Gout causes my ankle to swell

Hey,
35 Male, white Australian, asthma (ventolin) 173cm 75kg.
Got sub-acute achilles tendonitis 14 days ago, ultrasound shows further inflammation and bursa too - ultrasound report attached.
I ran the following two days (inc. A marathon with tears from the pain).
I then saw a doctor - they said the risk of running an ultra 14 days after the injury was acceptable.
I had pain pretty commonly at rest, but not always - especially after about 10 days.
I then had 12 days off running (a single 5km run half way through that period, in pain).
After the 12 days, i generally didn't have pain at rest, but pain when walking around.
I then did a115km ultra on Friday (day 14) through to ->Saturday, in constant significant pain.
Since then, my ankle has been swelling and swelling further and is very sore.
My next doctor appointment is Thursday, but I'm worried that it's continuing to swell bigger and I might be in trouble.
I have very limited movement in the Achilles, but can wiggle each of my toes. When I say limited movement, I need to stress it's very minimal movement.
Pictures attached from 2 hours after finishing Saturday morning (standing ones) and from just now also attached (not standing)
It's sore to palpate.
Do I need an urgent care, or wait til Thursday?
Ankle now (some icepack indents) https://ibb.co/92GZX7m https://ibb.co/p00chJf https://ibb.co/cCHNkkL https://ibb.co/djspJ9Z https://ibb.co/ysJPbqZ https://ibb.co/MCYXTmk https://ibb.co/xDQLZQC https://ibb.co/xqbpR6q https://ibb.co/0rKvYM4
Ultrasound report
https://ibb.co/g3rD0nN
Ankle Saturday morning https://ibb.co/dgqQ4x5 https://ibb.co/5ThVkB8 https://ibb.co/CnqMDL0 https://ibb.co/2gGNtmW
Thanks

Backstory: we've been married 6 years. Ups and downs like all marriages, but generally very good. We've wrestled like mentioned below countless times, except how the particular incident ended tonight.
This evening, my wife and I were laying in bed relaxing. She was on her phone, I was playing a phone game. I then turned my volume up and started spamming a button in the game "to be annoying" as I put it, in a playful way. She then looked over at me and said, "annoying, eh?"
She then proceeded to start wrestling with me and pushing buttons on my phone to be annoying in a playful way. It turned into; I put my phone down and we were full on wrestling and giggling.
After a few minutes of going back and forth, I ended up pinning her. (I want to pause and say that I never intended for this to lead to anything sexual. Tonight, we were both just relaxing until we were tired enough to sleep.)
So I pinned her, and I bent my head down and sucked on her nipple for just a second. I wasn't really thinking, I just went for it. Again, I didn't mean for it to lead to anything else I was just playing. Immediately as my mouth went down she said ,"NO. I'm done." So, I hopped off her quickly and sat there feeling gross. I could tell she did not like nor appreciate it. She turned her back to me and laid for about 10min in silence. The silence cut through me because I could just feel that I really f***ed up. I didn't even know what to say.
She then got up quickly and went to her dresser drawers. She pulled out pants and a shirt and said, "I'm going to sleep in the other room..."
I replied, "Honey, what's wrong? What did I do?"
She said back, "I feel like you violated me. I don't feel comfortable around you right now."
At this moment, my soul got crushed. That's the last thing I wanted to hear that I've done to her. My throat swelled because of my shame and disgust that I caused her those feelings. She went to the bathroom after getting dressed to go one more time before bed and I tried to speak to her through the door and immediately tried to apologize and let her know it was a mistake and I didn't mean to upset her at all. She did not reply. I know she wants space, but I couldn't even imagine trying to sleep after this without first trying to apologize. So, I waited on our bed and then when she came out of the bathroom I tried to explain myself to her and she locked herself in the spare bedroom and didn't say anything.
You're caught up to now. I know it'll take a bit of time to patch this, space too even. Does anyone here have any advice on ways that I can help us heal this? This is the first time something like this has happened between us where I made her feel violated. I'm pretty down in the dumps and kicking myself.

[Miscellaneous]
I went to the allergist for patch testing due to eye skin issues I've been experiencing lately (blepharitis/swelling/dry skin around the eyes). They gave me 10 personal products to test in addition to the 80 major allergens they normally test for — I tested positive for gold and I tested positive for one of my personal products, which was my face sunscreen. I was shocked to see this since I have been using the same facial sunscreen for over a year now with seemingly no issues — I use supergoop unseen sunscreen and have found it to be very gentle and feels nice on my skin. Under the patch where the supergoop was, however, there was literally a BLISTER. They had me re-test it at home to make sure and, sure enough, a blister formed in 12 hrs.
I am SHOCKED seeing as I've experienced seemingly no issues using this on my face for the past year +. I got rid of it right away but I am so confused and also curious what in the supergoop I could be allergic to. The ingredients are: Avobenzone, 3%, Homosalate 8%, Octisalate 5%, Octocrylene 4%, Red Algae, Frankincense, Meadowfoam Seed Oil Complex. What of this could i be allergic to, and why would it cause me to react in such a strong way if I've had 0 issues on my face? Now I am paranoid and feel like I need to patch test every single thing I have been using on my face/haibody. Since I didn't react as allergic to any of the other major allergens they tested me for, I can't pinpoint what in the sunscreen I'd even be allergic to. Any ideas/opinions?

In 2010, I had an accident that resulted in an ACL injury in my right knee. At that time, my weight was 68 kg. Since then, my weight increased and remained consistently between 85-90 kg for a period. I did not undergo surgery then because I was uncomfortable with the idea of having a screw or other external object placed inside my body. Following the injury, I experienced swelling in my knee for a week, which then required fluid drainage. Despite this, I have been able to run and play cricket. However, occasionally, a small movement or twitch can cause my knee to dislocate, which I have been able to put back into the socket myself.
Now, I am back to weighing 68 kg and have recently graduated as an international student. I have paid the IHS amount.
Is there any solution for my problem at the moment? If so, how should I proceed? What are the costs involved, and how much time will be required for rest? How long will the consultation, MRI, and surgery take? Given that the accident happened a long time ago, will it affect further treatment? Why hasn't my ligament healed after all these years?

Hello,
I am 24F, 135lbs, 5'7" and of Caucasian race. I have hypothyroidism, Graves disease (treated with RAI) and adhd.
Two weeks ago I began getting itchy hives all over my body. I thought it might be a newer laundry detergent I had bought so I rewashed everything with my previous detergent. After a week, the hives had gotten worse. They were unbearably itchy and my scratching had caused swelling and bruises to form. I was prescribed betamethasone steroid ointment by a pharmacist. It helps, but has not resolved the issue. I've used it twice daily for 5 days now.
Two days ago, the corners of my lips began cracking and blistering. It looks like a mild case of angular cheilitis from what I saw online. The hives on my body have improved but I know have petechiae which I am assuming is from scratching but there is some on an area that hasn't been very effected by hives so I'm unsure.
Yesterday, my gums began peeling.
I have no idea what is causing this. I haven't changed any products or food, I haven't done any new activities. I'm at a total loss of what this is. I've got a doctors appointment on Tuesday but I was just hoping someone here might have some insight as to what is going on as it's starting to freak me out how quickly it's getting worse.

This is going to be a long post but whatever, some doctors think i do, others dont, others are confused as shit and when i ask if i have hEDS they go ‘well no?’ And then when i ask ‘so i domt have hEDS?’ And they go ‘well no you do, you have hypermobile syndrome’ (trying to translate best i can, in portuguese its confusing. They say no to hEDS but also say no to not having it)
Anyways here some are my syproms, id appreciate your thoughts and shit and if i should contimue trying to figure this out or not. Its going to be another 8 months before i can dream of seeing a specialist so yeah. Thanks a lot. I removed the pics because its a lot of pics and i guess you guys get the gyst of it

• Hyper mobility/unknown conective tissue disorder related symptoms:
  • Blood pooling (picture inserts bellow)
  • 7/9 beightons scale
  • Meeting the 2017 diagnostic criteria (1, 2b, 2c, 3)
  • Skin writing
  • Popping joints back into place
  • Semi loss of bladder control leading to a few incidents and going to the bathroom up to 10x a day
  • Extreme muscle fatigue in my joints leading to severe nerve pain and muscle spasms that have lead me to uncontrollably bash my knees against tables, jerk my arms and throw pencils across rooms or to the floor and then searing nerve pain that makes my muscle feel as if its on fire
  • Either feeling constipated or having dhiarea with no aparent reason
  • POTS partly caused veins not being able to constrict due to lax conective tissue which then causes nausea and even with medication because my heart isnt beating as fast i still get light headed and blood pressure drops
  • Research on the conection between POTS and conective tissue disorders such as EDS for reference:
    • https://www.standinguptopots.org/EDS
    • https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7282488/
    • https://normalyte.com/blogs/news/the-eds-pots-connection
    • https://connect.mayoclinic.org/blog/ehlers-danlos-syndrome/newsfeed-post/eds-and-pots/
  • Orthostatic intolerance due to veins not being able to constrict and control blood flow leading to blood pooling and pre syncope
  • Getting bruised extremly easily, a light bump can cause a bruise and i find random bruises with no cause
  • Extreme joint and muscle pain
  • Severe joint instability that keeps progressing despite 4 years of physical therapy and 1 year of clinical pilates
  • Feeling like holding my head up properly is extremly painful for prolonged periods of time (an hour) aswell as back pain despite proper posture and excercise.
  • Joint subluxations
    • Elbows (worried about it progressing to a full dislocation)
    • Hips
    • Lumbar spine
    • Knees
    • Ankles
    • Finger tips
    • Wrists
    • Thumbs
    • Jaw
  • Easily rolling ankles
  • Knee pain and subluxations when walking and primarily climbing up stairs
  • Ankle rolling constantly multiple times a day when walking
  • Constant heart burn
  • Having trouble swallowing food which is being looked into by my gi as an issue caused by my conective tissue not working properly and making swallowing difficult
  • Constant joint clicking and having to manualy pull and fix a variety of joints on a monthly basis and most notibly during strength and stretching exercises in clinical pilates especially with my knees and elbows
  • Yoga mats having in good condition having caused a scar that lasted up to 2 weeks pretty visibly (pictures bellow from day 1 to week 2
  • Scars taking a long time to heal
  • Easily irritated skin (pictures bellow, example of what happens after i take of my braces despite using lotion and leggings to ptotect my skin)
  • Stretch marks without any weight growth or loss
  • Inflamed joints when waking up
  • Shin splints
  • Choking while drinking water Or breathing
  • Struggling with swallowing (GI doc thinks its related to hypermobility and lax conective tissue)
  • Having odd and unussual reactions to medication such as it not affecting me or having weird side effects such as medication of sleeping waking me up or
  • Chronic widespread pain related to fatigue, muscle exhaustion, joint instability
  • Chronic insomnia since childhood caused a lot by discomfort while sleeping because my shoulders keep going to far and it hurts but i cant keep them in place and my neck hurts and no pillow or position helps releive the pressure
  • Foot papules
  • Blue sclera
  • Teeth overcrowding
  • Slightly narrow pallet
  • ribs popping in and out of place
  • needing to move my throat around because it keeps getting stuck and uncomfortable
  • possible cci

So yeah give me your opinions please, would really appreciate it thank youuuuu

Hello 18M, and during the pandemic I had a very poor hygiene and my back was filled with sweat which caused breakdowns to acne. And during the 4 years until now, I kept scratching them, and when I looked at the mirror, my backs well not too bad, just left a trace that an acne was present, the scars were not too severe to the point it hinders me, it just the tissues were scarred and it has fully healed.
Does this disqualify me for MEPS?
I have no medical condition and no mental illness conditions. No prior injuries either except sprained ankle which I recently got a month ago, and it’s almost fully healed.
Thank you for responding!

my candidas albicas is one of the worst yeast infections. i stopped eating sugar. insert fungal cream once a week as prescribed. had sore swollen random lymph nodes. one behind my neck , one on my thigh, two on my arm. left earache. pain in left armpit. doctors don't have a clue. i believe it's from my candidas. i think i'm getting better cause pain and swelling has stopped. but i still have some burning on v a g. burning left arm has stopped. i get the feeling from going to gyno doc and MDs. they don't really know a lot about yeast. it affects everyone differently. you wouldn't believe how many gynos i went to in the beginning , that sent me home with nothing. one told me it was all in my head. that's not that uncommon to hear. my vag was a little swollen and he didn't see it. another doctor did. that's when things got rolling.

My son is in baseball and we had a double header today. I’m genuinely surprised I even got this burned, it was foggy and overcast when we started the day, I had maybe 2 hours of direct sun. I did get very sunburned though. I’m like RED red and my shoulders have started to form small blisters. My face has started swelling and I’m feeling nauseous with chills. Nothing is overly unbearable, I don’t feel dehydrated. I am normally very, very pale (almost bluish) in skin tone, with naturally strawberry blonde hair. Im on Amlodipine for blood pressure but nothing else. I didn’t have anything on my skin except my normal face moisturizer. I am female, 36yr, no concerning health conditions, normal overall. Just wondering if this is normal with a bad sunburn cause I haven’t been burned since I was a kid. I know I have pale skin and burn pretty quickly, but like I said it was cloudy so I didn’t wear sunscreen. I’ll post a pic in the comments.

Conversational Uglies in Cafe
Hi guys. I’m aware this poem requires a bit of (medical) context so you can scroll to the end for it or you can just experience it blind. ( 1 2 )
\\
My body is whimpering these begs to stay alive.
But I withhold the medicine in a a literal gut wrenching tease (side effects include: severe abdominal pain).
There’s no cure for this disease and several names for this cruelty.
I’ll shuffle through them like a deck of cards. Make your bets now. How many hospital visits this year? Just one if I do this right…
When the lights go off and nobody’s home,
the report will say the house was last observed hollow,
because my body was eating itself to stay alive and all these ugly musings died with me.
What can I say? My liver’s a champion.
I’m lucky. That’s what the doctor said.
Ha.
On my deathbed, the boisterous cadences of my hunger will have followed me.
Echoing from the flimsy walls of this wicked anatomy.
(A moment of silence to let the teenage-edginess pass, please. The flesh must mock itself to save itself).
What was it for? I.E this self-inflicted torture.
A body in pain is easier to inhabit, that’s how it’s always been for me.
Even the anxieties are worth the way my collarbones jut in this sexy way.
“Too much, too much, Body. Rein it in. Tone it down.”
There’s a strategy to this, you see. The best killers are only briefly suspect.
My skin is yellow. My skin is dry. I’ll go blind one day. Not today. Two warring concepts. Who I Am and Who I Thought I Was.
(“You’re lucky.”)
Oh, how the dress clings…
Insert cartoonish sound effects of medicine being injected.
The swelling is instant. Of my body, and of the orchestra as my life is finally fed. (THE DRESS CLINGS! IT MUSTN’T! IT MUSTN’T!).
My bloodstream’s biased. Can’t listen to it. My brain chemistry is feeling conflicted about the whole ordeal but it’ll come around.
Self-love is important and I’m afraid the insulin metabolizes it, too.
I won’t let myself swallow my reality.
But this tiramisu serves my goals perfectly, friend (It comes in biscuit-cream-coffee-chocolate-devastation layers).
I’m supermodel-level agonized, baby. That’s the suffering we all strive for.
I make an idol of the grief.
The months keep track of themselves loudly. (Doctor in ICU: you’re just waiting for an accident to happen. (Girl has no response)).
Anyhow, a corpse can’t feel regret so I’m not too worried.
Just pretend you understand my humor (like how I pretend I don’t understand this sacrifice).
This one’s on me if you promise never to ask how I am.
///
Context: Diabulimia is a complicated eating disorder where a diabetic will purposely withhold insulin to lose weight (as insulin is a hormone that helps sugar enter cells for energy and therefore cause weight gain). As insulin is withheld, the liver begins to breakdown fat and basically melt it into the bloodstream for energy. Weight is lost but the blood’s acidity rises as a consequence leading to DKA, fatal if not treated. If you or someone you know is exhibiting side effects of DKA or diabulimia, allow me to be cliche and advise you to seek help.

26 Male 6’1 200 lbs
I’m in shape, fit, and exercise and eat well regularly. No drugs, no alcohol (only socially once in a blue moon).
I recently got diagnosed with a C5-C6 spinal hernia after ive been living with excruciating pain for the last year and my doctor dismissing me for “Anxiety”. I went in one day and basically told the Doc I want a fucking CT scan now. After the CT I got my diagnosis. Anyways… Last night I noticed that my right calf is numb.
I touch it and it feels like I’m touching someone else’s calf, but strangely when I pinch it I can feel the pain, it’s as if the muscle inside is numb and the numbness is radiating to the outside.
Today it feels like there’s pressure in there, the numbness remains. I went to gym and worked out normally, I have no weakness in my arms or legs nor my affected calf. When sitting down I noticed a “vibration” shooting from my calf down to my ankle, no pain, just a tingly vibration. Imagine how your stomach gurgles when you’re hungry, but in my calf.
Anyways, I fell into the Google trap and now I’m worried about MS and a whole bunch of other crap, knowing that it doesn’t even run in my family.
Given my history, physical condition, and my diagnosis of herniated disk, can any physician please tell me what this numbness may be caused by? Is it the hernia or another underlying condition that warrants a visit to the GP?
Thank you
TLDR; Diagnosed with spinal herniated disk, feeling numbness in my right calf for the last two days, and would like to know if that’s related to the hernia or something else that I need to go get checked

I appreciate all the information I have gathered from all of you. I would like to share my story and I have a few questions. I'm 37 and I'm a male. In January this year my right ankle was bothering me. I have broken it before and had to have surgery. I work out 5-6 days a week usually being running, peloton, kettlebells, and rowing. So my ankle hurting wasn't a huge deal to me because l'm constantly over using them. But this one day in January my right ankle felt like I sprained it. I woke up the next morning and couldn't walk. The pain was horrible and it felt like my foot got hit with a sledge hammer. I knew I did not injure my ankle in a way to cause that much pain. Gout popped into my head cause my dad has it. I went to my GP doctor and got my UA tested and he gave me naproxen. I was already coming down from the worst part of the pain and took the naproxen. My ankle felt better within 24 hours and I was getting around. Life was back to normal. My UA level was 5.6 and my doctor said I didn't have gout and it must have been an injury.
Fast forward to this week. I have been back to working out regularly and doing the normal stuff I do. But over the last month now my left ankle has been bothering me. Nothing crazy but hurting while working out. I thought it was overuse again since I was told I didn't have gout. I was on the peloton Monday and was doing a hill ride. About 20 minutes into the ride my ankle started to hurt worse then it had in this past month. I woke up the next day limping a little. I didn't think much of it again. I went to go for a run and had to stop after just a few steps cause of the pain. I played football and basketball in HS and it was during a time when you just played through injuries using tape and red hot. I know this is very dumb especially since I'm 37 now. Anyway, I was woken up in the middle of the night with unbelievable pain in my left ankle. I couldn't walk and was screaming in pain. I took some naproxen I had from January and it did nothing. I fought through the day and I really thought I messed my ankle up. I got into podiatrist Thursday and my X-rays were negative. He didn't believe it was gout cause of my January bloodwork. He ordered me an MRI and got me a walking boot. He also ordered another UA lab to rule out gout. I made it to the end of the day wearing the boot and my pain got worse.I called the Docs office on Friday and told him what was going on. He looked at my chart and my UA was 6.7. He now believed it was a strong possibility of gout. He got me a script for methylprednisolone which I started this morning. I'm already noticing a difference in my ankle. I'm going for the MRI on Tuesday to rule out an injury. So I have a few questions from here.
Does gout linger around causing 1-2 levels of pain for weeks before the actual attack? Everything I read seems like it just comes out of no where.
My dad has been on gout medication for 20 years and hasn't had a flair up since going on it he says. So l'm totally ready to get on Allo or another medication. I want to make sure something like this is more unlikely to happen. So my question is what medication are kept around for flares ups and I guess you would call them full on attacks? When do I know when to start taking the medication before a flair up?
My daughter and I love hiking. We travel often and do a lot of long day hikes into the mountains and deserts. I now have a fear of this happening while on a long hike on the top of a mountain. Anyone enjoy hiking or backpacking while having gout? How do you plan for it?
Thank you any advice you can give

Let me preface by saying I have every intention of doing just what the doctor instructed. I am patient and so is my wife. I’m not looking to see how to bend the rules but I am curious as to the medical science behind it all. So had my Vasectomy on a Tuesday it is now Saturday. Wife and I got intimate yesterday, (Friday), but nothing crazy. Literally just some aggressive kissing. Again, we don’t want to do anything to mess anything up down there. We have two kids and that’s always been our shared goal, no more. But I did notice that I had some precum after. Prior to this I feel like I’ve had a pretty good recovery so far. By day two I had no pain or discomfort, incision looks great and there is no swelling. But after our make out session, I did wonder if regardless if I came or not, would arousal to the point of precum cause any issues as well. I understand that where and how semen and cum travel are different but by being aroused is that causing a build up of sperm and therefore could potentially cause complications? Talking about it with the wife we decided to just play it safe and refrain from any activity until the 7th day mark. But now I’m just in my head about whether or not we’ve already made a mistake? I did have a slight dull ache after but completely manageable and I calling it painful would be a stretch. It faded away within a few hours. My biggest worry is increasing a chance for recanalization. Any thoughts?

My boyfriend (22M) has been having an issue with his right middle finger for the past little while. We are assuming that his nail has grown under his skin and thus has caused the swelling like this - especially since he has a bad nail biting problem - but should we be worried about anything else, and could urgent care even do anything? It does cause him pain and he has tried to see if he can do something himself, but nothing really helped.
And yeah, obviously we do need to do something about his nail biting habit, but we mostly just want to see if we’re right or if it may be something else.

Hey ! So I have a possible stress fracture, they’re doing a MRI in 3 weeks if I show no signs of improvement. They gave me a boot and told me to ice and rest. But when I wear the boot if my pain is only at a 6 it jumps to a 10. No matter how loose or tight the boot is. My foot immediately swells and gets all red again. Is this normal ? I’m supposed to be able to go back to work on Monday but I can’t put ANY weight of my foot even with the boot. My x-rays looked good, there’s a little growth on my bone but they said it was not cause for concern. I’m happy it’s only a possible stress fracture as I was worried it was gout but nothing is working. Is the boot supposed to be painful at first ?

Question: Is it possible I have a gluten allergy or could it be something else in this dish? The only two things which stand out to me are the black pepper or wheat in the spaghetti?
I do eat bread but its always been when on taking fexofendine so im not sure.
22M.
I've developed allergies over the past 2 years it seems. I think I'm allergic to milk, egg, oat, either barley or rye. But I had a reaction to a spaghetti dish I made from scratch the other day while I was not taking fexofenadine. I'm waiting to see a dermatologist who specialises in allergy and my GP will not pescribe an epi pen.

• 12 oz.spaghetti
• extra-virgin olive oil
• chicken breast
• salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 6slices bacon
• 2cloves garlic
• 2 c.cherry tomatoes, halved
• Elmlea Plant Double Vegan Alternative to Cream
• 3 c.packed baby spinach

Just for context dont have to read below.
why I think i'm allergic to x: milk: upper lip swelling immediately, 40.10 ige test result. egg: upperlip swelling immediately.
barely or rye: HP brown sauce causes immediate upperlip swelling.
oat: oat milk causes swelling and aveeno on skin causes extreme pain.
symptoms: eczema worsens and spreads, lip swelling, eyelid swelling, hives on arms. Swelling seems to be worse if I'm doing something like walking, then it can be full face. Doctor wont give me an epi pen for the full face swelling... I have been to the hospital once for the full face swelling although it has happend 6 times.

Previous Part
Morning eventually came, banishing the eyes that seemed to peer at me through the night. It was strange how suddenly the feeling left me, making me think that someone really was watching me. The whole thing was really doing wonders for my paranoia. Despite the rough morning and sleepless night, I still found myself waiting outside Bianca’s house bright and early that morning. The air was cool but not chilly, one of those perfect days that’s cold enough you’ll never start sweating unless you really try, but warm enough that a T-shirt will get you through without too much trouble.
I only had to knock once before Bianca threw open the door.
“Where you just waiting there for me?”
I asked, cracking a smile and raising an eyebrow.
“You’ll never know” she added playfully, “Are we ready to go then?”
Bianca had made some preparations for the trip, she didn’t have a backpack ready to go but she definitely made an effort to dress the part… sort of. She was wearing an old grey combat jacket that I imagine she pulled out of Stein’s closet. The jacket was way to big for her but she made it work. Her combat boots matched the jacket, looking old and well worn. What didn’t match was the bright red yoga pants she was wearing, but I wasn’t about to complain. Besides, I had packed each of us a spare set of clothes just in case.
“Oh! So I had an idea, its a long walk, not crazy but I’d rather not just walk the whole way if we can help it. Frank and Stein used to have some bicycles when we first came here so I asked them about it and well.”
Bianca chirped, as she led me around the back of the house and pulled a tarp off two abysmal looking bicycles. The bikes were both red at one point but that was a long time ago. Now they were covered in a layer of rust and I could barely make out the branding that may have once read, “Shwinn”.
“Um… Bianca I think I might get tetanus if I sit on that thing.”
“Oh come on! Aren’t you tired of walking everywhere? Lets just give the bikes a shot, if they crumble to dust we can leave them.”
“And get me a tetanus shot.”
I added quickly
“Fine, and get you a tetanus shot.”
Bianca shot back, she feigned annoyance but she couldn’t hide the smile that crossed her face.
Laughing to ourselves, we got on the bikes and took off North, out of town and onto a dirt path leading to the woods. Bianca didn’t say much on the way out but I could tell she was having a good time. This may have been her first time out of the house for something other than supervising Frank and Stein. She tried to hide it by riding fast and staying out in front of me, but I could still catch her eyes literally glowing with happiness every now and then. I thought back to what Frank had said about her eyes glowing when she experiences strong emotion. I hoped that was the case and she wasn’t just trying really hard to influence me, which he had also said would make her eyes glow.
As we neared the end of the path, the forest’s edge came into view. we let the bikes roll to a stop then got off and let them fall over onto the dirt. I half expected them to explode into a puff of rusty brown dust the second they touched the ground but to my surprise, neither bike did. I could’ve swore I heard Bianca sniffle almost like she’d been crying. I opened my mouth to say something and then thought better of it, if she wanted to tell me what was going on she would. Well, that or she’d just manipulate me away from the question. Wait, was she doing that now? It’s hard to tell, maybe that’s how everyone around her feels. The more I thought about it the more I realized how difficult it must be for her just to have friends or form relationships with people at all. If she told them the truth they’d never know if what they were feeling around her at any given moment was real. All they’d have to go on would be her word, could they really trust that, could I? If she kept her secret she’d know that at any moment she could just change how they felt about her, manipulate them into anything she wanted. Could she resist that kind of power over them and still look someone in the eyes and say she was their friend. Not to mention how hard it would be to keep that secret over years of knowing someone.
“So Keith, were exactly are we headed? You do have some Idea where this mine you’re looking for is right?”
Bianca asked skeptically, snapping me out of my thoughts.
“Well about that…. I just know its out here in the forest somewhere. That’s pretty much all I have to go on from Frank, Stein, and that massive bartender in town.”
I told her sheepishly.
“Well that explains why you over-packed so much then. Seriously? How long do you think we we’re going to be out here, you’re packed like some kind of survivalist.”
She mocked, picking through the pack I’d made for her. After she finished rooting through the pack I made for her like some kind of giant squirrel and, chastised me yet again for not doing more research on the mine, we set off.
The forest felt imposing as we walked into the woods through a manicured patch of trees. Someone had gone to great lengths to braid a few trees over this little path before the forest turned back into its natural wild state. It gave off the feeling that civilization ended with this path and something else entirely began. As we got off the path our light faded quickly, chocked out by the limbs of massive pine trees. All this cover meant there was very little foliage on the ground which was covered in a blanket of needles. The though occurred to me that we were looking for a mine in a valley. That’s weird because what exactly would be in a valley that warranted the creation of a mine? Usually you’ll find them in mountains so what exactly was one doing out here.
“Bianca I just had a thought, Why would they build a mine out here? I mean what’s the point, is there even anything valuable out here to mine?”
“Yeah, come to think of it your right. What other reason would there be to have a mine out here?”
“Unless they were just mining from a cave but that still doesn’t answer the question of what they were…”
Bianca cut me off
“What was that first thing you said?”
“Um… mining from a cave?”
A lightbulb went off over her head as she exclaimed,
“That’s it! There’s caves under the town, I’ve heard Frank talk about them before! Maybe they didn’t have a real mine so they were just mining something out of the caves.”
“Not to burst your bubble Bianca, but that still doesn’t get us any closer to these caves or mines or whatever it is.”
I responded cautiously, trying not to sound to critical of her revelation.
“Well not exactly, Frank said they were in the East of the forest somewhere so all we have to do is head East till we run into them.”
Bianca said, full of confidence. Then something occurred to me, we had no real way of getting back to the bikes other than retracing our steps. Now that was easy enough now, if we went deeper into the woods we would get lost pretty quickly.
“One more thing Bianca, Maybe we should come up with a way to find our way out? I really don’t want to end up lost out here.”
I asked nervously, fidgeting with my hands.
“Way ahead of you on that one, I left my phone back by the bikes. Here give me yours and I’ll put my number in so you can track it and find our way back.”
She said, taking my phone, putting her number into it, and turning it to me to show she’d tracked her own phones location with it, giving us a path back to the bikes.
As we turned East and headed even deeper into the forest the terrain started to change. Instead of the pine needle coating we started to see rocks and the ground was more rugged. Here and there we’d even pass a boulder or two. I decided to break the silence of our search.
“So are you ever going to tell me how you met Frank and Stein?”
Bianca sighed before responding.
“I suppose you deserve to know if your sticking around. You probably guessed I wasn’t always living with them. Lets just say before that I was with someone who I though meant the world to me but I never meant the same to him. It was all a game to him and eventually I noticed that. Then, a little while afterwards I realized I wasn’t exactly powerless anymore and I did some things that I’m not exactly proud of to survive on my own.”
I could tell talking about this hurt her but I needed more.
“That’s not exactly telling me a whole lot Bianca.”
I pressed, maybe a little to hard.
“I found out I had powers and I used them ok! I got myself out of a situation where I was pulled so many way I didn’t know which direction was up! The second I found out I could do the same thing to people myself, I did! You’re the first person to actually seem to give a shit that wasn’t some crazy doctor that tolerates my existence or someone I just manipulated into caring! Maybe I even did that with you! I JUST DON’T KNOW ANYMORE!”
Bianca screamed at me, getting in my face with tears beginning to run down her own. Her eyes were glowing electric blue again and I knew I’d crossed a line.
“Hey I’m sorry I didn’t mean to hurt you. I… I didn’t know.”
“No.. you didn’t but I guess you should”
Bianca sniffled out, trying desperately to pull herself back together and keep up the act the everything was ok. Bianca went silent for a while as we kept walking along, crying to herself before she finally took a deep breath and said,
“You know, this is the first time someone’s asked me to come along and do something outside the house in years. I spend so much time cooped up in there just helping with experiments and looking after Rocco. It’s actually nice to get out and talk for once.”
Her voice still a lifts hoarse from screaming at me before.
“Look if you want to talk about it we’ve got nothing but time out here. I’d like to know a bit more about you anyways.”
I said taking her hand and trying to sound comforting.
“Yeah maybe I should get some of it off my chest. Here it goes I guess.”
Bianca said, taking a deep breath and tightening her grip on my hand. Her eyes still glowed faintly as she told me her story as we ventured deeper into the forest.
I’ll give you the shorter version of it here, mostly cause I’m not sure how she’d feel about me spoiling all her secrets.. She ran away from her family and her college education for a guy, his name was Brooke. Brooke was from money and had a job lined up by his family at a law firm so Bianca thought she was set for life with him. Bianca was madly in love with him at the time but as days grew into months and years, Brooke became a monster. He cheated on her and told her she wasn’t enough, that her shortcomings drove him to do it over and over again and somehow it was all her fault every time. He became abusive not long after the cheating started, flying into fits of hysteric apology afterwards only further convincing Bianca she was somehow at fault. After three years of this she eventually got up the courage to leave and never looked back. On the road she discovered her powers of manipulation, letting her play with people’s emotions and she only got better at it with time. Unfortunately her abilities got her into a very specific form of getting money out of people, prostitution. One day she tried to solicit Stein and he saw straight through her. Stein took her with him to the hotel he and Frank were staying at and they took her in on the spot. The trio traveled together ever since, Bianca becoming a kind of daughter to them.
I was in shock once she finished her story, it sounded like she’d really been through the ringer.“I don’t know what to say, that’s awful, all of it.”
“It was, I lived it. But I made it through, doesn’t matter how at the end of the day. I’ve got Frank and Stein and that’s enough, they let me into their home and I recovered in my own way, I’m still here so I’ll take what I can get right?”
Bianca stated with a cold loom of determination on her face. It was painfully obvious to me that despite the masquerade of being fine she was barley holding it together underneath. Like just talking about it with me was driving a finger into old wounds.
“At least you’ll never have to go through something like that again. With your abilities you never have to get pushed around like that.”
I said with completely no tact whatsoever. Bianca stopped suddenly as I said this and whirled around to face me. The fire I’d seen in her eyes earlier reigniting in seconds.
“Do you really think that’s all this is?! I’m no better than him, even you don’t know what you really think when you look at me! Admit ti!”
Bianca growled at me, hysterical once again.
“No, Bianca I…”
“Look I know your trying to help but just leave it, ok? I’m done talking about this”
She cut me off, pulling herself back together and signaling very clearly we were done with that particular conversation.
“Besides look over there, That hole in the rock see it? That might be what we’re looking for.”
Bianca said, gesturing to the stone wall that now jutted out of the ground beside us.
The rock wall she pointed out was chipped near the middle in a way that couldn’t have been natural. Straight lines don’t really exist in nature and this hole was cut squarely into this rock wall. As we got closer I could see that it wasn’t just an entrance either. The hole opened into the rock wall but then suddenly dropped, like whoever carved it had hit a point where the ground just fell out from under them. From where Bianca and I were looking into the hole we couldn’t quite see the bottom.
“Well we found what we were looking for, is this bringing back any memories from those dreams you had?”
Bianca asked, sounding a little short tempered still as I searched through my bag.
“What are you looking for in there?”
“Rope, I’ve got to see what’s in there and I’m hoping I brought enough to climb down there.”
I replied hurriedly, still tearing apart my bag to get to the rope I had packed underneath everything else.
“Rope? you’re not seriously going to climb down that pit are you? I can barely see down there.”
Bianca complained, sounding exasperated.
“Here, this should help you see down there.”
I said, tossing her one of the two head mounted flashlights I brought along.
“ME? I never said we were going down there!”
Bianca panicked momentarily.
“Look, you can stay up here and wait for me if you really don’t want to go down there. But I would appreciate having you to watch my back.”
I added trying to soften her up. Bianca opened her mouth like she was going to say something but stopped, instead dropping her own pack to the ground and searching through it.
“Look if I’m going down there I’m going to need something better than yoga pants on and…. You actually packed a change of clothes in here. Geez you really did think of everything.”
As Bianca took the jeans I packed and went off to find somewhere to change I finally found the rope. It was about 50 feet of strong climbing rope that I kept for an occasion just like this. Now that’s not to say I was a professional climber by any means but a 20 or 30 foot rappel I should be able to do. I was hoping that the descent wasn’t much further than that. I anchored the rope to a tree a little ways away from the hole in the rock face and tossed the rope down the hole. It hit the bottom with a satisfying thud just as Bianca got back from changing. The jeans I had packed were a little big on her but she’d manage. She looked like a mess in her ancient combat boot and jacket, all of which were too big for her. I tried to open my mouth to tell her she looked nice, I swear I really did but what came out was hyena-like laughter at her appearance.
“I…. Oh god I’m…. It’s just”
I struggled to get out, laughing all the while.
“Well I’m glad you like it at least, ok seriously come on, stop laughing.”
Bianca scolded as she began giggling herself. Soon enough we were both laughing, Bianca’s earlier storminess cleared up by the absurdity of the situation.
Here we were, a succubus and a guy with a strange mark out in the woods getting ready to rappel into a hole in the ground that apparently didn’t exist. All this was almost starting to feel… I’m not really sure how to put it, not normal but not so strange. Honestly I finally felt like I’d found some kind of purpose again out here. As weird as it all was I was starting to enjoy… this, this whole odd situation I’d found myself in. Bianca and I finally got ahold of the laughter and stood back up from our place on the ground.
“Do I really look that bad?”
She asked
“I’ve never heard you complain about your looks before. But no, with those jeans on you look like maybe, just maybe you prepared a little bit for coming out here.”
I teased, getting a little wry grin out of her.
“Come on, lets get going. Hopefully we can be in and out of there pretty quickly.”
I said, handing Bianca her pack and shouldering my own.
Rappelling in wasn’t actually all that hard, really dangerous without safety equipment sure, but neither of us had any trouble descending the maybe 20 foot drop. At the bottom I saw something that shocked me, this place wasn’t abandoned. I saw lighting set up, not on but very clearly set up recently. Bits of old mining equipment were scattered around the… cave? Mine? Im not really sure what to call it anymore. What concerned me more than anything was the light I saw at the far end of the cave (I’m settling on calling it a cave). The light came from a massive bonfire and I could just make out the shadows of several people sitting around it. I have no idea how we didn’t see the smoke on our way in. It wasn’t filling the cave but it also wasn’t coming out from anywhere I saw on the way here.
“Bianca get down!”
I whisper shouted at her, turning off my headlamp and falling flat to the ground myself. Bianca dropped to the ground as she heard me with unexpected grace. I didn’t know if those figures by the fire had seen us but I certainly wasn’t taking chances.
“Ok, I’m going to creep up and see if I can hear them talking or something. Can you just stay here and watch my back? I don’t want you getting any closer than you have to.”
I instructed Bianca who answered with a quick nod and reached into the inner pocket of her jacket. She withdrew a jeweled golden dagger from it.
“I sorry, what’s this now?”
I asked, confused and thrown off guard by the weapon. It was a really beautiful blade, the hilt was silver with several purple gems inlaid in it. The blade was golden save for the razor sharp edge which was some kind of strange blue material that was roughly the same color Blanca’s eyes glowed.
“I had a life before this you know.”
Bianca responded.
“Yeah we talked about it but you didn’t really tell me much about this part apparently. Doesn’t matter I guess just surprised you have Jeff Bezos’s butter knife in your jacket pocket.”
I whispered, pointing at the dagger in her hand.
“Well we can talk more about how I ended up with this later, not really the time now. Just be careful ok.”
I got up as she said this, realizing she was right. Now really wasn’t the time to be asking about strange daggers, I had more pressing issues.
I crouched down and started creeping towards the figures by the bonfire, careful to avoid the rusty machinery bits scattered across the ground. As I got closer I saw a passage I had missed in the dark. I dared to turn my headlamp on for just a second, trying to block out most of the light with my hand. What I saw through the dim light and shadows of my finger left me awestruck. Inside the passage a coliseum had been constructed, with seats carved into the stone. The structure itself was made up of the rusted metal pieces that littered the room, collected and smelted together to form the walls of the structure. What frightened me the most was the symbol clearly and meticulously drawn on the dirt floor, the same symbol that adorned my back, the symbol of the thunderbird. Moving on, more shaken than ever I crept closer still to the roaring bonfire. I could just about make out the words the figures were saying. When I got close enough to make out the word “tests” the fire suddenly went out with a gust of wind.The room temperature must have dropped 10 degrees immediately and I could swear I heard the sounds of heavy rain above us. But the sudden lack of light isn’t what rooted me in place, cowering on the cave floor. What did that was the two illuminated grey eyes that pierced through the darkness like lightning in a storm, eyes I would never forget, the eyes of the woman from Imalone.
This time I clearly heard the voices of the figures from around the bonfire as they all dropped to their knees.
“Shaoni! We weren’t expecting you till later, Stormcaller.”
The figures all said some variation of in unison. Their tone sounding almost as though they were begging for forgiveness. In a voice that hissed like rain on pavement the woman apparently named Shaoni spoke.
“I’ve come to oversee the start of the trials, is everything prepared?”
In one bone chilling moment her eyes locked on mine and she said the one thing I’d hoped she wouldn’t.
“You didn’t tell me we had guests.”
The moment the words left her lips I turned back to where Bianca was waiting, her now glowing eyes cutting through the darkness of the cave. Giving up any form of subtly, I bolted for the rope behind Bianca. I just wanted to be out of this cave, whatever I might learn from searching around was far outweighed by the fact that Shaoni was here. I’d seen the kind of destruction she’d left in her wake in Imalone and I had no desire to see it happen again here. I banged my ankle on several of the little bits of rusty metal on the floor as I ran, sending sparks of pain up my leg. I didn’t hear anything behind me at all which was almost more unnerving than the footsteps I expected to hear. I closed in on Bianca and saw she hadn’t moved at all, her eyes fixed on something behind me. I dared to take a quick glance back over my shoulder and saw Shaoni taking her first step away from the extinguished bonfire. Lightning crackled around her like one of those novelty plasma globes. In the flashes of light I could see her face. There was no smile or frown, no emotion at all. She simply stared straight ahead towards me and took slow calm steps, inching ever closer.
“Bianca we’ve got to go… NOW!”
I shouted, snapping her to attention. She nodded and turned on her heels, back toward the rope we’d thrown in earlier. Only, when we got to the rope and gave it a tug, it came falling back toward us.
“There’s no way. I…I anchored it to that tree, it should’ve held!”
I cried in disbelief. Bianca and I starred up at the now stormy sky through the hole we would’ve escaped from. Two men walked into view on either side of the hole, glowering down at us. I notice a marking on one of the men’s hands in a flash of lightning from the storm. I could only assume if I was able to make it out I would’ve seen a marking just like the one on my back. Just as soon as the men had appeared a shape flew in from the left with a low growl, taking both men along with it.
“Ok, new plan! There’s something else up there and I really don’t want to get involved with… whatever that was either. I didn’t see any footprints near the entrance so I’m assuming those guys we saw by the bonfire got in another way. We’re just going to have to find where that was and get out that way.”
I instructed Bianca, gesturing to the men in toe with Shaoni and trying not to sound as afraid as I was.
“Ok, I’m with you but lets get moving, I don’t want to any closer to her than I have to be.”
Bianca answered, putting her hand on my shoulder. I suddenly felt a wave of calm rush over me and for the second time I was grateful for Bianca’s ability to simply turn off my fear response.
Shaoni now stood about 50 feet from us with four men following behind her. In the light she gave off I could see the men were all dressed like normal people. I kind of figured they would be more of those canvas wrapped weirdos from Imalone but no. There stood four men in jeans and flannels standing there. Shaoni looked like she could’ve stepped right out of a painting of Pocahontas. She wore an animal hide dress with frills along the bottom and arms. Her head was adorned with a leather band containing several hawk feathers. In short she looked like she’d stepped out of a different time. But I had no time to look over the finer details of her clothing as Bianca and I rushed towards her. Once we got within striking distance I pulled Bianca to the left, towards the passage I had seen earlier. Shaoni never made a move towards us, she just simply looked at me, the ghost of a smile briefly crossing her lips. One of the men with her grabbed at Bianca though, pulling her out of my grasp momentarily. That was a mistake because she was on him immediately with the ornate dagger I’d seen before. As the man grabbed her Bianca lashed out with the dagger, sticking him in the gut with the blade. He screamed in anguish and let go of her but Bianca wasn’t done yet. She followed up by stabbing the man in the back of the neck as he bent over, grabbing at the hole in his abdomen. The other three men were so taken aback by the sudden ferocity she displayed that they didn’t come any closer. As time stood still for a second the men all looked toward Shaoni, awaiting instructions but hesitant to get any closer to Bianca. Using the brief moment of disbelief Bianca had caused, we ran down the side passage towards the coliseum.
“What was that?”
I asked, still shocked by how suddenly Bianca had acted.
“He tried to grab me, I don’t like when they try to grab me”
Bianca responded, distant and… scared? I got the sense she was still in shock at what she had done too. But I couldn’t worry about that right now, we still had to get out of here. Luckily the men didn’t seem to be following us. Wether Shaoni called them off or they stopped to care for their friend I didn’t know, and frankly I didn’t care.
Rushing through the rusty coliseum was haunting. I expected something to jump out of every shadow in the imposing structure. As we slowed to a jog in the middle of the coliseum, right where that eagle symbol was, we stopped to look around. We had come into this arena through an open arch but the only other exit I could see was a similar but barred archway. The coliseum was huge for something constructed in a cave, probably 400 feet across. I had no idea how this thing could’ve been made without anybody finding out.
“Bianca are you seeing anyway out of here? Bianca!”
I asked, then shouted as I turned to see her standing still as a statue in the middle of the Eagle symbol. She was staring at the dagger she had stabbed that man with. Blood still stained the blade and dripped from it intermittently.
“Bianca are you alright?”
I questioned as I walked over to her. She still had this look in her eyes, like she was miles away.
“Bianca? Come on talk to me. Look, you did what you had to do back there, sure it wasn’t exactly pretty but it had to be done.”
I tried to comfort her with my words but the truth is, my heart just wasn’t in it. I was a little scared of what I saw from her in those few moments. She just lashed out and attacked him, not that he didn’t deserve it but going back for more was too much. But what would’ve happened if she didn’t act? It’s not something I could really dwell on now and I’m not sure it really mattered. I just wasn’t feeling all that great about the fact we may have killed someone.
“I don’t like it when they grab me.”
Bianca finally repeated, still appearing catatonic. I leaned down to her level, putting my face right in-front of her’s and putting her head in between my hands.
“Bianca I know enough to know that whole situation may have dug up some memories for you but nows really not the time. We have to keep moving, we have to find a way out of here, and I can’t do that without you right now.”
Bianca tensed up as I spoke to her, but I could feel her relax as I finished. A single tear fell from her eye as she gave me a nod and followed behind me as I walked toward the barred off archway.
Before I made it to the archway there was a massive crash as something tore the rusty bars from their mountings and fell into the room.
“Tuck?!”
I exclaimed, recognizing his colossal figure on the floor immediately. His shirt and pants were torn to shreds though, Like he’d flexed too hard and burst out of his clothes. Bianca and I rushed over to check on him but apparently he was fine. Before we even started walking towards him he was already back up on his feet and lumbering towards us.
“Tuck what are you doing here? Actually never mind, are you ok?”
I asked, concern in my voice.
“It’s going to take more than this to stop me son. I figured you might go looking for that old mine I mentioned the other night so I came to find you. I feel real bad about ya run’in off the way ya did and I got to thinking. Maybe I could make it up to ya if I told ya about the mine. So I came out here and found some shady look’in fellas poking around and figured maybe ya needed help, looks like I was right.”
Tuck explained, dusting himself off and brushing away some of the tattered remains of his shirt. I didn’t buy his story for a second but I wasn’t going to argue with this bear of a man.
“So how did you get in anyway?”
“Used the old entrance from back when this place was still run’in, come on I’ll lead ya out.”
Tuck answered, already turning and walking back the way he came.
The walk out was long and none of us talked much so I just looked around. The further we walked down this little tunnel the more I noticed crushed equipment. The walls looked like they were made up of bits and pieces of crumbled rock that may have once been the ceiling of a much bigger tunnel here.
“There was a collapse, just like the report said only, whatever caused it wasn’t any fault of ours. It was that damn thunderbird waking up.”
Tuck piped up, answering one question and making me ask another.
“Wait you knew about her?!”
“All the miners did, some decided to follow her after she woke up and brought the walls down on us. Others wanted revenge for the brothers we lost, I’m one of the former. You see son, the reason I stayed around this town so long was because of that bird. I want a chance to return the favor.”
“But what about Robert? If you hate the thunderbird so much why’d you let him in? You had to see that tattoo on his hand.”
“I know he thinks that damned bird will “save” him or something but I don’t blame him. Everyone deals with things in their own way and it’s not my place to judge folk for it.”
Tuck lectured, as we made our way further down the passage. His words made sense to me but I didn’t understand how he could be so understanding. From what I understood the thunderbird had a part to play in the original mine’s collapse and the death of the workers there. Only for some of the survivors to revere this creature. If I were in Tuck’s shoes I don’t think I could forgive and forget.
Finally we saw light at the end of the tunnel. We emerged into the whispers of what I’m sure was a monster of a storm. But that’s not what drew my attention, what did were the boulders scattered around the hole we just came out of. It looked like they had been moved, and recently. The suspicious red stain just barley peaking out from the bottom of one of them only served to convince me further. Tuck’s story didn’t quite make sense and this entrance seemed like it should’ve been blocked up until very recently. I wasn’t about to question the guy who saved us though, so I let the issue rest.
Bianca’s idea of tracking her phone to find our way to the bikes worked like a charm. We followed the directions my phone spit at us and eventually found our way back to the bikes. Tuck’s old Ford Bronco sat behind our bikes leaving me to question if he followed us on our way here.
“Well do you kids want a ride back to town?”
Tuck asked, his voice bellowing across the forest. Seriously it was like the guy swallowed a loudspeaker at some point and just spoke through it now.
“No we’ll find our own way back.”
“Alrighty then, stay safe son.”
Tuck called back to me as he got into his truck and drove off. Bianca and I stood up our bikes and got ready to head back to town.
“Hey Keith?”
“Yeah what is it Bianca?”
“Next time you offer to bring me along somewhere can you warn me about the damn thunderbird that seems to just show up around you.”
I laughed at this, it was nice to see Bianca joking around again. After what happened in the caves she seemed like someone else, none of her usual cheeriness was there. Not that I knew if that was what she wanted me to see from her or how she actually presented herself but still. I trusted her enough at this point to assume she wasn’t using her abilities to mess with my head.
When we got back to Bianca’s house the sun was just beginning to set, washing the town in shades of purple, orange, and red. We walked the bikes around to their place behind the house and I walked Bianca back to the front door.
“Thanks for today Keith,I don’t… get out very much anymore and it was… nice… to do something other than sit around the house for once. You know, despite everything that happened it was actually fun.”
I was taken aback by her words at first. If it was me I’d immediately want nothing to do with this person who just put me in danger.
“You had fun? The thunderbird showed up again and we may have killed a guy and you had fun?”
I asked, raising and eyebrow suspiciously.
“Can we not talk about that right now? Anyways I don’t exactly have a high bar for what is and isn’t fun at this point. I’ll see you later Keith.”
Bianca said, cracking a smile and walking into her house.
I was about halfway back to my own house when I realized she never gave me my backpack back. Well, looks like I’d be seeing her again then because I need that stuff back. I wasn’t sure what to think about what I’d seen today. If the thunderbird was in those mines years ago why did she end up in Wisconsin? There was also a very real possibility some people in this town worshipped her so I’d have to keep an eye out for that. The really interesting thing to me was the Shaoni never seemed to want to hurt me in the cave today. She was terrifying as all hell sure, but I didn’t get the sense that she wanted to cause me any sort of harm. If she wanted to do that my gut told me she would’ve done it quickly and efficiently.
Thunder suddenly cracked outside, interrupting my train of thought. As I stood up to see what time it was a knock came from the front door. I froze, who exactly could it be? I doubt Bianca would come over, I don’t think she even knows where I live but maybe she came by to drop off the backpack she absconded with? The knock came again, more forcefully this time.
“I’m coming, I’m coming!”
I shouted, as I jogged to the door. My heart dropped as soon as I opened it, On the other side of the door stood Shaoni. She was dressed normally for once, wearing a long flowing white nightgown. Shaoni stepped into my house as she cooed in her usual misty voice.
“Good evening. Keith was it? We have much to discuss.”

I’m 8 days post op and everything has been fine but now I’m feeling pain on my lower right side greeted by a headache and pain near my ear. So far, there’s no swelling and the area looks fine. It did smell still garlicky from my dinner yesterday so I saltwater irrigated and rinsed which caused a slight relief. I’m so scared of infection so I’m going to call my dentist anyway but it’s Saturday so they won’t get back to me until Monday I’m a little scared. What else can I do?

By reading all the threads in this group i almost definite that I have gout. I'm waiting until my next flare up before going to give blood so I can get peak uric level.
Started about 2 years ago however my flares were sporadic and only lasted a few days. I always thought my "flare up" was because I slept with my feet outside of the covers at night.
About 2 weeks before xmas last year it got extremely bad and being honest, my toe and ankle (at different times) have affected me consistently since. I joined this group about 2 weeks ago and my symthoms are identical to what most are experiencing.
My diet definitely does play a part as I'm

1. Overweight
2. Drink white wine like water
3. Adore Fizzy sweets.

I've really managed my water intake the past week as well as managing my overall diet (sweetener instead of sugar, low fat milk etc) with the hope I can just remiss the gout however, I read you "can't put toothpaste back in the tube"

5 months ago I got an upper helix piercing (barbell). Nobody told me that downsizing piercings is a thing and I should have done it much sooner. My earring has been often catching on my hair in these 5 months causing my entire ear to turn red. I’ve been spraying it with saline solution and it seemed to get irritated less easily as time passed. Today I went to get the earring bar downsized and the process felt so traumatic to my ear. The piercer person used more force than I was expecting and I think my ear bled more than on the day I actually GOT my piercing done (or maybe it just felt like that to me because the piercer did not bother to clean the blood off and I did it myself in the car afterward). Now my ear is red and throbbing just like it did the first day it got pierced. I’m really worried that the piercer messed up and reversed any kind of healing progress I’ve made. Is this sort of bleeding and irritation normal after downsizing helix earrings? Even for someone who has had this piercing for 5 months? I’m worried that it could cause swelling, which I don’t have room for now that the bar is so short. Someone please help

Hello, everyone. I’m posting here as I’m becoming desperate to find help or some answers.
I’m a 27 year old male. Toward the end of last year, I began having severe issues with the vision in my right eye that led to a traumatic cataract diagnosis. Around 15 years ago, I was shot in the right eye with a BB gun.
In January of this year, I called the University Hospital regarding the loss of vision and pain in my right eye. I was rushed in, as pain is a big concern and they wanted to make sure everything was okay. I was told I have a cataract and scheduled an appointment with a surgeon for the removal. When I asked about the pain, they told me that cataracts do not cause pain, but it may be what the cause is.
Over the course of the next 3 months, I went through phases of pain in my eye. One night, It was severe enough for me to visit the ER, from which I wasn’t given any real help. I was also incredibly sick with influenza B and congested, which seemed to make the pain even worse.
I was given an MRI and went through several different tests. Ended up getting home around 2am. Around 6am I noticed 5 missed calls from the hospital, asking me to come in right away as they may have seen something on the MRI and need more imaging.
After the additional imaging, I was told nothing seemed to be wrong, and they were at a loss in finding the cause. At one point, the ER doctor said chicken pox may be a possibility (I don’t know why). Then they told me it’s just neurological.
I spent the next few months with the pain coming and going, up to my following surgery appointments. When I brought it up to my surgeon, he didn’t know what could cause the issue either. He mentioned the cataract was so old, it had become soft.
The surgeon then explained to me the procedure, risks and benefits. I was told that I may or may not need glasses after the surgery, which I was fine with. I was told they’re standard procedures, simple and short recovery periods. I agreed and the surgery was scheduled.
Fast forward to the day after my surgery, and I begin to notice the difference in clarity of my vision. It was honestly crazy how clear my far sight vision was, but very disappointing how little I could see close up. I’m now unable to read my phone or see any detail closer than 5-7 feet away, but I was told glasses will correct the issue. No problem, I thought.
This is where my problems really begin. At night, I started noticing these incredibly intense visuals from light sources. So intense, I wasn’t able to go outside at night, or be in a dimly lit room for weeks. I am 1 month past my surgery and I am still unable to drive in the dark and struggle immensely with sitting anywhere dark with acute light sources. The best way to describe the visuals are halos, but not just like glowing street lights, I’m talking about psychedelic looking, hallucination type halos. They disappear when the light source is covered, and move in all directions, side to side and back and forth.
The best way to describe them is that they are perfectly circular and very sharply defined. Sometimes, there will be a slight ray type effect inside of them. They are present around every light source in a dark space. On the street, sometimes it’s so bad that there are dozens and dozens layered on top of each other. For weeks, I could literally feel my pupil swelling and sort of “popping”, as it adjusted to the lights. Immediately after, it would begin adjusting again, and the halos would come back. The lights go away when very bright light sources become present (like incoming headlights) or when equally disbursed. Better nights make the halos become more blurry, less defined outside of the circle.
I’ve tried to design this image to explain what I’m seeing to my doctor and others. I’ve also included a picture of how my right pupil looks in most dimmer lit, inside spaces:
https://imgur.com/a/o7vxpo3
Furthermore, I am experiencing a shadow casted around the outside of my vision in my right eye. Feels almost as if I’m looking through a tube, and seems that I have lost a fair amount of my peripheral vision. Some new floaters and flashes of light starting appearing around week 3, but not as drastic as it was with the cataract. I’m used to floaters in both eyes.
I showed this image to my surgeon and tried explaining the problem. He really didn’t seem to understand what the problem was, saying the eye looked good and halos are common. But I never knew that it would be so debilitating. He was at a loss, and mentioned that if my pupil is over dialating, it may be extending beyond my IOL, causing this issues. He’s been doing cataract surgeries for 2 years now. He also kept saying “well typically patients are older…” and then continued to explain protocol and experiences with older patients, not really considering my case individually, or offering to refer me to someone else.
At my post 1 month checkup, I asked him if there are different sizes that should have been used, only for him to say “well most IOLs are a certain size, but some are slightly bigger.” And then explained that my pupil dilating past the lens, causing the visuals. This makes sense to me, as the visuals do seem almost “prism” like. I was also told the lens was acrylic, and not as perfect as the normal lens, but I’m pretty sure there are different lens material types.
This confused me. It still does. I told him about my pupil being larger than the other before my surgery, and he saw it as well. Was this not a considering factor in my lens choice?
Additionally, I told this surgeon that back in 2013, I was diagnosed with optic nerve swelling, but he said that he had no idea what that was regarding and simply disregarded the diagnosis.
I’ve spent weeks trying to research the subject, but honestly, it’s causing me to become severely depressed and frustrated. I feel that my concerns have been totally disregarded, as I was told to wait another 3 months for my next appointment. I actually had to suggest treatment I read online with eye drops that cause the pupil to stay smaller. He agreed after my suggestion and said he would prescribe me these.
Unfortunately, they have not submitted the medication to my insurance for the past week, so I haven’t been able to try it. I hope it helps.
I really could use some help or advice. I’m writing this in the middle of the night and once again suffering from a headache from my eye issues. These visuals have not gotten any better since the night of surgery. Recently, they just go away, and some nights are better than other. Sometimes, artificial tears seem to help and other times they don’t. Sometimes losing the tension in my neck helps, sometimes moving my head down makes it worse.
I was also severely congested a few nights ago, and the halos were terrible. Decongestant spray seemed to make them totally disappear. I was told in the past I have a deviated septum, and on my right side I believe (not sure if they can be correlated)
If anyone’s has a suggestion as to what type of doctor may be able to help, or what I should expect my recovery to be like, I would be very grateful. I’m starting to feel hopeless and that people don’t believe or recognize the struggle I’m having.
At this point, I feel like I may have permanently messed up by opting in for this surgery, and I’m afraid I’ll never be able to drive or do things at night again. I understand that the damage the accident caused in my eye may be repairable, and that I probably will just need to adjust to new vision, but I really don’t think I can live with the issues I’ve been having at night. I feel as though I may never get to watch movies in theaters or watch events in dark spaces without severe visuals and head pain.
Let me know if there’s any additional info I can provide to help. On Monday, I am going to try to have my primary care provider help recommend me to someone else (insurance requires this for a second opinion).
Thank you for your time and help.