#ok that helps actually. like i still don’t normally need allergy meds but still

[sweetness47]

Karma is a Bitch

Theme: smutty filth, criminal activity, virgin reader, etc… MATURE 18+ READERS ONLY!!!!

Pairing Criminal!Steve Rogers x Nurse!Reader

This is for @sherrybaby14​ and her Reader-insert smut prompt challenge - Steve Rogers Prompt #16

A/N: I hope you like this @sherrybaby14 (hugs)

Final word count: 3898

Summary: After finally getting her freedom from mob life and putting her brother, James “Bucky” Barnes, behind bars with her testimony, a chance encounter with a wounded man puts everything she’s built for herself in jeopardy.

Steve’s POV

This just wasn’t my day. I’d just pulled off a brilliant jewelry heist, only to get noticed by a passing patrol car while exiting the store.

Fuck my life.

It wasn’t always bad, at least not while I worked for Bucky. He was one hell of a crime boss and was more than fair to his employees, myself included. But now? He was in prison for 25 to life, because of a whack load of evidence and some pretty hefty testimonies. What was left of the empire he’d built was trying to survive.

That being said, fast forward to tonight. I make a beeline for the alley, my escape car parked two streets over, two-minute sprint through the back lanes. The cops started firing at me, I fired back. I managed to make it to the car and unlock the door before they rounded the final corner, weapons still drawn, bullets still flying everywhere.

Adrenaline was pumping wildly through my veins as I took off down the street, my unmarked Firebird screeching over the pavement. Taking back alleys and dark roads as much as possible, I finally managed to pull into a dark lot and ditch the car. I grabbed the jewels and ran for the underground sanctuary I had for emergencies.

I never made it there.

Reader’s POV

There are pros and cons to being a nurse. I get to help people, save lives, but the hours are shit. The only reason I stay is to help the patients. Well, that and money helps. Not that I need it. But I don’t like to use the other funds I have at my disposal, except in a dire emergency. They remind me too much of my brother and the life he had before my testimony put him away for life.

I was able to get into the witness protection program and have my name scrubbed from the testimony. I loved my brother, don’t get me wrong, but it was too much danger. My life almost ended a few times, but the last time was what made me turn. Not only did a rival family kidnap me, one of them almost raped me, and threatened to execute me. NOT FUN!

My brother killed them and rescued me, but I’d had enough. All I wanted was to live peacefully and without constant fear of being targeted by someone else. I changed my hair, my clothing, my looks, and my name, got a place in a different area of town, and was finally at a place in my life where I could just be me.

Well I was.

I went for a walk late, my German shepherd decided to fancy a stroll, and of course, how could I say no to that beautiful puppy face. I wasn’t worried about being attacked or anything, mostly because one look at Bowser (yes I named him Bowser), and most people crossed the street to avoid me. It was a nice feeling.

It was Bowser who noticed him first. I was completely in my own little world, enjoying the evening air, the stars. Bowser barked, whining as he strained against his leash, desperate to get to whatever was in the parking lot. I frowned. Bowser never behaved like this. It was unnerving to say the least. I followed my dog’s lead, and my jaw dropped at the sight of the man on the ground, unconscious, blood pooling from a wound in his side. I knelt down and check his pulse, and breathed a sigh of relief upon finding he wasn’t dead.

I went to call 9-1-1 and get an ambulance, but a hand reached out to stop me. “No cops. Please.” He croaked before passing out once more.

I frowned. I didn’t like the road this evening was heading down, and I certainly didn’t need to draw attention to myself. But I couldn’t walk away either. This man needed help, and I was the only person around who could get him the help he needed.

I checked around for security cameras around the lot, finding none close by, then checked the street. It was almost a god send that the streets were empty at the moment, and that my home was close by. I grabbed him by the arms, and dragged him back to my house, Bowser sticking close by, in case something bad happened.

Steve’s POV

I winced at the sunlight pouring in, it’s brightness blinding me something fierce. I had a massive headache, and on top of that, every movement shot burning pain through my abdomen. I gingerly moved my hand over the area and felt a bandage. Then I remembered seeing the blood seeping through my clothing right before I collapsed.

I’d been shot.

But I wasn’t in a hospital, nor was I in a prison medical facility. I was in a house. Whose house, I couldn’t say, but it looked feminine. The room I currently occupied had sunshine yellow walls, with decorative floral art pieces hanging from them. The furnishings were dark mahogany to contrast the yellow, and the bedding was a mix of pink and grey, with a quilted floral bedspread. It was actually quite breathtaking.

I tried to move, desperate to take a leak, only to realize three things.

1.       I was naked.

2.       It hurt to move.

3.       There was a massive German shepherd sitting at the foot of the bed watching my every move.

Fuck!

The dog whined and barked, drawing in a woman, no an angel. Her (H/C) hair flowed about her with fluid grace, in time with her body movements. Her skin was radiant, almost glowing in the sunshine lit room. Her (E/C) eyes were magnets, drawing me in like a ship to a siren.

My body certainly had no problems with her looks either, I could feel myself growing hard, and had to shift the covers to hide my obvious attraction.

“Going somewhere?” she asked, raising her eyebrow.

“I need to use the washroom.” I managed to speak with a somewhat normal tone. My other brain was screaming for me to take her and do wicked things to that delectable body of hers.

She cocked her head to one side, as if studying me. “Hmm. Ok. Here,” she tossed me a robe. “Put this on and I’ll help you to the bathroom.”

I nodded and slipped the white terry bath robe over my broad shoulders. It was actually quite roomy and comfortable. She blushed and turned away while I awkwardly stood and wrapped the plush material around my torso to cover my hard-on.

Once I was ready I cleared my throat and she turned back to me, then came to put my arm around her shoulders to support me while we journeyed to the washroom. Once there, she released my arm. “I’ll be here when you’re done. There’s a new toothbrush in there, and shaving products should you want to use them.”

I nodded and closed the door. After relieving myself, I washed my face and brushed my teeth. I didn’t shave, but made sure my beard was trimmed and clean. Once I was done, I ran my fingers through my hair, using a small amount of water to smooth down the stray hairs.

Satisfied with my appearance, I opened the door and, true to her word, the woman was leaning against the wall, waiting for me. She positioned herself on my sore side, taking my arm and wrapping it around her shoulders once more, and walked me back to the room.

My body reacted to her close proximity, her scent was intoxicating. Citrus and floral, a hint of vanilla and sandalwood. I fought the urge to take her against the wall, fuck her senseless, pound into her so hard that she wouldn’t walk straight for a god damned week.

Only the pain from the gunshot stopped me from my current fantasy. Carefully I sat on the bed and she helped me swing my legs up so I could lay back on the pillows she’d placed behind me.

“Stay.” She ordered, before disappearing from the room. Minutes later she returned with a tray containing a sandwich, some soup, and what smelled like coffee, along with a glass of water and what I perceived to be pain meds. “Do you take cream or sugar, and do you have any allergies?”

When I shook my head, she continued. “Here’s some T 3’s. They’ll help take the edge off the pain. After you’ve eaten, we’ll get you set up for a shower, then I’ll check and redress the wound. You’re lucky, you know. It was a through and through shot, and didn’t hit any major organs.”

I arched a brow. “How did you know it was a gunshot?”

“I’m a nurse.” She said simply. “Besides, I’ve seen enough of those kinds of wounds to last a lifetime. It’s not my first rodeo with this shit.”

I wanted to ask what she meant but decided against it. It wasn’t any of my business. But I could see a hint of what looked like regret in her gaze, along with sorrow, like she missed someone, family perhaps. She turned away and strode out of the room, leaving me to dig in to the feast before me. I hadn’t realized how hungry I was until now, the homemade broccoli and cheddar soup invading my senses, and the turkey bacon club sandwich that accompanied the hot liquid was divine. I took the analgesics and then quickly polished off the food before me, my stomach rejoicing as it received the tantalizing offerings.

My mind wondered briefly to the other things she’d said. Mostly, setting me up for a shower. I could barely stand on my own right now, maybe I could lean against the shower tiles for most of it, but getting in and out would be a challenge. What I wouldn’t give to have her in there with me, her hands sliding over my skin as she lathers soap over my body, caressing my shoulders, my abs, my aching cock. It was a wet dream right now, but damn, what I wouldn’t give to make it reality. To take her and make her mine. Permanently.

~~

Reader’s POV

I pride myself on my self-control, and my ability to do my job. Mr. Hunk wasn’t making my life or my job easy, that’s for sure. He’d been unconscious for two damn days, and I can’t even begin to count how many times I’d imagined what he’d feel like. I’m embarrassed to admit I’d masturbated a few times with him in my thoughts. It took every ounce of will power I possessed to clean and bandage his wound without running my fingers over his firm torso or those rock solid abs.

Last night I’d been so bold as to masturbate while watching him sleep. I imagined his fingers parting my folds, his tongue fucking me, his hard cock driving into me with wild abandon. I’d never reacted to any man like this. It was new and a bit frightening.

I’d kissed a few men in my 22 years, but I’d never actually done anything beyond that. James was very protective, and very intimidating. Any guy who met him usually took me on a very polite date, then I never heard from them again. After my brother’s incarceration I’d been so engrossed in work and changing my identity and address, I hadn’t really put any thought into dating

But now, with my overbearing sibling in prison, and this gorgeous man in my bedroom, the thoughts were most definitely there.

I walked back to the room after about half an hour, smiling when I see the empty tray. He was famished, as I’d guessed, and polished off the entire meal. “How was the food? Satisfactory, I hope?”

He grinned. “Beyond satisfactory. It was spectacular. Thank you. For all of this.” He gestured to his bandage and the tray.

I blushed and nodded, my eyes raking over his bare chest. “Your welcome. Now, we should get you showered and cleaned up so I can check that wound.”

He glanced at me, and I quickly averted my eyes. Had he seen me ogling him? Fuck.

“You should tell me your name. I want to know the name of my savior.”

My cheeks were crimson now. “YN.” I managed, my voice shy now.

He looked me over. “YN. It’s a beautiful name. I’m Steve.”

He held his hand out to me, and I took it. Instantly, sparks flew between us. He studied my reaction, and I couldn’t tear myself away from his blue eyes, sparkling like sapphires in the gleam of the afternoon sun.

I cleared my throat. “We should get you to the shower now.”

He nodded and I helped him stand. He turned to face me for a moment, and his head bent toward me, his lips brushing lightly across mine. He quickly straightened and apologized. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have done that.”

I frowned and helped him to the washroom. Had I done something wrong? Was I supposed to react differently? My hormones were screaming at me to kiss him, to inform him he hadn’t been out of line at all. I was simply surprised by the gesture. I wanted him to kiss me again actually.

My panties were wet with the thought.

I started the shower then blushed furiously as I turned to him, only to find that he’d removed the robe and stood in front of me in all his naked glory. Fuck! My panties, if they weren’t ruined before, certainly were now. I was gushing. I’m pretty sure I orgasmed from the sight of him.

As if sensing my lustful thoughts, he stepped closer to me, and gently wrapped his hand around the back of my head, tilting it up to meet his lips once again. The second our mouths connected I melted, and any resolve I’d been having went straight out the window. He lifted my shirt and tossed it behind him with his good side, then went to remove my bra. I worked swiftly at removing my jeans and my ruined undergarments, then I put my hand in his and led him to the shower. The steamy liquid washed down over us, and Steve winced as his wound made contact with the water.

“Careful. Just turn slightly away from the water. Partial contact will be easier to endure.” I whispered.

Steve shrugged. “I’ve got something to distract me from the pain.” He pulled me into his arms again as his lips crashed into mine. There was no gentleness there, just raw, savage need. I could feel the thick bulge of his arousal pressed against my belly as I pressed closer to him. God this man was fucking incredible, well endowed, and at this moment…mine.

~~

Steve’s POV

Pain was about the furthest thing from my mind. I was pretty sure this was heaven as I watched YN take some soap and lather it over my body, taking extra care around the bullet wound. Her hands caressed my back, my front, then she moved lower, giving my hard cock some much wanted attention. Her tongue flicked over my length, then dipped into the tip, swirling around the large head, causing it to jerk. I almost came right there.

“Careful sweetheart. You might make me come too soon.”

She stood and grinned while blushing. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to…”

I stopped her right there. “I wasn’t stopping you because I wasn’t enjoying your attention. Quite the opposite, actually. I was very happy with what you were doing. But I was hoping to finish in a different way.”

Her lips formed an ‘Oh’ while she turned a bright crimson. Could she really be that innocent? I was beginning to think she’d never done anything like this before.

We rinsed off and exited the shower, YN bending down to retrieve the robe from the floor. She wrapped it around me, then grabbed a towel for herself. Taking my hand, she walked with me back to the bedroom, where she had me lay down, minus the robe, while she put a fresh bandage on my wound. Once that was taken care of, she removed her towel and came to join me on the bed.

“How do you want to do this?” she asked.

I thought for a moment. I was in good enough shape to support myself with my good side, but I didn’t know if I could get all the momentum needed. The best option would be her on top.

“Straddle my hips.” I motioned with my hands, then I reached between us and felt her tight heat. She was so wet. Fuck! I slid my fingers along her slit, and she gasped when I slipped two of my thick digits inside her. Tight was in fact an understatement. I cursed then she moaned. My control was all but gone now, I wanted nothing more than to dive in.

So I did.

I lined up my cock with her entrance and after looking into her eyes, thrust inside. Her tight walls contracted as she struggled to adjust to my size. There was a brief flicker of pain in her eyes, but her smile told me all I needed. Then I was thrusting, slowly at first, making sure she was still ok, then I picked up speed.

She chanted my name over and over as she felt the first orgasm hit, throwing her head back as it washed over her. Her cries filled the room as my thrusts became more urgent, giving her more aftershocks.

“Steve…Oh God!”

Her words sent me into a frenzy as I hit my own climax, spilling inside her as her walls clenched around my cock.

Panting, she collapsed on top of me, then scurried to the side when I groaned. “Oh my god, sorry.” She immediately felt horrible for the faux pas.

“No worries.” I reassured her. I pulled her close to me our bodies relaxed from the mind-blowing sex we’d just participated in.

“Ok.” She said quietly as her eyelids closed, along with mine, our bodies resting together.

~~

Reader’s POV

I woke first, glancing beside me, my cheeks flushed as I recalled what I’d done with this man. Carefully maneuvering out of his arms, not that I really wanted to, I got off the bed and went to check his wound. The vigorous sex we’d had last night hadn’t opened the stitches thankfully, nor had it caused any weeping. I breathed a sigh of relief and tugged on some sweats and a t-shirt. Padding to the kitchen, I set about making some breakfast, quickly deciding on pancakes and bacon.

Maybe it’s my inner consciousness chiding me, but I realize I know nothing about the man in my bed. I don’t know who he is or why he was shot. I don’t know fuck all really, apart from his first name. There’s a small part of me that thinks he looks familiar, but for the life of me I can’t place him. I shake the thought from my brain as I mix the batter and start frying the bacon.

I have coffee going and most of the food made when I hear footsteps behind me. I turn around and I’m greeted with soft lips on mine. “Morning.” His voice is husky and I feel myself growing damp once again. I never knew one man could have such a profound effect on me.

I smile and hand him a mug of coffee. “Morning yourself, sleepyhead. How do you feel today?”

He sat down at the table. “Not bad, better than yesterday for sure. Considering the activities of last night, I feel pretty damn good.”

I nodded as I put out the food. “That’s good.” I pause as I sit down across from him. “We should probably talk.”

He seems to think on that idea. “Yeah, probably. I’m sure you’ve got a shitload of questions about everything.”

“I do, though I probably don’t want to know the answers to them.” I answer truthfully. And I really don’t, for numerous reasons. What I don’t know can’t hurt me, well not directly. Or at least, that’s what I told myself.

He nodded. “I was seen by a patrol car leaving the scene of a jewelry heist. I was seconds away from a clean getaway. I ran, they chased, they shot at me, I shot at them…blah blah blah. You get the idea. Anyways, I got to my car and drove off, only to get out, make it about 20 feet, and collapse behind the dumpsters. You know the rest.”

I pursed my lips. “How did you get into this life? You’re smart, strong, and you seem to have a good head on your shoulders. You don’t seem like the type to just choose crime as a life goal.”

He looked down at his plate. “I was a street kid, orphaned when I was 11. This guy found me and took me in, gave me a place to stay and food to eat. I guess it was kind of like adopting, but he was only two years older than me. He had a family.”

My eyes widened. “Wow. So you stayed with his family?”

He shook his head. “No. He hid me at their family guest house for some years. No one ever used it, it was kind of like a prop on their land. So I had heat, running water, and shelter. The boy who’d helped me brought me some of his clothes and always visited me. My life would probably have ended years ago if he hadn’t found me.”

That uneasy feeling popped into the back of my mind again. I really hoped I was wrong with that thought. I remembered my brother spending a lot of time in our guest cottage. He never let me tag along, mostly cuz I was 4 and completely annoying at that age. But, he’d also warned me to never go near the cottage, else he’d beat me. Not that he ever laid a hand on me. It was just a warning, but one I took seriously at the time. He’d also warned me to never tell mom or dad about his frequent visits to the guest house. And I hadn’t.

I held my breath, debating whether or not I should ask the next question, the one that burned on the tip of my tongue. I would hate myself for asking, but I would hate myself more for not asking.

“What was the boy’s name?”

My blood froze when he answered, and not just from the answer, but from the tone of his voice. “You probably know him, since I saw a picture of him on your dresser this morning YN. His name was James, but everyone always called him Bucky.”

@sherrybaby14​ @legion1993​

[firepiplup]

How do i say no to people

You know that analogy about people with adhd having spoons for energy management or whatever? My spoons are on backorder from like 2 months ago and more got on that list now

The problem is that all of the things I'm being asked to do are Very Important Things

I have to feed my diabetic cat. This in itself is not a problem, however she's needs to eat at a specific time (12 hour spacing) and my current sleeping situation along with work do not allow this to happen consistently. Currently trying for 7:30, we'll see how it goes

My apartment has bedbugs, and there's no way in fucking hell I'm sleeping on my living room floor until my scumlord landlord actually gets the guy to come back to spray because he did spray but I'm still seeing adults and i "need to give the spray time to work" it's been fucking 2 weeks i don't know how is supposed to work but i feel like after 2 weeks whatever spray you did isn't going to get any stronger i just want to sleep in my own bed it's been like this since fucking March

With that part explained, I'm sleeping at my mom's house on the other side of town. This in itself isn't much of a problem, however as "payment" i have to take care of her dog in the morning, to practice because she's going on a week long vacation in October and none of her dogs can just be taken care of like normal dogs. He needs to wear a diaper to leave the room while i pick up his shit and soiled weewee pad and mop the floor, give him some time to be out of his room, and then feed him his special food mix. The other dog has allergies and probably will get into something he shouldn't, then not use the bathroom outside even though he literally has a doggy door that has constant access to the backyard. Neither dog get along with each other, which is why they are separated. Thank fuck the cat is just normal, this is why i prefer them

Now with THAT explained, it's difficult to take care of my own cat on time in the morning. But as the legendary Billy Mays says: But wait, there's more!

I just got rehired at my job working in a local understaffed pizzeria. My friend, ego also works there, is on vacation (good for her, she deserves it, absolutely no negativity towards her) so i have acquired her hours. So i now work 6 days a week, kinda sorta clopen but i guess it's more of opelose. Or a combination of both? Idk. The point here is, I'm then dealing with essentially running half a restaurant alone 6 days a week, with it not being 7 purely because the owner himself ALSO has the same work schedule as far as I'm aware, and wanted to give himself a day off, and since we are so understaffed it would be impossible unless we literally closed. My tasks include answering the phone, washing dishes, making sandwiches, making dinners, folding pizza boxes, and cleaning the tables/equipment on that side of the restaurant. So essentially everything except making pizzas, cleaning the pizza area, mopping in general, and driving. We generally close at 9, 10 on Friday and Saturday. Guess who was explicitly rehired to close those days? Guess how that's going to work with me having to be home around 7:30 to take care of my own cat? I have no idea either. It's only for about 3 weeks, but my mom, whom i have not asked for any additional help with anything, won't feed the cat while i have work, even though there isn't a guarantee that i can leave on time to THEN RETURN to close, because again I'm the only one on that side of the building. I understand the fear of the bedbugs, so that's probably it, but it still fucking sucks because the kitchen is on the other side of the apartment from the bedroom and there is literally no reason to go there to feed her. But i get it

Did we get to where i can do my own ADLs? Of course not. My neighbor is in the hospital, and her husband is blind. This is a new development that was only discovered an hour before starting this post (about 3:30 am for me). She's ok, it's for mental health reasons, and that's her own business about that. Her husband being blind is not a new development however. And he needs help taking care of the pets, specifically the birds. Which is fine, they just also need to eat on their own schedule. 8am, around lunchtime, and 8pm. Guess who's still at work? One of the birds is special needs because her beak got injured and needs to be essentially spoon fed. Which the blind husband can't do at all. Fairly simple task, but just adding to my obligations that are Very Important because they involve making sure things don't starve to death while my neighbor is in Crisis

Ok let's see, that's 4 Very Important Tasks/Obligations, and only one was originally my own voluntary one. Still not at taking care of myself yet, but i have my shelter, i have my job ("part time" minimum wage, hurray. Part time because even with me being there 6 fucking days a week open to close it still isn't technically enough hours for the state to recognize it as full time), and I'm taking care of *counting* about 8 pets for the next week. Will unemployment give me my money that I've been claiming since March? No? Will they let me claim with my new working hours that makes that while process even harder? Technically but it'll take over an hour for it to process and it doesn't even do that in the end? Well fuck, guess i have to wait to get paid on the books in cash and beg for a hand written paystub and have my hours worked written down. Glad i earned $100 this week, i hope now that my hours have increased i get some more

Next on the list, appointments. Because I'm a dumbass who can't remember shit if it isn't consistently recurring, i overbooked myself for next week. My much needed therapy appointment with my therapist that I've only met once and is the replacement for my much better therapist that i actually had a relationship with is supposed to have a session with me on Tuesday. Will i remember to do it this time? Possibly since i actually remembered it's on Tuesday. Will she send me the reminder text with the zoom link? Probably not. Wednesday, my one day off, thank fuck for that, is the main problem with the scheduling. My med appointment is for 11:30. Cool, can do. Driving lesson at 12. Oh, that's a little close, but i can manage that probably. I only average 1 lesson per year and a half, so it's fine, it's "healthy" to be nervous about operating a death machine powered by explosions. Have to go to social services to pick up, or attempt to, a new food stamps card. They probably close at 5, and add a Non Driver, i need to rely on someone to take me. The sooner the better, but it can't be during the lesson. Don't forget to take care of the creatures before and during all of this.

Ok. Great. There's an hour before work. Time to shower, because it's so fucking hot I'll be sweating like crazy by the time i get around the corner to the pizzeria, with me literally getting out and dressed and then walking out the door. Glad i finally did still to take care of myself. Eating? I might have something i can heat up quickly while the cat eats and so i can take my own meds. Dishes? Those are going to have to wait, i hope the heat wave doesn't get too bad, but it's been like this for a while, still slowly chipping away at them. Sleep? Severe insomnia. I partially blame the bed, my mattress is so comfortable, i hope the bedbugs like it because i can't fucking use it right now. I'd be sleeping so fucking soundly if i were in my own bed, and yet here i am. Maybe i should take the Trazodone now. I just hope I'll wake up on time. Oh look I'm exhausted, can't afford to buy comparatively better prepared coffee from Dunkin, so i guess my shitty at home coffee is going to have to do. Black because i don't have any creamer or milk or lactose free milk in my house. Just the way i hate it. Gonna have to deal with that i guess, maybe I'll learn to like it

The coffee pot lives in my fridge now. I'm worried to put it with the other dishes because if it sits there, not being washed like everything else, then i won't even have the option of coffee. It's just water and ground up beans, I'm sure it's fine

Maybe i can find some kind of coping skill/hobby to help me through my limited me time. Let's see.... I like to crochet, and that helps me get through the dishes by letting me alternate between them and a row/round on one of my many started projects. What? It's in a giant garbage bag with a bedbug treatment stick because of the damn ass bedbugs? Can't open it for at least another week and even then there isn't a place to put the yarn safely? Well fuck. I found that really helpful with keeping me grounded. Umm, well looking online, i should *checks notes* buy new yarn in the meantime and keep it somewhere safe. Uh, well, i can't afford more yarn now and i have nowhere to put it. Videogames it is maybe? Oh fuck now I've hyper focused too long on pokemon, rhythm heaven, and whatever daily games i do, i think i have 5 of those of varying lengths of time spent on them

Did i remember to brush my teeth? No. Do i remember that i should and then when i get out of the shower so i forget to actually execute? Yes. Have i gone insane? Probably

How many spoons is a person supposed to have per day? It takes more for me just to get through the day in general. Why does everyone need me to do their Very Important Tasks? Why is there never anyone else? Can my neighbor just not buy more birds when she gets home from Crisis?

I just want to have good mental health, why is this so hard

[v8pontiacgirl]

04July2021

I’m still in shock that issues are likely caused by horrible allergies that are likely caused by mold in my house. Due to memory issues, I decided to make a timeline of the last six years, when this started.

September 2015–moved into the house. I was working full time, going to school full time and experiencing allergy issues, such as a sore throat, headaches, and very dry eyes (to the point that I was no longer able to wear my contacts). I actually kept getting allergic conjunctivitis, so I switched to my glasses full time. I’d been able to wear contacts for about 15 years without issues prior to this.

February 2016–injured my knee and found out I had a discoid lateral meniscus with a tear that was hanging up in my knee joint. It took months to get any kind of relief for my knee because the tear didn’t initially show up on the MRI, and because discoid meniscus issues usually show up earlier in life if they are going to be a problem, I wasn’t taken seriously. During this time, I was having issues working because of pain and inability to walk. Also started having more issues with being harassed at work by coworkers. I began to work less and less until I finally quit in September. I had already finished out school in June. I would have had to transfer to a community college two hours away to continue my degree in the fall, and since my knee was being problematic, I decided to hold off.

October 2016–Had my knee surgery. About a week or two afterwards, I got my first vertigo spell (although I didn’t realize it was vertigo at the time). This would become the first of many instances that I would deal with “flares” that would make functioning very difficult for me.

October 2016-March 2017–Some days were better than others. I went to the doctor and blood work and many tests were done. My thyroid levels fluctuated a little, but ultimately seemed ok eventually. Everything else looked normal, except my white blood cell count was always elevated. I was told I was perfectly healthy. The dizziness? It was POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome), a chronic illness that I had been diagnosed with in 2005 that honestly had never given me too many issues in the past, as long as I stayed hydrated and ate salty foods. I was given some common POTS meds to help me retain water, but, as medications typically do not agree with me, I had too many side effects and was unable to take them.

April 2017-August 2017–I’d been feeling better for about a month (since March), and I was anxious to be back in school. Culinary school had caught my eye a few months prior, so I signed up for the spring cohort. I was in the evening cohort, and I was realizing that my allergies were being aggravated by *something*, so my mornings from 7am to noon were spent cleaning, and from noon to about 8pm, were spent at school. I was able to complete two terms of culinary school. There was to be about a little over a month break from the middle of August to the end of September before fall term began. I went to California in August after finishing Summer term for a few days to visit friends. After returning, I started to feel like I was going into another “flare”. Gradually, my health got worse and worse.

September 2017-February 2018–by the end of September, when it was time to go back to culinary school, I was bedridden. The vertigo was so bad that I was unable to do anything except remain horizontal. For about six months again, my health was unbearable and I was unable to function.

March-April 2018–I finally began to feel a little better in March and April (also around the time when I started to get outside to do more garden things), and decided that I would try to go back to culinary school for summer term (the cohorts had changed because of a new director, and so there were classes I could take toward my degree). It’s really interesting that my heath was generally better the more I was able to get out of the house.

June 2018-August 2018—I was doing a lot of outdoor garden things in the afternoons and going to school for several hours every morning. I was even hired to help cater a wedding in August. My health seemed mostly under control, with only minor symptoms.

September 2018-December 2018—The end of September, I began my fourth term of culinary school. I also joined the culinary team, so pretty much all of my time was spent at school, even most of December, when the other students went home for break, I stayed at school trying to perfect my dish for competition. I was fatigued, but my health was mostly stable.

January 2019–After a *very* brief break, I was back in school for one whole day of winter term. I was definitely feeling fatigued because I hadn’t really gotten a break (and probably, in hindsight, because my allergies had really worn me down, too), and I was told by the coach that he was kicking me off the team because he was concerned my health problems would hold the team back, and he wanted to win. My health had not been an issue that he had seen at all, but he just thought it was too much of a risk to keep me. If I wouldn’t have disclosed that I had health problems when I tried out for team, I don’t think this would have happened. Anyway, I was pretty angry, especially after all the time I’d put in. Since the coach was also the director of the school, and there had also been an issue with the instructor quitting and a new instructor having to take over at the end of the last term, I decided that this culinary school really wasn’t worth my time or money any longer, so I quit. Immediately after, I bought the rest of the books that I would have needed for school and began to teach myself techniques with sugar and chocolate. I decided I was going to start focusing more seriously on Spoon Life Bakery, my cottage bakery business that I had started in July 2017.

February 2019-March 2020—I was the most busy I’d been in a while. Garden projects, baking projects, and painting projects took up all my time. From August 2019 to the beginning of March 2020, I was more busy than I wanted to be with my short lived restaurant project. The restaurant actually opened in October, but there was a lot of prep work prior. All of this kept me out of the house for most of the day. I was exhausted, but not symptomatic. Basically, during this time period, I was either outside, or at another location for the majority of the time. During the rainy months (December 2019-March 2020), the basement of the house flooded. It had always been musty and damp down there, but it had never flooded like that.

March-May 2020—I closed the restaurant in March, and began to be at home a lot more often. I started going hard with Spoon Life Bakery again, baking out of my home kitchen. I got back into Jiu Jitsu. I was doing ok, but by May, I started to feel like something wasn’t right again.

May-December 2020—My health “flared” a little during this time. It wasn’t as bad overall as it had been, but some days were better than others. Some days the vertigo made me bedridden. It was unpredictable. In May, I had to quit Jiu Jitsu again because I wasn’t feeling well and didn’t have the stamina to keep doing it.

January-May 2021–I’d had enough descent days that I decided to try to try to go back to Jiu Jitsu, or rather, a self defense class based on Jiu Jitsu. This class ran twice a week through March, and I was able to keep up and not miss a class. The basement flooded again, so we moved the dehumidifier into the storage room where the majority of the water was coming in. After self defense was over, I started regular jiu jitsu again in April, but felt much more exhausted than usual. My vertigo was getting worse to the point that it was always present. I took a break from Jiu Jitsu again in May.

May-June 2021—My throat was so sore, that I thought I had tonsillitis. My left ear was plugged. I felt like I was getting sick with some sort of virus, except it went on for weeks without getting better. I saw an ENT in mid June. He thought maybe I had Meniere’s, but didn’t officially diagnose me, since I needed to get a hearing test, which is scheduled for this month, and at the time of writing this has not happened yet. Other than that, he didn’t see anything else that alerted him. Soon after, I began to get very sick with horrible vertigo. I was bedridden again.

July 2021–Until the 2nd, I was in an absolutely horrible flare that had lasted without relief for about two weeks. I was convinced that this was just my life now, and in desperation, I called the doctor. She told me to come in that same day. Normally, I don’t leave the house when I’m feeling my worst. I had to keep laying down at the doctor’s because my vertigo was so bad. The doctor performed her usual tests, and looked in my nose. She informed me that it was very inflamed and swollen and she wasn’t sure how I was able to breathe out of it. I admitted that every morning, my nose is stuffed up pretty badly. She prescribed the Montelukast, that I’m unable to take because of side effects, and told me that she really thinks that allergies are causing my vertigo because the ear nose and throat are all connected. At first, I was discouraged with this diagnosis, because I felt like she was brushing off my symptoms. *Just* allergies?! I couldn’t believe allergies could cause such severe symptoms.

We made a few more stops after visiting the doctor, and when I’d been out of the house for about an hour and a half, I miraculously started feeling a little better. What?? Was the doctor right? I knew my house was probably triggering my allergies, but I didn’t think it was *that* bad.

Getting out of the house for two hours brought me out of one of my worst flairs. I’m now about 99.9% that mold in my house, specifically the basement, is making me sick. I’m going to keep testing this to be sure, but I’m now filled with some hope that I may be able to lead a much less depressing life. Time will tell.

[goldstonegolem64]

Book1 Hope Returns Chapter15 Dates , Double crosses and deals  By goldstonegolem64

In the med bay 

“So Lance I'm going to ask you some questions I need you to answer them truthful please“ Jay Said holding a medical tablet

“alright my man hit me with you best shot” Lance said to jay while he was being check by two med bots scanning him

Question one Are you sexually actives

“no not right now”

“be serious please lance” 

“Ok I am not sexually active”

“have you been in the past”

“No”

“ok question two  do you have any allergy that we need to be aware of”   

“No”

“Question three  why are cutting yourself” 

Lance look surprised by jay know about the cuts but then he though that he was the one who brought him to the med bay after the bomb when off

“I don’t want to talk about it”

“Look lance I know how you feel and I know its feels not good but it better then the pain of  being lonely or second rate or fear or the number of other reason some one would have to cut themselves for but if you keep going down this road your going to end up being alone for every or your going to end up in a bathtub then you wake up in the er with stitches on your wrist and a family scary to hell that you wont wake up. Look if you don't want to talk about it I understand you know where to find me I you want to talk and remember there are people who care about you here some care about you more then the other Jay said with a small smile hoping what he said to lance helped him in some way 

“Did you just say some one likes me more then the other is it Allura”

Jay face palmed with his metal hand rubbing the bridge of his nose hoping even more that what he said actual got though lance’s sometimes thick skull and replied with a “no it not allura she do not look like some one who wants to date at the moment and most alteans don't like the straight forward no she is over three hundred year old you are seventeen try to date someone you own age place if you just listen to one thing I say let it be this don't date a women centuries older then you it is a weird thing to be apart of is what my best friend Yorak as told me”  

“you live a strange life .”Lance

“yes yes I do “  jay said

“So who likes me that way ”lance asked 

“its not my place to say who like you but they will tell you when they're ready to tell you themselves which I hope its soon” jay replied.

“ ok but until then I'm going to flirt with anyone I see alright”  lance said shooting finger guns at him

“same here my dude but place be more careful in the days to come”jay said shooting a finger gun back at lance 

“ thanks for the talk I'm happy I'm not alone anymore with this problem and please don't tell anyone about this” lance said “

“to later my Lance I told allura and she was going to tell the other about It the moment I got you alone so the other might just be right out side the door”Jay said guilty about telling some one now

“let just go then” lance said annoyed about this turn of a events

the med bay door open to the rest of the group there to meet lance and pulled him in to a hug.Jay watched as the group was just hugging lance. he hoped that those moment never end but one day they will part way but not today. As the group just talked to lance jay walked past them and down the stairs in to the living room cargo bay combo grabbed frosty from his little sand box sat on the couch turn on the tv and start to watch what ever movie that was in the dvd play at the moment but before he could bop the snoot of his pet lizard a distress signal was being picked up by the castle .making their way to the bridge the Coran told then that the beacon was coming from a near by moon the signal said that a ship was out of power and they need help.

“So are we going to help them or are we going to the balmera “Jay asked 

“Were going straight to the balmera I promised shay I would come back they can wait for another ship to come along ”Hunk said a littlie impatient 

“I know you want to see your girlfriend again but calm down” pidge said taking a jab a hunk

“yeah your really craving that mineral my dude ”jay said getting a high five from pidge

“both of you stop that he’s just worried about shay and her family” Adam said 

“Alright sorry “the two said 

“To answer your question jay we are going to help them its a paladins duty to help anyone in need of help” allura said 

Hunk was annoy but didn't argue.So the group suited up and flew to the moon to help leaving  Adam coran and Beauregard in the castle to remove any energy from the galra control crystal had left behind.as the castle land where the ship was. Leaving the castle the group meet the crew of the ship they were 

“ its good to see some friendly face not many people what ot help went your being cased by the galra.I'm Rolo” and this is my crew that Nyma and that  Beezer“ said the purple skinned man

Lance was enamored by Nyma beauty and introduces himself by kissing her hand. Pidge was equally amazed by the high-tech appearance of beezer and began to inspecting him. As for Jay he was inspecting the ship and laugh a little remembering the first time he had to call for help when his ship lost power after some pirates decide to attack him as he was coming home from salvage tip to a scrape yard  oh good times he though to himself.

“Saw what happened here “Shiro asked

“We were fight the galra and we took so damage we’ve been stuck on this moon for about a week now hoping some one would come along and help us  Rolo said 

“ I princess Allura of altea and paladin of Voltron are happy to fight along side you ”She said

“I’m Jay by the way I'm the pilot of the Valkyrie” he said still hold and petting frosty smile to himself think about all the trouble he got in to the past three year after he had bought the Prometheus.

“I'm not going to lie I have no Idea what Voltron or the Valkyrie are can someone fill us in” Rolo asked

“after a failed attempted by lance to explain what Voltron was Hunk annoyed by the small talk and suggested that they should fix the ship Rolo agreed with the and show hunk the inside of the ship though unaware what extra parts the castle could spare

‘Make a list of thing you need and hunk can go to Coran and see what part we have”Allura suggested 

“alright we help bring the parts back if you want ”rolo said 

“No not after what happened last time we let people in lance almost die”Hunk said walking back to the castle”

“He’s not wrong” Keith said 

“Yes we should processed with caution from he on out "Shiro said

“Alright I see no problem with that.I mean he as every right not to true us after what happened to his friend.Good on him for looking out for his crew.”Rolo said with a smile

As the group waited Rolo explained to Allura Shiro Jay and Keith what happened to his home world how it was destroy and he was taken captive but he managed to escaped but not with out losing his leg.Shiro sympathizes with him because he had gone though the same thing as him during the time he was captive by the galra.Pidge was still distracted by Beezer only looking way from her robotic friend to look at lance who was flirting with Nyma which made her a little upset completely unaware Keith was doing the same 

Hunk returned with the parts they needed.So he and rolo started to repair the ship>Allura asked Rolo about the galra empire and he explain that Zarkon ruled in a massive space station surround by the main fleet and that when a problem accord he would seen the closest ship to hand it.But lucky for them they were on the fringes of the empires reach Hunk intruded again remined the team they were on a recuse mission to and that they should hurry up and help him repair the ship>Jay watched from a far sit on one of the box talking to Keith who looked a little distraught.

“How you holding up Keith” Jay asked

“ I’m find” he said still looking at lance 

“Just go tell him before its to late”

“but what if he says no”

“Then he says no and you can move on knowing you tried.Look Keith the longer you wait the more likely some one will take lance from you or he Dies. So just take a leap of faith and ask him out”

Keith stare at jay then to lance swallowed his fear and walked toward lance 

Else where Pidge was ride Beezer to Allura to ask a very serious question

“Hey princess can I talk to you about something?” Pidge asked

“What is it “Allura replied 

“Can you help me ask lance out?” 

“ok how do I do that? "Allura said confused 

“Just tell me what to say over the helmet comm and we will see what happens”Pidge said

“Why don't you just ask him out normal "Allura asked

“I'm scared to say the wrong think I maybe smart with technology But I'm not the best with people” 

“nonsense your great with people “Allura said

“Not romantically ” Pidge counter

As the two were having their convection Jay walked over straight to Allura and said “Keith is about to ask lance out’ With a look of joy on his 

“What is going on "Shiro asked

“Keith is about to ask lance out “ Allura said with a smile on her face forgetting about what her and pidge were doing

“I need to call Adam” Shiro said 

“call me for what? "Adam said walking toward the group with a tray full on drink and snacks

“Keith about to ask lance out” Shiro said smiling 

The group watched as Keith walk to lance. They watch the convection between the two with bated breath. . The moment the Lance and Keith stopped talking everyone held their breath group and lance continued to talk to Nyma. Keith had one of his rare smiles on his face

“so what did you say "Adam asked

“I just asked him if he want to train with me later and he said yes 'Keith replied 

“That not a date but that a start” Jay said

“I'm very proud of you Keith” Shiro said with the biggest grin on his face 

“yes were all proud of you Right Pidge” Allura said Turing her head to face pidge and mouthed sorry to her teammate”

Pidge gave a nod to Allura And said though a fake smile” good for you Keith”

“thanks guy "Keith said

“if you ever need dating advice just ask me or Adam or Shiro 'Jay said Unaware of the small teenage girl he had just made enemy with.

"Hey guys I'm going to take Nyma for a ride in the blue lion be right back" lance said running in to the castle.

"So what about that dating advice a Jay” Pidge said

Jay looked at Keith who was a little upset but still smile that he asked lance out” Alright I will make shore he don't do anything stupid be right back.Hey Val I know your here just let me in “Jay said has the blue lion flew out of the castle 

As he said that the other watch as Jay disappeared. The group was confused as to where they friend disappear to as a shimmer of light distorted the area Where jay just stood then a gust of wind pushed then back a bit by the force of the wind .

“What was that” Rolo asked confused by the sudden gust of wind 

“I think that might have been Valkyrie” Allura said  

 “ok” Rolo said before going back to work still confused and pull out a COMM link to tell Nyma to be careful of she may have company 

“We need to know exactly what Valkyrie can do before we get to the balmera alright” Pidge said 

“agreed” everyone said

Jay was sitting in the cockpit of Valkyrie with frosty sitting on his head just chilling. Following behind the blue lion  

“so what is your plan my pilot?”Val asked

“just watch and wait to see what happens”

“Do You trusted Rolo And his crew? “She asked

“No” He replied

“Why is that my pilot” She asked 

“Because any Salvager worth his weight in scrape metal can see a trap that simple as the one they set up "HE replied again  

“why didn't you tell the others about this “She asked again 

“You have your way of testing the others I have mine ”He replied 

“So how are we going to handle this then”

“The moment we see Lance get in to trouble I will jump in and if I get in to trouble you back me up ok” He asked?

“That is a bad plan” She said 

“Yes it better then nothing” He said thinking about what happened on phobos 

the two kept on following the blue lion right to a spring Jay landed the Valkyrie about forty feet form the spring . Jay left the cockpit and start to walk toward the pond Bayard in his hand. Making his way to a clearing seeing lance and Nyma just talking about something he couldn't  hear what was being. The closer he got to the pair the more of lance’s ego Jay was hearing. Before he could say any thing Nyma handcuffed Lance to tree. Lance was dumfounded by this new situation he was even more confused when he saw  Jay walking up slowly to a unaware.

“Sorry Sweetheart nothing personal” She said about to hit a button on he belt

“Yes love it nothing personal” Jay said pointing his Bayard at Nyma 

“Hey Jay what's going on here?’ Lance asked still confused 

“She and Rolo are trying to steal Your of the lions” 

“How did you figure it out ”Nyma Asked 

“easy you just to me by handcuffing lance to a tree and hitting that button on your side telling your partner that you have completed your mission so that how and the fact that your ship didn't have any plasma burns or the moment Rolo popped the hood of you ship everything he said was broke weren't I may have been born at night but it wasn't last night. Jay said .

“So what are you going to do with me then” Nyma asked

“Nothing were just going to wait for your team then we will go back as if nothing happened right Lance? Jay asked 

“why she tried to steal blue.” lance said 

“Mainly because I think this is the perfect learning moment for you not to let your Showboating Make decision for you and I find the way she used her beauty to trick you in to this situation kinda funny because if it wasn't  you I would have fallen for this trap. But the main reason being that if we don't rat them out they own us a favor and we can use that later if we need to find other rebel groups”   Jay said a little smug 

“what make you thing they'll stick to that "lance ask

“because who wants to make enemy with the group that took out sendak”

 “you took out Sendak?”Nyma said 

“Yes we did “Jay replied  

“Maybe you guy do stand a chance against the empire if you took out Zarkon best General.”She said

“Yes we do you just have to give us a chance and a bit of luck” Jay said uncuffing lance from the tree.

As the three of then were talking a ship flew trying to grab the blue lion  only to be met by Valkyrie who landed right on top of the ship bring it down to the ground. Rolo and beezer walked out of the ship confused by the giant metal dragon that just appeared and the fact that both jay and lance were just standing there 

“So do we have a deal Lady Nyma” Jay asked 

“Yes we do Jay as long as you hold stick to you word and we will stick to are ok” She said 

“What did you just a agree to Nyma” Rolo asked

“I just got us out of trouble with the group of people who took out Sendak “ She whisper to him as they were walking back to their ship.

Hey before you guys leave take this "Jay tossed a communicator towards Nyma “ If you ever get in to trouble you cant get out of just call.” Jay said 

“Dose this have just the castles number or dose it have your as well ” Nyma asked with a smile looking at jay 

“no but if you want it I can give it to you "Jay said smiling back

Has the two exchanged number lance was walking back to his lion hope his training with Keith is better then this. Jay ran up behind lance  when he was done talking to with Nyma.

“So How did you manage to get us both out of trouble and get a girls number at the same time”? Lance asked 

“I kept my cool whole way though that whole situation but I'm not going to lie I don't know that Sendak was the best general Zarkon had  and the number I got I don't know how I managed maybe I'm just that good looking or she likes guy who ” Jay said 

“so what do we tell the other when we get back without Nyma and rolo anyway” Lance said 

“We tell them that their ship was fixed just enough that they can make it to a repair shop and their are going to look for other rebel groups to help us in this fight which is true” Jay said 

“So were not going to tell the other about the fact they tried to steal the blue lion”

“no we keep that to are selves. look lance we are in the middle of enemy territory we need as many allies we can get and they may be are way of finding pidge’s brother ,father and some other rebel groups if they do keep up their end So take the leapt of faith with me and see what happens next lance. Maybe it just might save are ass one day ” Jay said 

As the two pilot made their way back to the castle Jay received a text from Rolo saying thank for not hurt Nyma when he found out about their plan and a wish of good luck on the mission to fight the empire. The two returned to the group and told half of the truth forgetting  to tell the other about the attempted to steal the blue lion. now with no more distractions the group finally make their way to their first real and hardest mission yet 

[drferox]

20 Questions with Dr Ferox #8

My gosh, there’s just so much stuff you vetlings want to know, isn’t there? Well, knowledge is good, so here we go with yet another info dump as I try to answer a big slew of your questions in one hit.

Anonymous said: I sometimes get your patreon emails or an update on your blog while I'm studying/struggling in the wee-hours of the morning (vetmed). I'm in WA, so where-ever you are it's also late/early. What are you doing up in the witching hours?

First of all, I am an AdultTM and as such I am permitted to set by own Bed Time. There are many reasons why you might receive notifications from me so ‘early’.

I have a blog post on queue every morning between 5am and 6am my time (so probably 3am and 4am your time). It goes up automatically, so I can see initial responses before I go to work.

I think Patreon sends its emails at the same time each day, regardless of when I post. I certainly don’t type there early in the morning.

Sometimes I’m on nightshift and can get kinda bored at 3am sometimes.

Sometimes I just can’t sleep, especially with the changing day/night cycles.

Most of the blog runs on queue, honestly. At least three posts a day do.

@banesidhe said: Just happened to discover your blog. Thank you so much for posting like you do (even the snark. I'm a 911 dispatcher, I appreciate the snark ;) ), and sharing your experiences. No vet question, but if you could only ever re/read five books for the rest of your life, which five titles would make your cut?

Ah, I have found many similar people to myself among emergency personnel. There’s a particular combination of gallows humor and wishing people would get to the point that unites us.

For fiction books:

Feral, Kerry Greenwood

The Shepherd’s Crown, Terry Pratchett

Monstrous Regiment, Terry Pratchett

Watership Down, Richard Adam

Good Omens, Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman

Hmm, bit of a trend there.

But the work books I couldn’t live without are:

Plumb’s Veterinary Drug Handbook

The 5 minute veterinary consult, Dog and Cat Edition

Ettinger’s Textbook of Internal Medicine, Expert Consult

BSAVA Rabbit Medicine & Surgery Handbook

Small Animal Surgery, Fossum.

Anonymous asked: what was the most exotic/rare patient youve ever had?

This fat meerkat.

Anonymous said: My dog is a shelter dog and we suspect she was abused before we got her (afraid of E V E R Y T H I N G) and weve been slowly working on getting her to at least ignore people we walk past or that enter the house and thats been making progress. But she hates the vet. Hates it. Gets in my lap and refuses to leave. New dogs people and smells. So her normal vet takes the approach of having one of us hold/console her while they do all the poking and listening and whatnot and muzzling her if they need to and just getting it done as quickly as possible. But this last time she saw a new vet and this vet took the approach of hand-feeding her almost an entire bag of treats and called it "stress-eating" and tbh you should have seen the look on my dogs face. She was so weirded out. Shes highly food motivated so it was like heaven to her but she was simultaneously very suspicious. Her face was like"i love this but idk if i trust it" it was great.Have a greatday!

If you an reinforce the behaviour by arranging frequent, short visits to the vet clinic where nothing happens but lots of treats, she may start to associate the vet clinic with positive things (food) ad no scary things. This might make the rest ofher life easier.

Anonymous said: I own fancy rats and just want to put out there to people, that while they are THE MOST amazing tiny friends, in my experience most vets are completely lost when it comes to their care & several I've seen refused to even touch my exceptionally friendly females. They often get respiratory infections requiring antibiotics. One of my friend's females passed away bc nobody would perform a simple surgery on her. So please be cautious when buying them. 

I would like to suggest that any surgery on a rat is likely to be not simple, because they do have particular anesthetic requirements that can make their recovery difficult. Also that a lot of traditional rat medicine hinges on using post mortem examination as a diagnostic tool, which is not useful at all with pet rats.

In dog and cat medicine most of our equipment and even medications are not suitable for rats, or very difficult to adapt. We simply have fewer options, and generally less experience with these species Most vets I know will attempt to treat them, but with a great big disclaimer saying I don’t do this often, and a quick question as to whether you’d prefer to go to a nearby clinic that does see rats more often.

Anonymous said: Hello, I recently took in 3 abandoned kittens and they're covered in fleas. They appear to be 6 weeks old and can't use meds or wash for them. I clean them with vinegar and dish soap and I was wondering if you knew of any other ways to help them since they hate getting wet. I also use a comb but they dislike that as well.

You can use capstar on kittens from 4 weeks of age, and Revolution from 6, probably earlier. Talk to your vet.

Anonymous asked: Strange question but do you know if that rage syndrome thing can happen in cats also? I know a cat who does that and also acts strangely in general at the same time?

It is not documented in cats, however Feline Hyperesthesia Syndrome may present in a similar way.

Anonymous said: Hey doc! I plan on getting my cat fixed soon and I'm worried about how it'll affect her. She's really skittish and prefers to stay in one room, could getting her fixed make it worse?? I guess like what are the possible behavioral effects is what I'm askin? For the qt: ive been here a while i just dont like or reblog stuff but i came for the vet knowledge and stayed for it too, especially the mythical creatures and dog breed info

She is probably not going to have any long term personality changes from being desexed, though might be out of sorts for a few days after the anaesthetic. If anything they tend to be less stressed because they’re not attracting Toms.

Another Anonymous said: My kitten was neutered yesterday and he's doing great, healing well, playing nonstop, remarkably agile despite the e-collar (navigating small spaces, jumping to high places), eating & drinking well. The vet didn't give us any aftercare instructions but I googled it -- and wish I'd done so before the surgery because I could've prepared better. A lot of it seemed obvious in hindsight but nothing I'd have thought of on my own. Do you have a flier or anything for your patients' humans? 

We send our patients home with aftercare instructions. We have a default one that we print for routine surgery like desexing, and a customized one for non-routine procedures.

We also read it out to our clients when they pick up their pet, and point out that all these instructions are written down, because it’s easy to forget details when you’re worried.

Anonymous asked: I have a question! I saw your desexing cats post and thought I might send it to you. I neutered my male cat but he still sprays and tries to roam the neighborhood. I try to keep him inside best I can. Is there a reason this happens?

It may be stress, but you should consult your vet to rule out any underlying urinary tract issue before assuming so. Your vet should be able to discus the various stress reducing techniques, changes and treatments that are available.

Anonymous asked: Whenever my roommate wakes up before me, she makes bacon for breakfast while the coffee is brewing. If she hasn't slept well, her coherence is sometimes a bit... lacking. If our cat happens to demand food, about half the time she ends up giving him a slice of bacon instead of cat food. We only recently figured out that she's been doing this. He's not getting fat, and gets actual cat food later, so is this OK, or do we need to try to figure out how to keep this from happening?

While bacon is certainly digestible, it is not a balanced diet. It would be ideal if you could minimize his bacon habit.

@nowgovanish said: Hello! I have a question about my 13 and 4 year old cats. They seem to have some pretty bad skin reactions to certain foods, and I've tried a lot of different food brands that my vet reccommended. The one that seems to work best is a grain free/ non chicken variant, but I see that you aren't a huge fan of grain free. Is there anything I should change or try sticking with what works?

I have said many times before that if it’s working, keep feeding it.

Novel protein diets, and ideally single proteins source diets, are more use for allergies than just going ‘grain free’.

‘Grain Free’ labelling on food particularly vexes me because it’s not regulated. You can find ‘grain free’ food that really mean ‘corn free’ and either use grain byproducts or straight up use rice. Last time I checked, rice was a grain.

It’s like ‘Hollistic’ - it means nothing on a pet food label. Neither does ‘Organic’, pet food companies do not have to use all organic products in pet food to label the food as organic. These are marketing ploys like ‘all natural’ which are targeting your emotions and don’t mean anything when it comes to the food.

If you’ve come across a novel protein diet, or a minimum ingredient diet, that is beneficial for your cats then stick with it. But recognise what’s marketing and what’s useful.

Anonymous said: I love my dog but he is a complete and total moron. He has strangled himself so often that his bark is now raspy. He even found a way to do it with a harness! We've resorted to jogging when walking him to try and keep up but is there some way to make it better? We've tried letting him learn on his own, pausing when he pulls, and getting a longer leash. If he was much smarter I'd accuse him of being into asphyxiation.

I would suggest that you potentially need to figure out what motivates your dog most. Consider using positive reinforcement to encourage him to heel on the lead, instead of wandering and pulling.

You might also want to consider something like a halti collar, which pulls the dog’s nose downwards to their chest when they pull, instead of something that goes around the neck.

Anonymous: Would you consider it a good generalization that dogs more closely resembling/related to wolves (like huskies) have less health problems? I am aware that no dogs are completely lacking in health problems.  Tax: came for good hard factual analysis.

No. And here’s the thing- all modern dog breeds are equally distant from their wolf-like ancestor, unless they have been recently mixed with wolves again.

Their health problems are different to those dogs with more extreme anatomy, but dogs that look like wolves are not inherently healthier.

@justslowdown said: a book i have discusses the man who created the GSD breed (aka isolated traits from a diverse population) pairing dogs with their daughters, granddaughters, great-granddaughters and onwards til more than 1/2 of the pups had to be culled. due you think this could be partially responsible for the health issues remaining more than a century later? "Very drastic inbreeding was espoused during the formation of the breed [...] to quickly form specific type" - The German Shepherd Dog by Ernest H Hart

Certainly.

This is called line breeding, where the offspring of a ‘perfect’ individual are repeatedly bred back to the same individual generation upon generation to try to recreate it. All you really do is lose genetic diversity very quickly and allow recessive deleterious genes to proliferate in the population.

This is why just about everywhere else that’s not the purebred pet world, this is considered a bad thing to do.

@eyestumblin said: Do you think horses would look significantly different if their wonky anatomy were more logical?

They would no longer be a horse.

@cirque-du-spoon said: I saw you mention sheep on the horse thread and I spent a fair bit of time on a sheep farm in Wales. The head shepherd once told me "sheep are born, they spend the rest of their life trying to die". Then he opened his landrover door, and the passenger footwell was maybe 6 lambs snuggled up to one of his old motherly collies.

The common phrase down here was “The aim in life of a Merino ewe is to die and take fifty of her friends with her.” It’s not really much of an exaggeration.

Anonymous said: I'm intrigued to hear the faults of sheep, lay it on me!

Oh I will. It’s on my list for a big write up.

@queenalia said: Hi! I love the post about why horses make no sense, and I was wondering if you would do a similar one for sheep (one of the most suicidal animals on earth in my opinion)?

It will definitely be done sometime in the next few weeks. As you understand, it’s not  quick answer.

@vulturegeorge said: Hey Dr.F, after reeding your "horses-are-spindily-legged-disasters" post and your comment about how sheep are worse, I was wondering if you wished to elaborate? I am currently working on a heard of 50 random sheep my uni bought with a ton of lung issues ... so it'd be super interesting to me. Question tax: came for the Lucifer story, stayed for all of your amazing advice & opinions. I hope you are finding balance between vetting and living. cheers!

I promise I will elaborate. I can’t leave a cliff hanger like that and not explain... eventually.

[lizg803-blog]

My Journey with CVID

On Friday June 7th I was diagnosed with CVID; Common Variable Immunodeficiency. A brand new diagnosis (finally) and this one actually makes sense! Back Story: I have been sick for what seems like my entire life and with so many different illnesses I can hardly keep them all straight. IBS, Gastritis, Asthma, Celiac Disease, Allergies, Bronchitis, Strep Throat, Ear infections, Sinus infections, pneumonia, Eczema, Impetigo, Ring worm, Chicken Pox, (what my doctor said was the worst case she had ever seen and it took me months to recover) and Coxsackie Virus ( which I had as an adult and that is almost unheard of ). I feel like I probably missed a couple but you get the idea, I’ve had it all! A lot of times I have felt like a hypochondriac or like it was all in my head. But having bronchitis 2 or 3 times a year is not normal. Having 8 sinus infections in 3 years is also not normal. Only feeling “well” while on antibiotics is not normal. The way I feel every day when I wake up is not how a normal healthy person should feel. It is however my normal and I have just gotten used to it. The Appointment in May: For the past couple of years I have been having these awful Asthma flare ups and I had had enough! I finally made an appointment with an Asthma, Allergy and Immunology specialist for May 23rd. I had never been so excited for a doctors appointment because I felt like I was so desperate for relief. When the appointment came I thought I would be going in to say “ My asthma is terrible, my allergies are terrible, I’m sick all the time and I need better asthma/allergy meds” but I didn’t even get a chance to talk. Dr. Pasha only wanted to talk about one thing! My igA levels! What the hell is that, you ask? Well 6 years ago I went to a gastroenterologist because I was tired of getting sick every time I ate. There I was diagnosed with Celiac disease. Now, she said she couldn’t actually see the damage that celiac causes in my intestines like they normally do BUT I had significantly low igA levels and that was a pretty clear indication that I had Celiac. Oh and by the way I also had Giardiasis! Giardiasis is an intestinal (bowel) illness caused by a microscopic parasite called Giardia lamblia. Yeah, that’s right, a mother F’n PARASITE! Gross. I was treated for the parasitic infection and told to follow a gluten free diet and was sent on my way. Dr. Pasha came in with his computer and said “Let’s talk about these igA levels” I was like what? No, I want to talk about my asthma but yeah, ok I was told they were low. He goes on to say my levels were not only low but were undetectable and he wanted to do blood work to see if Any of my other levels were low. There is igA, igG, IgM, and igE. If the other levels were low there would be treatment. If it was only the igA I would be put on preventative antibiotics basically forever to keep me from getting sick. WHAT? He gave me the script for blood work and told me to make an appointment at the desk for allergy tests and he would see me soon. I’m like wtf just happened but yeah ok I’ll go next door and get my blood taken. So off I went. Two weeks went by and I heard nothing. And then I got a letter. “We have been trying to call you but your voicemail is full, you need to call the office right away so we can talk about you test results” Ok. I call and the receptionist says Dr. Pasha wants to see you tomorrow morning. Ok. The next day was an overwhelming whirlwind of knowledge. I was told I was deficient across the board. “You basically have NO immune system.” Let me hit you with a little science. My body does not produce the anti-bodies used to fight off infection. An antibody, also known as an immunoglobulin, is a large, Y-shaped protein produced mainly by plasma cells that is used by the immune system to neutralize pathogens such as pathogenic bacteria and viruses. igG is like the mother ship! It is the most abundant type of antibody and is found in all body fluids and protects against bacterial and viral infections. I have none of that! igA is found in the mucous membranes such as the respiratory passages and gastrointestinal tract. I have none of that. igM is found in the blood and lymph fluid and is the first antibody to be made by the body to fight off new infection. I have none of that! I don’t have any of it. None of the good stuff. It’s called CVID and it’s forever... The Diagnosis!: Common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) is an immune disorder characterized by recurrent infections and low antibody levels, specifically in immunoglobulin (Ig) types IgG, IgM and IgA.[1] Generally symptoms include high susceptibility to foreign invaders, chronic lung disease, and inflammation and infection of the gastrointestinal tract.[1] However, symptoms vary greatly between people. CVID is a lifelong disease. Cool. So this is what I know so far. I need treatment so basically I don’t get sick and die. I could start treatment or I could sign papers refusing treatment and take my chances... I choose treatment. I choose my health. I choose and better quality of life and I choose to fight this. Treatment options are limited, and usually include lifelong immunoglobulin replacement therapy. This therapy is thought to help reduce bacterial infections. This treatment alone is not wholly effective, and many people still experience other symptoms like lung disease and noninfectious inflammatory symptoms. Key word there is “lifelong” this will be my new life. This will be forever. This for me was the hardest part. It’s not a “treat and it goes away” kind of illness, it’s a “treat forever so you don’t get sick” kind of illness. I will be starting Subcutaneous Immunoglobulin infusions. Subcutaneous Immunoglobulin (SCIg) infusions are given by slowly injecting purified immunoglobulin into fatty tissue just underneath the skin. SCIg can be given at home, using a mechanical infusion pump. So I will be learning how to put needles into my skin that hook up to this pump that will fill me with the good stuff! The good stuff is the immunoglobulin that is separated from healthy peoples blood they donate. *So go donate blood because it’s important to people like me!* Luckily I can do this at home and I have loved ones willing to help me. This is all very overwhelming and it’s a lot to process. I have been on an emotional roller coaster and still don’t really know how I feel. I am happy to have an answer and I am looking forward to feeling better. If I feel better. The word “forever” is the scariest part but I am up for it. I don’t really have a choice. The purpose of this blog to help raise awareness about CVID and teach those around me about my illness. This is why I am tired all the time and this is why I am sick all the time. I also hope that my journey with CVID could reach someone else that has been diagnosed and is lying awake in bed searching the internet for every bit of information they can find. So stay tuned! I’m sure it will be a bumpy ride. Next stop, Infusions!! I’ll let you know how it goes 😉

[chronically-angelic-transripts]

ACIV: Halloweekend 2017 (Oct 27-29)

Hello everyone. My sister lost my glasses. I cannot find them I think I'm going to have to go to school without glasses today. And I'm very dizzy. I haven't taken my pills yet though so that might be why I'm dizzy. But I think it might also be the glasses thing but it also might just be I'm freaking dizzy for no reason. I ate breakfast, my pills are all lied out over there so I just have to take them I just haven't yet. I'm working on the captions for yesterday's vlog if you haven't seen it go watch it. Alright. Ima keep working so. Bye. Guys I spilled one of my pill bottles. They're all over the floor everywhere I don't know. I don't know where they all went. This is a catastrophe. NO DON'T FALL OVER AGAIN! Okay Ima put you... alright I'm going to try to finish cleaning this up. So I got to the school... it was locked. So according to the official rules you only have to go on Fridays if you didn't get stuff done during the regular week and I guess you have to sign up for that so I'm just going to have to talk to my teacher on Tuesday. I don't know. I don't know what's going on. So it is 3 pm on Friday and I don't want to die. So I'd say it's going pretty good this new schooling thing. Normally Thursdays are just the absolute worst. They're just the worst things. Because when I was in regular schooling Thursday was the culmination of the 28 hours of just walking around and taking notes and just repetitive repetitive repetitive and stressful stuff. And that was 28 hours being all just combined into one day. On Friday it's like a bunch of hours still but then at the end of the day you're free for two days. On Thursday it's just been so long and you just need to stop and you just...yeah. Thursdays were always the worst for me but yesterday was fine. I wish I'd have done this last year. Seriously. Alright bye. Hello all I have nerve pain and it hurts a lot more when I move it so I just sling it all up in a pretty little scarf. It still hurts though. It just feels like there's lightning going from my shoulder to my hand. I think that it's nerve pain but you can never be too sure so. But yeah it hurts...a lot and I don't want to move it. 'cause it hurts...a lot. Ok Ima go for now. Hey guys guess what? I found mah glasses actually I made my sister find them for me but they've been found so. Ok so at this point I am pretty much immobile with everything but this arm and my legs. 'cause if I move any part of my torso it's gonna move this arm and that hurts really bad. I'm also getting a little bit of the nerve pain in my leg but its's bearable. It's fine. But this one, I move it I start sobbing and I start getting really nauseous from the pain so I'm trying to avoid that. This weekend is going to be...I'm going  to be at a place where I won't have my laptop and I'm possibly not going to have wifi so it will be a weekend long vlog. And I will upload it on Monday. So I'm in the hospital I don't want to call too much attention to myself. There's nobody in here but I'm whispering because I don't want them to think I'm talking to myself. But yeah my nerve pain is super bad right now. I'm like scared to move my arm it hurts so bad. But yeah its like five in the morning and I couldn't sleep because it hurts so. yeah. Here we are. Ok so I'm already home it's been like an hour. I'm kinda glad for that though because last time I was there I was there for like four hours. So they just gave me a real sling and a prescription that I won't be able to get until the pharmacy opens in like three hours but I'm hoping that will help. So yeah. I'm going to try to go to sleep and I'll check in with you guys later. Vlog update finally. Featuring kitties because the friend we're staying at's house they have seven cats and nine kids. So yeaah they had a small fire here so we're helping them clean up the soot from their stuff. We were supposed to leave at like 9:30 this morning but there were a lot of setbacks including our car wouldn't start and then we got to a train and it was just a lot of stuff. I'm expecting not to be able to film in a quieter room like this all the time so there will be pictures and narrations later instead of updates like this so yeah. *mumbling I can't understand* But yeah. Ima go play music and play Minecraft. I didn't bring my allergy meds and I didn't take them this morning either. So now I've got the sniffles and running eyes. Fantastic. Okay so I am here and I am passing out candy. The first people who came up this little girl was really excited that a princess was giving her candy and they're in the back of like a truck in a hay ride and so she drives away and she goes "See you later princess!" and I thought it was the cutest darn thing. So that kind of made my day. So just wanted to clarify, I'm technically supposed to be a queen but princess is fine too. It's getting to be a little bit of a lull here I don't know if it's supposed to be over after n hour I'm not sure I'm seeing some people way down there but I don't know. I just texted someone to as them about when it's over. But yeah. I'm having fun except it's freezing cold out here and I'm barely exaggerating. Yesterday the windchill was 34 Fahrenheit and I believe that is about 1 Centigrade. Oh jeez it's so cold. Alright I got people coming up so goodbye. You like my kitty tattoo? Ok so there are no sidewalks in this neighborhood so I figured common courtesy is to take the bowl of candy up to the people in their car because they drive their car around. Some people were even doing hayrides they took their riding lawnmower, hook up a trailer, get some hay back in there. So I figured common courtesy  you know? Go up pass it out they don't even have to get out of the freaking car. Apparently nobody else in the history of humanity does this 'cause they were like raving about it and I was like "Wait does nobody else do this?" One lady even said I should've had a tip jar because it was so nice and I was like "Is this not normal?"Like this should be a regular thing people. Get with the program other people. Ok so I got a temporary tattoo. It's a nice little kitty. OMG there's a kitty in here. KITTY! Anyway yup. And people with awesome costumes got two pieces. There was a Wednesday Addams who got two peices. There was a harry potter who got two pieces. There was a Hermione with like everything. She had the time turner, she had the sweater, she had the scarf. Well she didn't have the scarf because the already had a time turner but she was decked out and I was like "You get two". There were some other ones I can't quite remember but yes. Alright. Bye-bye. We made it home! I'm really tired but I decided to edit the vlog before I go to bed so I can... 'cause the way I'll do it is I'll edit it, start uploading it, go to sleep so when I wake up it's already all uploaded so I don't have to wait on anything. And then I just do the captions and then I publish it. I really like this it's adorable. There are more too. Here I'll show you. There's a mummy, a witch, and a pumpkin and they are all so cute. So yes we made it home *mumble* I had a lot of fun passing out candy. And I made a new friend. I'm so sorry my sister is snoring in the background because I share a room with my sister. I made a new friend we hadn't really gotten a chance to talk before but I could tell we were going to be friends but we had never really gotten the chance to talk. But then after we got done trick or treating we got pizza and then we both sat down on the same couch and had pizza and we talked for like three hours straight. So yeah. I had fun. It is actually 12:30 A.M. Peace out. Goodnight.