Lingerie cat scans

Super nervous as I’ve never had a cat scan with die and liquid contrast. Found a “moderately large sliding hiatal hernia” in an ER visit. Surgeon saw me 3 days following ER and ordered this.
I had to start prednisone and Benadryl due to allergies. I’m just anxious and scared.

This is going to be long, sorry about that.
Hi, so I, a male (27), I have to put the reality that I have a bulged disc and have to to rest for 2 months while I get back to normal; with the assistance of physical therapist, medicine, and rest/ stretches. I have told my family but well they said “you still have to pull your weight” but that pain is an 11/10 after a while. I’m doing better now as I’m able to stand and walk longer; sitting takes its toll still. But they really don’t like me to rest. My mom (F, 52) advocates to go against PT advice and well she did that and now she has a calcified herniated disc due to her stubbornness; she didn’t want to listen to her own PT’s advice.
So my family takes these stray pregnant cat into the apartment. We noticed she has a flea collar and looked clean; but she could have been out there for months or weeks. And well the stray actually gave birth that same day. So that great right? Well on the 3rd day of having her; we were Looking for 2 kittens that ran around and we found them. However, my mom hears the dog howling downstairs and is like “if you go down there, bring him up, my poor dog is losing it”. The dog is a chihuahua / Yorkie mix that clearly has separation anxiety. So I go down there, take a break while they are upstairs and raise my legs cause pain started coming. I bring the dog back up because well she said “they’ve brought the dogs up and it’s went well”. So I bring the dog up, struggling, but I do it (I’m using a cane). We had a gate that would keep the stray in a room. As I get there, my sister (F, 25) is next to the gate. My mom says “let him down”, to which I do. The stray hears that and my sister to slow to react, being next to the gate allows the cat to shove the gate and goes for my dog. I jump into action and try holding the cat down with my arm cause well, it’s my dog; had him since a puppy for crying out loud. And I saw her stance, we own cats (for years), stray was getting ready to jump and attack my dog, so I had to jump. But remember I have a bulged disc on my right side. So I jump and she leaves me with 4 bites; deep hole in my wrist and forearm and a bunch of scratches. I mean seeing that on my body, I’ve never been so enraged. The damage was insane and that happened like 12:45-1pm. But I got up; hurting up my progress for my disc and my arm beat with holes; both on my right side, mind you. My sister and mother tell me told me to leave and didn’t thank me for preventing another attack on my dog. I went downstairs trying to calm down. My mom tried to remedy it to gain sympathy and I’m like “kick the stray out or once the babies are good, kick her out”. I felt like reprimanding the stray for how she left my body and hurt my dog. I was trying to calm down and my mother decided to blast music and I’m like “can you turn it off for a few minutes? I’m trying to calm down”. She respond with “No I want some noise, some music”. I responded with “or call animal control cause I’m going up there for quietness, it was that loud. She’s like “no and says I’ll call the police on you if you go up there”. I’m like “call them, I just took a photo of my arm and it’s time stamped before you call them because she is a stray”. I go there and just drop on the bed but my sister and mom were telling me to leave. It doesn’t stop bleeding so I call my GF (F 25) because she has had cats and dogs and saved strays too. And she also agree that if she attacked once. She agrees I did the right thing to protect my dogs and I confided in her in how I wanted to reprimand the cat because my family told me to the leave the room and didn’t help me calm down. My GF advised that I got to the ER after I told her the situation to get my rabies shot. So I went, as I’m there my bulged disc starts hurting like crazy. I try using multiple chairs to elevate my legs to reduce the pain but pain is like 8/10. I had to do scans for an x-ray and my arm I notice is still squirting and oozing and entry bite wounds are black, my wrist is swollen to the point gravity hurts it; I honestly felt like crying; back is now 8/10 in pain and wrist 9/10. The radiologist made me do poses that were uncomfortable and hurt like crazy. They do a bl$&d analysis and are like “we think we’re gonna give you antibiotics and re-administer some vaccines cause that stray looks like it had something in its bites, as determined from the entry wounds. The swelling was also another worrisome thing about it, so they gave 3 Tylenols, tetanus shot, rabies shot, and 4 antibiotics for each wound. They were painful and I had gone through so much pain for the day, I could barely walk home at this point and felt like my right arm and leg were gonna fall off my body. At this time I realized my family didn’t even offer to help me. When I got home I needed to raise my legs for a few minutes and didn’t want to be in their vicinity. As I’m still letting that help me, my sister is like “Hi, scoot over, my drink is here” and I’m like “There is an empty sofa over there?” And she says “is it even that bad?” referring to my right wrist and forearm injury from the stray. I’m like “no shit, if I got 8-9 shots, now give me a minute, I’ll move soon”. She’s like “well I want to sit here”. I’m like “how about you check on the stray you sided with while I protected our dog? And stop being a d@$&head” And she makes the excuse “she stopped or was gonna stop!” And she said “you didn’t have to stop her”. I’m like “I did something you both weren’t going to do or were to slow to do and I needed to protect our dog” and her response is “who’s gonna protect her?”. My mom smiling and laughing and I’m like “I protect our dog and not even a thank you, Screw it”. And I continued with “yall didn’t really care if I was okay not even to help”. Luckily my GF was on the phone hearing everything and as I’m talking her to make me feel less alone, my mom blasts the music on purpose so I couldn’t hear her or her me but I had earphones with a mic. We concluded that it was best to Alienate myself from my family. AITA for trying to remove the cats?
Update 1: So it’s been a week since I wrote this. We tried to have someone from a none-profit organization to collect the kittens cause the living environment that my family has them in includes housing them in a location that can be taken at anytime. Feeding them from 3-6 hours, not picking up the feces or fecal matter. We tried talking to them the day before about surrendering the cats. So I wouldn’t have to call animal control and go straight to a caring resource. My family threatened to destroy my property and things, including kicking me out to an unstable apartment or throwing my stuff out, if I didn’t return the cats. I ended up crying in the middle of a train station with my GF and made a compromise to keep my stuff until I move it to storage (like my family wanted) and live with my family once I returned the cats. So I comprised and brought the cats back.
Update 2: it’s been 2 weeks and now my family wants me to leave, even though they have the cats. And that I need to go but I don’t have anywhere to officially go. Do you have any words for my situation?

hey, i’m moving alone with my two cats and very nervous about it. it’s a domestic flight
does tsa request vet documents for pets?
is the private screening guaranteed? do you think they’ll do one at a time? one of my cats is very skittish so i was thinking of transferring her directly to the carrier that has already been scanned, so i don’t have to hold her at all. does that sound ok?
any other advice? i’m legit losing sleep over this. much appreciated!

I got diagnosed in 2014 but felt it was kind of blanket diagnosis due the doctors and hospital having very little information. Went almost seven years without a bad flare up. Had tiny episodes seldomly during that time but nothing that was debilitating. then in 2021 it came back for the exact same severity and duration in 2014- 2 1/2 weeks. I didn’t want to go to the hospital again because that doesn’t help with stress so I went to a GI independently, got every test imaginable multiple endoscopy, pill endoscopy, multiple colonoscopy, MRI with and without contrast, bloodwork, cat scans, you name it I had it done. All came back I was healthy as a horse, which great, but clearly something’s going on. All my tests on finding a variable or a trigger always comes up inconclusive because of the randomness, but the biggest similarity seems to be either stress or the feeling of incomplete bowel movements, especially in the morning. Curious if anyone else feels the same/can relate

Hey all. Got an issue and would love some input from the gear heads who have tackled this engine more than me. I have a 2010 GTI. Recently started throwing codes(is it really a vw if it doesn’t?). I recently was getting P0341, P000a, and P0011. After speaking with my mechanic we agreed first thing to check is cam follower. Easy thing. Tackled that. Lights off for 30 miles. Now steady 0341 error as read on my p3 gauge. Haven’t scanned it with my computer yet. Symptoms:
P0341 code
Drops acceleration at around 5-6k rpm. I’ll floor it, I’ll hit 25psi or so at 5-6k and it’ll just stutter and stop going. Hard to explain.
At 1k-1100 rpm steady (goddamn LA traffic) it’ll stutter like it’s misfiring and EPC light will pop on, then off. It’s especially annoying on the 101 during traffic cause the light will be on and off and on and off, dinging the whole time.
If I accelerate up to around 4-5k or above and let off the throttle with no shift and let the engine brake, I get a loud rattle. Now this may be the wastegate because a lot of People have said those are loud sometimes. But I’m putting it here to be thorough.
Car and mods: 2010 GTI K04 Apr DP Apr IC Neuspeed CAI Cobb cat back Yellow speed racing coilovers IE tune. Miles: 163,510 Timing chain has about 10k on it. Timing was recently adjusted due to a stuck valve about 1 month ago.
My intuition is saying maybe cam shaft postion sensor needs to be replaced, but I’d like some input before i start throwing parts at her. Any constructive Input is greatly appreciated.

So I had an emergency root canal three weeks back on a tooth I had a crown put on last December. It’s my bottom far back left - I believe it’s #18. The endodonist put a temporary filling in. After day two I started experiencing excruciating pain and swelling. On the early morning of day four I went to the ER because the swelling was so bad it started extending across my throat and I couldn’t swallow or eat. After the visit after getting numbed up, a CAT scan, and an IV of fluids and steroids, I was sent home with two different antibiotics and a six day steroid. Everything was fine for a little over a week then last Saturday night I started experiencing light swelling. That has continued to today. I also believe the filling fell out as it feels that way with my tongue. Tomorrow I am to see the endodontist to get my permanent filling out in. So my questions are the following:

1. Can I still get the permanent filling put in tomorrow if a new infection has begun and the filling fell out?
   
2. What is the procedure for putting a permanent filling in? Will I need to be numbed up again?
   
3. After a permanent filling is put in will I need to eat soft food for three or four days again?
   

I had silicone cheeck implants put in 6 years ago fastened with screws. Last year around this time I started getting sharp shooting pains numbness around my cheecks. I consulted with a couple of doctors an ent did a cat scan. He saw a pus pocket and gave me augmentin. Thank fully it went away. Fast forward to today I got a severe strep throat three days ago. I was out on Amoxicillin. As soon as I got the strep throat my right cheeck felt weird pressure, numb ( like novacain) and eye twitching. I'm very upset if I remove them a doctor told me I will be disfigured because I'm post menopausal. They said they could do a face lift but I would still be left with irregularities. I can't keep freaking out every time I get sick. I truly do not want to remove them. Has any one ever removed cheeck implants ? If so what did your surgeon do to fix the area ?

original is here but I'll also post the content in this thread https://www.reddit.com/RFID/comments/1cwup2d/grabbing_a_tag_off_a_neighbourhood_cat/
As posted on RFID:
There's a cat that roams the neighbourhood sometimes and its been peeing on my patio funiture, and on my back door. I think its targeting my house because I have two male cats and it see/smell them. My mom has a tag reader for animal stuff she's involved in. So I borrowed it and scanned a black cat that comes by the house because that cat is nice and friendly. But then I got video footage of a long haired black cat wearing a scarf and a bowtie (just to make him more of a villain) rubbing his face on the patio furniture that gets peed on all the time! Clip cut off before I could see if he peed. I just saw this well dressed cat in the front yard and I tried to lure him with treats. He was growling and hissing at me (real classy for someone with a bowtie), and eventually I tried to scan the tag but I couldnt get close enough I dont think. I touched the side of one of this shoulders with the reader but that was as close as I got.
The endgame here is find out what the cat's # is, contact the humane society because there's a bylaw in my city that says you cant have free roaming animals, I get the people fined. They start being more responsible with their cat.
I did some searching on this sub and from what I can tell those pet tags are super short range. But I have an advantage: both cats like to slink underneath a bay window I have over the garden. My dream is to mount some kind of device under the bay window, and as the cats slink underneath it, it passively grabs and stores tag #s and I can check them. Is there a device like this? Whats the cheapest way for me to execute this?
The other idea is I can mount it to that patio furniture since that cat likes to get real up close and personal with that stuff.
I'll take other suggestions as well. Thanks!
Now is this something the flipper can help me with? I'm wondering if I can attach an external rfid reader. In that case the patio furniture actually has a compartment to store the cushions inside the seats. I could put the flipper inside the patio furnitue, mount the antenna outside the patio furniture where I've seen that cat, and grab the tag. This would require it to be looking for tags for days maybe weeks.

There's a cat that roams the neighbourhood sometimes and its been peeing on my patio funiture, and on my back door. I think its targeting my house because I have two male cats and it see/smell them. My mom has a tag reader for animal stuff she's involved in. So I borrowed it and scanned a black cat that comes by the house because that cat is nice and friendly. But then I got video footage of a long haired black cat wearing a scarf and a bowtie (just to make him more of a villain) rubbing his face on the patio furniture that gets peed on all the time! Clip cut off before I could see if he peed. I just saw this well dressed cat in the front yard and I tried to lure him with treats. He was growling and hissing at me (real classy for someone with a bowtie), and eventually I tried to scan the tag but I couldnt get close enough I dont think. I touched the side of one of this shoulders with the reader but that was as close as I got.
The endgame here is find out what the cat's # is, contact the humane society because there's a bylaw in my city that says you cant have free roaming animals, I get the people fined. They start being more responsible with their cat.
I did some searching on this sub and from what I can tell those pet tags are super short range. But I have an advantage: both cats like to slink underneath a bay window I have over the garden. My dream is to mount some kind of device under the bay window, and as the cats slink underneath it, it passively grabs and stores tag #s and I can check them. Is there a device like this? Whats the cheapest way for me to execute this?
The other idea is I can mount it to that patio furniture since that cat likes to get real up close and personal with that stuff.
I'll take other suggestions as well. Thanks!

“Holy Hell, Edgar! I thought you said you could do this! Where is the manual I provided for you?”, Bob asked.
Well, Sir! The manual was quite heavy, so I wrote down all the instructions on something humans call index cards. I separated them into each category, pre-checklists, take-off, landing, things like that, then paper clipped them together, and kept them all in my shirt pocket behind my pocket protector under my pilots jacket.
I was nervous and sweating when we took off, so I took off the jacket, and put it in the co-pilots seat.
When we were spiraling down, out of control, my sunglasses fell off, and my pocket protector, my pen, and the cards fell out. The cards fell apart, and were flying around the cockpit.
Now they’re scattered everywhere on the cockpit floor. I don’t know what order they go in, or what card goes to what instruction. It’s a big mess, Sir!”, Edgar replied.
“Do you want to take this one, Mr. Hard-Sell?”, Bob asked me.
I was reluctant to be anywhere near Edgar after what happened last time, so I simply answered, “Your Demon! Your problem!”
All the girls screamed again, this time screaming, “He’s a Demon!”
“Yes, Girls! But he’s a kinda cool guy, unless you sneak up behind him!”, I replied.
“Thanks”, Edgar said.
“Ok then! Very well!, Mr. Hard-Sell! I will take care of it!”, Bob responded. “Let’s Go, Edgar!”
They both then headed out the door, down the hallway, through the other door, and disappeared out of sight.
“I like your accordion!”, Tony’s redhead said.
“You can check it out, if you want to!”, he told her, then placed it gently around her neck.
I offered my guitar to Donna, who nervously accepted.
All the guys then offered their gear to their girls.
They all just stayed still, looking like a bad independent T & A movie, in their sexy lingerie.
My first girl was just standing there, as she was the “Odd Girl Out”. So, I let her use one of my other guitars.
“Play something!”, Derek said.
“Yeah! Girls can rock too!”, Stephen said.
My mind then flashed to the all female Rock band Vixen, they might have been poppy, and radio friendly, but they still rocked… kind of.
Stephen’s girl then counted it off, except she didn’t do the normal count off, she just said, 1, 2, 3, 4.
Now, I have no idea what those girls played, or what Corey’s girl was saying. I seriously doubt that they did either. It was mostly high pitched screaming.
It was a 3 minute cacophony of sheer and udder noise. But they had fun, and that’s all that matters.
Anyway, when they finished, Derek screamed out, “Rock and Roll!”, and threw up the horns.
We all did the same, including Tony.
The girls high fived each other, and were jumping up and down, cheering. Some of them did high kicks like cheerleaders do.
What a sight that was. Sexy lingerie, remember?
Anyway, Bob then returned from the cockpit.
“Well, you boys really changed since I’ve been gone!”, he said smiling.
The girls then gave us back our gear.
“Well, Boys!… and girls! Edgar has it all figured out now, so we’ll be landing soon. Let’s head back to the other room, shall we?”
Derek, Ricky, and I put our guitars back in place. Stephen put the drumsticks back, and Corey put the microphone back on its stand.
Tony let his girl keep his accordion.
We all then made our way to the Hangout Room, Bob again closing each door behind us.
We got back to the room, and talked, hung out, indulged in a few incentives, things like that.
As we were indulging ourselves, the intercom popped again.
“Hey, guys! The tower guy said we have clearance, or something, I don’t know, to land this thing. So, here goes! Wish me luck. Hey, there are the lights! Cool!
The intercom them popped off.
Out of complete nervousness, Donna and I hugged each other, as the plane started to descend.
Tony and his two girls did the same.
The remaining girls huddled on the couch, holding each other.
Bob stood by the TV.
Derek, Corey, Stephen, and Ricky just carried on with what they were doing.
The plane suddenly stopped descending, bounced a little, jolted forward, and began to shake, slowly coming to a stop.
The ones who weren’t dead already, sighed a sigh of relief.
Soon after, Rebecca came bouncing back through the curtain.
“Daddy! Can I come back yet? I think Edgar pooped himself. He smells really bad!”, she said.
We all kinda laughed at that one too.
“Are you going to be nice?”, Bob asked her.
“Yes, Daddy!”, she answered smiling.
“It doesn’t matter anyway. I have an announcement to make.”, he said.
Bob then clapped his hands and said, “Girls, Girls! Pay attention please! I hope you have enjoyed your little endeavors with the band, but… it’s time for you to go! We have business to attend to. With a snap of my fingers, I will return you to your homes. You will awaken in your beds and continue on with your lives. You can keep the lingerie! Are you ready?”
“I don’t want to go! I live alone. I don’t have any friends. My life sucks!”, Donna said.
“Um! Does she have to go?”, I asked Bob.
“No! Not if you would like her to stay!”, he said.
“I do!”, I replied.
“Does anyone else want their girls to stay?”, Bob asked.
Derek and Corey both said no immediately.
“I’m not boyfriend material!”, Stephen said.
“I like you and all, but I don’t want to be tied down at a young age like my Pops was! Sorry!”, Ricky said, looking at his girl.
“My wife filed for divorce when I told her about this job, so, I just wanna be free and have fun. It was very nice to meet you both.”, Tony replied, smiling at his girls.
“Do any of you girls want to stay?”, Bob asked the girls.
“I’ve gotta feed my cat!”, “I gotta work in the morning!”, “My Grandmothers sick!”, “The cable guy is coming tomorrow!”, “I got laundry to fold!”, “My boyfriends probably wondering where I am, so, No!”, they all said.
Tony’s girl laid his accordion on the floor.
“Very well, ladies. Goodbye!”, Bob said, and snapped his fingers.
The girls then disappeared into a cloud of gray smoke, all except Donna.
Rebecca then smiled, and waved, “Bye, Bitches!”, she said.
“REBECCA!”, Bob yelled.
“What, Daddy? That WAS being nice!”, she replied.
Rebecca then smiled, and waved at Donna.
“Now, listen closely, Mr. Hard-Sell”, Bob said sternly, looking me straight in the eye. “I WILL NOT tolerate any John Lennon/Yoko Ono bullshit, I have heard all the stories. Business is business, and MY business is with you, and you only! No outside interference! Is… that… clear?”, he said.
“Ye- Yes- Yes, Bob!”, I answered nervously.
That was the first time, since we signed our contract, that Bob made me nervous.
Bob’s happy, and overly dramatic demeanor then returned.
“Lovely! Now Donna! We can not have you walking around in public in your present attire. It would be bad for business.”He said.
I then cut him a hard look.
“I did not mean it to be insulting, Mr. Hard-Sell! I meant that we have an image to uphold! One of professionalism. Lacy lingerie is not very professional, now is it!”, Bob clarified.
“Oh Ok! Sorry Bob!”, I said.
“No worries, dear boy! Now, tell me, Dear, what would you like to be wearing?”, Bob asked Donna.
“Um! I don’t know! Jeans and a t-shirt maybe!”, she answered.
Bob then snapped his fingers once again, and instantly Donna was wearing just what she had asked for… Skin tight jeans, a black Hellfire Records t-shirt, and a pair of brand new female Nike sneakers on her feet.
“You look amazing!”, I said to her.
“Oh! I love what you’re wearing”, Rebecca said to Donna, “What are those?, she asked pointing at Donna’s pants.
“Um! Jeans!”, Donna replied.
“Daddy! Can I have some jeans?”, Rebecca asked Bob.
“We’ll get you some soon, Dear!”, Bob replied
“Oh! Yay!”, Rebecca said excitedly, and side hugged Donna, who nervously looked at her side eyed.
“We’re gonna be the bestest of friends!”, Rebecca said, as she bounced back through the curtain, singing, “I’m getting jeans! I’m getting jeans!”, her tail waving excitedly behind her, like a dog excited to see you.
Now, I’m not sure if this was a clinical diagnosis back then, but Rebecca… was definitely bipolar.
“The doors open, Daddy!”, she said, sticking just her head through the curtain.
“Let’s go, Boys!”, Bob instructed.
“Where are we?”, Stephen asked, as we all got up, including Donna, to exit the plane.
“Japan, Boys! Your first show is at…”, Bob started to say.
“Budokan?”, I asked
“Very good, Mr. Hard-Sell! It’s actually Nippon Budokan, but yes!”, Bob said.
“No fucking way!”, I replied excitedly.
Now, some say the greatest LIVE album ever recorded is KISS ALIVE, some say KISS ALIVE II, some say TED NUGENT - DOUBLE LIVE GONZO, some say PETER FRAMPTON - FRAMPTON COMES ALIVE! But for me, the greatest LIVE album ever recorded will always be CHEAP TRICK - LIVE AT BUDOKAN!
It’s the rawness of the whole thing. The way Bun E. Carlos’s drums just boom. The way Robin Zander’s voice is perfectly pitched, well, his voice cracked a few times, but that’s what made it so real. Not like other “LIVE” albums that were polished up in the studio.
The way Rick Neilson’s guitars blazed through each song, and the way Tom Peterson’s bass pounded out the rhythm. I don’t care what anyone says. It is a masterpiece in its own right.
Anyway, we walked through the curtain to see Rebecca standing in the doorway, facing outward, and waving.
She was bouncing up and down as well.
Edgar then came walking through the kitchen, with his right hand on his butt.
He walked up to the group of us standing there.
“Holy Fire and Brimstone!”, Bob said loudly, covering his nose, as we all did the same.
“Jesus!”, “Holy Fuck!”, “Damn!”, “What the Hell did you eat!”, “What ate you?!”, “Gross!”, “That smells bad!”, we all said.
Rebecca then stepped back from the doorway, turned around, and covered her mouth quickly, obviously trying not to throw up.
Well, at least she tried.
Her body heaved, as globs of a green, glue-like substance, came exploding out of her mouth, through her fingers, and onto the floor.
We all jumped back to avoid being hit.
Bob just stood there, still holding his nose.
Now, I’ve been in many public bathrooms, and smelt some of the most horrific smells that the human body can produce, especially in the bathroom of that creepy grocery store in town.
But none of them even came close to the, eye watering, nose burning, hair splitting, vomit inducing smell of Demon shit.
“Go to the lavatory and get cleaned up, Son! Use soap! Holy burning flesh, you smell rancid!”, Bob said to Edgar, “I will provide you with new clothes. They will be waiting for you inside.”
Bob then snapped his fingers.
“I’m sorry, Sir! I- I was just scared.”, Edgar replied.
“I understand, Son! Just Go! Go!”, Bob said.
Edgar then made his way back to the bathroom, still holding his butt.
“Rebecca, go to the kitchen and clean yourself up! New clothes will be waiting for you there as well!”, Bob said.
“But, Daddy! Boys like me in this outfit!“, she responded, wiping her mouth.
“And clean up this mess!” Bob said, “Now, Go!”
Rebecca then turned and walked into the kitchen.
“Yes, Daddy!”, she said.
“Who are all those people?”, Ricky asked, looking out the door of the plane.
We all then stuck our heads out, seeing what he was seeing for the first time.
There was a huge black limousine, parked parallel with the plane, with a red carpet leading from the bottom of the steps to the back door of the limo.
It was very similar to the one Bob had outside the police station. Hell, it could have been the same one for all I know.
There was a huge gathering of Japanese people, teenagers mostly, a few adolescent looking ones, and even less adults to the left of where we stood.
They were all cheering, and jumping up and down with excitement.
Some of them held signs with the band name on them, some said “I Love Corey!”, with a red heart where the word love should be, some had Japanese writings on them that we couldn’t read.
The police had to play crowd control spreading their arms out, almost finger to finger, to keep them all back, as camera bulbs flashed repeatedly from the right of us.
“Are they here for us!”, Stephen asked.
“Yes, Boys! Welcome to your first taste of Fame and Fortune!”, Bob said smiling.

Hi ShopifyeCommerce - I'm Paul and I follow the e-commerce industry closely for my Shopifreaks E-commerce Newsletter. Each week I post a summary recap of the week's top stories, which I cover in depth in the newsletter. Let's dive in...
STAT OF THE WEEK: Amazon could finally surpass Walmart to become the nation’s biggest company by revenue, having grown by 12% last year compared with Walmart's growth of 6%. Two more years of similar growth discrepancy would push Amazon past Walmart in sales.
Shopify is suing Shopline in New York federal court, accusing it of illegally copying Shopify's software to build its own e-commerce platform. Shopline is a Singapore-based subsidiary of the Chinese technology company JOYY Inc. Shopify said in the lawsuit that Shopline created a “thinly disguised knockoff” of its Dawn theme to power a competing e-commerce service. The lawsuit even says that the “Shopify” name still appears in the code of various versions of Seed that Shopline is distributing, and that Shopify found a Chinese webpage hosted by Joyy with the title “Seed Theme” that still carries headers reading “dawn-test.”
In other lawsuit news this week — Temu is facing legal action from 17 companies accusing it of violating new EU laws with “manipulative practices” such as making it difficult to delete your account, and lack of transparency over who their sellers are and why certain products are recommended to customers. Temu was the most downloaded app in the UK in 2023 and still remains as a top downloaded app in 2024.
The state of Arizona has taken legal action against Amazon, launching two lawsuits that accuse the company of monopolistic behavior and deceptive practices involving dark patterns. The first lawsuit claims that Amazon's business practices violate the state's Consumer Fraud Act by employing dark patterns to make it difficult for users to cancel their Amazon Prime subscriptions. The second lawsuit alleges that Amazon breaches Arizona's Uniform State Antitrust Act by maintaining a monopoly via enforcing agreements with third-party sellers to prevent them from offering lower prices on other platforms. It also challenges Amazon's Buy Box algorithm under the Consumer Fraud Act, claiming that it favors sellers who use Fulfillment By Amazon. The legal actions echo similar complaints from the FTC and various states.
Last week Amazon made a big splash with its first-ever event during upfront week, taking over Pier 36 in New York which has previously hosted upfront presentations from Disney and TelevisaUnivision. The company called on celebrities including Jake Gyllenhaal, Reese Witherspoon, Will Ferrell, and Alicia Keys to demonstrate how premium their content is. Amazon worked to separate itself from its competitors by showcasing its scale. Prime Video now has an average monthly ad-supported reach of 200M customers, with 115M in the US, making it the largest premium ad-supported streaming service both globally and in the U.S. It also announced new upcoming series such as Spider-Man Noir, Tomb Raider, and a prequel to Legally Blond.
eBay launched a new feature called “resell on eBay” that is designed to make it easier for brands and consumers to list clothing for sale on its marketplace. The feature is built into Certilogo, which was acquired by eBay in 2023, which features an AI-powered digital ID printed on the product tag to help brands manage the lifecycle of their garments and give consumers a way to confirm the item's authenticity. Users scan a QR code on a product's smart label to generate a “resell your garment” button. Clicking the button directs the user to check the authenticity of the item through Certilogo's AI authentication system by signing in with their eBay account. From there, an eBay listing is prefilled with information from the brand about the item. Users can then edit the listing, upload additional photos, and publish the item for sale.
Poshmark launched a new paid marketing tool called “Promoted Closets” that gives sellers the ability to promote their entire shop at once. The tool uses machine learning to automatically promote individual product listings from a seller's entire inventory, identifying shoppers' search terms and matching them with promoted items. Promoted Closet works on a cost per click model where sellers only get charged when a shopper clicks and views the item from a promoted listing. There's an option to set the budget manually or get a recommendation from Poshmark. Each campaign lasts for 7 days.
Klarna says that it is not sharing its customer data with credit bureaus in the US because the bureaus “do not have proper models to responsibly process the data and ensure good consumer outcomes.” It does share its data with UK credit bureaus. Klarna added that the credit models used today in the US “were built decades ago and calculate data based on monthly payments, long-term loans, and open lines of credit. But BNPL does not fit into these categories.” The company claims that BNPL is different because it offers bi-weekly instead of monthly payments, and unlike a credit card, Klarna doesn't offer an open line of credit.
Third party sellers on Amazon, which make up 60% of sales on Amazon's marketplace, are reconsidering how heavily they'll discount products this year for Prime Day, given how much seller fees have increased on the platform in recent months, according to Modern Retail. According to data from SmartScout, Amazon FBA fees for standard-sized products have jumped 96% over the past 10 years, outpacing inflation. Seller fees can eat up about half the cost per sale on Amazon, according to Marketplace Pulse. That doesn't leave much room for running Prime Day deals, which primarily benefit Amazon as opposed to the individual merchants who are pressured to wipe out their little remaining margin for the sake of running a deal at all.
Netflix announced durings it Upfronts presentation that it's launching its own advertising platform to compete against Google, Amazon, Hulu, Comcast, and other ad giants. Amazon has only been in the advertising business for a year and a half after launching its ad-supported tier in Nov 2022. Netflix originally partnered with Microsoft to develop its ad tech, which let the streaming platform enter the ad space quickly and catch up with rivals like Hulu, which has offered an ad-supported tier since 2010. Launching its own in-house ad tech will allow Netflix to take full control of its advertising and create targeted and personalized ad experiences. Netflix wants to experiment with “episodic” campaigns, which involves a series of ads that tell a story rather than delivering repetitive ads. Brilliant!
Slack is under attack after users discovered that the company has been using their messages, content, and files to train its global AI models, which Slack uses to power their channel and emoji recommendations and search results. It was discovered that if you don't want Slack to use your data, you have to e-mail the company to opt-out, which isn't a good look for a company that makes a big deal out of telling customers that “You control your data.” In response to the outrage, Slack published a blog post to clarify how its customers' data is used.
Google will now let you perform a “web” search, which lets you filter out almost all of its AI results and knowledge panels that currently take over its SERPs, leaving you with just links and text like the old days. The order of the search results are the same regardless of whether you pick “web” or “all”, and it doesn't block links to YouTube videos or Reddit posts. There are also still ads that appear above and below the results.
YouTube is officially launching its YouTube Select “creator takeovers,” which lets advertisers buy out the ad inventory on channels representing the top 1% of content on the platform. The program began as a pilot at the end of 2023 and is now opening to more top creators.
Wix launched three new AI-powered image enhancement and creation tools to help users create and display high-quality images. The new tools include an AI Image Creator to make the images, Object Eraser to remove unwanted objects in the images, and AI Image Editor to add/edit portions of the image. Honestly, the three tools kind of sound like one tool with three features, but you do you, Wix.
Temu, which is already 20% bigger than Shein in the US and gets 42% of its business from the US, Mexico, and Chile, is turning its attention to Europe and wants to grow rapidly in the region. The company has redirected its enormous ad spend to Europe and Mexico while Washington scrutinizes its business practices in the US.
Visa announced major changes to how its credit and debit cards will operate in the US in the coming months and years. The new features mean consumers will be carrying fewer physical cards in their wallets, and will make the 16-digit card number increasingly irrelevant. The biggest change will be the ability for banks to issue one physical card that is connected to multiple bank accounts, which consumers can apply usage rules to.
Mastercard and Salesforce announced a new integration designed to help customers speed up the resolution of transaction disputes and chargebacks, as well as reduce costs associated with resolving them. The partnership will integrate Salesforce's Financial Services Cloud with Mastercard's dispute resolution services, providing real time notifications and a central dashboard for managing disputes.
Meta is taking inspiration from BeReal and Snapchat by developing a feature for Instagram called “Peek” that allows users to post authentic pictures that can only be viewed once. A photo shared via a Peek would have to be taken with your camera in the moment, as you would not be able to upload an image from your gallery, and you won't be able to add filters or edit the photo.
Ikea launched a TikTok livestream where cats and dogs model and demonstrate new Ikea products for pets. The Pet Shopping Network will appear for everyone in the UK on TikTok and showcase pets demonstrating Ikea's 29-piece pet furniture range.
Sam's Club is planning to launch an online shopping portal in Hong Kong within the next two months, giving the territory access to its products via e-commerce. The service will include free delivery for purchases over 599 yuan ($83).
Amazon raised warehouse worker wages to $15/hour five years ago, but today half of workers surveyed told researchers they struggle to afford food and rent. Amazon called the researcher's methodology “deeply flawed” and said the company had tried to raise its concerns with the study’s authors but never heard back.
Lots of layoffs this week… Amazon laid off more than 100 customer service reps, Walmart let go of hundreds of corporate staffers and ordering employees across the US and Canada, Gopuff laid off 6% of its staff, and Indeed laid off 8% of its workforce.
Remember that former diversity program manager at Facebook who stole more than $4M from the company through fake business deals in exchange for kickbacks? I first reported on Barbara Furlow-Smiles in December of last year when she pled guilty to the theft. Well, last week she was sentenced to five years and three months in prison for her scheme.
In the world of corporate turnover… The chief of Amazon Web Services, Adam Selipsky, is stepping down next month after a three-year term to be replaced by Matt Garman, a senior VP who has overseen sales and marketing at AWS. Also, eBay's VP of Global Communications, Michelle Friedman, departed the company to take on a role at Samsara, a cloud platform built for tracking and analyzing data from physical operations.
Meta is shutting down Workspace, a version of Facebook that had been built to enable communication among business teams and organizations. Sources say that it will be business as usual on the platform until August 25, 2025, and then it will be read-only until May 2026. Meta is recommending Zoom-owned Workvivo as a migration-ready alternative.
Ted Baker Canada is holding store-closing clearance sales across locations in the US and Canada after filing for bankruptcy in April. As of May 10th, online shopping is no longer available and all sales are final across the company's brick-and-mortar retail locations.
Sezzle, a US-based BNPL service, partnered up with Celerant Technology, a POS system for retailers, to offer a BNPL option when checking out in-store . The two companies had partnered in 2023 to offer BNPL options online, and now the solution is being brought to brick-and-mortar stores.
BuyBay, a Dutch recommerce platform, is launching a SaaS product using its own recommerce software. Retailers and manufacturers can now resell unreturned products from their own distribution center, which helps reduce CO2-emissions and increase profits.
Setapp Mobile, a subscription-based alternative to the Apple App Store that's now possible thanks to the EU's Digital Markets Act, went into invite-only beta last week. The new app store allows customers to play with a range of apps without being hit with reduced features, ads, options to upgrade, and without spending money on something they may not use. The biggest challenge with the Setapp iOS store is getting the app installed on your iPhone, which involves following a link, installing software, and then activating it — a process made intentionally cumbersome by Apple.
Avalara expanded its partnership with Shopify by joining the Shopify Tax Platform. Avalara has powered tax calculation for Shopify Plus customers since 2015, and now through the Shopify Tax Partner Platform, the company can serve all Shopify customers with their global tax compliance tools.
Walmart delivered 4.4B items the same day or next day, beating Amazon, which said it did 4B items in one day. Walmart's advantage is that it uses stores for its same-day deliveries.
Plus 9 seed rounds, IPOs, and acquisitions of interest including Gorgias's $29M Series C-2 round, which it plans to use the funds from to launch its new AI Agent.
I hope you found this recap helpful. See you next week! For more details on each story and sources, see the full edition: https://www.shopifreaks.com/shopify-sues-shopline-ebays-qr-code-netflixs-new-ad-serve What else is new in e-commerce? Share stories of interesting in the comments below (including in your own business) or on shopifreaks. -PAUL Editor of Shopifreaks E-commerce Newsletter PS: Want the full editions delivered to your Inbox each week? Join free at www.shopifreaks.com

Hi - I'm Paul and I follow the e-commerce industry closely for my Shopifreaks E-commerce Newsletter. Each week I post a summary recap of the week's top stories, which I cover in depth with sources in the full edition. Let's dive in...
STAT OF THE WEEK: Amazon could finally surpass Walmart to become the nation’s biggest company by revenue, having grown by 12% last year compared with Walmart's growth of 6%. Two more years of similar growth discrepancy would push Amazon past Walmart in sales.
Shopify is suing Shopline in New York federal court, accusing it of illegally copying Shopify's software to build its own e-commerce platform. Shopline is a Singapore-based subsidiary of the Chinese technology company JOYY Inc. Shopify said in the lawsuit that Shopline created a “thinly disguised knockoff” of its Dawn theme to power a competing e-commerce service. The lawsuit even says that the “Shopify” name still appears in the code of various versions of Seed that Shopline is distributing, and that Shopify found a Chinese webpage hosted by Joyy with the title “Seed Theme” that still carries headers reading “dawn-test.”
In other lawsuit news this week — Temu is facing legal action from 17 companies accusing it of violating new EU laws with “manipulative practices” such as making it difficult to delete your account, and lack of transparency over who their sellers are and why certain products are recommended to customers. Temu was the most downloaded app in the UK in 2023 and still remains as a top downloaded app in 2024.
The state of Arizona has taken legal action against Amazon, launching two lawsuits that accuse the company of monopolistic behavior and deceptive practices involving dark patterns. The first lawsuit claims that Amazon's business practices violate the state's Consumer Fraud Act by employing dark patterns to make it difficult for users to cancel their Amazon Prime subscriptions. The second lawsuit alleges that Amazon breaches Arizona's Uniform State Antitrust Act by maintaining a monopoly via enforcing agreements with third-party sellers to prevent them from offering lower prices on other platforms. It also challenges Amazon's Buy Box algorithm under the Consumer Fraud Act, claiming that it favors sellers who use Fulfillment By Amazon. The legal actions echo similar complaints from the FTC and various states.
Last week Amazon made a big splash with its first-ever event during upfront week, taking over Pier 36 in New York which has previously hosted upfront presentations from Disney and TelevisaUnivision. The company called on celebrities including Jake Gyllenhaal, Reese Witherspoon, Will Ferrell, and Alicia Keys to demonstrate how premium their content is. Amazon worked to separate itself from its competitors by showcasing its scale. Prime Video now has an average monthly ad-supported reach of 200M customers, with 115M in the US, making it the largest premium ad-supported streaming service both globally and in the U.S. It also announced new upcoming series such as Spider-Man Noir, Tomb Raider, and a prequel to Legally Blond.
eBay launched a new feature called “resell on eBay” that is designed to make it easier for brands and consumers to list clothing for sale on its marketplace. The feature is built into Certilogo, which was acquired by eBay in 2023, which features an AI-powered digital ID printed on the product tag to help brands manage the lifecycle of their garments and give consumers a way to confirm the item's authenticity. Users scan a QR code on a product's smart label to generate a “resell your garment” button. Clicking the button directs the user to check the authenticity of the item through Certilogo's AI authentication system by signing in with their eBay account. From there, an eBay listing is prefilled with information from the brand about the item. Users can then edit the listing, upload additional photos, and publish the item for sale.
Poshmark launched a new paid marketing tool called “Promoted Closets” that gives sellers the ability to promote their entire shop at once. The tool uses machine learning to automatically promote individual product listings from a seller's entire inventory, identifying shoppers' search terms and matching them with promoted items. Promoted Closet works on a cost per click model where sellers only get charged when a shopper clicks and views the item from a promoted listing. There's an option to set the budget manually or get a recommendation from Poshmark. Each campaign lasts for 7 days.
Klarna says that it is not sharing its customer data with credit bureaus in the US because the bureaus “do not have proper models to responsibly process the data and ensure good consumer outcomes.” It does share its data with UK credit bureaus. Klarna added that the credit models used today in the US “were built decades ago and calculate data based on monthly payments, long-term loans, and open lines of credit. But BNPL does not fit into these categories.” The company claims that BNPL is different because it offers bi-weekly instead of monthly payments, and unlike a credit card, Klarna doesn't offer an open line of credit.
Third party sellers on Amazon, which make up 60% of sales on Amazon's marketplace, are reconsidering how heavily they'll discount products this year for Prime Day, given how much seller fees have increased on the platform in recent months, according to Modern Retail. According to data from SmartScout, Amazon FBA fees for standard-sized products have jumped 96% over the past 10 years, outpacing inflation. Seller fees can eat up about half the cost per sale on Amazon, according to Marketplace Pulse. That doesn't leave much room for running Prime Day deals, which primarily benefit Amazon as opposed to the individual merchants who are pressured to wipe out their little remaining margin for the sake of running a deal at all.
Netflix announced durings it Upfronts presentation that it's launching its own advertising platform to compete against Google, Amazon, Hulu, Comcast, and other ad giants. Amazon has only been in the advertising business for a year and a half after launching its ad-supported tier in Nov 2022. Netflix originally partnered with Microsoft to develop its ad tech, which let the streaming platform enter the ad space quickly and catch up with rivals like Hulu, which has offered an ad-supported tier since 2010. Launching its own in-house ad tech will allow Netflix to take full control of its advertising and create targeted and personalized ad experiences. Netflix wants to experiment with “episodic” campaigns, which involves a series of ads that tell a story rather than delivering repetitive ads. Brilliant!
Slack is under attack after users discovered that the company has been using their messages, content, and files to train its global AI models, which Slack uses to power their channel and emoji recommendations and search results. It was discovered that if you don't want Slack to use your data, you have to e-mail the company to opt-out, which isn't a good look for a company that makes a big deal out of telling customers that “You control your data.” In response to the outrage, Slack published a blog post to clarify how its customers' data is used.
Google will now let you perform a “web” search, which lets you filter out almost all of its AI results and knowledge panels that currently take over its SERPs, leaving you with just links and text like the old days. The order of the search results are the same regardless of whether you pick “web” or “all”, and it doesn't block links to YouTube videos or Reddit posts. There are also still ads that appear above and below the results.
YouTube is officially launching its YouTube Select “creator takeovers,” which lets advertisers buy out the ad inventory on channels representing the top 1% of content on the platform. The program began as a pilot at the end of 2023 and is now opening to more top creators.
Wix launched three new AI-powered image enhancement and creation tools to help users create and display high-quality images. The new tools include an AI Image Creator to make the images, Object Eraser to remove unwanted objects in the images, and AI Image Editor to add/edit portions of the image. Honestly, the three tools kind of sound like one tool with three features, but you do you, Wix.
Temu, which is already 20% bigger than Shein in the US and gets 42% of its business from the US, Mexico, and Chile, is turning its attention to Europe and wants to grow rapidly in the region. The company has redirected its enormous ad spend to Europe and Mexico while Washington scrutinizes its business practices in the US.
Visa announced major changes to how its credit and debit cards will operate in the US in the coming months and years. The new features mean consumers will be carrying fewer physical cards in their wallets, and will make the 16-digit card number increasingly irrelevant. The biggest change will be the ability for banks to issue one physical card that is connected to multiple bank accounts, which consumers can apply usage rules to.
Mastercard and Salesforce announced a new integration designed to help customers speed up the resolution of transaction disputes and chargebacks, as well as reduce costs associated with resolving them. The partnership will integrate Salesforce's Financial Services Cloud with Mastercard's dispute resolution services, providing real time notifications and a central dashboard for managing disputes.
Meta is taking inspiration from BeReal and Snapchat by developing a feature for Instagram called “Peek” that allows users to post authentic pictures that can only be viewed once. A photo shared via a Peek would have to be taken with your camera in the moment, as you would not be able to upload an image from your gallery, and you won't be able to add filters or edit the photo.
Ikea launched a TikTok livestream where cats and dogs model and demonstrate new Ikea products for pets. The Pet Shopping Network will appear for everyone in the UK on TikTok and showcase pets demonstrating Ikea's 29-piece pet furniture range.
Sam's Club is planning to launch an online shopping portal in Hong Kong within the next two months, giving the territory access to its products via e-commerce. The service will include free delivery for purchases over 599 yuan ($83).
Amazon raised warehouse worker wages to $15/hour five years ago, but today half of workers surveyed told researchers they struggle to afford food and rent. Amazon called the researcher's methodology “deeply flawed” and said the company had tried to raise its concerns with the study’s authors but never heard back.
Lots of layoffs this week… Amazon laid off more than 100 customer service reps, Walmart let go of hundreds of corporate staffers and ordering employees across the US and Canada, Gopuff laid off 6% of its staff, and Indeed laid off 8% of its workforce.
Remember that former diversity program manager at Facebook who stole more than $4M from the company through fake business deals in exchange for kickbacks? I first reported on Barbara Furlow-Smiles in December of last year when she pled guilty to the theft. Well, last week she was sentenced to five years and three months in prison for her scheme.
In the world of corporate turnover… The chief of Amazon Web Services, Adam Selipsky, is stepping down next month after a three-year term to be replaced by Matt Garman, a senior VP who has overseen sales and marketing at AWS. Also, eBay's VP of Global Communications, Michelle Friedman, departed the company to take on a role at Samsara, a cloud platform built for tracking and analyzing data from physical operations.
Meta is shutting down Workspace, a version of Facebook that had been built to enable communication among business teams and organizations. Sources say that it will be business as usual on the platform until August 25, 2025, and then it will be read-only until May 2026. Meta is recommending Zoom-owned Workvivo as a migration-ready alternative.
Ted Baker Canada is holding store-closing clearance sales across locations in the US and Canada after filing for bankruptcy in April. As of May 10th, online shopping is no longer available and all sales are final across the company's brick-and-mortar retail locations.
Sezzle, a US-based BNPL service, partnered up with Celerant Technology, a POS system for retailers, to offer a BNPL option when checking out in-store . The two companies had partnered in 2023 to offer BNPL options online, and now the solution is being brought to brick-and-mortar stores.
BuyBay, a Dutch recommerce platform, is launching a SaaS product using its own recommerce software. Retailers and manufacturers can now resell unreturned products from their own distribution center, which helps reduce CO2-emissions and increase profits.
Setapp Mobile, a subscription-based alternative to the Apple App Store that's now possible thanks to the EU's Digital Markets Act, went into invite-only beta last week. The new app store allows customers to play with a range of apps without being hit with reduced features, ads, options to upgrade, and without spending money on something they may not use. The biggest challenge with the Setapp iOS store is getting the app installed on your iPhone, which involves following a link, installing software, and then activating it — a process made intentionally cumbersome by Apple.
Avalara expanded its partnership with Shopify by joining the Shopify Tax Platform. Avalara has powered tax calculation for Shopify Plus customers since 2015, and now through the Shopify Tax Partner Platform, the company can serve all Shopify customers with their global tax compliance tools.
Walmart delivered 4.4B items the same day or next day, beating Amazon, which said it did 4B items in one day. Walmart's advantage is that it uses stores for its same-day deliveries.
Plus 9 seed rounds, IPOs, and acquisitions of interest including Gorgias's $29M Series C-2 round, which it plans to use the funds from to launch its new AI Agent.
I hope you found this recap helpful. See you next week!
PAUL Editor of Shopifreaks E-Commerce Newsletter
PS: If I missed any big news this week, please share in the comments.

Hello, I had a UTI on May 1st. and was treated With Macrobid antibiotic after 3 days on it still in pain no improvement to my Dr.swithed it to Bactrim ,after two days on that I knew something wasn't right & still in severe lower stomach pain which now was in my left lower back and a little fever.Went to E.R. and after cat scan was diagnosed with Diverticulitis and put on Cipro & Flagyl for 7 days (which really killed my stomach) along with liquid diet .After finishing meds,was finally feeling better still lots of water & basically live on applesauce ..Now freaking out a week later, woke up today with some pain on left side of back again & lower stomach . So Scared I ts coming back again .Please please any advice on this ?

30M 6 foot 195lbs drink(8 drinks a week) chew nicotine gum. No prescription medication and no drug use. On 5/16 I woke up with a slightly swollen lower lip and no other symptoms. Not thinking much of it I went about my entire day as normal and the swelling in the lip was stable. Woke up several hours into sleeping that night with both lips extremely swollen and swelling in my cheeks and jaw. Was admitted to the emergency department at 4am on 5/17. They noted all my vitals were in normal ranges, took blood and then gave me Benadryl and epinephrine. Swelling was not responding much so about an hour later they gave me Zyrtec and prednisone. They gave me a CAT scan and based on that ruled out SVC syndrome. They used a small probe through my nose to confirm that my airway in my throat was clear, which they told me looked perfectly fine. I was admitted to the hospital from the ED on the afternoon of 5/17. They continued to monitor my vitals every few hours, and they stayed within normal ranges. On 5/18, I woke up with horrific throat pain and difficulty swallowing. The swelling in my lips was gone but now my tongue and temples, (where there had not been swelling previously) were now swollen. They told me the throat pain was most likely from my tongue swelling and gave me 2 different types of medicine to ease the sore throat. By evening of 5/18 i was able to swallow broth and water comfortably and swelling was going down. At this time I began feeling muscle pain in my flanks, shoulders, and buttocks.They ran additional blood tests to determine if there were possible genetic explanations for my condition. On 5/19 the swelling had continued to improve, but there was new swelling in my forehead and around my nose. They told me all my blood work, including for genetic predisposition to this condition, had come back totally normal. I was discharged from the hospital and instructed to continue taking prednisone once daily for 3 more days and Zyrtec twice daily for 3 weeks. They diagnosed me with idiopathic angioedema, and referred me to an allergist. They told me the most likely cause for my condition was exposure to something novel that I have an allergy too, some sort of insect bite, or that it could just happen sort of the from nothing. My questions are; is it likely that this reaction was an allergic reaction if I was never itchy at any point and it did not really respond to anti histamines. Does this condition sometimes just happen to people and if so, is there a good way to prevent it from occurring again?

One thing that I wish for when I got my eating disorder was a small pussy because I feel like I have a big pussy or a fat one. That it didn’t look nice in underwear or swimsuit bottoms.
So when I weighed myself, and I found out that I was severely underweight, I was really mad because I bought Victoria’s Secret things and my pussy lips would not stay put!
I thought I was gonna be able to wear lingerie and certain clothes without anything slipping out but my kitty cat looks like it’s being gagged all the time in the sexy stuff.
I remember I was getting ready to go to a kink party and was asking my friend how I looked and she said “you might want to fix your lips down there.”
Fml

So about 6 months ago I had a 2mm kidney stone. Went to work as usual that morning but felt a lot of pressure in my abdomen. Started having blood in my pee etc. wound up in the ER with extreme pain. It finally moved to my bladder and that was it.
Fast forward to now. About 2 weeks ago I experienced more blood in my pee which landed me back in the ER. I had no pain I was just concerned. They did a cat scan and found a 5mm kidney stone still in my kidney and also had a bladder infection. They gave me antibiotics, a weeks worth. Finished them up. However ever since my ER visit I have had blood in my pee every other day. Been drinking tons of water etc. is this normal. Will I have blood in my urine that long? No pain yet or anything. Just blood. I’m a bit concerned. Anyways any information or experiences are greatly appreciated.

It was only when I was in the airport, sitting in an open bar, that I came to understand the ancient nature of the land. Being the only other person in the bar, he came to me and asked me what I was doing here – had I enjoyed my stay? And so forth. I can’t exactly remember what all the chit-chat was, but one anecdote stood out to me. Perhaps it was the nature of the story; or the way the story told him rather than he it. His unkempt hair occasionally animated with a flourish every time the automatic fan on our table turned to him; that was the only thing that looked alive when he spoke of what he had seen.
Another humid trek through the jungle, the only thing to keep the brush from closing in was a rusty machete that some cigar-chewing bloke had sold to him ‘at discount’. The air itself seemed opposed to his lungs and he needed to stop regularly to catch his breath (he was not the fittest of men: late forties, fairly overweight), drink a little water from his canteen – though I suspect he was the kind of fellow to hide whiskey in it. Eventually he came to it, hewn into the side of a granite cliff. The locals avoided it; I expect no foreigner had the cachet to pry the reason from their stoic reserve. A cave with an opening of no greater height than two metres and barely wide enough for the man to squeeze through. The tunnel became narrower before it became wider, and in many places, he had to wriggle on a flank like a beached seal. After a while, the warmth and light of the tropic sun ran out, a torch was needed. Thank God, he remarked, that when that little bulb turned on, he found himself in an antechamber – no more crawling for now. But there, resting on that soft floor of sand were bones. Old bones. He declared he was no specialist, whether they were human or beast he was not sure; I certainly wouldn’t have a clue, but then again, I would also know better than to enter a remote, narrow crevasse alone.
Tap, tap, tap. The man began to tap a pen on the table. Echoing was that faint sound: tap, tap. Though the way he made it out it was more like a scuttle. One hears all sorts in caves, from rocks falling after millennia of stillness. Bats startled by a clumsy intruder. Caves are quiet, which is why it seems so unnatural when a natural sound comes suddenly from the darkness. It was as I had suspected, when the man pressed on, past the antechamber, he found a subterranean river passing through a low-cut tunnel. I did ask whether the tapping was the trickle of water. He kept quiet about this and shook his head as though I had asked the impossible – bloody fool. It gets better! The story made me squirm a little at this point: in order to crawl through the narrowest points, he had to turn his head in awkward angles to avoid drowning in half a foot of rushing water. There were still times when the water lapped into his nose, and with the torch in his mouth, he had to snort the water out before he could breathe. I hurried him on, I wanted no more descriptions of that part.
Finally, the cavern widened out, into a chamber no bigger than a sitting room – though at the time it must have seemed like a cathedral. To get his bearings, he carefully scanned the walls and ceilings. It was on the western wall (how had he kept his compass?), it was there that he saw it. A mural, drawn with ochre, charcoal and other pigments unknown. Drawn crudely enough that it seemed to writhe and yet its composition was like that of a dragon of the orient, elegant and fluid. Directly under it, was an altar hewn from limestone, whether it had suffered erosion or if it had been made roughly, he was not sure. On this altar were offerings: gemstones that had lost their glimmer to dust, pots with simple and complex patterns, and skulls – human. Braziers carried centuries old ash that smelt of incense. For me, the man pulled out a pinch of the stuff he’d been carrying for goodness knows how long. I wasn’t interested in old pots and bones of poor bastards made captive in a bygone skirmish. “The mural, the mural!”, it had captured me, miles away through the eyes of another.
Woven through a cosmos made from sea water. A tree sprang forth from its core segments: the stars as the canopy, the roots as the earth. Welling up from its mandibles was the blackness of night, the abysmal shade that only caves can harbour. Its antennae curved back downwards, towards the altar, as though it was waiting for fresh prey to be placed there. Its eyes were made compound by a simple hashing of black lines. Was it looking at him, or simply staring into nothing? He could not tell with those alien, whiteless eyes. Below were simple figures, human individuality ignored in favour of an arthropod! He says they were depicted as thriving in peace, but one cannot imagine such an image drawn without fear. Priests painting in the darkness with nothing but a small fire; did they dare utter a word, disturb their master’s silence?
Then, just as my imagination was aroused and alert, the damned man tapped his pen again! Oblivious to my annoyance, he rushed on with the story. Startled, he turned to investigate the scuttling and nearly tripped backwards with what he saw. It looked like a large crab, squat on a rock that he must have missed when he had come in. Nothing unusual about that, river crabs are neither uncommon nor dangerous – I remarked. But he gave a little chuckle and reminded me that it had looked like a crab. Gingerly he approached it and picked it up with the tip of his machete. It was remarkable light, its four legs dangled in a flaccid and lifeless manner. Though the size of a cat, it was completely hollow like a drainpipe. The upper part was rigid and glossy, the under part was a bit more flexible and where the legs were attached. Both parts were ghostly translucent, with only the faintest tinge of terracotta brown obscuring the light. This was not the remains of an individual beast, but the shedding of something else. For a man who had (supposedly) trekked Bhutan for the Yeti, and roamed Thailand’s paddies for a man-eating tiger, this was enough. Carefully he backed out from that cave, the tapping following, or maybe ushering him all the way to the light. At long last he could not bear the slow pursuit, and rushed the last part, tearing his shirt and grazing himself badly.
After a long silence, suddenly his flight began to board. He said that it had been a pleasure talking with me - more like talking at me, but he seemed like a good man regardless. Maybe he just wanted the company, or the drink, but it still got me thinking.
It consumed me. I studied in vain. My obsession… and that tapping. That long dead cult had found its new follower. I would have to make my pilgrimage at some point. I must.

Previously posted but now able to provide full history
I'm 35 female, past few months I've been beyond exhausted, nauseous, dealing with extreme muscle cramps and lower legs and toes, neck pain and stiffness, went from 217 to 209 in less than a month, bone pain all over but especially in my legs. I've reduced hours at work and struggle putting in the 25-30 hours as is. I work technical support so I'm at a computer not doing physical work.
blood results: Pth: May 14, 2024 213.3pg/mLHigh 18.4 - 80.1 pg/mL Aug 3, 2022 91.3pg/mLHigh 18.4 - 80.1 pg/mL Feb 15, 2022 81.2pg/mLHigh 18.4 - 80.1 pg/mL Nov 5, 2021 100pg/mLHigh 18.4 - 80.1 pg/mL Nov 19, 2020 91.2pg/mLHigh 18.4 - 80.1 pg/mL
Vitamin d May 14, 2024 10.4ng/mLLow 20 - 80 ng/mL Aug 3, 2022 25.1ng/mL 20 - 80 ng/mL Feb 15, 2022 20.3ng/mL 20 - 80 ng/mL Nov 5, 2021 28.7ng/mL 20 - 80 ng/mL Nov 19, 2020 19.8ng/mLLow 20 - 80 ng/mL
Calcium May 14, 2024 9.8mg/dL 8.7 - 10.4 mg/dL Nov 5, 2023 9.3mg/dL 8.7 - 10.4 mg/dL Jun 2, 2023 9.7mg/dL 8.7 - 10.4 mg/dL Sep 13, 2022 10.3mg/dL 8.7 - 10.4 mg/dL Aug 3, 2022 9.5mg/dL 8.7 - 10.4 mg/dL
Vitamin k is low, previous results normal so only posting most recent results Vitamin K1 View trends Normal value: 0.10 - 2.20 ng/mL Value 0.04Low
Bun levels: May 14, 2024 7mg/dLLow 9 - 23 mg/dL Nov 5, 2023 12mg/dL 9 - 23 mg/dL Jun 2, 2023 13mg/dL 9 - 23 mg/dL Sep 13, 2022 8mg/dLLow 9 - 23 mg/dL Aug 3, 2022 13mg/dL 9 - 23 mg/dL
Creatine May 14, 2024 0.54mg/dLLow 0.55 - 1.02 mg/dL
Medication: Vitamin d 3000 IU, calcium citrate 650mg, Vitamin K Triple Play (Vitamin K2 MK7 / Vitamin K2 MK4 / Vitamin K1), Adderall XR 25mg, geodon 60mg, clozapine 1mg prn, Adderall 15mg, pantoprazole 40mg prn
Medical diagnostics history: Adhd 01/03/2005 Anxiety 02/20/2020 Depression 02/16/2015 Nephrolithiasis 08/23/2018 Multiple Kidney stones * first recorded 06/6/2014
Resolved medical history Sepsis and kidney failure 12/16/2015
Surgical history: INCISION & DRAINAGE ABSCESS SIMPLE/SINGLE 12/12/2015 biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch 11/26/2018 LAPAROSCOPIC CHOLECYSTECTOMY 11/21/2018 laparoscopic limb lengthening and resection of the redundant afferent limb 05/18/2022 Hiatal repair 09/18/2019 Polyoplastic surgery 08/07/2020
Radiology findings: Impressions from 2 abdominal cat scans from 2016 & 2017 ABDOMEN AND PELVIS IMPRESSION: Appearance of some asymmetric edema involving the right kidney, with mild asymmetric enlargement and loss of fat planes centrally Mild fatty infiltration of the liver. No inflammatory change or mass identified of the right kidney which shows some rotation, normal variant. Non Obstructing tiny calculus mid left kidney. PELVIC ORGANS: There is a 2 cm left-sided corpus luteum cyst. No other pelvic abnormalities. HEPATOBILIARY: Mild steatosis. The capsule is smooth. No focal lesions. The gallbladder is surgically absent.
In 2020 KIDNEYS/URETERS: The kidneys are normal in size, contour, and attenuation. Nephrograms are symmetric. There is no pelvocaliectasis or ureterectasis present. A 5 mm intrarenal calcification is present within the lower pole of the left kidney.
With history and current blood work results should I expect secondary hyperparathyroidism due to malabsorption and what treatment should be initiated?
I have a stat referral for an endocrinologist put on and follow up with abdominal surgeon on Friday I just have kind of lost confidence in my surgeon for not reporting my high pth levels as a consideration or mentioning anything to me about it.