#Pituitary Tumor Surgery

[brightmoontrigon]

@ my body: could you stop making growths that irreversibly damage my senses. for 5 minutes

[butts-bouncing-on-the-beltway]

Big day today, and ideally, a little hike at the end of it with the family. In the meantime, I'm getting ready and trying to psych myself up for finally asking my doctor about those FUCKING blood tests.

[crossborderscare]

A pituitary tumour is a growth in the pituitary gland that can affect hormone levels and overall health. Effective treatment options, including advanced pituitary tumour surgery in India, offer hope for patients. Expert surgeons and state-of-the-art facilities in India provide comprehensive care, ensuring the best possible outcomes for those affected by this condition.

[drpriya]

Pituitary tumors are growths that develop in the pituitary gland, a small gland at the base of the brain. These tumors can be noncancerous (benign) or cancerous (malignant). They often affect hormone production, leading to various health issues.

Symptoms may include headaches, vision problems, and hormonal imbalances. Treatment options depend on the type of tumor and may include surgery, medication, or radiation therapy.

The diagnosis of pituitary tumors involves a combination of medical history review, physical examination, and various imaging and hormonal tests. Here's an overview of the diagnostic process:

Medical History and Physical Examination: The healthcare provider will inquire about symptoms, medical history, and family history. A thorough physical examination may reveal signs related to hormonal imbalances or pressure on nearby structures.

Hormone Testing: Blood tests can measure hormone levels to identify any hormonal abnormalities associated with pituitary tumors. This includes hormones like prolactin, growth hormone, cortisol, thyroid-stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, and follicle-stimulating hormone.

Imaging Studies:

MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging): This imaging technique provides detailed pictures of the pituitary gland and surrounding structures, helping visualize the size and location of tumors.

CT (Computed Tomography) Scan: In some cases, a CT scan may be used to provide additional information about the pituitary region.

Visual Field Testing: If there are concerns about optic nerve compression, visual field testing may be performed to assess any vision abnormalities.

Biopsy (Rarely): In certain situations, a biopsy may be needed to confirm the type of tumor, but this is not commonly done due to the gland's location and the associated risks.

Once diagnosed, the healthcare team will determine the appropriate treatment plan based on the type and size of the tumor, as well as the symptoms it's causing. Regular follow-up assessments and full body health checkup are essential to monitor the tumor's progression and adjust treatment as needed.

[cardioasscular]

guess who has a brain tumor lmfao

[victoriawhimsey]

🌸SUPPORT MY DEAR BEST FRIEND HAZEM TANNERA! HELP HAZEM REACH £10,000 BY SUNDAY, SO HIS MOM & LITTLE SISTER CAN EVACUATE TO EGYPT & BE WITH HIM 🌸

🌙 As-salamu Alaikum, this is Hazem Tannera, a 25 year old civil defense rescuer from Gaza. Hazem is currently in Egypt to receive treatment for his health that he has been struggling with. Hazem has a pituitary brain tumor which is causing severe headaches, and is now negatively affecting his eyesight. He will find out very soon if he will continue his treatment, or have to have surgery. 🌙

🌼Hazem has 10 family members which consist of Hazem’s 2 parents, 2 brothers, 2 sisters, and 3 children. They are all still trapped in Gaza. 🌼

‼️His family’s home was destroyed and they have lost everything. They are currently displaced and living in a tent while unable to seek safety or find basic necessities needed for survival.‼️

▫️This is what is left of Hazem’s neighborhood▫️

⚡️Hazem is fundraising for his family in order for his family to obtain everything they need for survival, and most importantly so they can evacuate Gaza to be in Egypt with him. Due to Hazem’s current health it is very difficult for him to do any of this on his own, so he truly needs all of the help and support he can possibly receive. He is very grateful for anyone who helps him in any way.⚡️

‼️PLEASE SUPPORT HAZEM & HIS FAMILY BY DONATING TO THE LINK BELOW‼️

🔻PLEASE FOLLOW HAZEM HERE:🔻

@hazemfromgaza

‼️HAZEM’S FUNDRAISER IS VETTED BY ME THROUGH THE COMMUNITY PROCESS OF VETTING THROUGH PALI PALS‼️

Thank you for your support

@heliopixels @half-empty-orbitals @voidofryu @lonniemachin @kinojoy @watermelons-are-cool @moonssugar @lizlives @dvanaestmrva @certaincloudconnoisseur @tsaricides @pretendingtobeaperson @b100ming @brokenbackmountain @000marie198 @retvolution @pcktknife @komsomolka @beside-myself-with-glory @deathlonging @deansmultitudes @spremutadarancia @hoosketts @anneemay @annoyingloudmicrowavecultist @akajustmerry @vaporize-employers @pollackpatrol @pomodoko @chronicschmonic @mahoushojoe @lesbiandardevil @unfortunatelyuncreative @bluebellsinthedells @fromjannah @ramelcandy @raelyn-dreams @devilofthepit @dochudson @tiredguyswag @beesofink @petracourtjester @tumkaafiho @im-living-under-your-basement @sleevesareforlosers @ihavenoideashelp @abricktothehead @magiciansquest @nightowlssleep

[matoroblogs]

LEGO Almost Went Bankrupt. These Heroes Saved Our Bricks.

How a brain tumor inspired Bionicle, one of the most popular toys of a generation.

BY DAVID LUMB PUBLISHED: JUN 21, 2020

The Platinum Avohkii mask, a rare one- of-a-kind piece made of solid platinum purchased by Andre Hurley, who has The Bionicle Archives collection

Courtesy Andre Hurley/The Bionicle Archives

In 2003, LEGO seemed to be riding high after shrewd licensing deals brought Star Wars and Harry Potter sets to the masses. But unbeknownst to many—even those inside the company—sales were plummeting, and there were only guesses as to why.

Some blamed poor strategic choices in the 1990s—Legoland theme parks, forays into digital products—for LEGO’s hemorrhaging. All that misguided development time slashed profitability, and even Star Wars and Harry Potter sales shriveled between movie releases. It’s hard to conceive of now, but at the turn of the millennium, beloved LEGO might have been headed toward a pitiful end.

During this fallow period, one product line stood apart with startling, consistent success: Bionicle, a series of buildable action figures backed by rich worldbuilding and cross-platform promotion. Inspired by co-creator Christian Faber’s battle with a tumor at the base of his brain, the toy warriors of Bionicle wouldn’t just conquer their fictional enemies. They’d pioneer innovations that would transform LEGO and rescue the company from possible doom.

Courtesy Andre Hurley/The Bionicle Archives

Today, Christian Faber looks a bit like a Danish Paul McCartney. His youthful smile pairs well with his genial nature, which one might mistake for meekness until he starts talking about his creative projects. The 54-year-old embodies the unchecked enthusiasm you’d expect from a 28-year veteran of LEGO projects. If Faber’s long-time illness dimmed his appetite for play, you wouldn’t know it.

In 1986, Faber began working for Advance, a Copenhagen- based marketing firm that partners with LEGO. But shortly after his career began, Faber’s vision began to falter. A doctor found a benign tumor inside Faber’s pituitary gland that was impeding his sight, a condition called prolactinoma. Doctors said the tumor was maybe in the least accessible spot in the body for surgery, so they prescribed Faber daily medication to keep the tumor from growing. Among the drugs’ side effects, however, were severe nausea and dehydration, effectively sidelining Faber from social activities.

Courtesy Christian Faber

“It was the strangest mix of feelings,” Faber says. “I was happy at the job, but faced the physical and mental strain of the medicine and a long-term illness.”

Faber’s side effects attacked him hardest in the mornings, so he found most of his energy for work at night. Early in his career, Faber designed brochures for LEGO toy lines. Exposure to the different products, including the undersea-based Aquazone and the sophisticated Technic series, gave him experience with LEGO’s standards and practices—a moving target in the mid- 90s, when the rise of computers and video games pressured LEGO to move from their traditional years-long R&D cycle toward what Faber calls ‘craze products,’ toys tuned to current market tastes with a planned one-year shelf life.

The craze-products movement was rife with experimentation for LEGO, and it materialized soon after a medical breakthrough for Faber. After 10 years of daily medication, Faber’s physicians moved him on to a new treatment which, in Faber’s own words, gave him his life back. The new treatment was a regular injection scheduled just once every two weeks, allowing Faber to engage with the world relatively free from side effects. He could chase higher ambitions than brochures, and he had an idea for a new kind of LEGO toy: a sort of Bionicle precursor called Cybots.

Courtesy The LEGO Group

“I was sitting with LEGO Technic and thought I would love to build a character instead of a car,” Faber says. “I thought of this biological thing: The human body is built from small parts into a functional body just like a model. What if you got a box full of spare parts and built a living thing?”

With his assistant graphic designer Jan Kjær, Faber pitched Cybots, a line of humanoid action figures with attachable limbs and ball-and-socket joints. LEGO didn’t furbish Cybots, but they would implement Faber’s concepts in craze products like Throwbots in 1999 and RoboRiders in 2000. By 2001, LEGO was testing a line called Bone Heads of Voodoo Island—masked robots with heads that could shoot off their bodies like Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots. Most of Bionicle’s look had been seeded: masks, buildable bodies, articulate limbs.

Courtesy Andre Hurley/The Bionicle Archives

Bone Heads of Voodoo Island was a bust—focus groups demonstrated kids didn’t respond well to detachable heads—so that same year, LEGO pivoted to focus on Bionicle. The plan was to take a more holistic design approach with these new toys than with craze products, but LEGO extended that comprehensiveness to the worldbuilding around the toys, too, a new strategy for the company. Faber and LEGO design manager Martin Riber Andersen were joined by former BBC film and TV executive Bob Thompson and writer Alastair Swinnerton to refine the Voodoo Island concept and pitch a new story. Faber, fresh from working on Star Wars LEGO sets, imagined something massive.

“After being on Star Wars, I was thinking that the only thing to do from here is our own stuff, but it should be as big as Star Wars,” Faber says. “It should be a big, full universe.”

For the storyline, Faber drew on his experience with prolactinoma. To him, his every-other-week injections seemed like sending in a new wave of protectors to battle his tumor with every dose. Faber imagined this group of disease-fighters arriving on an unknown beach with no memory. The story of these warriors would be called Bionicle, a portmanteau of ‘biological chronicle.’

Courtesy The LEGO Group/Christian Faber

Courtesy The LEGO Group/Christian Faber

Courtesy The LEGO Group/Christian Faber

“We took an episodic story line but chose not to play it out in any single medium,” Thompson told Kidscreen in 2003. “We would take that story and scatter it like a paper trail through different types of media.”

Bionicle’s in-world story evolved through comics and chapter books, written in large part by Greg Farshtey of LEGO’s promotional periodical LEGO MANIA Magazine (also known as LEGO Club Magazine, but now called LEGO Life Magazine). Farshtey followed Bionicle’s story bible from the original team, but as he began accounting for character changes correlating with new toy sets, he added his own takes. By the end of Bionicle’s run in 2010, he had interwoven the story with three feature films and shepherded the comic series that, at its peak, reached almost 2 million readers per month, making it the most widely circulated monthly comic on the planet.

Courtesy Andre Hurley/The Bionicle Archives

By all accounts, Bionicle was the hit LEGO needed. In 2001, its first year on the market, the line brought in over $160 million in sales, it was declared “Most Innovative Toy of the Year” by the Toy Association.

"Flat sales and profit decline made LEGO believe the brick was passé and it needed to move to digital and virtual toys to remain relevant,” David Robertson, author of LEGO history book Brick by Brick, told Popular Mechanics. “But as Bionicle became a success, LEGO learned the difference between sufficient and necessary. It wasn't sufficient to just offer customers another box of bricks, but it was necessary. If a LEGO toy didn't have interlocking plastic pieces, consumers didn't want it. But to succeed and grow, it was necessary to embed a story in that box of pieces and tell that story through comics, books, video games, movies, and events at the LEGO Stores."

Courtesy The LEGO Group

In other words, Bionicle had all the ingredients of a fun LEGO toy, but Faber’s inspiration was key to making it a smash. “[My condition] had a direct effect on my career, and especially on the creation of Bionicle,” he says, ticking off the allegories. “A biological robot attacked by ‘illness,’ waiting for the right ‘medicine’ to arrive. Even the canisters the Toa warriors arrived in resembled the medicine capsules I had to eat every day.”

Bionicle hit its stride just as LEGO’s financials were bottoming out. While LEGO flirted with bankruptcy in 2003, Bionicle accounted for 25 percent of the company’s total revenue and 100 percent of its profits. As LEGO slashed its workforce, reduced the number of pieces it produced, and increased its range of licensing deals, Bionicle continued to diversify. Partnerships spawned. There were Bionicle-branded Nike shoes, McDonald’s Happy Meal toys, even Colgate toothbrushes. The cross-promotion paid off: By the end of Bionicle’s initial run in 2010, it sold over 190 million toys.

All the newness shook up LEGO’s tried-and-true project structure. Bionicle’s multifaceted development process blended design, marketing and engineering teams to hash out new sets, ingest market feedback, receive directives from LEGO executives, and issue their own directives to subsequent narrative and design teams. Under the new dynamic structure, development time for a new toy line at LEGO accelerated from three years to less than one. The rapidity created an exciting energy.

“We broke a lot of new ground experimenting and pushing boundaries,” Bionicle co-founder and design manager Martin Riber Andersen says. “One of the key ethos of the core team was this is a shared collaboration: We stand together. We all believed it was so in contrast to ‘the normal LEGO company’ that we might as well direct our energy to the team instead of our individual career objectives.”

Courtesy The LEGO Group

Courtesy The LEGO Group/Christian Faber

From 2003 to 2005, Bionicle was the reported top-performing LEGO toy line, but after that, sales dipped below expectations. The decline continued to 2009, when LEGO handed down word it was time to end Bionicle. The creators wrapped up the narrative in 2010, but it was hard to let go. Farshtey wrote Bionicle stories on the now-defunct BIONICLEStory.com until 2011, fans dissected the line’s mythology on BZPower forums, and custom Bionicles continued to appear. In 2016, Faber wrote to series fans: “The stories we hear and the stories we tell shape who we are and what we do ... through almost 30 years [of my career in storytelling], no story has proved this stronger than Bionicle. The fans were, are, and will be the true heroes of this ... great adventure.”

These days, you still see Bionicle at toy conventions, and the r/bioniclelego subreddit is alive and well. In fact, the front page of Reddit was graced in November 2019 with an essential, timeless question: “What is the appropriate amount of time to wait before showing your new significant other your Bionicle collection?”

The toys’ invigorating combination of articulate LEGO figures and intricate, multimedia story resonated with the LEGO company as well as fans. The brickmakers use the business strategy they honed on Bionicle with lines like Ninjago today, to great success.

"It's hard to overstate how important the Bionicle line was for LEGO,” Brick by Brick author Robertson notes. “Without the sales and profits of Bionicle in 2003 and 2004, the company would not have survived. Bionicle taught LEGO that success depended on the ability to hook kids on characters and story, and LEGO was smart enough to spread those practices throughout the company."

Courtesy Andre Hurley/The Bionicle Archives

After Bionicle, Swinnerton moved on to write children’s books and TV scripts, Andersen took on a senior position

at a European consulting agency, and Thompson founded a media production and consultancy firm. Farshtey, meanwhile, still edits LEGO’s free fan magazine. All cite Bionicle as high points in their careers.

“We should all be proud of what we achieved individually,” Thompson says. “But in my view, more important is what we did collaboratively. After all, LEGO fans are still talking about what we did with Bionicle—after two decades.”

Faber moved on from his design job at Advance in 2014 after 28 years working on LEGO. His medical journey continues to inspire his creative work, including a post-apocalyptic world he’s designing filled with adventure, danger, and a pro- environmental bent. Looking back, Faber sees the impact his illness and treatment had on the stories and projects he’s touched. Almost 20 years after co-creating the action figures that sustained LEGO through one of the darkest times in its history, talking about Bionicle still makes him reflective.

“Biology is a balance more than a battle between good and bad,” he says. “Ever since Bionicle, balance has been my goal in the stories and pictures I create.”

Courtesy The LEGO Group/Christian Faber

article graphics faber bs01

[space-mermaid-writing]

I didn't realise you are the author of vamp and the were! Love the fic and how unique it is. And so fun to read. Thank you for writing it.

A generic hospital prompt for ironstrange. I know its generic but its fascinating to see how different its interpreted and also since its canon that as characters both of them have a distaste for it. It can be taken so many ways. I leave it upto you unless you want me to be more specific :)

Thank you! I'm happy you liked The Vamp And The Were <3

For your generic hospital prompt I went with pre-powers. If you had something more specific in mind, feel free to drop that in my inbox. Until then you get a Tony who picks up Stephen at work for a lunch :)

Ko-fi | Masterlist | Word count: 0.5k

It was safe to say that Tony hated hospitals. He had never been a fan of doctors who were way too eager to check and touch his body. He didn’t like it as a kid when he was sick and his parents called them, and he still didn’t like them now. Hospitals were even worse; with the ever present smell of antiseptic and their overall aesthetic of white and gray.

The fact that Tony had just entered a hospital voluntarily was nothing short of a miracle. He wasn’t in actual need of medical attention, so that was a plus. No, he was here to pick up a certain doctor.

Tony took the elevator to the fifth floor. He knew the way to the surgeon’s floor by heart.

Curious glances still followed him – something that would never change no matter where he went. But he also got some friendly nods from members of the staff who were by now used to his visits. Tony returned them, even if the sunglasses on his nose hid his lack of interest.

Tony tolerated being here. But only because of one man.

He stepped out of the elevator and walked to the office.

Halfway he heard the familiar deep voice as Stephen stepped out of it, talking to a nurse. When he noticed Tony his face lit up noticeably.

Tony smiled. This was what made it worth it to endure being in a hospital. And he liked having this effect on the doctor. It stirred something in his belly; feelings he wasn’t yet ready to deal with. So he shoved them deeper down.

The nurse seemed confused about his reaction and followed his gaze. As soon as her eyes landed on the approaching Tony, she understood.

“I’m here to pick you up for our meeting, Doctor Strange.” That was their code for a lunch date. Tony knew Stephen preferred to keep their relationship professional in front of co-workers and Tony respected that. Except in the presence of Christine, who called them out on their bullshit. And she often sided with Tony; one of the reasons he liked her so much.

Stephen handed the chart he was carrying to the nurse. “Take that to Doctor Robinson for the blood test.”

“Yes, Doctor Strange.” The nurse left, not without throwing an amused and knowing smile at Tony.

Only when she was gone Stephen spoke again, keeping his voice down. “A surgery came in an hour. A transfer from Huntington with a pituitary tumor. The transnasal transsphenoidal operation has to be done.“ It almost sounded like an apology – only that Stephen didn’t do apologies.

„We can go to Papa John’s down the street and you can take your book for the read up of the case with you. It will just be a quickie.” Tony winked at him. He knew any surgery that Stephen was involved with would take at least a few hours and Tony felt better knowing he had eaten beforehand.

Stephen scoffed because Tony had brought that innuendo into his workplace. A quick look around reassured him that no one was within earshot. He thought about the offer. “Alright, I’ll get my coat,” he then agreed.

Tony had already learned that Stephen had a hard time refusing Tony’s offers – as long as they were well-thought-out and convenient.

He followed Stephen into his office. Maybe he could convince him into another kind of quickie before lunch as well.

[ashleywool]

why are menstrual cycles

I began birth control meds a few years ago when my periods went from "tolerable nuisance" to "incapacitating sensory nightmare." I stopped taking BC as of June 8 so they wouldn't interfere with the cortisol testing.

Mind you: I'd had some intermittent spotting when I was on BC, but it was so brief and occasional that I was getting used to not even needing to keep maxipads around anymore, just an "emergency" bundle of pantyliners. I never bled enough to justify even attempting to use a tampon.

Yesterday, for the first time since 2021, I got my FULLLLLL period.

I was JUST beginning to come to terms with having to stay off BC at least through September to fully determine if my current health problems are a result of BC or if Otis (the cyst/tumor/both on my pituitary gland) is the real culprit. I thought, meh, it's annoying to have to wait, but I don't need this medication THAT badly anyway, it'll be a good way to see how my reproductive system calibrates itself--

Y'ALL. I forgot how AWFUL this is.

I forgot what it's like to be able to smell EVERYTHING--and in New York, there's even more of everything. Like, I can wash the dishes in the dark and know when the pot isn't entirely clean because I can smell a trace amount of olive oil. I can be awakened from sleep because I can SMELL the exact moment one of the cats uses the litterbox (the pine litter absorbs the smell almost instantly, which is amazing, but in the 0.2 seconds between the crap leaving their butt and the litter absorbing the smell, I SMELL IT).

I forgot what it's like to feel EVERY SINGLE ATOM that touches my skin and overthink every article of clothing in my closet before I get dressed for the day. Like, I can shave my legs and then FEEL my hair growing back. I put on a face mask in the doctor's office and my lip eczema is lurking right there with a taser like, "hahahaha, you say you care about public safety, but do you really? How much? *taser zap* HOW ABOUT NOW?"

I forgot the LEG CRAMPS--like, why? Yeah, the uterine liner is shedding, what does that even have to do with my legs? My back, fine. But leave my legs alone.

I forgot, most of all, what it's like to just cry at the smallest things. Like, not JUST the things that make sense to be sad/stressed/angry about, but like, I'll open a box of Scotch-Brite pads and then cry because they're all so perfectly positioned in that bag and I'm about to take one out and separate it from its brothers and sisters and they'll never see it again and now I'm so sad I want to jump off a bridge but I can't because my cats will miss me and I could never do that to my parents and--

HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO KEEP DOING THIS EVERY MONTH until we figure out whether or not the meds that prevented me from having to do this every month are causing MORE harm?

And if they are, then I'll have to...I don't know, stop taking them? Try something different? And if they're not, then I need to do whatever else we need to do in order to prove that the only reasonable next step is LITERAL BRAIN SURGERY LIKE--?!

Ok. I'm gonna go cry into my iced coffee about Scotch-Brite pads. And maybe put on real clothes. Maybe.

[madrabbitsociety]

08/25/2024 Pinned Note Update

Hello! For anyone looking for fic updates or novel updates, here you go.

I enjoyed being in a play so much I accidentally fell into another one right after the last one closed. I'm currently playing Detective Maggie Pelletier in Red Herring at the Gaithersburg Arts Barn. I know! A femme part! But Maggie is an actor's dream as far as characters go- she's complicated and in love but also holding back for her own reasons. It's a fun espionage/murder mystery/love story set in the fifties. We're also doing this Trompe L'oeil style cotume/set thing so we look like comic book characters... which also means I am not only a lead but also doing costumes. I have been too busy to even return texts at this point because when I'm not at rehearsal, I'm sewing my fingers off.

I will hopefully be posting costume sneak peaks and DIYs to my YouTube shorts so you can see what we end up with.

Anyway, for readers of my fanfic (Man! I Feel Like a Human), I have CHANGED MY USERNAME to be more gender-friendly. Seeing a very gendered name every time I log into AO3 was HARD so I’ve changed it to madrabbitwrites. I will say the last few story chapters I posted didn't seem to get much love so ... I'm not particularly in a rush to finish right now? But M!IFLAH is written and will eventually update when I have more time.

(TW: Illness) So my mom has a benign tumor in her pituitary gland that is causing the whole house to be in stress. Especially since she has other health complications that make me really nervous about her having surgery to remove it. It's been... too much, honestly. Now, more than ever, I also need to plan an escape from this living situation, so if you like my work please consider donating to my Ko-Fi. I'm putting all of my cash towards moving out as soon as I possibly can. As rent in my area is my entire paycheck, I don't know how soon that will be, but I'm doing my best.

My next book, A Deadly Persuasion, will hopefully be out in October or November as well. It’s a redneck bowling alley vampiric and sapphic retelling of Jane Austen’s Persuasion because I don’t have enough elements in that description. It’s turning out to be my favorite work yet, though. Even more than the Santa fucking a vampire book.

Sorry! Like Columbo, one more thing!

I’m working on the sequel to The Aquatic Equation, for real this time, and I think that means deleting The Frightful Fluid Conundrum. I might save the title for a future fic in this series, but if you like this so far, you might want to save it and make room for The Pelagic Solution.

[glitterguts13]

Personal rant time, please feel free to ignore.

A few weeks ago my dad suddenly lost his hearing in one ear, for no reason. Went to work, came home and it was gone. Urgent Care couldn't find anything, sent him to the ER, where they didn't find anything. Got him in with a specialist, they did an MRI. Went in today to get the results, and the doctor comes in and tells us they can't find a single thing wrong with his hearing, which is also kinda good because there's no serious problem! Just going to need a hearing aid!

Then he hits us with, we did find a secondary condition.

Turns out, dad's got a 2cm tumor growing on his pituitary gland. SO NOW HE GETS TO HAVE BRAIN SURGERY AND WE HAVE TO FIND AN IN-NETWORK NEUROSURGEON WHICH, LIKE, WE'RE AMERICAN INSURENCE AIN'T GONNA COVER THAT??

I've spent all day making calls to doctors while my mom dukes it out with our insurance. The doctor we saw today was very kind, and he's doing what he can to try and force them to cover it as a "medical emergency" which, why the fuck is a tumor in your brain NOT COUNTED AS A MEDICAL EMERGENCY???

The doctor tried to assure us while it sounds scary it really isn't bad, we caught it while it's small and he isn't showing any symptoms. We wouldn't have ever known if he hadn't had the MRI for a completely unrelated issue.

But now I have to postpone my surgery (that's a whole other story) because my recovery time is 2 to 5 weeks, and there's no way I can take care of him while trying to heal. Because I know my father, and if something is going to go wrong, it will go wrong with him.

[butts-bouncing-on-the-beltway]

You know. Sometimes I think about the things my body does that I've just always treated as normal that uhhhh.

Probably aren't?

Eyes so dry I use Systane like it's eye liner and I've REALLY overdrawn a batwing eye

Both of my ankles, when at rest, tilt my feet inwards which is why like 20% of the time when I set a foot down, the bitch just rolls like I no longer have tendons

Hey did you know that the average number of times a person pees per day is 6-7 and not "either exactly twice, or over a dozen times"?

I have a known pituitary tumor that is PROBABLY fine but also might be the reason all the women in my family eventually go blind and I guess I'll find out by the time I'm 50!

Your finger/toe knuckles apparently AREN'T supposed to grow 2mm thick calluses over the span of a week that you have to remove with a chemical peel?

Wouldn't it be cool if you swallowed something down your air passage into your lungs at least once every day? What do you mean you don't like aspirating curry vindaloo????

Apparently gallstones are frequently compared in terms of pain to child birth and I don't think I care for that because I've probably spent something like 2days/month (16 days straight the month of my surgery lol) passing them for literal years and often literally worked through them

The normal number of times to feel and hear your finger dislocate during a stretch is zero!

Apparently I am the kind of calm while violently injured that legitimately scares people because when I fell on the front steps and called upstairs that I needed help because I'd broken my ankle, **no one believed me until they saw my leg for themselves**

Drinking pepto-bismul is supposed to SETTLE your stomach, not cause you to INSTANTLY throw up

Anyway, sometimes I'm pretty sure it's a literal miracle I've survived this long, but usually I'm too busy trying out my undergrad lab's percussive maintenance strats so my back will unbend to actually care about that lol

[magnetothemagnificent]

See, here's what I don't get about the big conflict in TLOU....brain surgeries happen all the time without much adverse affect on the patient. If the Ophiocordyceps (because no, I'm not calling it Cordyceps because that's not what it is) is in Ellie's brain, it's like a tumor, and it could be able to be removed safely like???? Brain surgery isn't always fatal, don't know why they wouldn't just try to excise the infection safely. If it's sending "chemical messages" in her body than it's on her pituitary gland and that's.......not an uncommon surgery to remove tumors on the pituitary gland......

[random-parrot-lover]

I have been doing a lot better since my brain surgery to remove the tumor that was on my pituitary gland, I still have a few medical things I'm dealing with but I've been taking steps to getting better each day..

[trenchgardens-ooc-ooc-ooc-ooc]

🦾

oooh disabilities. All my ocs got them fuck yeah.

Starting with sensory lack, Calixtus eventually becomes blind and Dlicti is hard of hearing due to a TBI.

Somati has his gigantism which manifests in two ways, if he were normal sized you would see them as bone frailty and a weak heart, but his bones are actually normal in composition for his ange and his heart is normally sized too, its that his body has outpaced them. His bones are thin and weak for someone his height but normal for someone his age. He walks with forearm crutches even after his godtier while not flying, because his balance sucks and he is a tall fuckin tree. His godtiering stops his advanced growth (deletes the tumor on his pituitary gland if thats how his mutation worked) and beefs up his heart.

Bucket has Something. I think its some form of chronic fatigue, joint pain, or anhedonia? likely all three. Everything hurts and she's tired. She walks with a cane. There is also something wierd in how she thinks but i honestly am not even close to diagnosing it.

Dlicti is pretty strong, but youve seen her manacle scars, those have an effect on how frail her wrists ankles and neck are. That and in general her skin is very easy to tear because of how scarred it is. Its texture is inconsistant so sharp edges catch on it more, and the tissue itself is thinner in the scars so they reopen semiregularly if shes not careful. She is also blind in her left eye. i feel like that one is obvious though.

Plexus considers her empathy a mutation on some level. In the internalized mutinism way, she is not disabled i think at all? She might have knee problems from how much she kneels both in her past as a clown (praying), as punishment by her father (praying, physical abuse), and her job. I think her pants have kneepads now, which will probably be consistant for her entire sburb times, i think after godtiering she would keep her weak knees but the damage shes gotten over the years would be undone.

Ferics is chairbound. They have a spinal deformation from pupation that prevents them from being able to control anything basically below the navel. When they godtier they get stuff like bowel control but they dont gain fucntioning legs. they never felt like they needed them to be Them. in their heart they always saw it as the world being cruel to them, not them being wrong in some way. Also this is kind of a troll disability, their blood is a muddy yellow gray after their hue changes. Their psionic colors funnily ejough are indigo ish and cerulean ish. Ferics also is selectively verbal ! They just like. Cant talk about most things. Its only easy for them to speak about things theyre passionate about. All of this also goes for Halfiron. Halfiron is cool as fuck that mfr is bad as ass.

Halfiron made both a metal support exoskeleton brace thing for the Sanguine and his heart... thing. The Sanguine has a wierd surgically opened hole in his chest between the ribs that the Halfiron used to access his heart. He installed an implant that would allow him to like. do heart surgery easily and semiregularly. If youre familiar with the kind of heart surgery that layers one heart on top of the other? think like that but if you plugged in a circulatory system power strip and just put more hearts there. Sanguine's comparative bone frailty from his constant growth eventually catches up with him when his femur breaks in the middle of nowhere... Hence the Ur-clown.

Oh all of my ocs are autistic because im autistic.

Perpep is plural, The Ur-Clown->Ur-Crane probably is too, Plexus is plural, Detheo and Detheo are both plural. Oomani is also plural. Perpep has foggy memory barriers, Ur Crane has solid memory barriers, neither Detheo has any memory barriers, Oomani has memory barriers.

being intersex isnt a disability but theyre kind of similar catagories in that its something thats different about you and i wanna talk about it so i will. Ferics and Calixtus are intersex.

Oftcas has a limp due to a run in with a subjuggolator's bear trap.

Detheo Niptur is one hundred percent mute. nonverbal, potentially nonlingual? I use the word noncommunicative. I dont think he talks at all, and i dont think he writes or types either. Words aint it for him. Detheo Ordeor used to be this, he was forced to change, so he does have speaking skills, but he hates using them and avoids communication like the plague.

oh yeah Oomani has frontal lobe damage which affects her personality, he also has. uh. every part of the brain damage. She has seizures, migraines, almost no fine motor control- uh yeah. Oomani went thru it....

hmrgh i cant think of any more but i know i have some