upon it and looked on at my new student..
“Welcome Captain Farva to our very impromptu accelerated course on Human arms armor and basic infantry tactics.” I said gesturing to the hodge podge gear we had managed to assemble for the good captain. “Are we ready to begin?”.
She flicked her ears, somewhat nervously by the looks.
“I’d take it that's a yes then?”
“Oh yes sorry”
“Alright then, well given that most of our crew is human and the only other alien struts around naked all the time, the only gear we have on hand is for humans, So you're going to be running size smalls and it's all going to fit all a bit big” I say as I toss her the tactical vest. ”Here try this on, we can try to tighten it up if it's a bit loose anywhere”. The captain wrestles with the buckles a bit, and Teal'c helps her tighten up some of the top straps, as the Venil’s shoulders weren't as broad as humans. Farva gave Teal’c an odd look, but seemed appreciative none the less.Once finished, she grasped the vest in her paws with interest. “This armor seems quite lightweight, which is nice, weight is often an issue that causes us to forgo armor, since heavy armor would hurt our running ability.” Farva remarks. “Also the sheer amount of pockets seems quite excessive, what do you need all these for?”
“Well for starters it's currently missing these '' I hand Farva one of the armor plates which she looks over. “That is a depleted Naquadria ceramic composite plate. It’s designed to stop bullet impacts and dissipate energy weapon blasts. It slots into that chest compartment in the front and back of your armor.”
“This isn't quite what Id imagine for the armor of your kind”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Well judging by your ships I would have imagined you would put more emphasis on defense Your predatory nature would make you less likely to run away from conflict allowing for more encompassing armor to cover more than just your chest, since you have less need to run.”
She would put it like that.
“Well there are a number of reasons for that, a lot to do with those excess pockets you mentioned. For starters you will not be carrying the same amount of gear that the standard infantry unit would normally be carrying, we are preparing you for a quick in and out op. Normally us expedition teams need to be deployed into unknown territory for extended periods of time, we need to carry everything we might need with us from food, bullets, weapons, to comms gear, sensors, repelling equipment etc. The weight from all that gear adds up fast; In order to stay sufficiently mobile and combat effective; we only carry enough armor to protect our vitals, head and torso, anything else can hopefully be patched up by a field medic.”
Tielc gave his piece as well. “It is important to know when to run both towards and aways from one's foes, not every battle can be won through strength alone, but by strategy and cunning. Being able to reposition oneself quickly is therefore highly advantageous”
Farva seemed to freeze at Teal'c's statement, not out of fear I think, she instead had a distant look in her eye. To snap her out of her slump I handed her a standard ballistic helmet.
Seeming to get the idea she looked at it oddly and tried it on. It confirmed to her head shape decently well but depressed her ears to either side of her head, kind of resembling what one might imagine a sad bunny rabbit to look like “I don't think this will be something I can bring with me” she said ” I can't use ear signals and this will muffle my hearing.”
“Why don’t you keep it on for the time being, I think any extra hearing protection might be useful considering what we are about to try next.” I hand Farva some ballistic ear protectors, slightly modified and somewhat ramshackle. “One of the corporals worked closely with Nurse Fila to get an idea for safe decibels levels for your kind, we were also able to get these earbuds molded to fit into your ear canal better”
Farva took them and slipped them in. “These are a bit uncomfortable, what do I need these for?”
“You'll need them for this” I say as I unsnap the clasps on the weapons case revealing its contents.
The content seems to capture Farva’s interest, getting a slight tail wave.
“Okay So this here is a p90, It carries a 50 round top loading magazine of teflon coated armor piercing ordnance. With a cyclical rate of fire of 900 rounds per minute.”
Farvas ears perk up at this. “This seems like an efficient design, I take it these are a flashlight and laser sight for accuracy?” She asked, pointing to the top of the weapon.
“Yes we also have holographic and acog optics which will help line up targets from farther away.” I look on as Farva picks up the weapon and inspects it, testing the weight as I note that it will weigh a fair bit more once loaded. But she doesn't seem to be struggling with the weight. I can't help but notice good firearm safety as well, she keeps her finger well off the trigger and takes care to keep her weapon pointed aways from anyone else.
“This seems like a solid design but I'm not sure how useful those weapon optics would be, as they are not designed for my side facing eyes”
“I'm sure our master at arms can figure something out, why don't we give it a test fire first tho, before we send it off to make adjustments.” I instruct her on how to load the weapon and turn the safety off. I warn her of the sound it makes. And while definitely taken aback by the recoil and sound at first, she quickly gets the hang of it, she has some respectable shot groupings in both single fire and in short bursts. And keeps the rounds reasonably centered while firing in full auto.
She did a whole lot better than I would have initially suspected given her performance in the hanger bay a day before.
“The rate of fire seems useful” Farva spoke “This would be useful for our soldiers, our accuracy falters when we are panicked, and the increased shot count should guarantee some hits based on volume of fire alone” she finished with a dejected expression.
She quickly places the weapon back in its case, as if it burned to touch.” I don't know if I should be armed for this mission, at least not with that weapon, I don't want to miss and hit one of you in the back!”
“What? Nonsense, you are a great shot, and this is just a precaution in case we get separated or flanked and need some covering fire. If our guys are doing their job right you shouldn't need to fire a single round anyways.”
Captain Farva’s breathing started to hasten, earlier I might have thought it was fear, but I was starting to get an idea of what the captain's issues were. I’ve seen this before.
“I.. I can’t be trusted with this responsibility, every time I am left in charge of something, every time people put their lives in my paws I ....”
“Farva, don’t you start with me now you hear.” I said sternly, swiftly capping off her inevitable spiral of self doubt.
“But.. no.. you don’t understand”
Stopping her again I spoke. “But nothing, what happened before on that ship, and back at that colony is in the past. I don’t know your whole situation, but from what I have gathered from the crew It was nothing good. You feel responsible and it's eating away at you, and frankly it doesn’t matter if that's true or not. Accidents happen, people make mistakes, and when that happens we need to learn, take those lessons to heart, and don't let it stop us from helping people in the present. If you let guilt, or fear of mistakes stop you, then bad guys have already won, all without having to have fired a shot”
Farva is quiet for a short time, I was hoping I got through to her, I'm not the best and pep talks and this certainly wasn’t your typical weapons demo, if only everyones could go as smoothly as Ronan’s.
Farva spoke quietly, arms pressed up against her chest, she looked so sad, defeated, and small. Well more than usual anyways. “We can't be strong like you humans, we are too emotional and when we are scared we run away or we lock up and...”
“And that is clearly not the case with you captain Farva” Teal’c finally reentered the conversation having heard enough. “You have shown courage with every action you have taken so far, your actions have saved the lives of many of your crew, every time you have been threatened you acted not just to protect yourself but others as well. You attempted to contend with beings many times your size without even thinking about it, all in the effort to protect others, and this is only in the time we have known you, this speaks nothing of your actions over the colony. You are a warrior of admirable courage Captain Farva, your self doubt is unearned.”
A single tear rolled down Farva’s eyes which she quickly wiped away. “That was very nice of you to say, but I'm not brave like you say, I was terrified out of my mind the whole time.”
Teal’c looked puzzled. “I did not call you brave, I said you were courageous.”
Farva shot back with the little venlil one up one down ear flick I had very quickly learned was confusion.” I'm confused you just said brave twice”
“Hmm it appears your language does not contain the word I am using, I apologize I am not used to speaking through a translator” Teal’c relented “ There are two words I am using admittedly in slightly different forms, bravery and courage. Bravery or to be brave is to lack fear, to not be afraid to begin with. Courage tho, Is a trait far more admirable. Courage is to be afraid, to have fear, to worry about one's own mortality and personal safety. It is to acknowledge risk, danger, to feel fear, but to act in spite of it.”
“Had I not met your kind before I would have thought predators don't feel fear.”
“Everyone fears feel Farva, It is how we overcome it that determines our worth as warriors”
Teal’c picks up the p90 and returns it to Farvas hands.
“Your people need a warrior Farva, a warrior who protects the innocent and guides the lost to safety. You have shown how collected you can be in the heat of battle, You have already proven your worth in our eyes Farva, now you must do the same in your own. The greatest enemy lies not without” Teal’c places his hand firmly on the venlil’s chest “But within”.
After Action Report - Venlil Colonial Defense Force
Subject : Chief Engineer Donu
I fiddled with my holopad, Its small surface area proving to be a consistent source of annoyance in my current endeavor. Gone was the large workspace afforded to me by my holotable back in my office. Instead I had to work with the scaled down portable holotablet I was just fortunate enough to have strapped to my person when I was beamed away from our last ship. I was stuck with its smaller keyboard and slower rendering speeds.
An annoyed smooth skin alien looked over my shoulder at my device, attached to it was a jury rigged fiber optic cable, slotted into a terran silicon to crystal patch cable, which would convert the electrical signals broadcasted by my tablet into a bandwidth that the terrans crystalline based computers; which they used for highly complex tasks like hyperdrive and transporter systems; could use, and then It was patched again in a even stranger connector to patch into the odd asgard computer stones.
All in all it looked like someone tried to plug a regular computer into some crystal construct like you would find in a fantasy holonovel, and again plugged that into a harchen heat rock sauna lounge. Finally branching out from this conglomeration was a simple copper based wire that connects to a computer terminal at which currently sat the late Doctor Rodney Mckay. A title upon initially hearing led me to believe he was a medical doctor, which led to a flurry of medical questions that he had absolutely no means of answering.
While this odd alien nomenclature was interesting, what intrigued me more was his actual area of expertise, theoretical astrophysics, as well as a number of other diverse specialties and fields. Not to mention not only was he a great scientist who had he been raised in the more civilized portion of this galaxy, would have knowledge and aptitude that would put him alongside some of Aafas greatest minds, but he was also an engineer without peer, at least in this galaxy. His interactions with general Samantha Carter hinted at her possibly being his match if not more. For a species that was supposed to glorify violence the decision to have a scientist be arguably the most senior member of what was by their admission a military vessel spoke to their commitment to knowledge and understanding, a very noble prey-like goal.
I looked warily at the lines of code at my screen, the asguard translation program had earlier scanned our ship and was able to parse written languages, but complex files, like images and 3d design schematics were harder to encode and decode from our perspective systems. As is stands we have 3 completely separate computer architectures, the asguard can talk to human computers and the venlil computers can talk to the asguard computers, It sounds like we would have everything we need to get a human C.A.D schematic into a venlil holotablet right? Wrong! And you're stupid for entertaining such a idiotic notion! Parsing text from raw binary is relatively straight forward, you're just looking for patterns, repeating bit combinations that might infer letters and then iterating them over millions of times looking for patterns, letters, words, and then with a bit of help from some undecoded analog audio transmission, spoken language. This is a far cry from actual procedural communication protocols,the ones that allow for file transfers, exactly what we needed if we were to get Rodney's redesigned part schematics into a format and medium that can be plugged into a suitable fabricator. Assuming one still exists, which I can reasonably assume it does.
Speaking of which, I have just made something of a breakthrough. For upon my screen appears a simple geometric hydrogen cube, we’re talking vertices, planes, material data, everything we need for a usable design file.
I let out an excited pent up yip, the culmination of hours of frustrating software integration work. Unfortunately I startled Rodney, who lets out a panicked gasp and clutches his chest pelts with one of his paws.
“Oh god…..” He gasps, pointing at me “Please.. don’t do that”
“Sorry!” I say a bit meekly. I slowly approach him so as to not make him unnecessarily uncomfortable and show him my work.
“I got the file exchange set up, all we need from you is to finish any modifications to your part, upload them to my holopad, and then we can print away at any class 3 or above fabricator we can scrounge up on Brayga colony.”
“Ok.. um.. got it, I'm almost done i’m just you know” He points a lone grasping appendage at his screen,”Running some simulations, making sure everything is up to spec.” keeping his response kurt. “Sorry for freaking out there.”
I nod my head in the human display of affirmation and return to my workstation to further bug check my work, to test potentially problematic edge cases for when he finishes. Tho Rodney's continued odd behavior intruded on my thoughts.
I should have felt empowered, being able to intimidate this ‘massive beast’, but I didn't. I didn't like being feared, his people have been nice to me, Rodney himself courteous to a fault and desperate for positive attention.
I thought I could expect predators to be fearless but that clearly wasn't the case, rodney was fearful, nervous, had I not known better I would say defective, and while it annoyed his crew, they didn't berate him for it, or attempt to assert dominance, they encouraged it even with placating words and tried to help him through it, they encouraged and supported him like a proper herd, even if sometimes it took the form of what the human would call a playful ribbing. I supposed I could help him as well.
I approached him again, careful to make my approach known to him, making sure to approach from within his limited field of vision. He looks up at me with a wide eyed glare, had I not known him I might have assumed it was hunger, but I did and knew it to be concern.
“Uh high Donu.. um whats up?”
“Why are you afraid of us rodney?”
“Wa-What, me afraid?” he gives out a panicked laugh ”uh no no, I'm not afraid, you know just a bit weirded out I'm just getting used to you all, it's not a fear thing it's a a…. Just getting used to new aliens thing, ask Hermirod we went through this whole song and dance right buddy”
Hermirod furrowed his brow and gave an irritated sigh from across the room.
I reached out to take Rodney by the paw.
His whole body flinched at my mere touch, I quickly withdrew my paw.
“Oh.. um.. I didn't…”
“Rodney! It's okay, your crew doesn’t seem to care when you show fear, and neither do I. Why are you afraid of us? You are almost twice our size and surely double our strength, most venlil would scream and run in terror at the mere sight of you. What's wrong?”
Rodney let out a sigh. “Oh its, we don't have to talk about this, I can deal with this, I deal with scary situations all the time, it's fine, I'll be fine.”
“Rodney, my people are a very emotional, empathic people, we are open with our feelings and with our fear, and the fear of the one can affect the herd, please let me help you. I don’t know what to expect from your society but I promise I wont judge you for your fear or emotions, I mean look at many of my crew mates, we are no one to judge”
Rodney shot back “You didn't seem to be so bothered”
“I’m too old to care, I was about to retire, hell I was about to die as far as I knew, Brayga colony was supposed to be a quiet place to lay back, work on some hobbies, plant a garden and pester the young men of my colony until I either dropped dead of boredom or got lucky” I joked.
That seemed to raise Rodney's mood somewhat. He sighed and seemingly relented.
“It’s… a dumb story, I don't even know why it affected me so much, I come from a place on earth called Canada, people don't usually believe me when I say I am from there, us Canadians are notoriously friendly and I guess I haven’t exactly filled that mold for a lot of my life, but hey I'm working on it, people like me, I have lots of friends back at Atlantis” He says the last sentence in a way as if it isn't me he's trying to convince.
“I'm sure you do, Rodney, You seem like quite the charming individual when you're not cowering!”
“Ha ha thanks, maybe you could come and visit sometime. Tell that to doctor Becket, really nice guy, smart man, he would love to meet you, he loves investigating new species. But back on topic, oh boy, so me and my sister Jeannie were on a family trip to rural Vancouver to visit my grandpa's farm, he kept a lot of goats, not for eating or anything, they were essentially pets that he would use for milk”
“Wait hold on? You drink milk from other animals! Do your females not produce enough milk for their young?”
“Oh um no, we just sort of drink it or ferment it into cheese!”
“Ferment? You mean spoil?
“Yeh”
I reeled from this plasma blast of a statement, I like any right minded venlil had a number of nightmares about being an arxur’s cattle before, especially when I first learned about those things in primary school, but never once had it crossed my mind that we could be used for something so weird. What the speh was I supposed to do with that information?
“Maybe you should get back on topic”
“Yeh sorry about that uh.. Anyways the momma goat had just had a litter of babies, and their real cute when their little, so late in the day when my grandpa was asleep we snuck out to the pens so we can play with the little baby goats, our grandpa told us not to but you now how kids are.”
At this I think back to a young Nyan, as I teach him the inner working of the hyperdrive, I tell him he’s not cleared yet to operate in this engine compartment alone, but I could tell from the occasional caught black hairs and dropped writing implements, there had been a number of curious unauthorized expeditions into its inner workings, he didn't really listen either.
“My sister as always was trying to be the voice of reason, wanting to take it slow. If I was paying attention I might have noticed the angry moma goat who didn’t appreciate the strange human messing with her children.”
The color seemed to drain from his face.
“I uh…” He began to stutter again ”I screamed, a lot, it was rather undignified, she ran right at me, thank god it wasn't a male goat, one with horns, I tired to run but I was hit in the back and knocked over and kicked real good in the head, like wake up in the vet clinic a quarter mile down the road kind of bad”
“This goat was a prey animal?”
“That would be what your kind focuses on”
“Oh sorry”
“Anyways It seems dumb but I have just never been good with animals since then, especially ones that look like you; no offense; I'm getting better but when I first saw you guys in the hangar bay, I was just that dumb kid again, getting in way over my head, scared for my life. I guess there is something to be said about childhood trauma. I really should be over this, I'm getting better with it I swear it’s just”
I take his paw again, he doesn't flinch this time.
“I'm a venlil, a prey animal, I know fear, I know what it is to live in fear, It rattles your brain, it turns your paws to wet grains. It takes great strength to overcome it, to push it aside just long enough to protect the herd. Your herd relies on you Rodney and you are doing a great job in spite of your fear, in spite of having to work with those you fear. You have achieved intellectual feats that rival the greatest minds of the federation and all that while struggling with a traumatic experience. Fear isn’t dumb and there is nothing wrong with you for feeling it.”
“Thank you” Rodney says “That means a lot, I won't be like forever I promise, I just need some time.”
“We will laugh about this someday,” I assured. “Nothing as big and intelligent as you should be afraid of anything”
“Are you calling me fat?” Rodney exclaimed with fake offense.
We both chuckled.
My kind words had resulted in a more upright posture, and a more cheerful demeanor from the human, almost like when I congratulated Nyan on his work, and it got me a look at that happy snarl of his, that I was starting to grow quite fond of.
After Action Report - Venlil Colonial Defense Force
Subject : Apprentice Engineer Nyan
Oh wow! I get to write a report for this mission! I never get to write reports, Donu says they're too boring, but there’s so many interesting things going on all the time. Sometimes I sneakily write my own! Just for fun of course, nobody sees them, which is probably for the best as I sometimes get excited and embellish them slightly. One of the reports I wrote was about the time Donu used nothing but a wad of electrical tape, a bottle of high grain venlil alcohol and a pocket knife to repair a venlil medical ship just in time to get out of the way of a big scary space predator, with glowing red eyes and a million tentacles!
Anyways Im not sure If im suppose to write these In present tense first person or past tense. I asked the captain and she said it's whatever so long as I make sure any pertinent dialogues are properly quoted(“”).
“Nobody usually reads these things anyways.” She said, but this one is surely going to be so exciting, who could look away!
I mean who's gonna scoff at a chance to read about friendly predators from another dimension! A dimension of friendly predators who give warm head scratches and hand out yummy strayu not strayu treats called donuts, that are somehow fluffier than strayu, and have a nice moisture to them. I asked for the recipe but Samantha said we wouldn't have the ingredients back on Venili prime to make them, and Teal'c said the recipe is an old family secret. Its weird predators would be so protective of their plant snacks.
There are so many weird things about these predators, they have nurturing instincts that make them find us cute. They stay perfectly balanced even if they don’t have tails, swinging their arms and body all over the place to keep upright like a lopsided gyroscope, it's pretty funny looking!
They also wear artificial pelts all the time, which I thought was weird, I thought maybe the ships temperature was set by the angry gray alien since he’s the only crew member beside the venlil who walks around naked all the time, maybe he had a fit when it was to warm, and the humans obliged him cause they were worried they would make him even angrier, and wore clothes to make up for the cold. I thought this made sense, a lot of their technology does seem to come from the Asguard, maybe he has more say in the goings on of the ship because of that. But apparently humans just like wearing pelts all the time. They feel uncomfortable without them and don’t like it if you try to remove them or look up their upper artificial pelts they call shirts.
The humans are so weird, I don’t even have to embellish my reports to make it more interesting. Like that time with the big tentacled space predator. That may sound real compared to this stuff but it Isn't, Ha! I bet you fell for it at first, hook line and sinker! Like the humans would say. I think I used that saying right, I'm not sure what it means, but Shepard brought it up when he was telling a story about the wraith.
The humans are so nice, instead of exterminating their predators they try to cure them! Their doctors are working to modify the wraith so they don't have to eat humans anymore, so they can be friendly predators too.
Anyways I should probably get to the actual report part of this report. Farva says I should start after I went off with Samantha to work on some special astrophysics equations she said I would be good at. I kind of wanted to go with Donu to help Rodney get the new parts they needed, or Farva to help rescue our people, but the humans and even the angry gray alien got really weird when Farva mentioned taking me on the mission. Samantha seemed to want me to help her really badly so I didn’t mind. Samantha says I have the most important part to our mission. She's teaching me about how humans communicate through subspace, and about stellar drift equations. We are working on what she calls the exit strategy.

Around Thanksgiving last year, my 22 year old daughter Izzy started complaining about her back hurting. We just assumed she pulled a muscle or had a pinched nerve. After a couple weeks, the pain seemed to be getting worse. She went to urgent care on a Friday and they confirmed she probably had a pinched nerve. They gave her some meds. That following Monday (Dec. 18) she was in a lot of pain, so I rushed her to the hospital. It was her back and her left arm now bothering her. They blew her off and said that she was fine. I insisted that she get an MRI or cat scan done. Finally at my request they did a cat scan on her back and said they didn't see anything wrong. They said it's probably a pinched nerve, gave her more meds and sent us home.
The week of Christmas everything changed. She woke up each night covered in sweat. On the 28th, her heart was beating fast, she was extremely pale, and had two knots appear on the left side of her neck and one under her left underarm. I brought her to a different hospital.
When we got to the ER, they immediately took her to a room. Her vitals were extremely high (170 heart rate) from the pain she was in. They were considering that she could have meningitis or mono. They wanted to get tests ran right away. They admitted her, and did a spinal tap and MRI. 2 days later (Saturday) the doc said they found a large tumor on her spine. Can't say if it's cancer yet, she would need a biopsy first. They informed us that she would be moved that day to their sister hospital that specializes in cancer.
When we arrived, she was put on the neurology ward in a regular room. They immediately put her on a lot of meds. She was on so many pain drugs, (Oxy, Dilaudid, muscle relaxers, Morphine, Xanax, etc.) that I kept asking, "Is this end of life? Can she overdose from all these drugs?" They would respond with, "no, it's just to keep her comfortable and we're trying to get her heart rate down." On New years day they gave her Ativan. She responded horribly to it. It was a rough day. She was hallucinating and freaking out all day and night. The next day she told them to NEVER give her that again. They told her when we first arrived that anything she didn't want to take, they would respect and not put it in her charts to receive. They would put it under allergies. We assumed they would do so as they said they would.
They finally did the biopsy on Wednesday the 3rd. When she came back from surgery, she wouldn't wake up. She slept all day Wednesday and most of Thursday. I was really concerned.They kept adding more pain meds to her chart. I again was scared she would forget to breathe. That night she wasn't breathing properly and her vitals were going down. She had to be rushed to NeuroICU. They got her stable and explained it was from all the different drugs. They explained that it's trial and error. They're trying to figure out what works for her and they decided to put her on a drip line of Dilaudid. They still gave her other drugs but Dilaudid seemed to help her pain somewhat. They also said she had a spot on her lungs what looked like pneumonia starting.
All week she was constantly telling us that she was losing feeling in her legs and her left arm. By Saturday of that week she was paralyzed. They finally took her for an MRI and saw that the tumor had spread up and down her spine and to her ovaries, and it was stealing her blood supply. She would need emergency surgery asap. They of course came to explain what was happening and the surgeon informed me that Ativan would be used during surgery. I immediately told him no, and that she is allergic to it and it was supposed to be on her allergy list. I explained to him what happened when she received it before. On Sunday they rushed her into surgery and cut the blood supply to the tumor. It was too dangerous to try and remove any of the tumor. They didn't know if the paralysis was permanent, but they were hopeful that the surgery would work. It didn't we would later find out.
When she returned from surgery, she was out of control. She was violent and cursing at me. In 22 years I had never heard her curse, but she was fluent! She was hallucinating bad and kept freaking out. It was scary to watch. They decided to give her some meds to make her to sleep, to help her heal. For 2 straight days my baby screamed blood curdling screams, she would cry out "mommy, mommy" while she slept. She screamed so much and so loud that anyone in ear shot were questioning what was going on. It was heartbreaking to witness. I thought she was having a bad reaction to the anesthesia. I later found out that they were giving her Ativan anyway. They NEVER put it in her chart as an allergy the week before, and the doctor disregarded what I said about not giving her that. They had other options they could have used but he still chose to do what he wanted. I only found out because the nurse mentioned that she would be right back with her Ativan. The nurse had no knowledge that my daughter refused that medication previously. I informed her not to give that drug to her. She went and spoke with the attending physician who changed it to haldol and ketemine. That was Monday night. By Wednesday she finally calmed down from screaming, so they decided to try and wake her up.
When she woke up she could no longer speak properly, use her left arm, or move her legs. Her fingers and toes were turning black. They said it was from a certain med she was on. That it's normal. A lay person could see something was horribly wrong.
Everyday we would see up to 30 doctors. I say we, because I never left her side. One would say one thing while another would say something else. It was confusing and scary. We still didn't have a diagnosis. We just knew she had cancer. They suspected stage 4 but couldn't say until pathology came back. It was traumatic and a nightmare. It went from a diagnosis of a pinched nerve to stage 4 cancer in a matter of a week. WTF?
We finally got the diagnosis on Tuesday the 9th.. Stage 4 anaplastic large cell lymphoma. Very rare and aggressive. They said they were starting chemo immediately. They gave her the first dose that Wednesday night. We had hope. It was a rollercoaster of terror, but the doctors kept saying that she could beat this. I googled everything I could and prayed for a miracle. It's always been my girl and I, so I was desperate for her to live through this. She wasn't just my daughter, she was literally my everything.
By week 2, she needed blood on a daily basis. She couldn't eat or drink. She couldn't relieve herself. She couldn't move. She couldn't speak clearly to explain her needs or wants. Her breathing was shallow. Her vitals were not normal. They would go down and then jump extremely high. She was so out of it, that they had to come to me concerning everything. Her oxygen was dropping significantly and they had to keep changing out the masks and oxygen levels to help her breathe. They kept changing her meds and she had multiple complications from that. They couldn't find any good spots on her arms to put her IVs anymore, and her legs were so swollen that they couldn't locate a useable spot anywhere. They put it on her right side of the neck. During all this she had multiple medical emergencies. One example is they said that spot on her lungs wasn't pneumonia but they now suspected a small blood clot. That medicine she was given would hopefully help, the only problem was that medication was causing problems for her back surgery. A few days later we found out it was blood and it was completely filled up in her chest. She was drowning in her own blood. They couldn't do surgery right away because she would bleed out since her platelets were so low even while receiving blood transfusions. That blood was somehow going into her lungs. I was floored. Everyday I would ask about it and I was told it was getting better, nothing to worry about. In fact the doctor said that very morning it had cleared up significantly. Imagine my shock when the critical team comes rushing in that evening to do ultrasounds on her and tells me they suspect it's why her breathing was going downhill.
On Monday she was transferred to a MICU room on a different floor. This floor felt uneasy to me. There was death all around and you could see it. They said that this floor was where her main doctors were, so that she would get the best care. Now they introduce fentanyl to her med regimen. They explained it that it would help with her pain. She would be allowed so much every hour if needed.
The next day they decided to do the surgery to put a tube in her chest to drain the blood. She now had an extremely dangerous back surgery, staples running up her entire back with tubes, a huge scar under her arm from the biopsy with tubes, and now a huge tube coming out her chest. Her fingers and toes at this point were in a stage of necropsy. But they couldn't do anything about it. They would just have to fall off in time. It was devastating. My daughter was a trooper through out this whole time. She never complained or was negative. She was just scared when she understood what was going on. Honestly I've never seen so much courage in my life.
When it came to her pain meds she was only on fentanyl and Dilaudid drip. She would only receive it when she asked. That was her rule. She was scared she would overdose or become hooked on it and didn't want that monster on her back. She would be in so much pain but would just sit through it. Her vitals were better, but when the pain would become to much to bare, her heart rate would go into the 150 to 170 range. As soon as she got some meds it would go down to the teens to low twenty's.
On Thursday night she had a new nurse. He would administer pain meds even when she didn't request it. I saw him give her shot when she was sleeping. I walked in on him. I asked him if she requested it as I saw she was asleep and he said no. He stated he was trying to keep her comfortable. I asked him not to unless she asks. He didn't listen.Throughout the night as we slept, he would give her meds that she didn't even need. He gave her haldol. She only received that for two days after her back surgery. No one had given her that since. He would give her a shot of fentanyl behind it. I later found this out while talking with her doctors and from her records.
That Friday morning she started having these weird episodes, what later looked like seizures to me. Her vitals would drop and she would go into a deep stare. They blamed the meds. It was constant apologies for her being over medicated again. Even the doctor didn't understand why he gave her so much.She had 4 separate episodes before they (at my constant request) sent her to get a MRI done.
She had a blood clot in her brain. Again they said nothing to worry about. But after experiencing what we went through already, I was highly concerned. As I should have been. They kept apologizing and said they would change her medication up again. I told them it wasn't the medicine it was the nurse. I couldn't understand why he would give her two doses of haldol when she didn't need it. The nurse said my daughter was anxious and thought it would help. My daughter was sleeping so how could she have been anxious. I went off. Something in my spirit was telling me to get her out of there. But how could I when she was hooked up to all these tubes. She was suffering and I couldn't help her. The only thing I could do was use my voice to try and protect her and be her advocate. The next day Jan. 20th, I woke up after a couple hours of sleep, and I knew something was wrong. She was awake and trying to talk. Her vitals were back at a steady 170 with high blood pressure and a low oxygen number so I knew she was in pain. I could feel it in every bone of my body something was different that day. I felt my baby didn't have long as I thought cancer was winning. I called all of our family to come see her. I can't explain it. At one point I pulled one of her doctors out of her room and begged him to tell me what was happening. Shoot it to me straight. He kept saying she's always been critical but she would pull through. He had so much hope.
They gave her some meds to help bring her vitals down and it started to work again. Her vitals started going from 160 to 150. At this point she was having a brain scan done in her room to see what the episodes were exactly. She was awake but could no longer move from her neck down. Which had just started the 2 days before. She had a blood infection and they had to move the pic line from the right side of her neck to the left side but we're unsuccessful because she had obstructions there (2 huge tumors) They had to put the new line back on the right side in the back of the neck. I don't know what happened since I wasn't allowed in the room. I do know my daughter said after they finished, she wasn't able to feel anything but her face. She never turned her head again.
During that day she kept having flem and spit from the congestion she had due to the chest infection and surgery. I would sit there and suck it out for her. No problem, I had been doing it for days with no complaints on my end. The doctors were coming in and out constantly all day to check her brain test and at one point the doctor seeing me and my nephew take shifts suctioning her out said he wanted to try a new medicine she had never received. My daughters nurse interrupted him and said that she didn't think that it was a good idea. They went back and forth for a few minutes and I stepped in and said, it was fine, I would sit there and suction out forever if I had to. Something felt different in this exchange as well. In all of 24 days of being in the hospital, I never saw a nurse challenge a doctor. I immediately went to the computer, where the nurse had typed in the order for this drug, and googled it. The first thing that popped up, was not to give this drug to someone with high blood pressure or high heart rate. It causes a person's heart rate to shoot up high quickly. It was too late. They already administered it to her. Since her heart rate was already high it caused her to go into cardiac arrest. I just stood there in shock screaming is she in cardiac arrest? To which the doctor finally responded "I'm sorry, yes"
They ushered me and my nephew out of the room so they could work on her. After about 30 minutes they called my phone and told me she flatlined but they got her heart beating again. I went flying back in that room screaming at them. I refused to leave the room. She was now on life support, but there was no hope for her to ever wake up again. After consulting with my family and her doctors, and looking at where her vitals were, I decided to pull the plug. She passed within seconds. I feel like the doctor should have listened to the nurse, but his ego would not allow him to. I feel like he's somehow responsible, but at the same time I saw what was happening to her on a daily basis and what cancer was doing to her body. I also witnessed a lot of negligence too on their part. I've been going back and forth since January 20th, about contacting an attorney and seeing if I have a case. I requested an autopsy to be performed, because I wanted to know what all was wrong with her. They informed me they normally don't do that because of the cancer. I argued with them and said I wanted one anyway. I wanted to know what happened. I was trying to understand this whole situation. 25 days prior it was just supposed to be a pinched nerve, but it wasn't. They explained I would have to pay for the autopsy, and I was okay with that. The next day after she passed away, I received the phone call to give my permission for an autopsy. They said it would take a couple days and would let me know when it was finished so the funeral home could pick up her body.
I've been calling for months about the autopsy report with no luck. Here we are in May, I go to the hospital to get the autopsy results and it's all of five pages. It's not even an autopsy report. It doesn't even state her cause of death. It's just bullshit paperwork. All it mentions is the necropsy to her fingers and toes and her basic info like height and weight. I'm so angry right now. I have her medical records, and I noticed on the 19th of January they finally put she was allergic to Ativan. There's a lot wrong with this situation. I even asked for a CD of all her images, from pathology. What I received only two images come up. Everything else is blocked from opening. I know my daughter took multiple MRIs, ultrasounds,and CAT scans in those three and a half weeks. There's no way it's only two images.
I counted all the times the nurse gave my daughter pain meds that Thursday night and it was double what any other nurse had given her at any other time plus with other drugs she didn't need at that time. I found out that haldol and fentanyl is something they give to patients that's in end of life care. Which I was constantly told my daughter was not. Her death certificate states she passed from lymphoma related cardiac arrest. I'm just so confused on what to do. I feel like I'm letting my daughter down if I don't look into this further.
I'm sorry this a novel. I couldn't just ask a simple question with out the back story for you to understand. It was so much more believe me, this was the short version!
Do I have a case or should I just move on and accept my daughter died from cancer related complications? Thank you....

u/addisonellison X2 - I agree with you. This is great for relieving stress. Things are ok on this coast. Still looking for a job with a decent boss. Decent being the key word. The last guy had a few links missing lol
u/reasonable_ad1688 - that bottle cap windchime you made sounds cool! u/ninajyang - your complaint has been lodged. I love the postcard you picked. It’s like a charcuterie board! God bless spell check for knowing how to spell that word lol
u/wabisabi_sf - how was your trip!
u/kk6321 - you’re very right that I love the weed stickers.
u/gothwitchofbrooklyn - thanks for the complaint!
u/snerdboff - ❤️ an Obama card. Just seeing him brings a sense of calm & peace.
u/rennbrig X2 - thanks for the motivation! Also the card with the handmade paper… did you make it yourself? I feel like I hand made paper once but it wasn’t anything you could really write on.
u/-random_ness- - I didn’t realize you had native Americans down there in Virginia but I guess it makes sense!
u/rosiealeo1 - awful I know. But like yeah those cards were too positive for me! Sorry you’re funky now
u/raspberrypoppyseed - thanks for the Star Wars card
u/travel4me22 - thanks for the card. The cheesy places are the best to me!
u/cswl X9 - thanks for the story & complaints :) I didn’t realize loupaper made cards with foreign countries featured on them so that was especially cool to see! Also I’ve tried heated floors before. Some hotel I stayed at had them. Loved them. Did you know Holland Michigan has heated sidewalks all over town that melt snow as soon as it falls? I love how you saved up a ton of complaints & sent them all separate. Always great to get mail from you!
u/altrusticsubject95 - thanks for the card. My job with the doctor actually didn’t work out. He didn’t have enough patients to necessitate a second medical assistant. Turns out he hired me to spite his current MA - no joke. So I quit after two days. Back to you though. It sounds like you’re a good nurse, doctors are trained to document & work on charts now. Not work with patients & build relationships. I’m not a fan of young doctors. Knowing they’re the future of medicine scares me.
u/zkhg - thanks for your complaint. Without outting your life story… I personally don’t want kids. But I’ve known that for a LONG time. At least a decade. I don’t wanna be responsible for anyone but me. Also I too am 34.
u/practical-tangelo22 - thanks so much for the drawing. I absolutely love it!! It is exactly what I’d expect from someone living in your area! u/daeneryswon - thanks for your complaint. My thing with longer trips is it wears you out more to the point you need a vacation from your vacation. But I get wanting more time to take a slower pace.
u/mute_writer - thanks for the card & stickers. The ice maker has actually been working ok for once!
u/penhand1 - thanks for the vintage postcard. Love it!
u/stillsheryl - thanks for the card. It’s interesting your complaint is about allergies. I actually got off my two allergy meds the last few months. I was taking them for maybe 8 or 9 years. Turns out I never actually had allergies. The urgent care doc from a long time ago was wrongo!
u/ngocburin - I agree with you that Vietnamese coffee is amazing. I have these powered packets of it that I use that I get from the local Asian market. So good
u/keqani - thanks for sending a card for pop pop!
u/appropriate_power392 - thanks for the birthday card for my father :)
u/pierresgirl - thanks for all the complaints. I totally agree with the part about people buying more car than they can afford!!
u/t3ctim - I absolutely LOVE the drawing you made for me!
u/luxuryjerky - thanks for the mushroom card!
u/iz-a_bee - I hear your complaint which is also a complaint of mine!
u/josanne916 - thanks for the card!
u/disney-ghettas - to say I simply love the design on the card you sent me would be an understatement.

Round 7 of Ragnarok was approaching, and Brunhilde, accompanied by Göll, was checking on the Medbay, where both humans and Gods were treated, after they had won their round in Ragnarok.
“How are they, Mary?”
Brunhilde asked, and a woman, around her middle ages and dressed in red robes with white cloth covering her hair, turns to Brunhilde, while she was tending to Chang’e, victor of round 2 but still not completely healed up due to the injuries Tsukiyomi inflicted on her.
“The Goddess is in better conditions, but she still can’t move, and as for her leg, it’s healing too, we were lucky her husband brought it along her”
Brunhilde was about to reply, but the tv opens, announcing that the Gods have revealed their next fighter:Lucifer.
“Tch, prideful bastard”
Brunhilde looks away, before Mary tells a few nurses to notify Asclepius of something, walking towards Brunhilde.
“Who will you send?”
She asks Brunhilde, who quickly scrolls through the available roster, looking at a young woman in armor.
“I’ll have to send her, I know Lucifer has a shield, and she can easily evade his other weapons”
Mary looked at the selected fighter:Joan of Arc, before shaking her head.
“No, she’s too important…..I’ll go”
Brunhilde and Göll look at Mary, shocked.
“M-Mary? A-Are you crazy? The medbay needs you!”
Göll exclaims to Mary, before Asclepius, with his caduceus, interrupts her.
“I got this, plus, we still have plenty of both Human and God medics and healers, we can do without the Virgin Mary”
Asclepius answers Göll, Brunhilde looking at Mary and changing her selection off Joan and to Mary.
“Very well, let’s go meet your Valkyrie then”
On the side of the Gods, Lucifer was looking at the arena from the Gods balcony, while Zeus, Artemis, Hermes and Thanatos were looking at him.
“You stupid fool, why did you announce yourself publicly?”
Thanatos scolds Lucifer, who simply shrugs him off.
“Relax old man, I want to see the humans fear as I net our 6th win effortlessly, I’ve hoarded enough sins to last me a gauntlet of all 7 human fighters at once”
While Lucifer gloats, Artemis sighs annoyed.
“Sin of Pride? More like Sin of Stupidity”
Lucifer turns and snarls at Artemis.
“And who lost 2 legs and an arm against that shit relic of a plane? Huh? Mind your place”
Artemis, Hermes and Thanatos were taken aback, before Zeus grew all muscular.
“Careful with your words, Devil, Michael can still fight”
Lucifer looks at Zeus and scoffs.
“Whatever, no wonders that stupid rabbit sided with them with your attitudes, I’m going there right now”
Lucifer walks away, Artemis’ hand quivering in rage as she firmly grips her bow, Thanatos following Lucifer.
“I’ll go check on how Michael and Amaterasu are”
Hermer looked at the roster while Artemis and Zeus were looking at Lucifer and Thanatos walking out.
“Oh, what a….curious choice”
Hermes shows Zeus an image of Mary, as he then smiles.
“Heh, she’s still wasting weak fighters against powerful ones? Are you secretly wishing for us to win, Brunhilde?”
While Lucifer went inside his room, Thanatos went inside the medbay, surprised to see Thanatos and Hippocrates patching up Amaterasu, while Lakhsmi was tending to David.
“Where is Mary? I need to speak to her”
Thanatos asks Asclepius, before he points to the door Thanatos went in, Thanatos sighing disappointed, while Brunhilde and Mary were now in Brunhilde’s office, Randgriz looking at Mary.
“Are you sure of this pick sister?”
Göll asked Brunhilde, as Mary and Randgriz were looking for weapons.
“Lucifer is a very well armored asshole, both armor and shield, so Randgriz’s Shieldbreaker will be very useful”
Brunhilde said, before Mary and Randgriz returned, Mary held a thurible.
“Mary…..what is that?”
Göll asked, Mary looking at her Thurible.
“A thurible, it’s used to spread incense in ceremonies, but Randgriz said we could use it as a weapon”
Mary answered, before she swung the Thurible like a flail.
“Plus, smoke can be a great help, you told me Lucifer has enhanced sight and reach with his helmet and hook right? The smoke can render them useless”
Brunhilde looked at Mary and Randgriz, nodding.
“It does fit a holy saint of your caliber, Mary”
Brunhilde then opened the doors of her office.
“You should go now, match should start soon”
Mary and Randgriz walk out, as Brunhilde and Göll head for their balcony.
“Sister, please don’t tell me you’re using the same plan you did against Thanatos”
Göll asked Brunhilde, fearful of Mary’s fate, but Brunhilde reassured her.
“No, Lucifer has no idea of who his opponent is yet, so imagine his surprise when his extreme opposite will stand on the other side of the Arena”
Göll looked anxiously at the Arena as Heimdall began announcing.
“IN ROUND 7 OF RAGNAROK, WITH THE GODS AT 4 POINTS AND THE HUMANS AT 2, THE GODS HAVE SENT THEIR TRUMP CARD!”
As Heimdall spoke, the arena entrance on the side of the Gods bursted into flame, with the screams of the damned echoing around the arena and unsettling the audience, a figure with 6 wings slowly walking out of them.
“HE IS NONE OTHER THAN THE SIN OF PRIDE! THE STRONGEST REBEL OF HEAVEN, NOW THEIR BIGGEST ASSET!”
Lucifer stepped out of the flames, as they slowly turned into a set of Armor, gauntlets, a helmet, a shield, a sword sheathed on his hip, a spear, and a hook wrapped around his right forearm, while Lucifer spread his pitch black bat wings out.
“THE LEADER OF HELL! LU! CI! FEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRR!”
The crowd of the Gods immediately began cheering and chanting his name, as the humans started to pray and beg for mercy.
“LUCIFER! LUCIFER! LUCIFER! LUCIFER! LUCIFER!”
A few spotlights turned to Lucifer, who had the biggest grin ever, as Brunhilde scoffs while Göll is shocked and scared by Lucifer.
“WOOOOAHHH! H-he looks so terrifying”
Heimdall then points to the human entrance of the arena, where everything gets darker, before all the spotlights aim at the entrance.
“HEY! Keep one on me!”
Lucifer complains, before a chant in ancient Hebrew could be heard from the entrance, a dim light slowly emerges.
“BUT WHO HAVE THE HUMANS SENT?”
The light grew a bit brighter as the chanting grew alongside, Mary slowly walking out, swinging her thurible with one hand while preaching a bible on the other, Lucifer lifting the visor of his helmet.
“Wait what the fuck?” “THEY CALL HER THE GREATEST WOMAN WHO HAS EVER LIVED!”
The human audience immediately brightened up from the chanting, while all Christian, Jewish and Islamic humans all began preaching in Latin, Hebrew and Arabic.
“THE ONLY HUMAN WHO HAS EVER ASCENDED TO HEAVEN ALIVE! SAY HALLELUJAH TO THE ONE! AND ONLY! VIRGIN MARYYYYYYYY”
The human audience explodes in a hopeful cheer as Mary finishes preaching, the Hebrew chanting dying down as Mary puts the Bible inside her robes, and opening the thurible, but no smoke coming out of it yet.
“Oh you’ve got to be FUCKING KIDDING ME?”
Lucifer looks at Mary, before chuckling.
“Heh…..this is….”
Lucifer then explodes in laughter, pointing at Mary.
“PFFFHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAHHHH…..OHHHHhhhhhhh, is that…i-is that a fucking incense spreader?”
Lucifer could barely say in his laughing fit, supporting himself with his spear.
“Y-y’know f-for a second I-I thought that..haha……was a flail or a mace..”
Lucifer slowly began to recover from laughing, still distraught at Mary’s “weapon” of choice
“Ohh, you might kill me with laughter, Brunhilde…..phewwfff…..oh, t-this is a very good joke, now bring out the real fighter”
Lucifer asked Heimdall, who looked at him confused.
“Well…..she’s your fighter, she’s in the roster and all”
Lucifer looked at Mary, then at the balcony, directly at Brunhilde.
“Oh I see I see, you think this bitch can win, because she’s a saint? Why not send your other female Saint huh?”
Heimdall then interrupts Lucifer.
“WILL THE GODS ADVANCE TO 5 POINTS, OR WILL THE HUMANS SCORE THEIR 3RD? MAY ROUND 7 OF RAGNAROK BEGIN!”
As soon as Heimdall announced the beginning of the round, Mary began to swing the thurible back and forth, creating incense smoke around her, Lucifer still smiling from Mary’s weapon of choice.
“Seriously, how are you even going to hurt me with that thing?”
Lucifer then charges forwards, slashing at Mary, who swings her thurible, deflecting the hit as she steps back, surprising Lucifer.
“That footwork….someone must have trained you”
Lucifer comments on Mary deflecting and dodging his Sword of Wrath.
“Will you be surprised if I were to tell you-”
Mary was answering Lucifer, before Lucifer grabs his spear and tries to thrust at her gut, Mary smacking the pole with her thurible.
“-that it’s all self-taught?” “Bullshit, I know a fighter when I’m fighting one”
Lucifer says, briefly glancing at the balcony of the Gods, eyeing Zeus specifically, before his helmet warned him of an incoming hit, and he dodged Mary’s thurible.
“Lucifer charges towards Mary, but she dodges it effortlessly, deflecting the blow with her Thurible, who would’ve known such an unorthodox weapon was actually useful?”
Heimdall comments, Lucifer already growing annoyed.
“Alright let’s get this over with, BEELZEBUB! HOOK OF GLUTTONY!”
The hook wrapped around Lucifer’s forearm unraveled, and he then swings it at Mary, who dodged it, before the Hook then flies around, and ensnares Mary.
“What? How did that hook fly like that?”
Göll asked Brunhilde, before she pointed at a pair of fly wings on the hook.
“Lucifer’s arsenal is consisted of armor and weapons that capture the 7 Deadly Sins, the Hook of Gluttony is able to grab and ensnare everything that Lucifer wants, as he has free control over it”
Brunhilde said, worried, as Mary tried to break free while Lucifer grabbed his spear.
“ASMODEUS! SPEAR OF LUST!”
As Lucifer was about to thrust, Mary’s thurible spewed incense, blinding Lucifer for a moment, and completely engulfing the two.
“Lucifer has successfully ensnared the Virgin Mary! But she retaliates by creating a cloud of holy Incense!”
Helheim announces, while Lucifer tries to get out of the cloud, unraveling the Hook and letting Mary go, the cloud dissipating immediately as Mary then charges at Lucifer.
“And the champion for Humanity charges towards the Devil himself!”
Heimdall announced from the sidelines, Lucifer looking at Mary and deflecting her swings with his Shield of Envy.
“Hey, sister Brun, you chose Randgriz specifically because of her ability right?”
Göll asked Brunhilde, who nodded.
“Yes, but a mere swing like that won’t be enough, for that shield and all of Lucifer’s weapons, are as strong as the sins he has accumulated, and still is”
Brunhilde said, pointing at the dark aura that Lucifer is emitting, while Mary then swings her thurible upwards, shooting something from inside it:caltrops made out of gold.
“The Virgin Mary shoots caltrops out of her Thurible! Is she planning to keep her distance from Lucifer?”
Lucifer looks at the caltrops, sheathing his sword.
“Oh, you think your little caltrops can stop me?”
Lucifer kicks the caltrops with his sabatons, Mary winding up a swing.
“Tch, I almost wish the human wins, I hate that bastard”
Artemis complains, having moved her wheelchair closer to the balcony, Zeus nodding in agreement.
“Yes, especially after everything he’s done, but at least my dear brother Hades is now safe”
Zeus said, a bit ashamed of himself.
“What? He let him go? In exchange for being allowed to fight here?”
Artemis asks, Hermes nodding.
“The amount of sinners still living in Earth is probably worth fighting directly for”
Zeus said, looking at the fight.
“Yet, he did not send one of the other 6 sins, but he went in himself, but I’m sure he’ll win against that human woman”
Artemis replies.
[End of chapter 1]

I would like some perspective from a nurse please.
Okay here is the situation. I just got my CNA license and started a part time job at a nursing home/ rehab. The facility has a rehab unit ( where o work, elderly people, broken arms, hips, cancer, etc) a Long term care unit, an assisted living building and a senior living building with maybe one nurse on the whole building and seniors living completely independently. So I am still training but from my understanding the CNAs at least should have an understanding of what’s happened with a patient and why they’re there. I am not officially assigned any rooms just walking around checking on people, responding to call lights, assisting with showers, etc. I walk by a room and the man is sitting in a chair and I walk by and say hi and ask if he needs anything, he says he doesn’t know why he’s here and he’s lived at ( our facility) for a year now and has no idea why he’s here ( rehab unit) I clarified with him that he lives at the other building full time- he says yes. I assumed it was the LTC unit, any way. I ask the nurse what he is there for ( so she can communicate to him or I can know if he has a broken bone, whatever) she says “ just tell him he’s here to get better” I say “ um ok. So he’s just confused then, memory problems?” She said she doesn’t know why he is there. Now she doesn’t usually work in this unit, but I assume there are notes she can read? So now I’m just avoiding the guy because I don’t have an answer for him. Anyway later on I see he has visitors. I walk by the room and smile. It’s his daughter and son in law. They immediately come out into the hall and start telling me this isn’t his normal state, etc. I tell them I’m just a CNA - they said that’s fine and just start telling me the dad was in the er ( I interjected “ for a UTI?” I just assumed bc it can cause memory stuff) they said , yes and he was there for 5 days and given anti biotics but he isn’t better and the hospital released him but didn’t realize he lived independently and they were scared he had a stroke or something bc he was not acting right even after antibiotics. They want him to now go to the er again. I said I will tell the nurse. I go back and word for word tell the nurse. She said” ok I’ll talk to them.” Great. Now this veteran CNA pulls me aside and said I shouldn’t have done all that and it’s outside our scope and I should have cut them off and gotten the nurse. Is she right? What should I have done in that situation? Any advice is great. Im sorry for the novel. I just feel frustrated. Also fyi I’m starting nursing school in the fall. I just want to be as good as possible at my CNA job.

TLDR: Best friend came over when I was a few weeks postpartum after having twins, allowed her kid to trash my home, expected me to cook, had me changing her kids etc.
This is just a vent because it was an insane day and I don’t know what to do or think. For context I had a traumatic PP recovery due to losing 1000 mL of blood and contracting several infections. My first weeks were lonely and miserable.
I currently have three month old twins that my best friend had met only twice. The first time she came over they were tiny and she was hurry so she just popped over for a few minutes and then left. BUT when I was about 6 or 7 weeks PP she texted me saying she wanted to visit and that we could do lunch. I thought she meant she was coming over with lunch and that’s we’d go for a walk and that’d be all. What ensued was pure chaos and I haven’t allowed her in my home since.
First off she chose not to bring a stroller for her two year old, she has a “he’ll learn mentality” towards parenting her son. He was all over the place and she was wearing her 6 month old so she “couldn’t” hold his hand so I did it. While pushing my tiny newborn twins and limping along in my sickly postpartum body. Then she tells me she’s not comfortable walking anymore so we head back to my house where she asks me what I’m cooking her for lunch??? Flabbergasted, I told her that since I hadn’t really had time to grocery shop I didn’t really have much. She tells me to make whatever so, with one of my twins swaddled in my arms I cooked her lunch. She didn’t even say thank you or anything. While this is going on she has completely ignored the 2 year old and he has gone fully feral. I know toddlers are goblins so I picked up anything dangerous before she arrived but this kid was like…ripping my entertainment unit doors off and she just sat there smiling at him. At one point her 6 month old started screaming and she just kept watching TV with the 2 year old. Then I’m trying to sooth my little guys and her 2 year old walks by and I mentioned that I thought he may have pooped. She shrugged. So after a few minutes of her not doing anything about it I settled the twins down for their nap and changed him for her. This poor kid had a massive rash and it was clear the diaper hadn’t been changed in HOURS. A short while later, I was sitting on one couch nursing my twins while she let 2 year old climb my furniture and stick his hand in a lamp and grab the HOT bulb with his barehand. And of course he also fell off the couch and his head super hard on the hardwood floors. They stayed for about 5 hours and I was nearly having an anxiety attack by the time she finally left. My partner came home to me crying on the couch with two babies and a destroyed house. I’m possibly overreacting but I felt used and disrespected. Following that day she’s mentioned a few times that I needed to toddler proof my home and wouldn’t it be easier for me to pack up my twins and bring them to her house? Her house that’s absolutely filthy and unsafe due to cat urine and dog feces being left out. She’s my only friend and I feel so lonely in PP so this situation was heartbreaking for me because I thought she’d understand how hard PP is but instead she acted like I was supposed to take care of her kid. I’m so disappointed and sad but I don’t want her in my house anymore.

A genuine question. Because this has driven me near insane. Please give your view.
Imagine you have a step sibling who when angered enough, can and will initiate physical violence to not only your mother and sister but to you. Not only that, he's mentally and emotionally abusive.
His mentality on masculinity. Really his biggest insecurity. Tried making me believe I was "beta", weaker than him. Lacking in confidence. Constant bullying and backhanded remarks, talks endlessly on "respecting him".
Has spit on my mother and sister several times. Because of "family", we tried to forgive him and work it out.
He has done this on multiple occasions. Starting from when you were a young boy. At age 11 you saw him physically assault your sister. Threatened to physically harm you when you were 7 years old if you revealed that he and his father were planning to sabotage your mother's relationship with now EX boyfriend (Really good man, he was.) He was 15 at the time.
Okay, you're now age 19, 20. You're fed up, you're paranoid and filled with rage because you're fucking just sick of it. Police isn't doing anything. You feel like the biggest fool and blame yourself for allowing him back into your life because you needed a brother. You thought you could trust him.
You've fought, argued with your mom. She can be verbally abusive, you see how she can instigate but you also see how he can take things too far. You've mentally broke, you've taken things too far. You're yelling at both of them. You want it all to end.
You blame yourself again for fighting with your. But you're still sick of his violence, his excuses, his threats to you.
You and your mom have reach a state of "okay" for now. Your mom and step brother are arguing yet again. This time because he's gotten an arguably worse person pregnant, she's withholding the child from him. He's demanding help from your mother because of "family".
Later, he's taken it too far, he physically assaults her, you're forced to fight him off. He's threatening violence with you knowing his initiated a physical threat. Later that night, he tried to manipulate you saying "You triggered his PTSD."
You tell him: "Never again." Of course, he doesn't listen to your frustrations.
You've accepted the fact you're dealing with a mentally unwell violent person. The brother you thought you had never existed. You now take matters in your own hands.
The next time he initiates a threat with your mother despite you telling him to stop. Him hearing you say that word... you quickly mace him point blank in his eyes without warning. He plays victim, screaming you didn't have to do that.
Later that night, he threatens you on the phone, manipulates you saying "You're my brother, you could've punched me in the face. I was gonna get you, I saw you walking down the street."
Playing victim, despite letting it be known he knows what he's doing and how wrong it is. Not a care in the world. Just a sick, sadistic man.

Okay here is the situation. I just got my CNA license and started a part time job at a nursing home/ rehab. The facility has a rehab unit ( where o work, elderly people, broken arms, hips, cancer, etc) a Long term care unit, an assisted living building and a senior living building with maybe one nurse on the whole building and seniors living completely independently. So I am still training but from my understanding the CNAs at least should have an understanding of what’s happened with a patient and why they’re there. I am not officially assigned any rooms just walking around checking on people, responding to call lights, assisting with showers, etc. I walk by a room and the man is sitting in a chair and I walk by and say hi and ask if he needs anything, he says he doesn’t know why he’s here and he’s lived at ( our facility) for a year now and has no idea why he’s here ( rehab unit) I clarified with him that he lives at the other building full time- he says yes. I assumed it was the LTC unit, any way. I ask the nurse what he is there for ( so she can communicate to him or I can know if he has a broken bone, whatever) she says “ just tell him he’s here to get better” I say “ um ok. So he’s just confused then, memory problems?” She said she doesn’t know why he is there. Now she doesn’t usually work in this unit, but I assume there are notes she can read? So now I’m just avoiding the guy because I don’t have an answer for him. Anyway later on I see he has visitors. I walk by the room and smile. It’s his daughter and son in law. They immediately come out into the hall and start telling me this isn’t his normal state, etc. I tell them I’m just a CNA - they said that’s fine and just start telling me the dad was in the er ( I interjected “ for a UTI?” I just assumed bc it can cause memory stuff) they said , yes and he was there for 5 days and given anti biotics but he isn’t better and the hospital released him but didn’t realize he lived independently and they were scared he had a stroke or something bc he was not acting right even after antibiotics. They want him to now go to the er again. I said I will tell the nurse. I go back and word for word tell the nurse. She said” ok I’ll talk to them.” Great. Now this veteran CNA pulls me aside and said I shouldn’t have done all that and it’s outside our scope and I should have cut them off and gotten the nurse. Is she right? What should I have done in that situation? Any advice is great. Im sorry for the novel. I just feel frustrated. Also fyi I’m starting nursing school in the fall. I just want to be as good as possible at my CNA job.

I have one cat and am about to move him to a new apartment. After the move, I have debated adding another cat to our family and would like advice.
​
Background: Last year I inherited a wonderful cat, Ginger, from my mother.
When I was a kid, we often had cats, mainly because my mother worked hours too long for dogs. When I went to college, I left the two cats who had been "mine" with my mother, and the summer before I left, we found another cat. As in one day my mother went out and there was this cat meowing at her. Ginger was always my mother's and I feel like he found her because he knew she needed someone when I left. The other two cats - one was very much mine, and the other - well, she wasn't anyone's. After college, I moved around too much to have pets, and frankly, my mother needed the cats more than I did.
Eventually both "my" cats died and my mother retired. It was just her and Ginger because she refused to get any more cats. She said she was just at a place in her life she didn't want more things to take care of.
I came home a couple years ago to take care of her when she got sick, and during that time, Ginger was better than Lassie. Like seriously. He would come wake me to get me when she needed help, he would be very protective when nurses or physical therapists came in that she didn't approve of, and he would always be with her.
When she came home from the hospital the last time, he barely acknowledged her, somehow knowing she was going to go soon, and so spent his time with me. In the past year, he has been my rock.
​
So now we get to the problem:
First of all, I am finally moving, and I'm worried about that because Ginger has lived in this apartment for 15 years. The change will be a shock to him, but for my own mental health, I need to leave my dead mother's apartment.
Secondly, my mother was retired and before that, he had siblings. I simply have not been able to give him all the attention he needs because I have to work. I do a lot of remote work, which helps, but I still can't give him my full attention.
So I had considered getting him a brother or sister when I move. Here are my pros and cons:
Pros:
- He is getting older and I am hoping a sibling would keep him "young" longer. He is at least 17 (vet said he was at least 2 when we got him in 2009).
- For days I do need to be out of the house, he would have company
- He has been playing less lately, and sleeping more, and I'm worried that this might be at least partially boredom and partially loneliness. The time he does play - a lot of it is spent in front of the window watching the birds. Also, when he sleeps, he often sleeps next to me while I work, making me think he might be lonely. He even wakes me up in the night sometimes wanting to play.
- I'm also selfishly worried about when he does pass. Again, he's at least 17, and he has been such a rock for not only helping Mom but helping me with her grief. I am worried about not being able to handle it when I lose him, and if I have already have had another cat for a few years at that point, I think it will help.
​
Cons:
- He depends on me so much for his comfort, I'm so very worried that he will be too jealous or hurt if I split what attention I can give him with another cat. I don't want him to feel in any way pushed aside.
- I also don't want to play favorites with another cat, and I can't not feel specially towards Ginger after the loss of my mother.
- With the upcoming move, I don't want him to have too many changes. No matter what I will wait until he is settled to decide, but I worry that if he adjusts okay to a new location, adding another cat might be a final straw.
- He has had siblings before, but not for a while. He has been the only cat for a long time. I worry how he would react to another cat, especially given his age.
​
Advice?????
​

Imagine you have a step sibling who when angered enough, can and will initiate physical violence to not only your mother and sister but to you. Not only that, he's mentally and emotionally abusive.
His mentality on masculinity. Really his biggest insecurity. Tried making me believe I was "beta", weaker than him. Lacking in confidence. Constant bullying and backhanded remarks, talks endlessly on "respecting him".
Has spit on my mother and sister several times. Because of "family", we tried to forgive him and work it out.
He has done this on multiple occasions. Starting from when you were a young boy. At age 11 you saw him physically assault your sister. Threatened to physically harm you when you were 7 years old if you revealed that he and his father were planning to sabotage your mother's relationship with now EX boyfriend (Really good man, he was.) He was 15 at the time.
Okay, you're now age 19, 20. You're fed up, you're paranoid and filled with rage because you're fucking just sick of it. Police isn't doing anything. You feel like the biggest fool and blame yourself for allowing him back into your life because you needed a brother. You thought you could trust him.
You've fought, argued with your mom. She can be verbally abusive, you see how she can instigate but you also see how he can take things too far. You've mentally broke, you've taken things too far. You're yelling at both of them. You want it all to end.
You blame yourself again for fighting with your. But you're still sick of his violence, his excuses, his threats to you.
You and your mom have reach a state of "okay" for now. Your mom and step brother are arguing yet again. This time because he's gotten an arguably worse person pregnant, she's withholding the child from him. He's demanding help from your mother because of "family".
Later, he's taken it too far, he physically assaults her, you're forced to fight him off. He's threatening violence with you knowing his initiated a physical threat. Later that night, he tried to manipulate you saying "You triggered his PTSD."
You tell him: "Never again." Of course, he doesn't listen to your frustrations.
You've accepted the fact you're dealing with a mentally unwell violent person. The brother you thought you had never existed. You now take matters in your own hands.
The next time he initiates a threat with your mother despite you telling him to stop. Him hearing you say that word... you quickly mace him point blank in his eyes without warning. He plays victim, screaming you didn't have to do that.
Later that night, he threatens you on the phone, manipulates you saying "You're my brother, you could've punched me in the face. I was gonna get you, I saw you walking down the street."
Playing victim, despite letting it be known he knows what he's doing and how wrong it is. Not a care in the world. Just a sick, sadistic man.

First, ive read the faq and it did not answer my question. The place im from is kinda famous for having very bad health care so im reluctant to visit a doctor who will ignore me as that is what happened to many friends of mine. So i want to confirm if i should worry at all.
Ive never thought of schizophrenia as something bad and im not afraid to learn that i have it. Im not really sure what schizophrenia is and what are the symptoms. Can the following symptoms be caused by schizophrenia or maybe it is just stress? Have you ever experienced something similar?

1. I (25m) started to have some worrying visions in primary school. I suspect that schizophrenic usually see other people who annoy them but in my case it was me who was hurting other people including my family and strangers. The visions were crazy real and they scared me a lot. There was no particular person or place that was causing them. They triggered at random and usually lasted about 3 seconds, after that i was back in time when the vision started.
2. In high school the visions were replaced by flashes of lights. it is a bit dangerous because sometimes it happens when i drive the car and i literally see nothing for 2 seconds when it happens.
3. Somewhen 2 years ago - about 4 years after i finished high school - the visions came back but this time i just jump out of windows. Sometimes it is just a wave of emotions and sometimes it is so real that i have to freeze in place for a few seconds to get hold of my emotions.
4. All my life i was seeing illusions of green light quickly changing into red light. Usually at crosswalks but as well at slides in aqua parks. Recently i understood that they are fake but as a kid i ran into problems because of it.
5. All my life i was hearing music from time to time when there was none. recently i started to hear piano notes, snoring, phone notifications, whispering and once ive even heard a voice ask me a question when i was alone in my apartment.
6. Ive bad eyesight so im quite ignorant of me misinterpreting what i see but recently i literally saw my book breathe for a few seconds… it looked like something straight out of Harry Potter.

Edit: i added my age

Just wanted to say hi, introduce myself and get some help from you all.
About me: I’m an Army vet(68W), medically discharged with 100% p&t, been through voc rehab twice for 2 degrees (nursing & MBA), nurse for almost 10 years now and I just started working for the VA this year as a primary care nurse. All my VA experience is from being a veteran and not an employee.
As I mentioned, I’m a RN and just started working for the VA. I can’t tell you how many vets I see, especially older vets that are from the Vietnam era, with nothing ever filed. Many come in because a social worker from a hospital says to check the VA out for extra benefits like home health, caregiver, etc. and you need a certain percentage rating to get those benefits. It really hurts to see that and I try to direct them to fill out claims ASAP when I meet them. Really I wish I could just do it for them. In my head I’m like if I have 100% you should definitely have 100%.
I got out with a med board so I never used a VSO. Is the VSO the way to go when referring vets without any claims? Or is it better to use outside resources like DVA, American Legion or VFW? And at what point do you start getting the help of a lawyer? Just want some first hand experience so I can pass it on to my patients and fellow vets.
Thanks in advance and thanks for everyone’s service!
And… * I know I’m not verified yet. Working on it, message sent to the mods. ** Don’t wait to get your claims filed because when you need them, you’re going to need them ASAP from what I’ve already seen in the past couple of months working for the VA. *** Happy to answer any questions or share my experience about the VA (healthcare/voc rehab/employee).

Written May 18, 2024 A quick recap Dotty(Real name Dorothy)was an elderly woman I met in 2018 that my mom and I left at a nursing home in Tarzana California on May 20, 2022 to go see our cousin graduate in North California. On our return May 25, the CEO and founder of the home Sargis Avazyan refused to give dotty back by emotionally convincing her to stay at his facility and now won’t let her leave or let any family or friends call her as he just wants her there indefinitely for money. He is also doing this to other elderly from his indirect words I’ve taped as he’s very controlling and arrogantly boastful over “His” elderly residents
Fast forward to now and I’ve been gathering info on him for two years and compiling it on my iPad in my investigation to free dotty and the other elderly. I told the community Care board in Woodland HillIs who oversees the operation of Nursing Homes in the Tarzana area in CA about him last Feb 2023 and met with this cop May 2 2024 at the West Valley Community Police Department as this police department oversees Tarzana CA along with other general areas near this area. He gave me his card with his name and said he along with other cops will attempt to help me free dotty and the other elderly. I will attempt to free her before or after May 25, 2024. I will broadcast this live on twitch at the facility during the police raid so people can know to be careful when giving there elderly to a nursing home as you might not see them again so follow me on Twitch at Justinxrw if you wish to see what elder isolation in a nursing home looks like and the signs to beware of and to be notified when it goes live.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared for my safety but more so, the elderly have a right to see their families since no nursing home can make that choice except them to see their families or not. The only issues that prevent me from doing this apart from being scared is that my mom says that “If I do this, she’ll tell everyone in our complex I abused Dotty” since “dotty” wrote/filed a detainer wanting her house back from us naming us abusers at his facility and that my mom may possibly disown me for doing this as she now hates dotty after learning what she did to her children, which I’m perfectly ok with as I’m giving the elderly a chance to fight back as Sargis is a Kidnapper as far as I’m concerned or sure if his nursing home is legal(I’ve researched). I guess I’m caught in a dilemma on if I should to this since this has consequences for me

Hello, I'm caring for a stray cat who had kittens 5 1/2 weeks ago. Mama cat has worms and is still nursing at least once a day. What can I get at a feed store that will be safe for the mom and her kittens? Only one I've found that said safe for kittens on the package also said not until they are 8 weeks. Am I really supposed to just wait another 2 or 3 weeks? Thanks.