Left arm vein pain

Hi, my dad is 58 now. His symptoms started in teen years, but back then there was not much information available for AK. So he has not received all the treatments you guys talk about here. He has mostly been on pain meds. So his backbone and neck bone has stiffened over time limiting his movements. His back is bent forward in ~45° angle.
Coming to current situation. He had accident last evening. His left leg's bone broke at two points between ankle and knee. Doctors are waiting for the swelling to go down, then they will do the surgery to insert rod. He has mentioned in the past that even normal skin injuries take longer time to heal for him. Like if he gets a scratch, it takes longer to heal compared to his younger years. And he also has this skin condition where dry skin flakes appear on his skull and eyelids, idk where else. He had surgery for ear infection last year, docs said that's because of some skin infection that spread and went inside his ear. Dad had mentioned he thinks this skin infection was also result of AK.
So my question is, considering the level/intensity of his AK how can I advocate for him to doctors? I am from India from second tire city so doctors are still not that aware about AK. Also, will he take longer to recover from this? Is there a chance he might never be able to walk without support?
Please help me with these questions and any other things that I should advocate for him.

Life is weird—how quickly we settle into new routines.
Although things have changed, my love is with you always—time is non-linear; we are just 3 dimensional beings, so that can be hard to comprehend sometimes.
Things will never be the same, that’s okay. (But I always will love you, even if that love too changes)
I miss you much of the time, and find myself both sad over the future I through we had—the love I thought we had—and anger for all the mistreatment I’m realizing was psychological abuse.
But it’s okay. I am healing, I’m honestly in a weird way the most emotionally mature and authentic version of myself that I have ever been. I have been freed from shame, and what I mean is, I am unashamed. So I can say here: I am on some level still in very deep pain. I don’t need to hide myself, my feelings, or my desires—no matter how trivial or crude. And these are things I have been able to learn in the past several weeks and it has made me a better person in every sense.
But the scars you left will have me marked for some time I am sure, I do not know how long it will take me to trust again or let down some of these walls that I have built.
Luckily I am wiser now, and have actively avoided many potential mistakes. I know that one cannot be fearful of pain or rejection; these things are inevitable. So I can give my time, effort, and love freely knowing that if/when I get hurt for these things; it was just going to happen anyway.
I thank you for everything, truly. Even though you took advantage of me—I took advantage of that in a sense.
“When you gaze into the abyss the abyss also gazes into you”
I’m sorry for all the pain I caused you; both intentional and unintentional.
I have gained much from my time with you and the pain you left me with. I hope you have the strength and courage to do something productive with the pain I left you.
Remember, above all else:
Hope is something we give ourselves, that is the meaning of inner strength.

ANTI ARMOR
E25 10 mm pistol
Last shot 15fr auto grenade launcher
50c15fr pipe pistol
50c15fr western revolver
E25 44 pistol
25ffr15fr enclave plasma pistol no mods
50c15fr fixer
50c25 railway
E90rw pipe auto pistol
50c25 50 cal
50c25 minigun
25ffr15fr auto grenade launcher
ARISTOCRAT
25ffr25 enclave plasma rifle no mods
Ss90rw deathclaw gauntlet
50c25 fixer
ASSASSINS
E25 lmg
50vhc25 quantum thirst zapper
50c25 plasma pistol not enclave
50vhc15fr dragon
BERSERKER
25ffr25 enclave plasma pistol no mods
BLOODY
50c15vc alien disintegrator
E25 10 mm pistol
E25 44 pistol
25ffr15fr broadsider
E25 western revolver
50c25 m79 gl
50c25 db shotgun
25ffr25 drill
Last shot 25 cryo
Last shot 25 railway
50c25 missile launcher
Last shot 15 fr assaultron head
50vhc 15fr assaultron head
Last shot 25 uc laser rifle
Last shot 25 single action
50c25 combat shotgun
Last shot 25 tesla
40pa+1s knuckles
40pa+1s bone club
40pa+1s bone hammer
40pa+1s death tambo
40pa+1s assaultron blade
40pa+1s golf club
40pa+1s grognax axe
40pa+1s pole hook
40pa+1s pole cue
40pa+1s combat knife
40pa+1s shovel
40pa+1s spear
40pa90rw power fist
50c25 mole miner
50c25 boxing glove
EXECUTIONER
50vhc25 elder mark
25ffr25 railway
50c25 assault rifle
25ffr25 assault rifle
40pa+1s baseball bat
Ss+1 s baseball bat
40pa40pa chainsaw
Ss+1s fire axe
40pa90rw grognax axe
Ss90rw super sledge
Ss+1s pole hook
Ss+1s pole cue
Ss90rw mole miner
ss90rw grognax axe
E25 minigun
50c25 cryo
50c25 alien blaster
50c90rw crossbow
FURIOUS
50C25 enclave rifle needs better mods
GOURMANDS
Ss+1s boxing glove
HUNTERS
Ss+1s power fist
INSTIGATING
Ss+1s switchblade
JUNKIE
Ss+1s shovel
MUTANTS
50C25 alien blaster
50c25 enclave plasma rifle reflex sight, true splitter
NOCTURNAL
Ss+1s switchblade
50c25 fixer
TROUBLESHOOTER
50c25 alien blaster
QUAD
50vhc25 hunting rifle
50vhc250 assaultron head
50c15fr gamma gun
E15 western revolver
50c15fr single action
Limb 25 enclave plasma pistol reflex sight aligned flamer barrel 25 damage aiming 250 tesla
Ap 90rw tesla
25ffr 50damage resist cryo
50c15vc alien disintegrator
25ffr90rw pipe auto pistol
STALKERS
50VHC15FR assaultron head
50vhc15fr dragon
2SHOT
Last shot 25 cryo
50vhc250 m79 gl
50vhc25 plasma rifle not enclave
50vhc25 enclave plasma pistol no mods
50c250 assaultron heads
E25 44 pistol
VAMPIRE
Ss+1s board
E15fr minigun
25 melee damage standing +1s drill
E90rw gatling gun
50c15fr tesla
E90 fixer
Ss90rw knuckles
ZEALOT
25ffr25 plasma rifle not enclave
E15fr lever action
50c25 submachine gun tommy
50c15fr dragon
ARMO ARMOR
ASSASSINS
Ap acrobat reverse painted fsa LA
Ap acrobat usa RA
CHAMELEON
25cryo fdc fsa chest
OVEREATERS
Ap energy damage trapper chest
Cryo sentinel heavy raider RL
Poison fdc heavy robot RA
Cryo sentinel trapper RA
Cryo wwr trapper RA
UNYIELDING
+1e sentinel trapper LA
Cryo fdc heavy leather LL
Radiaton resist fdc heavy leather LL
Poison htd fsa RL
+1e cavalier trapper LA
+1L wwr sturdy metal LL
VANGUARD
Ap cavalier robot LA
Ap sentinel heavy robot RA
Cryo fdc heavy leather LL
Cryo awr heavy leather LL
POWER ARMO POWER ARMOR
Overeaters ap sentinel jp arm uc set
ASSASSINS
Ap wwr t60 RL
Ap wwr jet pack uc LA
Fire resist wwr excavator chest
+1p wwr x01 LL
Led wwr x01 RA
Fire resistance sentinel RL excavator
WISHLIST- B50C25 ad, oe ap sent scout arms and left leg, be15fr combat shotgun, chameleon ap sent x01 t60 pa

19M, 90-100kg, from a SEA country.
Got some discolouration and roughness of skin around the chest area last October. It typically presented as a brown-ish color on my skin. However, after exercise, it would be red instead Was diagnosed with Tinea Versicolor and received topical antifungal Mycoban. It helped to control the spread but not eliminate it. Since then, i had tried oral antifungal medication and a special antidandruff shampoo but both are not very effective in their results.
Recently, the nature of my work resulted in me having to wear unclean clothing for days while staying outdoors. The rash spread to the rest of my chest, back, neck, nether regions and arms. They seem to congregate closer to the folds on my body as well as my armpits and belly buttons. Apart from the brown-ish spots, they also present with extremely dry skin which has caused a lot of pain for me. Currently, i require painkillers and loads of moisturiser to be able to sleep, and i only average 3-4hours a day because of the pain.
Under the sun, my skin itches badly. I also develop red patches that have bumps on it. These patches are extremely painful under sun. I have photos but I am not allowed to post under this subreddit. They can be found in my profile (SFW)
Please tell me if this is tinea versicolor and how i could finally save myself

Hello, yesterday in the middle of the night me and my wife was playing on the computer together and we smell together a perfume of roses just at my left, for 2 - 3 min... There was no window open, we smell the whole room but the perfum was just at my left, Then i got spiky hair on my arms like 10 times in a row and lot of strange effects on me but not on my wife.
Then the smell disapear, we inspected the house and the smell appear in the bathroom for 1 min and then disapear.
Back in the bedroom on the computer the smell came back for 1mn and disapear.
Then nothing more, but i remember having spiky hair, a strange sensation in my head, my eyes vision was strange too and i got tired very fast.
I need to find a logical reason to this. I can't explain this and my wife smelled this too.
Thanks RBI

Hello! I’m making this pretty late at night so super tired and might text a little weird, but I’m trying my best. So I got my wisdom teeth taken out April 26th. Obviously swelled up, but bruised super badly on my left cheek. Went away after a week or two I don’t remember. My right side reacted normally, I guess swelling wise and no bruise. Naturally my right side socket opened faster than my left. The thing is, it opened, but closed back up and started swelling up and getting painful in the span of maybe a day or two. Now, I also just got violently sick (super exaggerated), but I had a fever, headache that gave my jaw a lot of pressure, pains all in my body, sore throat, blah blah blah. I just got over it all but the sore throat but that’s kinda when the left side started to get super bad. I am very good when it comes to cleaning my mouth and everything. Should I be worried that it’s infected or can this happen??? My dad is going to make a follow up with the people who took them out though! And I’ll update this too so it can help people!!!

I’m a teen and I had a thc pen for spring break and I felt like it was laced or something was wrong with it so I ended up throwing it out around half way through and after that I had this constant chest pain, pulses in my arm and legs, weird feeling in my hands, heart palpitations. I was at work and I had a random rush of warm in my chest and I felt like I couldn’t walk or talk and I ended up going to the hospital and getting blood work and ECG and everything turned out fine.
I feel like the biggest part of my anxiety was the thought of me being laced and I felt like I was too young to die and I’m throwing my life away and it turned into a constant fear. I was so scared I was going to have a heart attack in my sleep or have a stroke I would stay up all night because I was scared something would happen to me in my sleep. Ive calmed my anxiety down a lot, but It’s definitely not gone.

(Part 2 out now)
I woke up with a cough of blood and pain. I felt something metal with my hands as I looked down. A long stint of rebar poked out of my ribcage and through my chest plate, covered in a mix of my blood and the bile of a bug.
I reached down and grabbed my Senator, feeling its trusty weight in my hands. I haphazardly tried to place the barrel against the portion of rebar sticking out of my back. This had better work, I thought. I pulled the trigger once and with a loud Crack I felt the vibration from the shot in my stomach. I tried to choke down vomit and pulled the trigger twice more Crack, Crack. With the third shot the rebar gave way and I rolled to my side and collapsed on the ground. Agony shot through my body as I hit the dirt.
I realized then, Hmmph, they left me. During Extraction one of the other divers called in a 500kg as we were about to board Pelican 1. She had thrown it over one of those damned chargers in an effort to kill one last bug but... it started charging us. I was the last one in line and just as I was about to board... i was thrown 200 feet away from extraction site. I don't blame them. I'd have left me too. We had successfully evacuated a number of scientists and other military personnel, but we'd lost the planet. No hard feelings I guess.
I tried to pull my mind away from those thoughts and just focused on one. Survive. I pulled myself to my knees and looked at the rebar again. Cant park there bud, I thought tryna cheer myself up. I had dropped my senator when I fell and ended up with two free hands. I reached down and with the assistance of my servo-assited armor prepared to wrench the rebar from my chest. Alright, count of three, I thought. One my heartrate quickened. Two I adjusted my grip ever so slightly. Three I ripped the metal rod out and felt a hot stinging pain shoot through my body. I quickly grabbed a stim and applied it.
I winced as the stim numbed my broken ribs and began rapidly working to heal them and my open chest wound. After a couple seconds, I could stand.
I took quick stock of my inventory. My Senator with 23 rounds left, two ration packs, a canteen of water, 1 stim, a knife, and a bag of oatmeal. Oatmeal? Seriously? I'd rather have ammo but... beggars can't be choosers.
I looked around me. Snow and beaten down rubble surrounded me. This was some kind of research station, I think. Didn't bother grabbing the name. Cold as hell and nothing really around to get my bearings. Great. I thought. Im gonna die inside a freezer. I started looking through the rubble for anything useful. I found a corpse of one of the scientists that hadn't made it to evac. I grabbed the ID card off his jacket. Figured It'd get me inside a building if there were any left standing. I crawled out of the rubble and onto the snowy tundra.
The sun had set and with it most of the light I would've been able to utilize. I scanned the horizon for a blinking light. Blinking like meant beacon. Beacon meant possible radio, maybe some ammo. I clocked one to the southwest and began walking that direction senator drawn.
I spotted a few distant bug patrols illuminated by moonlight but they had no interest in me. I kept my head down and kept moving towards the light. Details started to take shape and I could see this was a research station. Perfect I thought.
I reached the door and used the key card. There was a Beep and the red light flashed green. The door cracked open before jamming. Oh no you dont, I thought and with one hand yanked the door open. I closed it behind me with the same hand to keep the wildlife disinterested.
Inside was dark and damp. I had lost the seal integrity on my suit so there was barely any oxygen regulation. Didn't need it on this planet but still, it's a bitch to fix. I turned my flashlight on and started scanning the room for a light switch. I found one but wouldn't ya know it... dead. At least the beacon had power. I walked over to the radio and pulled off my helmet. I wedged the flashlight in my neck and leaned my head to the side. I started flipping switches and turning dials to see if there was a response. Nothing. Id have to find the master terminal. I grabbed the flashlight and donned my helmet again. I began scanning the room again before I heard it. A little shuffle behind me. I turned quickly and drew my senator raising it at the source of the sound.
It was a small child. At least... thats what it appeared to be. At first glance I could see bindings on its legs and arms. A hospital gown with little ducklings on it and a teddy bear tucked under its arm. I lowered my senator as it spoke.
"Dr. Mehon told me to wait here. He said hed be right back."
Dr. Mehon was probably dead I thought. I knelt down and put my hand on the child's shoulder. "Whats your name kid?"
"3". I felt a rage build up. I swallowed it quickly.
"Well 3, what uh... why.. why do you have bin.." I stopped myself. Whatever those scientists were doing here...
3 looked up at me and I noticed it. A cat like set of eyes. Other little details started to click as well. Four fingers on each hand, slightly pointed ears, a discoloration of skin and a rigid scale-like spine on the shoulder.
"The radio doesnt work mister." 3 seemed to have understood their situation. "Dr Mehon destroyed it before he left."
I realized then that it was unlikely either of us would make it off this planet alive.
EDIT: Part 2 out now! (Part 2's a lil shorter) I Didnt think itd get this many upvotes and comments. Ill keep writing then. Feel free to suggest names for 3!

My twin sister and I got into a fight today. She is habituated to hitting and bullying me because I'm smaller than her. She started the fight and punched me directly in my left eye. The thing is I got Lasik surgery not even a month ago and I've been advised to take care of my eye. After I got hit, I locked myself up in my room and just processed what just happened. All the while this bitch was banging on the door crying, apologizing (little did I know this was all an act). I opened the door, mad with anger at the fact that she tried to blind me and started hitting her. I still never swung at her eye. Tell me why this bitch aimed again at the same eye and punched me directly again. I almost fell and she was threatening me that she'll hit my eye again if I tried to retaliate. I went back to my room and called up my doc. I was rushed as an emergency patient and during the tests, I came to know that I couldn't read nearby texts at all. So I am partially blinded now. When I came back home, my entire family was yelling at me. Parents were blaming me for getting Lasik in the first place (I got it done from my money, they didn't even give me a single penny), they were blaming me for not remaining quiet and just getting quietly beat up without fighting back. My sister said she was in more pain than me and cried more than me and was more hurt (typical abuser shit). I am seething with rage right now. I really want to just barge in her room and beat that bitch up. She ruined my life perhaps forever. I would appreciate advice on what to do in this situation.

34 AFAB 183lbs 5'4"
For the past 6-7 weeks, I've been dealing with what my PCP diagnosed as Candida Albicans infection. It started around the anal area. It has now moved to the entire genital area (vaginal and anal), under both arms, inside and outside my right ear, my stomach, neck, and face. I've taken 4 doses of Fluconazole and treat with Nystatin cream twice a day. I'm taking daily showers or a 15-20 minute bath with Domeboro soak. Nothing is working, I'm in extreme pain, and I would appreciate some guidance.
Other relevant information: Pregnancy w/ vaginal birth 12 years ago. PCOS w/ metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance 7 years ago. Taking 1500 MG Metformin daily. GSHV2 9 years ago. Taking 500 MG Valtrex daily. Depression/Anxiety. Taking Lexapro. ADHD-Inattentive. Taking 40 MG Vyvanse. Other supplements: Magnesium glyconate (sleep), prenatal multivitamin (low Vitamin D and Iron in the past). Former cigarette smoker. Current vape user. No new sexual partners in the last 5 years. No new soaps, detergents, etc.
The amount of pain I'm in is just miserable. I've been trying to follow my PCP's instructions to the letter, but nothing is working. I can barely walk around my house at this point and it's interfering with my job and being able to take care of my kid who was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes this past year and may have celiac's disease. I may just be impatient to have this clear up and I know my PCP has given what's considered the gold standard for Candida skin infections. I'll be talking to her on Monday about seeing a dermatologist.
My questions: Has anyone seen this situation in their practice before? What are the next steps usually taken? How can I stop it from spreading further? Is there any possibility the infection could have gotten into my bloodstream (I started having headaches, chills, fatigue, abnormal amount of gas, and dizziness w/in the last 3 days)? Is there some way to get some relief or speed up the healing process? Are there any best practices for this type of infection besides keeping it clean, dry, and medicated? Would anything described warrant a trip to the ER (asking bc my partner has been very worried about me and has mentioned it several times)?
Thank you for any feedback.

I'm 28M getting those headaches on average once every few weeks. Its pulsating strong pain, ether on left or right side of my head. Tried visiting doctors to figure out why it's happening, but nobody really knows why. I had a benign tumour on the auditory nerve on left side, that got removed, not sure if this could be the cause. Am doing MRI every year, to check if its not getting any worse after gamma knife surgery.

Hello all, I left my previous instructor at the start of April. I won’t go into much detail but he absolutely destroyed my confidence and his way of teaching just wasn’t suitable for me. I’m not the only person who’s had this experience with him. I’ve been recommended another instructor by two friends who passed their tests first time. He seemed alright on the phone and he’s independent…so I guess he has to be good enough else he wouldn’t have students? The previous one was under a company…idk, is that how it works?
I’ve got my first lesson with the new instructor at 8:45 tomorrow and I’m sweating bullets because new car, new instructor, school run…I live in a terrible town that’s generally a pain to get around (walking and driving)…all I gotta tell myself is that it’ll be better than before but I can’t shake my fear…has anyone been on a similar boat?
I have driven with my dad in my own car on a few occasions without dual controls (ofc) and managed to get us home safely…so I guess I can’t be that bad but o can’t stop doubting myself…not to mention the massive fear of the unknown that comes with meeting a new teacher😖
TLDR; My old instructor battered my confidence. I got a new one. First lesson is Monday 8:45. I’m terrified of this one being the same as the old one and I’m beating myself up about picking the school run slot on top of this 😅

Hi, I’m almost a week into my second dose of methotrexate for my ectopic, and I’ve been having some muscle cramping/burning and have felt pretty overall sore in the arms. I’ve tried to get a model of where exactly is shoulder tip pain (I know the name is self explanatory), but I just want to know if the pain I’m having is actually in the shoulder tip. I out a diagram, to my knowledge shoulder tip pain should be where I marked “B”, and I know that others have said it’s like a super weird and distinct area to have pain. I’m currently having pain in the “A” and “C” regions, but the “A” region is concerning me because I haven’t really ever had pain there except for after an intense arm workout. I had the pain this week and had an ultrasound with the doctor who said everything looked good, but for those who experienced the shoulder top pain if you can tell me where exactly you felt it that would be really helpful.

Not sure what else to say other than the title. Well, its not really heroin its fucking fentanyl but w/e. I am hurting inside so bad. I am coming up on one year since I was evicted from my apartment due to going completely broke from using and I still feel so dead inside. I have made some progress, I went to rehab, everything I was supposed to do. I've been clean for the most part but recently had a relapse and used needles for one of the first times. I am concerned because this is very dangerous but it does not feel like I am in control sometimes. Each relapse is just screaming at me to use more intensely even though I could easily die from this. My arms are so sore. I hate this. I don't want to use. Being sober has me feeling so many traumatic memories I thought left me a long time ago. I feel so beat down when they arise I want to cry so bad but I can't; there is just this swelling feeling where my heart is like its so broken. I will try to pretend to be happy but it is getting harder. I have no idea how I am supposed to make friends when I am such a fucking anxious wreck of a person. This is all so terrifying and I have nobody to really talk about it with nor do I want to talk about it because I don't even feel human anymore.
Maybe next time will kill me. I don't want that to happen. But I've been so depressed ever since I was a kid and I am 30 now. I have been through a lot and I am so tired. I feel old like I have experienced several lifetimes and so much emotional damage. I don't know who I am. Seems like everyone in their 30s is now working in their dream jobs when I am now in my parents house and don't even know the basics of living a normal life. I just want to be free of this problem forever but then I realize I don't know a single thing about living and all I can think about is using again and again. I feel fucking helpless.

The dungeon master described the party stepping through the wizard's portal into the plane of Elemental Chaos. "Before you lies a tempestuous sea of ever-changing terrain and clashing elements. The portal has opened onto a planetoid floating in the sea of shifting energies. Standing a ways away is a giant humanoid figure that seems to be made out of some of the same energies."
"Giant?" Sara asked?
"Yeah, it's like fifty feet tall. Looking upon its face makes your gut wrench as its face is a pool of ever-churning distorted energies. Make a save versus fear."
The players snatched up dice bags. Twenty-sided dice were rolled all around the table, but Mary, sitting to the right of Sara, noticed that Sara hesitated.
"What did you call these things again?" Sara asked. "Primordials? I didn't really imagine that they'd be so ugly or terrifying... or big."
"Oh, fine," the dungeon master responded. "Ambriel the rogue can have advantage on this check. What is your roll?"
Sara picked up an extra dice, tossed them into the bowl on the table and squinted at them in the dim light of the basement. "I got an eight." she said, frowning.
"Sorry, Ambriel and anyone else that got below a ten is afraid of the figure and will be at a disadvantage for initiative. The figure lets out a scream that sounds like an avalanche in a hurricane. Roll initiative!"
"Nineteen!" the boy across the table said. "Fifteen!" said another after rolling some dice. "I have a plus two, and I only got a twelve." said Mary.
"What about you Sara?" the dungeon master asked.
"Um, I don't want to fight it. Can I try talking to it?"
"I guess so," said the dungeon master, frowning. "What will you try saying to it?
"Well first," Sara started, "Is it at its house?"
The dungeon master and the boys across the table erupted into laughter. The dungeon master managed to stop laughing and reply. "These things don't have houses. They just live outside in the chaos."
"Oh." Sara looked disappointed. "I thought they would have houses." and then quieter. "Maybe a family."
The dungeon master laughed again. "What are you going to say to it?"
"I guess I'll say: 'Greetings friend! Do you know which way it is to the Dark Wizard Malik's tower?'"
The dungeon master laughed yet again. "It doesn't seem to understand what you're saying. It screams again and then attacks. Do you have your initiative number yet?"
Mary had been glaring at the dungeon master. He finally noticed her expression and slouched down, a sheepish look crossing his face as if he knew he was going to be in trouble.
Sara frowned, rolled her dice, and then stated "Six."
The party proceeded to fight with the primordial and Sara participated but wasn't really enjoying the situation. After the beast fell the party raced to loot its corpse.
"What did we find?" the boy across the table asked eagerly.
"Nothing, of course!" the dungeon master announced with some glee in his voice. "The primordial's body has evaporated and merged with the endless chaos around you."
"Well that's at least one thing you got right." Sara said.
"What do you mean?" Mary asked.
"Oh, forget it." Sara responded.
The end of the combat signaled the end of the evening since it was already past eight. The friends scooped dice and character sheets back into their bags, cleaned up the snacks, and said their goodbyes for the evening. Sara walked up the stairs and into the front yard with the other two boys. Chris's mom was there to pick up him and Tyler. She waved at them as they drove away and then started toward her own house just down the street.
The walk was only five minutes, if she took her time, and she had walked this street a hundred times before. She was enjoying the breeze and the crisp night air and didn't notice when the footsteps behind her started. When she noticed them she'd picked up her pace but they grew uncomfortably close. Sara spun around and was faced with a figure in the shadows behind her. It was only a few feet away but she couldn't make out a face.
"What do you want?" She asked the shadow. It did not respond. It did, however, step forward into the glow of the nearby street light. Still, its form appeared like a pitch black hole in the world; a torn place in space the shape and size of a man. The shadow reached toward Sara and she knew that this was an undead being. It had been hoping it could claim the life force of a human this evening; to pull her into the shadow realm and keep her there till she had faded away and become another shadow. Unfortunately for the shadow, she was not a victim that could be claimed so easily.
Sara dropped her book back and grabbed the shadow's arm, glancing down the street to make sure it was clear. Then she released her human disguise and pulled the shadow closer. She stared into the colorless void where its eyes should have been and the shadow stared back into the ever-changing distortion that her face had become. Lightning arced across Sara's skin that now appeared to be made of a roiling mass of stone and waves of pure water.
Sara's outline blurred and her humanoid form faded almost completely, leaving a cloud of elements ever fighting for position, yet she didn't let go of the shadow. The shadow was in a panic now, struggling and desperately trying to free itself from her grasp, to no avail. Sara pulled the shadow inside her cloud and it was ripped and torn by every element until it was gone in just a moment.
Sara concentrated for a moment and reached a human hand out of her cloud of chaos, and picked up her book bag. She formed an arm and shoulder to put the bag on, then a head and some feet and finally squeezed the last bit of her cloud into the shape of a green jacket. "Was she wearing a blue jacket before or a green one?" she asked herself. "I guess it doesn't really matter." she answered, and changed the jacket to blue.
***************************
Sara, Chris and Tyler walked up the stairs out of the basement, leaving Mary and the dungeon master still sitting at the table. The dungeon master was shuffling some papers, his mind racing with ideas for the next session. Mary stared at him, arms crossed and after a moment she finally spoke. "That was mean, Brian."
Brian looked up from his papers. "What?" he asked defensively with a worried look on his face.
"The primordial we met tonight in the game. That wasn't cool." She mocked an imitation of Brian: "It just lives outside in the chaos. Its sooooo ugly and scary." She crossed her arms again and stared daggers at him. Brian was silent and just looked down at his lap.
"I'm sorry," he said quietly. "I thought we were supposed to act like we didn't know..."
"You know she's not going to keep playing with us if you keep being an asshole, right?"
Brian frowned and was quiet.
"Don't you like her playing with us?" Mary continued. "She's a way better rogue than Johnathan was. If she leaves and Johnathan finds out we have room at the table then we might have to let him join the party again. Is that what you want?"
Brian shuddered. "No. I do like her playing with us. She is a pretty awesome rogue." They sat in silence for a minute. "I'll make it better next week. I have some ideas."
"Good." Mary stood up and walked to the stairs. "We'd better not be fighting a changeling or a dragon next week." she said with a laugh.
The outside air was cool and crisp; the twilight had faded already and the streetlights were on. Chris and Tyler had left already; their mom always picked them up. Sara lived at the end of the street. Mary looked down the street toward Sara's house and near the other end of the street she saw Sara, almost home. Mary shivered as she watched as a shadow approached Sara. Mary then watched as Sara discorporated into a chaotic mass of lightning arcs and flame over a roiling mass of rocks and water. In another moment she had absorbed the shadow and it was gone. Those shadows gave her the creeps and she was glad another one was gone. Mary's parents had told her many times how they were lucky to have the Smiths living on their street. "Good girl." Mary whispered as she watched Sara pick up her book bag and put on her human disguise for the rest of her walk home. Mary walked back into the house.
***************************
Sara reached the end of the street, hopped up the porch stair to her front door and walked inside, locking the door behind her. Inside, her mother and father were lounging on the sofa watching a reality TV show together. Her dad waved a friendly tendril of water at her and turned his attention back to the show. Sara's mom floated up and across the room, her pattern of fire and stone indicated concern.
"Is everything okay honey?"
"Well" Sara started slowly. "In tonight's game we finally met a primordial, but the party just killed it. The dungeon master thought it looked scary." Sara dismissed her human disguise, released a small puff of smoke and slouched a bit. "Are they ever going to accept us for who we are?"
Sara's mom wrapped her in a hug. "Your friends do like you dear. It doesn't matter that you don't look like they do."
"Yeah, I guess you're right mom. Thanks." She brightened up a bit, her waves of water crashing in a happy whirlpool. She started up the stairs to her room but halfway up she turned around and said "Oh yeah, I got another shadow on the way home." Her mom, who had already returned to the sofa, crashed a tiny avalanche of stone in approval and then returned to watching the show.

Getting MRI's on Thursdays. My twitching changes frequency it seems.
I've been having tons of sciatica pain lately. Also neck pain radiating to my arms and atrophy with weakness seemingly. Clean emg. I'm starting to think it might very well be cervical and lumbar spine stenosis.

ok so, bit of a background, I’ve had eczema only when I was a child but around the age of 3/4 it disappeared completely, it was mostly for a dust mite allergy and never had it again, until just a random neck flare up in march 2021(I was 16) (it disappeared without doing anything after some days) then, randomly, in November 2022 I started having flare ups on my neck and around my eyes but just as before they disappeared in some days maybe a week without applying anything, another flare up came back around February 2023, I saw a dermatologist, he prescribed me a mild topical steroid (advantan 0,1%) and disappeared once again, I sometimes just had random patches of dry skin on my neck or face but no sign of eczema, summer went great, but then around octobeNovember 2023 came back also in places I’ve never had it before and since then it has never left me, I did everything, removed fragrances, bought all the specific products for eczema prone skin, did some rounds of topical steroids, I had maybe some days or weeks where my skin was so great like I never had eczema but sadly it always came back. I took the prick tests and everything came back negative, also blood test still for allergies and were all negative, I have the patch test scheduled on last week of may, really hope to find out I’m allergic to something so this shit will go away. my eczema usually disappeared in spring so I was so happy about april and may coming but sadly this year my skin said Hell naw. tried lots of moisturizers, many didn’t work and some did help, but only with dryness. It’s really exhausting since I have it mostly on my face and neck, I do have some random patches on my arms , bigger ones on my inner elbows, but everywhere else my skin looks great, but my face, neck and shoulders look so terrible, it’s spreading on my face, steroids seem to not work anymore, it’s hard having a social life and keeping my relationship with my boyfriend healthy while I feel ugly, dirty and powerless. just so u guys know I do smoke and I noticed my eczema starting to worsen when I mostly switched to heated tobacco cigs (iqos), and also when i started taking the combined pill as birth control, also I really had a stressful life and fought against mental health for a long long time, finally doing better and then boom the universe wanted me to suffer some more (funny how when I had so many problems with my mental health my skin was literally perfect) looks like I’m finally fine and my body is expelling all the stress?? literally going crazy trying to understand my triggers or what’s causing it. also alcohol makes it so itchy I’ll sadly have to skip my glass of wine lmao If anyone wants to see the pics I’ll send them! I’m really looking for some help it’s getting unbearable and I do kind of sense the depression kicking back in. If anyone has read all of this thank you, and for everyone going through this, I hope you’ll finally heal<3