#post surgical rehab

[labsportstherapy]

Sports Physical Therapy, Evaluation & Treatment

Sports physical therapy is a specialized branch of physical therapy that focuses on the prevention, evaluation, treatment, and rehabilitation of injuries related to sports and exercise.

[jepergola]

New story today: "We Interrupt This Surgery With a Bit of an Earthquake"

[missionwalk]

physiotherapy after surgery can start soon after the operation - and perhaps on the same day. The reason for immediate rehabilitation is that if you wait for days, scar tissues may form and solidify, and breaking them can be difficult and painful. While surgical physiotherapy is often uncomfortable right after the operation, it can be far less painful than you wait for rehabilitation.  

Depending on what type of operation was done to you, you’ll get help from your therapist about mobility, like, for example, the proper way of getting in and out of bed, getting dressed, using the restrooms, and using mobility assistance devices.

[fearwasalwaysanoption]

Mouthwashing Fix-it

supplement to these posts

very long explanation under cut (content warning: mentions of surgical procedures, stillbirth, and suicide attempts)

Curly- Skin grafts, rehab, right eye removed due to extensive damage. Has to take immunosuppressants for the rest of his life so his body doesn't reject the massive amounts of synthetic tissue. Eyelids were restored but have to be manually opened and closed, uses eye lubricant drops for any additional dryness.

Took the brunt of the blame for the crash, now a permanent stain on his reputation. The publicity of the incident died down in less than a week, but still makes it hard to find work (especially with his disabilities). Massive survivor's guilt and internalized ableism. Now that he can do most things himself, he hates asking for help. He doesn't want to seem weak, he wants to seem in control.

Hops around from job-to-job, typically in a management position but leaves once it becomes too familiar.

Anya- Treated with acetylcysteine, but liver damage was too extensive and had to be replaced robotically with a synthetic one. Embryo died in utero from paracemetol poisoning and was removed. Also has to take immunosuppressants so her body does not reject the new liver.

Somehow acquired a job at a clinic despite not at all having the credentials and is dreading the day they figure that out. In the meantime living paycheck-to-paycheck and swimming in debt.

Went through one painful and traumatic suicide attempt and would not want to take the chances of having to go through that again. Still incredibly anxious and not in a good place but clings to that hope she can get herself out of this rut. One of the only things keeping her going is the knowledge that she is helping people and in some little way making life better.

Daisuke- Skin grafts and extensive biodegradable stitching, especially in his face. Minimal reconstructive surgery to fix his nasal passage. Right eye is completely opaque from traumatic injury.

Not as joyful as he used to be, a lot more dark humoured but retains his optimism. Cautious, has matured quite a bit and is just trying to live his life. The collective trauma from the Tulpar makes it hard to connect with his peers and he only really wants to hang out with his former crew. Trying to make a name for himself and do something with his life, co-founded his and Swansea's independent mechanic business.

Does more manual labour on the side to help keep the business running.

Jimmy- Bullet and bone fragments removed, entered zygomatic bone barely avoiding the eye and exiting through the left mandible. Damaged tissue and teeth removed, in a coma for several months with reconstructive internal surgery to his skull.

Charged with attempted murder, reckless endangerment, and sexual assault. However the court deemed him unable to stand trial and committed him to a psychiatric institution for high risk individuals. Has been sent to solitary more times than he can count or cares to and is on suicide watch.

He's forced to take antipsychotics and has no control over anything in his life besides doing what he is told so he can get the hell out of this place. In the meantime he can reevaluate and be alone with his thoughts (a punishment i would not bestow upon my worst enemy).

Curly and Daisuke visit him sometimes because they still genuinely care about him and want him to get better. But their visits get less and less frequent every time. When they finally stop coming... who will he have left to blame for his circumstances?

Swansea- Bullets and fragments removed, right eye was too badly damaged to save and was removed. Clavicle plating applied to help solidify the shattered bone.

Similar case to Daisuke. Owns the independent mechanic business as well as doing random jobs to get more money. Family life is in pieces and is on the brink of a divorce with his wife but too drunk to really care. Preoccupies himself with work and alcohol to forget his miserable situation and money troubles. The only thing keeping him from drinking himself to death lying in a gutter is that he'd leave such a burden on Daisuke that the kid does not need any more of.

[jeynearrynofthevale]

Just watched the Connor McDavid: Whatever it Takes documentary and my main takeaway is that he’s insane but here are a bunch of random notes and pics:

““If it was up to my mom, we probably would’ve been a skiing family”

The drive, that’s who he is, he’s always been that way, since he was probably 3 or 4, he refused to let his parents help him get dressed and he would carry his bag everywhere, the bag was bigger than he was

“He’s intense and he’s competitive”

Bobby Orr said when he was 15 that he was gonna be the greatest skater to ever play

Tracy Wilson: Olympian and skating coach “what I love about Connor is it’s all about power, doesn’t matter how it looks, it’s about getting there”

Kassian “we haven’t seen a player like that in the game in maybe forever”

McDavid “at the end of the day, you’re still playing an nhl game, but that’s not much to hang your hat on” in reference to being out of the playoffs

“Right on the post square and I just felt the pain right away, thought I’d just broken my leg into a couple pieces”

They keep replaying him going into the net at top speed and it’s fucking horrible to watch

He whispered to me “I think it’s broke”- Kassian

“I was having flashbacks to Stamkos’s energy and I know stammer really well”

Stamkos texted therapist: “did he break his tibia?”

“If I could do it all over again, you’d like to take it back”- giordano

Team physical therapist asked if he could move his leg and told him he could either try to get up or call the gurney. Connor said “no, no, no” and stood up even though he was worried and thought his leg was going to give out”

“I held it together until we got though the tunnel and then I was just a mess” it took them 10 minutes to get back to the room

He said “stop, just give me a second”

3 guys had to hold him up the way back

Lauren “it was really hard when he called me, he just said “I think I broke my leg””

Brian “he was really upset and in pain, as a parent it’s hard”

Kelly: “it’s the worst thing in the world”

“Maybe in hindsight it would’ve been better if it was broken”

Never realized the infamous scene where Leon squeezes Connor in the hallway is from this.

Grade 2 strain of his pcl

“Hey dad, just want you to know I’m going for a second opinion in Colorado Springs”

Doctor told him it was a full pcl tear where tears on bth sides of his miniscus, “tore the popliteus right of the bone”

Full reconstruction of the knee, pcl, and popliteus would require a year recovery, doctor said he needed to do it asap, within a few day

“He was distraught, very, very under described”

His mom wanted him to have the surgery

Surgical intervention is to give it stability back

Had to make decision in 48hrs about whether or not to operate.

“He was very emotional and it was very difficult for him to talk.”

3rd opinion in LA: 2nd doctor is right about the issues but thinks the surgery is risky and doesn’t believe in it, wants to try to rehab it

Had to make that decision at 22 in 24 hours

Pcl cut right in half, back of knee joint completely torn, popliteus also completely torn, lateral and medial meniscus are both torn, crack in front of tibia from where he hit the post

“Hockey is my life”

He wanted to hear that he didn’t need surgery

His rehab guy literally lived with him

7 days a week, 10 hrs a day

50% chance to get him maybe skating again by end of summer

He was in a hyperbaric chamber daily for 40 days, 2 hours at a time

Claustrophobic in a literal tube

“At one point, doctor cleared him to flex his quad muscle”

They had to keep the injury as secret as possible, didn’t tell Ken Holland how bad it was

He would call his mom right after every mri appointment

He was in the pool all the time working on his knee

While rehabbing, his core specialist was like “might as well work on everything while we’re stuck here” and they worked on his core, pelvic floor, rotational movement, spine, everything

Gymnastics coach also helped

Didn’t want him to skate till September

He went on the ice with just his dad on his doc’s recommendation before September

He was so happy to be back on the ice with his father, completely changed emotionally that day

You can really see how much he loves just skating

He was so happy to know that even if he couldn’t fully heal he could still go on with the brace and skate

He’s so smooth in these skating exercises while in an insane brace

“One thing to be out there playing the game but another to do it at the level he was capable of”

Tracy Wilson did in their own words “edging” with him for afternoons, taking him through all sorts of movements and exercises without his brace

Opening night started to look like a possibility

He wanted to be there for training camp

He decided not to participate in biosteel

He wanted to play in all 7 exhibition games even though most veterans only did 4

“Like my first game all over again”

Seeing him on opening night was incredible for his training people

Okay, seeing the canucks slashing at him and shoving him into the boards in the home opener is now making me so protective

“He willed himself back”

[granny-griffin]

making post ch 419 fanworks survival guide

technical knowledge

names of different kinds of amputation + brief descriptions of medical care

reddit acronyms for amputations (scroll down and read the comments)

surgical perspective on upper limb amputation

detailed description of rehab for upper limb amputation

fanworks tips

how to depict limb stumps

why upper limb prosthetics don’t work

personal experiences

double arm amputee reddit ask me anything

reddit post about phantom pain

[ladamedusoif]

Baking (Dieter Bravo x OFC! Andie Wallace-Bravo)

A Merry Fic-Mas - December 2

Part of A Merry Fic-Mas: A Holiday Fic Calendar (click for masterlist)

Pairing: Dieter Bravo x OFC!Andie Wallace-Bravo

Rating: Teen/Mature

Word count: ~1500 words

Warnings: Mild drug references, alcohol references, strong language, implied smut

Summary: Although he’d once been more known for getting baked, these days Dieter is more interested in baking of a different kind. 

Author's note: This entry in A Merry Fic-Mas is inspired by the very wonderful Curls series by @farawayfromwanting/@agentjackdaniels and @julesonrecord. It's an honour to have the chance to add my own tiny little scene to the Bravo-Wallace family story, and I hope their wonderful creator likes this humble little tale of Holiday Dandie.

Dieter Bravo was not what anyone would call a wholly domesticated man. Marriage and kids had encouraged him to embrace the joys of basic family cooking, but he still struggled with anything beyond the simplest of recipes. 

“I’m an actor, Mamá,” he’d protested as his mother tried to teach him a few of her staples. “It’s basically a given that we’re gonna live on takeout and on-set catering.”

But Dieter had a culinary secret. Baking. In the literal, not metaphorical, sense. Though that was a specialism, too. Less so, these days. 

Even at his hedonistic peak, he’d somehow still retained the ability to produce the best cookies - weed optional, though usually a given - anyone had ever tasted. He didn’t have an exact recipe, just went on vibes. It was soothing, all that gentle mixing and rolling and cutting and baking. He’d made full use of the in-house kitchen in rehab, churning out variations on his failsafe cookie recipe as a kind of therapeutic exercise.

Now, Dieter is swiping through holiday baking ideas on Pinterest while the kids dance energetically to the Bluey opening credits. He’s been the stay-at-home parent for the last couple of months, the strike and production delays for season two of When You’re Lost in the Darkness offering him a welcome chance to stay put and just be a dad. 

Andie walks into the family room dressed in her favourite smart casual outfit of stylish grey coat, white blouse and jeans, makeup subtle and dark curls arranged over one shoulder, her purse slung across her body. She’s in demand, these days, and with Christmas fast approaching Dieter wanted to give her a proper day to herself: get her nails done, have a facial, whatever she wanted. 

“You sure you don’t want me to stay? I feel bad heading out and not staying with you guys on my day off.”

Dieter looks up from his iPad and smiles at his wife. “When was the last time you had a day just for you, angel? We’re fine. Go! Relax! Shop! Do whatever!” He stands up from the couch and shoos her affectionately towards the door, barely letting her pause to kiss the kids goodbye.

Charlie and Ezra do not take their eyes off Bluey for a moment.

Dieter sits beside the kids on the big rug in front of the TV. “So…how’d you guys like to make a surprise for mama?”

Charlie shoots him a look so uncannily similar to her mother’s that Dieter has to pause for a moment. “We’re watching Bluey.”

Ezra nods, bright blond hair gleaming. “Boo-ee.”

“Okay, how about this: we make some cookies for mama, we have lots of fun, and then you can watch more Bluey. Hmmm?”

The children turn to each other as if conferring over their father’s offer. Charlie, as the eldest, assumes the role of spokesperson.

“Okay. But we get to eat cookies and watch Bluey.”

The Pinterest post Dieter had selected as inspiration showed a perfect, well-scrubbed family enjoying a platter of gorgeous, golden holiday cookies frosted and decorated with surgical precision. 

His kitchen, however, had disintegrated into a case of Pinterest versus reality, soundtracked by Dieter’s personal holiday playlist.

Ezra’s wails drown out the sound of Run DMC while Charlie protests that she wasn’t trying to eat Ez’s bowl of frosting. Her dark curls, meanwhile, are streaked with flour, dough, and sugary globs of red and white fondant icing.

They seem to have somehow used every single bowl in the Bravo-Wallace household, the kitchen countertops crowded with mixing bowls of various sizes and coated in flour and sugar. As Dieter turns to comfort Ezra he skids on what he rapidly realises is an errant egg white.

“Motherfuck- sorry, Charlie. And Ezra. Sorry, Charlie and Ezra!”

No sooner has he picked up his son than the oven timer pings, and Charlie is off her stool and opening the oven door - bare-handed - like a shot. Dieter throws himself across the kitchen as best he can, half-diving to get Charlie away from the hot surfaces while somehow still maintaining his balance with little Ezra in his other arm.

Now Charlie starts wailing. “I wanna take the cookies out for Mamaaaaaaaaa!”

Ezra joins in. 

José Feliciano entreats the Bravo-Wallaces to a feliz Navidad. 

Dieter takes a deep breath and tries to summon up what's left of his holiday spirit.

Andie Wallace-Bravo has had a manicure, a pedicure, a facial, and feels like a new woman. She even managed to get in some Christmas shopping at The Grove, stopping at the Farmers Market for a coffee before heading home. 

The house seems eerily quiet, though, as Andie opens the front door and steps inside. No TV. Just the faint sound of holiday music coming from the direction of the kitchen. She drops her purse on the hall table and goes in search of her little clan.

“Dieter? Kids?”

“Mamaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! I made you cookies! Seeeeeee!” 

Charlie collides with her mother and Andie becomes conscious of something sticking to her favourite grey coat: a freshly-baked sugar cookie, shaped like what she suspects is meant to be a Chrismas tree, and dripping in frosting and sprinkles. 

“Oh! Yes, I can see - hey, where’s your brother?”

Right on cue, Ezra toddles around the corner. He is, from head to toe, almost entirely green. 

He extends his chubby arms towards Andie, who shucks off her coat and picks him up. So much for this blouse, she muses. 

“Dieter, why is our son green?”

Dieter is leaning against the kitchen island, sweatpants covered in what looks like flour and tiny white handprints all over his dark grey t-shirt. He turns to look at his wife and reveals a face covered in splodges of red and green frosting, and hair rendered white with powdered sugar and flour. 

“Hiiiii, angel. We, uh… we wanted to surprise you. With cookies.”

Andie’s heart swells so much that she’s able, somehow, to ignore the apocalyptic scene in every corner of her kitchen. “You made cookies, for me?”

Ezra claps his little hands together. “COOKEEE MAMA! COOKEEEEE MAMAAAAA!” 

Charlie joins in with the chant, beating a loud tattoo on an upturned mixing bowl, oblivious to the dough plopping onto the floor. 

“Dee, my love? How much frosting did they eat, exactly?”

Dieter had protested when Andie insisted on helping with cleanup. She silenced him with a kiss to his sugar-coated lips, tugging on a pair of rubber gloves to protect her sparkling festive manicure.

“We’re a team, baby. Anyway, if we didn’t tackle this together I think we’d still be cleaning it by New Year’s.”

With the last of the bowls finally washed and put away, Andie reaches into one of the high cupboards and retrieves a bottle of Irish cream liqueur. 

“It’s Christmas, after all, and I have been looking forward to this all day. Come join me on the couch? There should be some cocoa in the cupboard if you want.”

Dieter smiles and nods. “I’ll be there in a couple of minutes, angel. Just want to check on one final batch of dough.”

When Dieter finally emerges, still in his deconstructed cookie-coated clothes, he’s holding a plate of plain cookies and carrying a mug of hot cocoa for himself. 

“The final batch of cookies.” He places them on the coffee table and sinks into the couch beside his wife, resting his head on Andie’s shoulder. “These ones are, uh, a little different. Special.”

Andie looks at him dubiously. “Special?”

He exhales and stretches out, picking up a cookie and nibbling at it. “Weed cookies. For some much-needed relaxation.”

“Oh. Ohhhhh.” Andie giggles and puts down her glass, picking up a cookie. “Well. Holiday cheer, indeed. Thank you, baby.” She takes a bite, chews, and turns to Dieter in astonishment. 

“Holy fucking shit, Dee? These are insane?!” 

He quirks a floured eyebrow and grins. “Still got it. Still making the best cookies in Hollywood.”

Andie is two cookies in when she starts to get giggly, tucking her feet under her and whispering sweet nothings at Dieter as he munches on another of his creations. 

“Merry Christmas, Mr Bravo. You’re the best, you know?”

Dieter hums happily to himself, a soft, blissed-out smile spreading across his face. “Mmmm. No. You are. You’re the best. The best best.”

She giggles again and rests her head on his shoulder. “We’re so fucking lucky. Aren’t we?”

He grunts in assent. 

Andie kisses Dieter’s broad shoulder through his t-shirt. “Hey, Dee. Hey. Wanna make out on the couch?”

No answer. 

“Dee?”

A soft snore. Andie melts a little at the sight: her beloved, still the handsomest thing she’s ever seen even if he’s covered in half the contents of their cupboards. She studies his face, reaching out to gently trace her fingers over his gorgeous features, and leans in to kiss his forehead. 

He tastes of sugar.

Another kiss. More sweetness. Andie giggles, and proceeds to kiss and lick the rest of the frosting off her husband’s face.

Dieter opens one eye, half-awake. “Angel, are you…licking me clean?”

She giggles before standing up and helping Dieter to his feet. 

“Sure am. So let’s go to bed where I can finish the job.” She reaches down to pat her husband’s ass, flour rising in a cloud of dust as she does so. 

“Always said you tasted sweet, baby.”

Dividers by @estrelinha-s

[bekandrew]

Queer Mutual Aid

I've asked for help recently, but we didn't get fully out of the hole yet and it's getting worse. I'm physically disabled and have debilitating PTSD which have made it hellish to find and keep work, particularly outside the house. I've been very ill for most of this past year, including a bout of sepsis where I nearly died. So even my attempts at self-employment have been... less than fruitful overall. I'm also visibly queer/trans in the Deep South, US. We should have been out of the hole this past week, except rent raised to ridiculous because HUD decided I'm not disabled by their standards (?????) so none of my medical expenses count. And I had to put all that aside first so it wouldn't actually get spent on anything. Wife's the one with an actual job outside the house. It pays over minimum but not much more, and not enough for two people to live safely on (especially with my medical expenses). They also have mental disabilities that need to be evaluated that we're only now getting some access for them. Hopefully. Wife's still without a phone currently. They got ripped off by the repair shop they went to and we ended up having to order a new phone anyway because it ended up being cheaper than the further repairs the shop wanted to make on the still not-working phone.

Because Wife is without their phone, they're locked out from the super duper secure government website like food stamps applications. Which we were in the process of when phone broke. We don't have money for groceries. We're nearly out and wife doesn't get paid for another week and a half. We had to entirely skip a planned grocery run. I've already been skipping meals for a while. We're about $90 short for our electric bill due tomorrow. I thought I paid it already. But nope, I hadn't figured in the past due amount when I paid. I'm unsure if we have money for me to make it to both my doctor's appointment on the 29th and the Vocational Rehab assessment on the 4th. I need to pay Uber fare since I can't drive. $55 should give enough padding for both trips and anything else would go toward food. I already rescheduled a post-surgical evaluation, which thankfully wasn't urgent, to a time wife will just be able to drive me. We've been trying to get permission to move my cousin in and applying for various other aid to relieve the situation, but bureaucracy's not been moving fast enough. I have a tip jar, art prints, ttrpg products, and linked commission info at linktr.ee/bekandrew

[queen-of-boops]

"Doctor Lucas"

Alright friends, it's time to talk about my biggest LITG pet peeve. It happens all the time, I'm reading a Lucas villa fic or scrolling through Tumblr and I see it: "doctor Lucas". My brain immediately checks out, alarm bells blaring.

I want to be clear here, I'm not policing headcannons or what you can or can't do in fic, especially AUs, the entire point of AUs is to mix things up like careers or backgrounds, etc.

What I am saying, is that canonically, Lucas is a physiotherapist.

For some reason, of all the physios we have (Summer and Jack), Lucas is the only one that's often referred to as a doctor. Maybe it's because he works in a hospital, or maybe somewhere along the line fanon warped him into something else. But as an acute care PT, nothing will make me click out of a post/canon compliant fic/etc faster than "doctor Lucas" or having him do something wildly out of scope.

For one thing, the US is the only country that requires a doctorate for physical therapy. That being said, I can count on one hand the number of times someone even knows I have a doctorate, and I have never been called Doctor outside of the academic setting.

So what does a hospital physio do?

Preserve mobility: let's be real, sick people don't want to move, but lying in bed all day makes you lose strength and range of motion fast

Transfers: how do you get to a chair now that you suddenly don't have left leg anymore? How can I make moving less painful for you following major abdominal surgery? How do you move when you have new precautions and can't bend your hip past 90 degrees?

Gait: Do you need a walker now? A cane? Do you have weight bearing restrictions and need to figure out how to walk with them? Is your gait pattern unsafe?

Stairs: Are there stairs at your house? How can I make them safer for you and the person who's going to be helping you? What techniques can I teach you to help decrease pain and increase safety?

Balance: 99% of people in the hospital are at an increased risk for falls, how can I decrease that? What can I do to improve your balance?

Discharge recs: Where is the patient going after the hospital? Are they safe to go home or do they need rehab? Do they need any equipment to be safe at home? 90% of the time, the rehab department is the one making those calls.

Communicate mobility needs to staff and family: Most of the time, I'm the first one getting someone up. Do they need 2 people to sit on the edge of the bed? Does their right knee buckle when they walk? This is important information that the people taking care of the patient needs to know for everyone's safety.

We see patients post stroke, waiting on transplants, post surgery, after getting the transplant, chronically ill, etc. Patients on vents, with lines and tubes and drains all over the place, even with open surgical sites... they're all appropriate for therapy.

What physiotherapists definitely don't do:

Perform surgery or scrub up or observe or do anything even near the OR.

Give or adjust medications. I'm expected to know what medications do and look out for associated symptoms, but the most I can do is message the doctor and tell them what I'm observing.

Work with a crashing patient. It happens, you're in the middle of a session and a patient codes. Call the code and start performing CPR. But as soon as anyone else arrives, the therapist is the least qualified and least important person in the room. And if a therapist hears a code called, they're getting the hell out of the way to make space for the appropriate team to arrive.

Call time of death. Yes, patients die. Unfortunately, that's just how it goes. And yes, sometimes you come in to work only to learn that the patient you were working with yesterday passed away. But most of the time, if a patient is that close to dying, they're not appropriate for therapy. They're not dying in the therapist's arms or anything like that.

Use physical therapy as a stepping stone to become a doctor. There's not a ton of overlap tbh. I'm sure it has happened, but it's not like a PT degree is a degree that gets you into med school.

Listen, I LOVE my job. I get peed on, puked on, pooped on, etc. There are rude patients and emotional days and difficult conversations that need to be had, but at the end of the day I'm proud of being able to help people in need. You don't get into physical therapy if you don't love it. The pay isn't all that great and sometimes it's a very thankless job. Burn out rates are high, especially in the hospital setting. But those who stick it out are those who can't imagine doing anything else.

You have no idea how happy I was to see a character with my job who actually responds well to questions about it, so you can imagine how frustrating it is to constantly see my profession being overlooked or misinterpreted in the fandom.

Please, next time you go to respond to a post saying that you'd rather be stranded on a deserted island with Lucas because he's a doctor, or write a villa fic where Lucas talks about scrubbing in for surgery, keep this post in mind.

[labsportstherapy]

Sports Rehabilitation and Wellness Services St. Paul

Elevate your performance with expert rehabilitation and wellness services designed for athletes. From post-surgical care and sports injury recovery to running analysis and injury prevention, we provide customized treatment plans. Our services also include dry needling, soft tissue mobilization, and concussion rehabilitation. Get back to peak form with our comprehensive, athlete-focused care.

[glompcat]

Apparently there is a covid outbreak in my dad's post surgical rehab

🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃

[backseat-negan]

Well, damn… it’s been four years since I posted. I had almost forgotten my love of Jeffrey Dean Morgan/TWD and the amazing community of writers and friends I found here.

Because when addiction takes over, it becomes the only thing your mind will make space for.

Trigger warnings: addiction, drugs, IV drug use, drug abuse, cocaine, overdose, syringes, needles, tracks, track marks

4 years ago - right after my last post - I was diagnosed with a neuromuscular disease called Myasthenia Gravis, or MG. Similar in ways to Multiple Sclerosis and Muscular Dystrophy, MG damages the receptors that allow your muscles to get signals from your nerves. Over time it causes severe muscle weakness and fatigue, and sometimes loss of muscle function entirely.

For me, that meant losing much of the fine motor function in my hands and arms, as well as chronic double vision from the muscles around my eyes being affected. Consequently, I lost my career working as a surgical assistant and I lost my ability to play guitar, which I had been doing for almost 15 years.

MG progresses differently for every person, and mine went from “Start” to “I’m going to take everything you love” in less than five months. For most people, this progression takes years - but mine unexpectedly progressed quite quickly, and that became the catalyst for a very, very dark downward spiral that I still haven’t been able to wrench myself out of almost four years later.

I had dabbled in illicit drugs here and there in the months leading up to my diagnosis, but the day I discovered I could no longer play guitar, I made the worst decision of my life: I picked up a needle for the first time, assuming it would also be my last. I just wanted to escape the sadness for a bit, and I was curious about the effects. But as soon as I pushed that first dose, I knew I was fucked. I immediately wanted more.

It went from 1 or 2 doses a day to 5 or 10, to 20 or 30, until at its peak I was dosing over 100 times a day. Yes, the math is correct - I was injecting every 10-15 minutes, all day, not sleeping for days at a time, not eating for weeks at a time, and not showering for months at a time - simply because I couldn’t stand the sight of the track marks covering my entire body.

In a year and a half, I went from 290 pounds to 170 pounds, simply from not eating. On the rare occasion I would leave the house and see my friends, they would immediately ask, “Dude, when’s the last time you ate anything?” Most of the time it had been so long, I couldn’t give them an honest answer. My mind and body had ceased to even register the sensation of hunger - the only thing it wanted was more C.

I had a few stints in rehab and might string together a few weeks of sobriety, but I always went back to it. I managed to avoid overdose until this year… February 4th, 2024. It put me into repeated seizures and respiratory arrest, they were able to revive me and I was in an induced coma for 4 days.

I wish I could say it was a wake up call, but I went back to it within hours of being discharged from the hospital. I despise withdrawals, and they just keep getting worse the longer I’m on the shit. Then just over a month later - March 20th - I OD’d again. Once again threw me into seizures and I almost stopped breathing, but thankfully this time the paramedics arrived significantly faster and I didn’t die - again.

I can’t remember the last time I showered, because just the thought of having to look down and see all the scabbed, bruised, and heavily scarred track marks on my arms and hands is sickening. I’ve been wearing long sleeves for almost two years straight - even on 90° summer days - and I put makeup/concealer on the back of my hands every day where the scars are the darkest so I don’t get disapproving looks from family, cashiers, and waitresses. I’ve gotten better at eating, and have managed to get back up to 205 pounds. But that’s the only thing that’s gotten better.

No one wakes up and decides to become an addict. It begins with one small seemingly meaningless choice to escape what’s in our head for just a few minutes or hours, but very quickly becomes an all-consuming downward spiral into our own grave. I wish I could go back and show 29 year old me what I’ve become, and take the needle out of her hand. But I can’t take any of this back, and right now, I still haven’t found a way out.

Sorry for the long post, just needed to vent a bit.

[maximumwobblerbanditdonut]

Mishaps you’ll never forget!

He doesn't need any more rehabilitation for his knee. He had a motorcycle mishap 🏍️ in Scotland in December 2021 before his trip to New Zealand when he tore his MCL and fractured his knee, receiving stitches and leaving a scar.

In Pharos’ picture in L.A. January 2022 (a month after the accident and supposedly in rehab) before New Zealand it’s shown he’s trying to stand up with flexed knees, but he has problems in both legs.

I couldn't get a full view of his left knee up close, during HYROX in Glasgow last February 2023 the first impression of him was a lack of mobility, trying to extend his left knee during the pushup. HYROX’s image is not clear but it shows that he has a hypertrophic scar, a thick scar, in response to his wounds.

But now, with the long-awaited photos from New Zealand, we see more details of the injury he left behind and that he has been hiding all this time. It looks like it was more than a small abrasion from falling on the pavement, leaving a big scar. This is a scar from trauma such as cruciate ligament restoration/reset, falls, femoral MCL incisions, surgical incisions and stitches. This is no small thing for a motorcycle accident 🏍️

He always appeared from the waist up, sitting in front of the camera, or wearing an essential tracksuit, as he did on his cycling in Otago Central Rail Trail. 🇳🇿

His problem seemed to be more serious 🧐 than mentioned at the beginning, and took months to recover, due to the severity of the injury.

I'm more interested in seeing the post-crash motorbike 🏍️ (that he hasn't shown in two years) helmet and motorbike clothing, to understand in retrospect his accident, remembering he had to follow Scotland's mandatory safety rules riding a street bike, a mountain bike or a motorcycle (motorbike)

Why did he need to customise his Triumph motorcycle if he already had a previously customised Harley-Davidson?

It doesn't matter how much riding experience you have (he’s an inexperienced rider) accidents happen. But you can’t forget what happened.

[bisexualamy]

Transition Update #61

Wow! Hi!! I'm back. I haven't done one of these in a few years, but largely that's been because the longer you transition, the less you're transitioning so much as just, living your life as your gender.

I've gained a bunch of new followers since I was regularly posting transition updates, so here are the basics to get everyone up to speed:

I've been on T since August 2016 (about 6 years) and I had top surgery in July 2017 (about 5 years ago). I also have a page on my blog that will route you to everything transition related I've posted, and I'm always happy to answer questions to the best of my ability.

Like with most of my other transition updates this is for my followers only. I'm going to make this post unrebloggable and put any personal info under cut, so please respect that.

Ok!! So what's the headline? I'm getting more surgeries. I have a hysto scheduled for next month. I've been doing this process since August but held off posting because I wanted to aggregate everything at the end. Hopefully this will help clear up some misconceptions about transmasculine surgeries and transition, since I definitely had a bunch before I started. I'm not a doctor. Please get medical advice from your doctors.

So! First big news is that I'm getting a hysterectomy. This is something I've wanted for a while that I put off getting for a few reasons. I was concerned about safety during peak COVID, I was concerned about the possibility of not having natural estrogen production, and, as always, I had that little bit of what if I'm not really trans? fear that most trans people have when they make a big decision. But this past summer, abortion rights were overturned in the United States, and my menstrual cycle came back for the first time in 5 years. These two things were very distressing for me; it was the worst dysphoria I've felt in years. That was ultimately the catalyst for me finally going ahead with my hysto.

I'm doing this as part of a larger process for potentially having bottom surgery. It's taken me a long time to admit that I want bottom surgery because of how much fearmongering and misinfo there is about transmasculine bottom surgery, but my care team has already done some great work dispelling certain myths for me. Ultimately, I may decide to only get the hysterectomy. It depends on a few outstanding variables I'm going to go over in my bottom surgery consultation, which is also next month. I'm not going to get into those details here; that's for another post once I make that choice.

Because I like these posts to be resources as well as journals, here's the timeline I've completed so far regarding my surgical process. I live in New York City and am having surgery locally, so please bear that in mind. I'm not going to name any doctors, surgeons, or surgery centers publicly, because of the increased danger around trans surgery centers and for my own privacy. If you live in the area or are considering pursuing gender affirming surgery in NYC, please message me privately and I can give you more details.

Timeline:

08/2022 - I met with a social worker to go over the entire surgical process, to ensure two things. First, that what I was expecting from surgery was in line with the actual surgical results, and second, that I had an adequate support team during surgery recovery. If I lacked that local support, the surgical center would've set me up in a post-surgery rehab center to make sure I got adequate post-op care.

09/2022 - I had two evals from the surgery center: one physical health, and one mental health. The physical eval was to make sure that my body was healthy enough to survive surgery. They took some blood and went over my medical history. Unfortunately, I don't have any additional insight about what limitations would be placed on fat or disabled patients. I'm not skinny, but I'm straight sized and my weight was never brought up as an issue during eval. The mental health eval was again, to make sure that what I wanted out of surgery was in line with the results. The psychiatrist assured me that this wasn't to "prove" my transness, but to get the info they needed so they could write me a mental health letter of support. This is because my health insurance needs that kind of documentation in order to cover the procedures. We're still waiting on insurance approvals, but they needed a letter from both a physical and mental health provider, for both the hysto and the bottom surgery (4 total).

11/2022 - I had my hysto consult. This is a different surgeon than the surgeon who will potentially be doing bottom surgery. We went over my wants from surgery, how much time I could take off work, what the general timeline would be for recovery, etc. I decided to do my surgery in 3 phases: hysto first, then two subsequent bottom surgeries. While the hysto and phase 1 could be combined, since I can take medical leave next month, it was ultimately the safer choice to spread them out. The surgeon also set me up with an appt with a fertility clinic, since I had questions about my potential fertility. I went to the clinic later in November.

12/2022 - Date scheduled for early January 2023.

Myths:

There were a few myths dispelled for me throughout this process that I want to share:

Myth #1: You have to remove your ovaries if you're getting a hysto with the intent to have bottom surgery. This is not true! If your ovaries are causing you dysphoria and you're younger than middle age, you do not necessarily need to remove them. My surgeon actually encouraged me to keep my ovaries, since their existence doesn't actively cause me dysphoria. Her suggestion was for two reasons:

If for some reason I lost access to my T, my ovaries could kick in as a natural source of hormone production, albeit the wrong hormone.

If I ever wanted to have bio kids in the future (via a surrogate), I could keep my ovaries as egg banks and harvest the eggs for later use.

I was under the impression that it was a significant cancer risk to leave your ovaries in post-hysto. This is apparently not true. If your family doesn't have a history of breast or ovarian cancer, the cancer risk won't likely present until middle age. You can also check your ovaries via external ultrasound even after you have bottom surgery. My surgeon suggested that, if I wasn't sure if I wanted to remove my ovaries, that I should leave them in and take them out in 10-20 years, when I was past the age where I could harvest eggs, and the only things my ovaries could do at that point were to turn cancerous. You can also do an oophorectomy (ovary removal) post bottom surgery! The surgeon is laparoscopic, meaning it's done via your belly button. It will not affect your bottom surgery results.

Ultimately, I decided to remove my uterus, cervix, and tubes, but keep my ovaries for now.

Myth 2: Testosterone increases your risk of ovarian cancer. This is also false! Like my surgeon said, if you have no family history of ovarian or breast cancer, this is (generally) not a concern until middle age. T places your eggs in "stasis" (see below) which makes it difficult for them to grow tumors.

Myth #3: Having a hysto means that you're dependent on your T for the rest of your life. If you keep your ovaries, you will have natural "backup" estrogen production. Even if you remove your ovaries (either during the hysto or later in life), and then lose access to your T, you won't die. This was something I was convinced of. Apparently, you'll basically just go through menopause, though some of the effects of T will revert.

Myth #4: Testosterone renders you infertile. This is not necessarily true. While testosterone does atrophy your ovaries, the doctors told me it's more accurate to say your ovaries are in "stasis" and could restart if you stopped taking T. This does not mean you could carry a baby to term. T is toxic to fetuses, and even if you are fertile and become pregnant, the fetus will not survive if you're taking your T.

When I went to the fertility clinic, they did an external ultrasound and took some blood, and determined that I am still fertile, and I could harvest my eggs if I wanted to use them down the line. I ultimately decided to keep my ovaries and wait on this, because the process will not be covered by insurance and is presently too expensive for me.

My meeting with the fertility clinic was very insightful, but ultimately every person is different. A few things I learned that may or may not be applicable for others:

while we don't really have data about how T affects long term egg viability, there is evidence of successful egg retrieval for guys that have been on T as long as 10 years

while it's easier to get viable eggs if you go off your T during the process (about two months) you don't necessarily have to (this varies person to person)

while it's easier to retrieve eggs pre-bottom surgery and/or if you still have your original opening, it is also possible to retrieve eggs abdominally if you no longer have that opening

if you've already had a hysto and you go off your T to do egg retrieval, you will not have a menstrual cycle because you no longer have a uterus

Ultimately, I'm really grateful to be supported throughout this process by amazing friends, family, and a smart, kind surgical team. I hope this post is informational! I'm happy to answer any additional questions.

Most importantly, I'm so excited to get this procedure!! My menstrual cycle was my #1 source of dysphoria, and even before I was trans I knew I was never going to be pregnant. That concept alone really upsets me. While it may seem odd to others that a hysto can be gender affirming, it's really, really is for me. I've felt so long like I'm carrying around these organs that I not only don't need, but feel like time bombs in my body. The idea that I could get pregnant despite my best efforts to avoid it made me incredibly anxious and dysphoric. Soon, that will never be a concern again, and I'm so, so excited about that.

[redbarn1995]

Y'all I don't think I've posted much on here about it (and lord knows I don't have a big following so don't think anyone will read thks) but I just had my 8 month review post reconnecting surgery for my facial nerve and the plastic surgeon is happy with my progress!

It's been a wild fucking time for sure.

Context:

I had a lump in my saliva gland get removed surgically; during said surgery, my facial nerve was cut, resulting in facial palsy on the left side of my face. I had tk be flown down from Bundaberg to Brisbane via Royal Flying Doctor Service (neat and terrifying experience), and have a second surgery to reconnext/place a graft on the nerve tk join up within 24 hours of the original surgery, through the same suture site.

Monthly speech rehab appts, regular follow ups with the surgical team in Brisbane, twice daily exercises ans scar management.

I have minimal feeling in my ear, I'm still working on getting a full blink back, I dribble all the time, and my smile is wonky. But I am making some motherfucking progress!