#that’s where I keep my meds and feed the cats and eat breakfast

[foldingfittedsheets]

I had a nice visit but I’m so relieved my mother in law has left. I’ve spent the latter half of today repairing the house. Heat back on my beloveds room to try to get the humidity down, fresh sheets on their bed cause they’re way too fucked up to do that for themself, air purifiers pumped up to help with humidity as well.

Scrubbing the washing machine and reclaiming my spot at the kitchen counter where she’s been posted up all week.

[stay-tiny-ville]

Lee Minho

Summary ~ Cat boy Lee Minho being cat boy (Or dating head cannons for Lee Minho)

A.N. - thank you all so much for appreciating my other posts it means a lot :)

A.N. 2 - ALL THATS LEFT IS SEUNGMIN IN AND HYUNJIN

A.N. 3 - feel free to send in asks for ideas after I finish Skz and Atz :))

—————————————————————

jagi/ya is the only normal or sweet name he’ll give you he’ll call you tiny, tiny baby, baby bird to annoy you (if you beat me near death, maybe kitten but I hate that name)

I understand how people think he’s the tsundere type but I definitely think it’s way less of mean love and more of him being less openly lovey dovey

He strikes me as the reserved type and would be touchy in public

It’s not to make it seem like he’s ashamed of you

Absolutely not

He just likes his business and doesn’t like it in public view

We all been knew that in all ways except physical, Lino is a cat (please tell me you understand the vine I’m referencing)

And how I saw this post a while ago about how cats consider you apart of their clan or family or whatever the actual term is and they look out for you

Lino 🤝 you

His first thought when he wakes up is to check on you

Like if you’re laying so where your neck doesn’t get hurt or if you still are covered by the blanket

If you get sick you aren’t moving a muscle

Like one time you were quietly cooking breakfast in the kitchen and when he silently made his way into the kitchen he froze mid step as he knew something was wrong

Your posture was off and slumped and the real selling point was your stuffy nose sniffles

He doesn’t hesitate to mom walk over to you and lean around the counter to stare into your soul

You blink back in surprise and he just narrows his eyes

His hand basically flies to your forehead and his eyes widen in the slightest when he feels how hot you are

He pulls whatever you’re holding out of your hand and picks you up immediately and you could have screamed if you knew it wouldn’t have killed your throat

He beelines to the bedroom and you can’t even utter a word

He doesn’t even utter a word

He leaves you on the bed and just dips

He comes back in 10 minutes with a tray of sick soup and medications

He sets the tray on your lap and he brushes hair out of your face with the hand closest to you

When you go for the steaming soup he quickly grabs ahold of your wrist so you don’t absolutely cook your tongue

He takes the bowl and trades you for the meds while he takes a spoonful and blows on it

He feeds you the soop :(

The meds quickly knock you out after eating and when he sees you get drowsy he takes away the tray to the other room

You open your eyes hours later to the skin of his neck in your face

At your movement he looks down at you and rests his hand on your forehead again

His slight grimace is all you need to know

The overwhelming urge to sneeze takes over and you sit up quickly to do so

The groan that comes immediately after brings him to coo at you

“Oooooooh tiny, little bird, did that hurt?”

You groan and he does his little huff laugh salndxtvycdkne

You spend the rest of the day full body on top of him while he “complains” about how you’re going to get him sick but you just groan

(I don’t think he’s the type to like EVER get sick- correct me if I’m wrong I never looked into it lmao)

Even if you are Gorden Ramsey level Chef you aren’t allowed to cook

It’s another one of his looking out for you tidbits as he feels important making stuff you love and keeps you alive lmao

Plus it keeps you from accident cutting or burning yourself

The type to brush his hand on your cheek when talking to you

Like you’re talking to him about the new outfit you just got and he smiles while you twirl about and when you smile up at him he brushes your hair behind your ear and lets his hand rest on your cheek

Sob

I personally am always cold and since he is cat boy I just know he takes it upon himself to keep you warm

Bundles you in his jackets

Holds your hands in his pockets

Hugs where he wraps you in the jacket he’s wearing

Sob part 2

NAPS ON HIS THIGHS PLEASE

I love naps

NAPS WITH THE CATO BABIES

omg you are cat mom and you have no choice

If you are allergic well then I suppose that is just how you go out 🤷🏻‍♀️

I adore his singing and I def don’t get enough of it and I would beg him to sing nonstop

Por favor señor I beg of thee 🙏🏻

If you were to go with him to rehearsal when the studio is empty so it’s just him he would love that

Like def bring him food (that you bought since he won’t let you in the kitchen)

And when it gets later he would teach you little dances omg that’d be so cute

He’s the sweetest little boy at heart and his main priority is to look out for you :((

[eddiediazismyhusband]

Buddie Headcanons bc i forgot to take my meds today and it is too late to take them now bc if i did i would be up all night but im somehow still wide awake at 3am anyway so eh what the hell 🤷

- Eddie bought Buck a journal that he keeps in his bedside table drawer, so that if he wakes up in the middle of the night with some sort of information running through his brain, he can write it down as an outlet to gush about the information so he doesn’t toss and turn the rest of the night bc he feels bad waking up eddie to info-dump

- Buck went all out on the cheesey newly-wed merch: matching his & his throw pillows for the bed, matching Mr. & Mr. Diaz coffee mugs, pun-y couple t-shirts, etc. Eddie pretends to find it annoying, but he can’t hide the smile he always has when he holds the Mr. Diaz mug.

- They both leave sticky notes to each other around the house with little sweet nothings written on them; Chris eventually got annoyed with them and started writing things like “you two are gross” or “get a room” and leaving them in the usual spots

- Buck is a swiftie, Eddie claims he doesn’t like her music, but Buck constantly hears Eddie humming her music around the house as he carries out daily tasks

- They watch Drag Race together, and Buck info-dumps about the queens as Eddie just listens not comprehending a word of it bc he’s too busy watching Buck be so entertained

- Eddie learns how to make omelets and starts making them for Buck; they aren’t good at all, but Buck always eats them bc he sees how proud of himself Eddie is and he refuses to make Eddie sad

- When Eddie and Buck’s daughter gets into dance/theatre, Buck immediately turns into the Dance/Theatre Mom, learning how to see to make costumes, getting in arguments with other moms, sitting front row and filming every performance, etc.

- Buck sets their alarm an hour early intentionally so they have time to cuddle in bed every morning; waking each other up with soft kisses (Eddie loves to kiss the tip of Buck’s nose first thing in the morning bc it makes Buck blush), and whispered “i love you”s until their second alarm goes off and they start their day

- Eddie always does the dishes since Buck cooks, but Buck keeps him company by drying snd putting them away

- As a wedding gift to Buck, Eddie got Bobby’s help to track down the scrap yard where decommissioned LAFD vehicles go and got a peice of scrap from an old 118 engine that he had melted down to make their wedding bands

- Eddie asked for Bobby and Athena’s blessing before he proposed to Buck

- Buck (who was simultaneously preparing a proposal) visited Shannon’s grave with Chris to ask for her blessing to propose; promising to take care of her boys for her

- Buck (and Chris) begged Eddie to get a cat, but Eddie always said no… until Eddie found a stray in their backyard one day and started to feed it. The cat never left, and now spends most nights curled up on Eddie’s lap, and he would protect that cat like it was his own baby.

- Buck didn’t know Eddie wears contact lenses, and one of their days off when Eddie ran out, he wore his glasses to the breakfast table and Buck was speechless for most of the morning (Chris teased him relentlessly afterwards)

- Eddie started wearing his glasses more often after that because he thought it was cute the way Buck got all flustered and blushy

- Late at night on overnight shifts, if one of them has a nightmare, they sneak out of the bunkroom to go lay on the roof— they would call it stargazing, but there is too much light pollution from LA to see anything other than faint specks, but they still love to hold each other in silence to calm the other one down

- One of Buck’s favorite photos of Eddie was taken long before they got together; it was at a Grant-Nash barbecue shortly after Jee had been born, and Eddie was lounging in a lawn chair with a sleeping baby Jee curled up in his arms— he has a small smile on his face as he looks down at her, and it’s one of the first times Buck remembers looking at Eddie and thinking “He is so beautiful”

- When Eddie asked Buck to move in with him and Chris, Buck teased him by saying “you’re not gonna kick me out after a day, are you?”

- Eddie got him back when he jokingly kicked Buck out after a day, Buck believing he meant it for a solid 45 seconds before Eddie started laughing and pulled him into a tight hug, telling him he was joking

- They were initially going to replace Eddie’s bed with Buck’s, but when they were moving things in, they were playfully shoving each other around and both accidentally fell onto the bed before it was fully set up, breaking the supports meaning they had to buy a new bed

- Chimney (who witnessed this happen) now teases them relentlessly about how they “broke the bed” when Buck moved in

[rrazor]

positions | m. issei

tags: fluff, mildly suggestive content

issei never knew how much he loved touching you until he was granted unconditional permission to do so. he thought he was relatively independent and someone who didn’t need as much reassurance or physical affection compared to other guys around him, like oikawa and hanamaki or even iwaizumi.

he thought he’d be fine, satisfied, content with just having you sit next to him or holding your hand or just being near you.

he thought wrong.

but he’s okay with that—you always indulged him after all, more than happy to have him close. your face lights up in a way that’s so adorable it pains him and has his fingers itching for contact.

he toys with the edge of your hoodie, watching your in-game character dash about. turning his head, he dips it into the crook of your neck, closing his eyes. his arms automatically tighten around you as he noses into the skin there.

“‘sei, you bored?”

he mumbles his “no” into your skin, smelling clean and cottony from your shower. his legs tangle with yours underneath the blankets. the side of his right foot comes up to brush against your bare calf and he begins to wish he wore shorts instead.

you hum, fingers tapping away at the screen while his slide up under your hoodie. you glance down at them before looking back to your screen again. issei grins happily behind you, gently roaming his hands across your stomach and up to cup your boobs. your skin is soft, recently moisturized. you talked about how you bought a new one, how it was “natural” and made your skin feel like velvet. he agrees, roaming his hands around and taking in all your dips and curves.

“hey!” you squeal. “i’m fighting!”

he chuckles, kissing your cheek. “and you’re gonna lose if you don’t focus.”

you huff, but to his delight, don’t tell him to stop so he lets you grumble, snickering like the cat who got the cream.

｡⋆ʚ♡��ɞ

he wakes up to a delirious fog, overheated and chilled to the bone. bringing his hand up to rub at his eyes, he blinks through the darkness of his room, slowly extending an arm to his phone on his nightstand.

5:37pm.

“nii-chan… room… dinner.”

he hears footsteps get closer to his door. a short series of knocks.

“issei?” your voice is soft. “are you awake?”

“yes,” he tries to say, but it comes out a rasp, too quiet. he wonders why you’re here anyways, on a school night when there’s a math exam tomorrow. an exam he hopes he’ll pass given the state he’s in.

the door opens gently, allowing the soft yellow light from the hallway into his room. you walk in, hands carrying a tray. he hears the china knock into each other.

“oh, you’re awake.”

he nods, watching you set down everything on his nightstand before putting a hand over his forehead. the steam of the mug rises and already, he can feel how dry his mouth is.

“how’re you feeling?”

he clears his throat, wincing at the amount of phlegm he’s forced to clear out. you frown, if your down turned eyebrows are anything to go by. he can’t see the rest of your pretty face behind your mask.

“been better,” he croaks.

you huff out a laugh. “got enough energy for your meds?”

he nods, sitting up just enough to make it easy to wash the pills down with water before he slumps back into bed.

“are you hungry?” you ask, sitting down at the edge of his bed.

he shakes his head, letting you touch his forehead again.

“tired? wanna go back to sleep?”

he hums noncommittally, bringing his hand up to hold onto your wrist. you run your fingers through his soft curls, making him shiver.

“go to sleep,” you whisper.

he shakes his head, pulling you hard enough that you fall over him in surprise. he wraps his arms around your torso, burying his face in your chest.

“hey,” you chide, resting on your elbows above him. “you need to rest.”

he nuzzles into your shirt, relishing in having you close. the smooth, cool cotton of your shirt a welcome feeling on his overheated skin.

“missed you.”

straight through the heart.

“i missed you, too,” you whisper.

“stay a bit?” he pleas. he knows he shouldn’t, but he can’t really help himself.

you bring the blankets up over yourself and his heart soars. he tucks himself on top of your chest, heart pounding in his chest as you pull your mask down to kiss his forehead. it’s tender, so comforting.

he falls asleep to the smell of cotton and camomile.

｡⋆ʚ♡⃛ɞ

“babe.”

you hum, lips resting against his forehead. the clock on the bedside table reads 9:48pm in muted led.

he can’t see you in the dark, tucked in so close to you. issei’s resting beside you again. because he can’t ever get enough. because that’s where he belongs, hands on your skin, head tucked into your neck. he’s tall, might as well be two metres, two whole hundred centimetres but issei adores it when he gets to be the small spoon.

“d’y’ever think about the people who got infinity symbols tattooed or those moustaches—wonder how they’re doing?”

he can hear you, feel you laugh.

“no, i would’ve never if you didn’t bring it up,” you snort. “forgot about those dumb trends.”

he chuckles softly into your pajamas, slotting himself closer to you. he can’t explain it but an overwhelming surge of love blooms in his chest when you bring the blankets up to cover his shoulders.

you’ll probably end up on opposite sides of the bed in the morning, maybe even turned away from one another. s’fine, he usually ends up scooching over to you anyways. the rise and fall of your chest slows. it’s a bit too early for him to doze off—.

“g’night, ‘sei,” you mumble, kissing his hairline. “love you.”

he nods imperceptibly, kissing where your heart is. “night,” he whispers. “love you more.”

you mumble something into his hair. he draws infinity signs on your back.

｡⋆ʚ♡⃛ɞ

today, he’s the big spoon—sorta. you’re on the train to the mitsui outlet park. it’s crowded, likely because of the kamen rider event going on. the rest of his family got there early to participate from start to finish.

it’s 11:58am and he’s caged you in between the train walls, a nice barricade from other passengers.

he’s zoning out when he hears your stomach growl.

“did you eat breakfast?”

you look up at him sheepishly. “no?”

he leans down to knock his forehead against yours, lips curling upward when you make a funny noise.

“i think i have candy in my pockets.”

his mom was giving them out in the morning after finding them in her purse. she handed him a few saying she got them from work.

“really?” your eyes glimmer as your hands reach into his pockets. your rummaging digs up two pieces of caramel. you unwrap them and feed one to him before pocketing the plastic.

“y’know i think i love you a little bit.” you grin, tongue swirling caramel goodness.

“yeah?” he snickers. “can’t blame you. i’m the ultimate catch—tall, funny, handsome.”

you roll your eyes, watching as he leans against the glass perpendicular to the doors. he stands closer when the doors on the opposite open. you raise your fists up in front of you. “i’ll have you catch these hands.”

“you could have just told me you wanted to hold hands, babe,” he chuckles, grabbing your right one and leaving a quick kiss on your forehead.

“don’t twist my words,” you grumble. your words are half spoken into his chest when he presses closer as a businessman squeezes by.

“oh, don’t worry.” he winks. “i know you and i have other plans for these hands later.”

you snort. “yeah, prayer.”

｡⋆ʚ♡⃛ɞ

issei leans back against the couch, tilting over onto the arm to rest his head as he settles into his food coma.

“issei, come back and have some marinated duck!”

he groans a little, telling his grandmother that he’d be over soon. though he could eat a lot, the walls of his stomach could never defeat nor contain the power of his grandmother.

he decides it’s a great time to take a picture of his extended stomach and send it to you.

>> (05:47) babe >> (05:47) [img.png] >> (05:48) i’m expecting

>> (05:51) what the Hell >> (05:52) tw: mpreg

>> (05:53) did you just trigger warning me?

>> (05:53) yes

>> (05:54) damn >> (05:55) well I don’t need this negativity in my life >> (05:55) relationships r built on mutual respect >> (05:56) I’ve told u I love you what more do u want

>> (05:57) nudes

>> (05:57) 😔😢😢

>> (05:58) here’s one of mine >> (05:58) [img.png] >> (05:59) 🥰❤️❤️❤️

he’s never sat up so fast in his life.

“issei, are you coming?”

he bites his tongue. “yes, grandma.”

｡⋆ʚ♡⃛ɞ

he comes back home to you two days later. he drops his bags on his bedroom floor and is about to run out the house to yours when his mom yells at him from the kitchen, “issei, sort through your things before you go!”

his shoulders slump and his head hangs but he gets it done and then he’s off.

>> (02:12) I’m home 😎😎💩 >> (02:12) wait ididnt mean the poo emoji

>> (02:13) welcome home 🌸

>> (02:13) Open the door  

you do, though it takes you a millisecond too long but he’s not going to gripe too much about it. he engulfs you in a hug the moment he sees you and nearly knocks your cell phone onto the pavement. your arms automatically go behind him. swaying, you stay there, sun shining and leaving an orange tint behind when you close your eyes.

“welcome back, ‘sei.” you nuzzle your head into his. “how was your grandma’s?”

he mumbles something but doesn’t make any effort to move. not wanting to attract stares, you slowly waddle backwards to get him through the front door. on your third step back, he just picks you up and does it himself before closing the door behind him and returning to his original position.

“‘sei,” you drawl out. “my back huurts.”

he pulls back the slightest, eager to see you up close yet wanting to keep you close. “i just wanted to hug you, is that so bad?”

“bedroom” is all you say. he frowns but lets you take him there anyways.

you sit on the bed and pat the space next to you. he instead opts to kneel down on the floor and rest his head on your thighs.

“‘sei?”

“grandma’s was good,” he murmurs, eyes closing when you run a hand through his curls. “thank you for the nude.”

you laugh and he takes the chance to get up and pull you into bed with him. he rolls you on top of him, brushing your hair away and cupping your face to pull you in for a kiss. his tongue is warm, soft, lax and you melt into him, onto him.

“wait,” he mutters.

“hm? something wrong?” you lean up a bit.

“i left your food at my place. my grandma made you some.”

you hum, leaving kisses on his jaw and swinging your legs. “we can go over later. kiss me more, please?”

he grins. “thought you’d never ask, babe.”

[thatveganwhiterose]

Elvira isn’t doing well folks. CW: bodily fluids, animal in pain, negative post. Long post ahead. Friday, March 13: She started vomiting at 3:30am. It was white, and chunky. We took her on her usual walk, in hopes that her eating grass would help. She ate grass, threw up a couple of times. We gave her breakfast, and she threw up five times: chunky white with food, and overtime with yellow bile. I took the day off to look after her. We took her to the vet and had x-rays done. The vet could not find anything discernible in the x-rays. We went home with anti-nausea meds for her and an anti-nausea shot, thinking it was over. She had “gurgle gut”, meaning she had gas in her intestines that was making noises and painful for her. She seemed to be getting a little better. By the evening, she was not. She began drooling heavily and heaving. We took her to an urgent night clinic. More x-rays were done, along with blood panels and cat scans. Again, they didn’t show anything conclusive as far as what caused this. Her organs were functioning, her temperature was good, but she was severely dehydrated and hungry (despite our attempts to nourish her). She had diarrhea as well that was bloody. She threw up a TON of fluid at the clinic. Her stomach was full of fluid that the staff pumped out through her nose instead of her throat. She was given pain and anti-nausea meds again. She stayed overnight and we picked her up at 7:30am the next day. Saturday, March 14: We took her back to our vet at 9am. They did more x-rays; both vets available triple checked them; still nothing conclusive. She was given more meds, and we were sent home with more meds: anti-nausea (another one), anti-diarrhea and something for her stomach (for stomach acid?). It took hours after the meds were given that she would eat. We did something we never thought we would do and bought chicken to boil for her. She ate a little bit late at the night, and drank water. She was weak, and slept a lot. She went on walks with diarrhea. We had to clean up her butt, and constantly do many loads of laundry and deep clean our floors, couches, pillows, etc. Sunday, March 15: Continued with the meds. She didn’t eat and drink again till the evening. We got her more stuff: enriched goat’s milk with probiotics, chicken broth, fish broth and simple chicken products from the pet store. They were kind enough to give us advice about getting her hydration up, and even snuck us some products to help. She was brighter and more alert. She loved going on walks like normal. Her tail kind of wagged, and we got the occasional kissy (she is a VERY kissy dog with us). Her diarrhea was a bit under control, and she was able to at least go to the bathroom with continued butt cleanings and washing of laundry/furniture. She smelled horrible, so we gave her a bath as well. She was not fond of it, but like with everything she tolerated it. We had to shove pills down her throat at the time limits (every 12 hours, and 24 hours for one), and she tolerated everything patiently. She ate more that evening than the evening before. Monday, March 16: We gave her more meds in the mornings and small walks every few hours (including the wee hours of the morning). She was still uninterested in food and water for the most part. We thought that it just took a while for the meds to help. Around noon, my husband rushed her to the vet again because she started drooling and heaving once more. I had to rush from my parents’ house to the vet. She also threw up fluid again in my husband’s car on the way there. The vet is now keeping her for a couple of days. What we know right now: Elvira’s guts are inflamed. The vet did not feed her today, for fear that her intestines were too inflamed to deal with the stress. She is on an IV and has had different shots of meds to help her with pain, gas, diarrhea, etc. She had more bloody diarrhea but the vomiting stopped. More x-rays still do not show what she may have eaten to cause this. They cannot consider an endoscope or surgery at this time because she has lost 5 pounds over the weekend (she weights 24 pounds, so this is a MAJOR weight loss). Going under anesthesia would be out of the question at this time. Tomorrow they will start trying to feed her, as well as keep her under heavy observation to get her fluids and strength back up. The hopeful goal will be to get her to a point where they can use an endoscope on her, and see if they can discover what caused this issue. The next steps, as it has been described to us several times, is using graspers or going to surgery to remove whatever it may be that is in her system. How am I doing? I cannot express to anyone how I am feeling. It is too big for words. I am devastated, I am heartbroken, I am in emotional turmoil and agony. I have broken down so many times since this has happened but especially today. My husband, though more stoic, is also suffering similarly. I know many of you understand this pain, and these feelings we have for our fur babies. The people in my life are being incredibly kind, patient and loving to us, and giving us all the support they can. Both our parents are helping us financially. (This post is NOT meant to obtain funds; we are fine.) At this point, as much as it would be nice to know what she could have eaten to get into this state, I do not care anymore. All I want is for her to be happy and healthy. I want the heartache to end. I want my baby to be at home, with us, curled up in her blankets and snoring loudly. I want her to chase her ball, to beg us for potato chips, to sniff every single leaf as she always does on her walks. I want her to pout at us, to make her weird noises at us (grunts and snorts), I want her to SHOWER us in her kissies. I want to hold her, I want to kiss her just as much as she kisses us, I want to cuddle her and tell her everything will be okay. That we are here for her, and we are fighting for her with everything we have. That we will not give up on her and that we love her to the end of time and back. Forever. No matter what. I want this living nightmare to be over. I don’t want the shadows of doubt and depression taking over my mind. I have always been a pessimist, and this is one of the absolute worst possible things that fate and life can throw at me. Please. No matter what it is you may or may not do. Please keep her in your thoughts. Not for me, not for my husband, but for Elvira.

[itscarlawthac]

PLE Adventure

This is a blog entry to help PLE takers studying for the boards.

It is in the mindset. That powerful thinking that you will pass and so does your whole batch. I was very lucky to pass the PLE September 2019 together with my batchmates. We got that elusive 100%, we were ranked 1st together with Cebu Institute of Medicine and Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health. It was that idea of “No One Being Left Behind” and that mantra at the beginning of your review, will help each one of you. You will pull each other up, push each other to their limits and together you will all emerge victorious because you were in it to win it, TOGETHER.

First things first. How will you go about the studying process? Of course, you need a plan. My plan was of course is getting a slot from Topnotch Medical Review coz everyone is saying that they are the best. They have the highest percentile of passers. Plus, my boyfriend also suggested that to me. Knowing how he does not like studying and yet he passed, speaks volumes haha so choose well. You may opt to study on your own (I have batchmates who did), go with your medical school’s review (we had a refresher but I did not go) or other review centers (UST and Cracking the Boards). But for me, why risk it? This is not the NMAT where I could risk getting a low score (I studied by myself). This is it. It is now or never. Failure is not an option for me. I have been very lucky for every major examination I took (MaSci entrance exam, UPCAT, ACET, USTET, DLSUET, PLM CAT, NMAT) I have always passed. And for this exam, I could not rely on luck alone. I need a solid strategy and Topnotch did strategize well for all of us.

I enrolled in Topnotch and realized that there are a lot of good teachers out there. Different strategies being used in different medical schools. Different materials for studying. Different learning styles and teaching styles. I was amazed. My 2 day surgery lecture by Dr. Loubomir Antonio was enough to cram all 2 years of medschool surgery! The Anatomy lectures of Dr. Vibar were so helpful and organized! Biochemistry became easier and understandable because of THE Ronibats! And my favorite was Ian De Vera’s pedia lecture. The teachers were so good and they imported only the best from different schools. Listen and don’t take the lectures for granted even if you hear poor reviews from other classes! Attend and show up! They are high yield!

I rented a condo at San Juan together with 3 roomies from UERM (recommended by my college friend). They were so dedicated in studying so I was motivated! We did not chat much but instead focused on studying. I think that also helped because less distraction. I walk for 5 minutes to go to the lecture proper. We start at around 8am per session and usually finish by 7pm or depending on the schedule. The schedule was very flexible so you cannot really plot a definite plan. 

MY ROUTINE (Lecture Days): Wake up at 5am, fast shower, fast breakfast + prepare food for class, walk to the lecture place (arrive an hour before so that I can get good seats) then take morning coffee courtesy of topnotch, LECTURE, go home/grocery, dinner, answer 1 chapter of Robbins Pathology (3 hours), re-read lecture for the day til around 2am x repeat til cramming fest. aka PEARLS.

MY ROUTINE (Rest Days): Wake up at 10am, shower, STUDY, eat while STUDYING, sleep at 4am then repeat. Just read and read and read. That is all that is asked of you during these months. You focus and study so that you won’t be that person who won’t be happy at the wee hours of the morning when they release the list of passers. You study so you will have a face to show to your alma mater. So that you can attend the Thanksgiving mass. So that you can have your face placed in a tarpaulin. You study, and you study hard and smart.

Quality Time: Sometimes, I do go on study dates because my boyfriend would surprise me by coming all the way from Manila during weekdays! We go to Rob Mag or to the nearby cafe to study. He would then bring me back to the condo and he will be on duty the next day. That’s how we maintained our relationship for almost 2 months. He was preparing for his Residency In Service Exam while I prepare for the boards. *see my IG stories for my board dates hihi* My parents were very supportive as well. They visited me every week and we would go to different churches (Sta Clara, St Jude, Manaoag) and eat at Rob Mag or SM Sta Mesa whenever I need unwinding aka near breakdown. Because I swear there were moments where I would literally just cry and sulk. They would go to my condo ASAP whenever this would happen and for that I am very thankful to have the most supportive parents and boyfriend. Whenever I am in LP, my bestie would also join me to study. 

My resources: Topnotch reviewers (read it around 2-3x first reading for highlighting and fast reading, 2nd during the lecture, third reading for focused review), Robbins Review of Pathology (answer then check the rationale at the back), USMLE (to fully grasp the correlation between the anatomy, physiology, pathology, pharmacology per system it is discussed in such a way that you would understand it better), IM Platinum (fast checking), Surgery Platinum, Legal Med Question Bank (during mini breaks), FM Platinum, PLM OB transes (best transes!).

At about a week before the actual exam, I went home to Las Pinas to focus so everyday I would go out and study at the nearby Starbs (which is my go to place here in LP). I would start at 10am until 8pm then continue cramming at home. By this time I am already reading the Pearls Handout and Q&As. My clerkship group would hold Q&A nights where anyone would ask questions and anyone could answer. It was our way to support each other and to check on what we might have missed that seemed important to others.

Topnotch would also coach you on how to properly answer the questions plus feed you and give you motivation. They won’t give you leakages but they promise to take care of you so that you won’t think of anything else but to study. 

Board Exam things to bring: your Notice of Admission, Mongol pencils, Stabilo/Staedtler eraser, Ballpoint pen, snacks aka empanada and candies and water, reviewers (for peace of mind when you check answers haha I know it’s not healthy but well...), clear envelope (1 big, 1 small -- trust me!), fan, paracetamol.

So there you have it, my sort of guide and story telling of my boards experience. If you want to ask me for specifics, you can message me here! Remember that this is the last hurdle before you reach your dreams (although residency is so tough!). Pass the boards and you will have the freedom to do as you desire. May it be pursuing residency, work as Doctor to the Barrio, go moonlighting, or starting a family, when you get that MD after your name for real, you can be anyone you want.

That’s it for now. I’ll go on duty in a few hours. Keep safe. Wear masks.

[gratsustingue-the-ot4]

Stinggratsu with angst prompt #42...?

Anonymous said:  If you’re still accepting Angst/Fluff prompts, how about: “I wanted to apologize.”?

I got both prompts into one fic, hope you enjoy! 

you are the best thing that’s ever been mineauthor: @splendidlyimperfect

Gray’s having a bad day, and Natsu’s music choices are making it worse.

—–

Natsu kicks Rogue in the shin as the front door of the apartment opens.

“Shhh,” he whispers, pulling the duvet up over both of them. “He won’t sing if he thinks we’re awake.”

Rogue frowns at Natsu but closes his eyes, and Natsu tucks his arm under his pillow and settles into a pretend sleep.

The bedroom door creaks open and Natsu hears Sting step into the room, humming quietly under his breath. The smell of fresh laundry hits Natsu as Sting sets the basket down on the end of the bed, then starts to pull things out and fold them.

Rogue twitches next to Natsu and Sting stops humming momentarily, but when neither of them moves again, he picks it back up. It starts off as just a jumble of notes, but eventually he starts singing the words under his breath, and Natsu recognizes it as a Taylor Swift song that Sting’s particularly fond of.

Natsu can barely keep a smile from creeping across his face as Sting’s singing gets a bit louder. His voice isn’t entirely in key, but Natsu loves the way he sounds. It’s sweet and happy, and when Natsu hears Sting change one of the lines to fit Gray’s name in, Natsu nearly cries.

Gray told me I was pretty when I looked like a messtoday was a fairytaletime slows down whenever he’s around

When Natsu hears Sting move away from the bed he cracks an eye open, holding in a fond sigh as he watches Sting dance over toward the closet. Sting keeps humming and singing, switching to a new song as he hangs Rogue’s dress shirts.

It must have been the way Rogue kissed mefell in love when I saw him standing there

When he turns back to the bed Natsu barely closes his eyes in time, and Sting’s quiet for a second. Natsu tries his best to keep his breathing even – he’s had lots of practice with it. Sting only sings when he thinks everyone’s asleep or nobody is home, so Natsu sneaks in these moments whenever he can.

Eventually Sting grabs the rest of the laundry and starts tucking it into their dresser as he picks up with a new song.

Well, he drives me crazy half the timethe other half I’m only tryingto let him know that what I feel is trueand I’m only me when I’m with Natsu

Natsu can’t help the tiny, adoring sound he makes when he hears his name, and Sting immediately stops singing. A balled-up sock hits Natsu on the side of the head and he pretends to grumble, opening his eyes and rubbing his face.

“Mornin’,” he says to Sting, sitting up and nudging Rogue, who also rolls over and fakes just having woken up. “What’cha doin’?”

“Your laundry,” Sting says, deftly catching the socks as Natsu tosses them back at him. “You really need to start checking your pockets for glitter before tossing stuff in the washing machine.” He holds out one of Gray’s dress sweaters that is now much more sparkly than it had been before laundry day.

“Oops.” Natsu makes a face.

“Where is Gray, anyway?” Rogue asks, kicking off the blankets and grabbing his phone off the end table.

“He left early for work,” Sting says, tucking the last of the shirts in the drawer and nudging it closed with his shin. He tosses the laundry basket back in the corner of the room and is about to head out into the kitchen when Natsu catches him by the wrist.

“C’mere,” Natsu says, tugging Sting toward him. He sits up on the edge of the bed and wraps his arms around Sting’s waist, resting his head on Sting’s stomach and kissing just above his bellybutton.

“What’s up?” Sting asks softly, brushing his fingers through Natsu’s hair. Natsu’s tempted to tell Sting that he wasn’t asleep, tell him that he’s sweet and perfect and Natsu would listen to him sing every day for the rest of his life. But Sting would turn pink and make excuses and stop humming sweet things for Natsu to wake up to every day.

“Nothin’,” Natsu says instead, sighing happily as Rogue leans against him and joins the embrace. “Just love you.”

~

Natsu’s still got Taylor Swift stuck in his head when he picks up Gray from work, so he flips to his favorite playlist while he’s waiting in the parking lot. They both work late today, so the streetlights are already on and are reflecting off the tiny drops of rain clinging to the windshield. The wipers move in time to the beat of the music, and Natsu taps the steering wheel as he hums along.

The passenger door finally opens nearly twenty minutes after Gray’s supposed to meet him. “Sorry,” Gray says, shaking the rain out of his hair and shooting Natsu an apologetic look. “I had to show Chad how to run the reports ‘cause Abby’s out of the office next week.”

“’s okay,” Natsu says, leaning over and kissing Gray’s cheek. “You hungry? Rogue just texted, he’s making chicken biryani for supper.”

Gray makes a noncommittal sound, tipping his head against the window as Natsu squeezes his hand, then puts the car into ‘drive’ and heads out of the parking lot. It’s not uncommon for Gray to be reserved after work – it takes him a lot longer than Natsu to decompress.

Natsu flicks on the blinker and merges onto the highway, taking the familiar route without thinking about it. The rain is louder now that they’re moving, and Natsu turns up the music so he can sing along.

“Why are you so obsessed with Taylor Swift?” Gray asks, leaning against the door and looking over at Natsu.

“I’m not!” Natsu insists. “Her music is just catchy.”

Gray rolls his eyes. “Her lyrics appeal to seventeen-year-old girls who just got dumped by their first boyfriend,” he says.

“The fact that you know that implies that you listen to her music just as much as I do,” Natsu says smugly, sticking his tongue out at Gray and turning the music up.

“I do not,” Gray mutters, crossing his arms over his chest. “It’s obnoxious. Can we please listen to something else?”

Natsu sighs but acquiesces, gesturing for Gray to pick another playlist. “I’m not listening to your boring history podcast, though,” he says. Gray hmphs and switches to classical music, then settles back into his seat.

“Y’know what I think?” Natsu asks as the sound of piano music fills the car. Gray doesn’t answer. “I think you pretend not to like Taylor Swift ‘cause she makes you feel things and you hate it.” He grins and pokes Gray’s thigh.

“Shut up,” Gray grumbles, smacking Natsu’s hand away.

“Ooh,” Natsu teases, “truth hurts, doesn’t it?”

“Just drive the damn car,” Gray snaps, and suddenly there’s more than just exasperation in his voice. Natsu frowns, looking over at him, but Gray refuses to make eye contact.

“Hey,” Natsu starts, but Gray shakes his head.

“Sorry,” he says softly. “Let’s just go home.” 

~

Walking into the apartment is always a whirlwind – kisses from Sting, plaintive meows from the cats trying to trick someone into feeding them a second time, Rogue reminding Natsu to put his shoes on the rack and not kick them in a pile by the door. By the time Natsu sits down at the kitchen table, he’s nearly forgotten the exchange in the car.

“Where’s Gray?” Rogue asks, frowning as he hands Natsu a plate.

“Bedroom,” Sting says around a mouthful of bread. “Said he had a headache and he’ll eat later.”

Natsu frowns, glancing down the hallway. “When’s the last time you guys saw him eat?” he asks.

Rogue pops back into the kitchen and opens the fridge, then looks back at Natsu, shaking his head. “He didn’t eat his lunch,” he says.

“He left so early this morning, I don’t think he had breakfast either,” Sting says, brow creasing in concern. “You think he’s getting sick?”

Natsu sighs. “Yeah,” he says, setting down the plate and pushing his chair away from the table. “I think he is.”

~

The bedroom is dark, and when Natsu turns on the lamp on the side table, there’s a grumbled protest from somewhere in the middle of the duvet. Natsu kicks off his jeans, then pulls the blanket back and shuffles under it until he’s close to Gray but not quite touching.

“Hey, you,” he says gently. Gray’s curled up with a pillow against his chest and his eyes squeezed shut. Natsu’s pretty sure he’s been crying.

“I have a headache,” Gray says without opening his eyes.

“Gray.” Natsu reaches out and brushes his fingers gently over the back of Gray’s forearm. “C’mon, love. You don’t have to pretend.”

Gray doesn’t reply, but he doesn’t pull away either. He sighs, pressing his face against the pillow.

“When was the last time you ate?” Natsu asks. Gray shrugs and Natsu slides his hand up Gray’s arm. It takes a second for Gray to relax his grip on the pillow enough to let Natsu slide their fingers together.

They lie in silence for a while, and eventually Gray shifts a tiny bit closer to Natsu. It’s almost imperceptible, but Natsu knows it’s Gray giving him permission.

“C’mere,” he says, reaching out and pulling Gray into his arms. He kisses Gray’s forehead as Gray lets out a shaky breath and relaxes against him.

Gray’s quiet for a bit, and eventually whispers, “why do you stay?”

Natsu swears he can feel his heart breaking. “Gray,” he whispers, pressing his face into Gray’s hair and holding him tight. “How can you even ask that?”

Gray sniffs, rubbing his face. “I just—you’re all better.” His voice breaks on the last word. “Sting’s sweet a-and Rogue’s smart and th-thoughtful, and you’re… you’re you. And I’m n-not, and I just—my brain is stupid and even when I take my meds it doesn’t always work and I’m grumpy and tired and—”

“Gray.” Natsu interrupts him gently, running his hand down Gray’s back. “I know you’re feeling shitty right now, and I know that sucks, but we all love you so, so much.”

“Why?” Gray asks, pain and frustration clear in his voice. “I don’t understand. I’m always gonna be like this and I hate it.”

“And that’s okay,” Natsu says, voice almost pleading. He pulls back and tips Gray’s chin up. “I’ve loved you for a long, long time and that’s never gonna stop. You’re a part of me, in here—” he takes Gray’s hand and places it on his chest “—and nothing can change that. Nothing.”

Gray’s face crumples and he sniffs as Natsu pulls him close again. “When I was teasing you in the car,” Natsu says, “that probably didn’t help if you’re feeling like this, hey?” Gray shakes his head and Natsu sighs. “I’m sorry.”

“’s not your fault,” Gray mumbles into Natsu’s shirt. “You’re right. I suck at feelings.”

Natsu’s about to argue, but he knows it’s futile. Gray’s always struggled with expressing himself, and telling him that it’s not true isn’t going to help. Instead, Natsu combs his fingers through Gray’s hair and asks, “did the song we were listening to make you feel sad?” Gray exhales and nods against Natsu’s chest. “And you shut it off because you don’t wanna let yourself feel sad.”

“I just…” Gray sighs in frustration, cuddling closer to Natsu. “It’s stupid.”

“I doubt that.”

“I do know all the words,” Gray admits. “I listened to that song a lot when we broke up.”

The statement takes Natsu by surprise. They’ve been together for so long – even before Sting and Rogue – that their temporary breakup feels like forever ago. They’d both been young and scared and overwhelmed by their feelings for each other, and it had taken nearly six months for them to drift back into each other’s orbit and stay there.

“I missed you so much,” Gray says quietly. “I thought—sometimes I worried that you left because I was too much. I know I left too, but I’d been…” He gestures vaguely at himself. “Like this, I guess, before it. And I felt like I’d ruined things.”

“Oh, love,” Natsu murmurs. “No, never. You were never too much. You’ll never be too much.”

“What if Rogue and Sting don’t feel that way?” Gray whispers. “What if they don’t wanna deal with me anymore?”

Natsu’s chest aches, and he’s tempted to call out for the other two so they can come and cuddle Gray and tell him he’s wrong; that they’re never going to leave. He’s not sure that’s what Gray needs right now, though.

“They love you,” he says instead. “Just like this, for who you are. Your brain works differently, and that’s not your fault, remember?” Gray huffs. “Think about Sting,” Natsu adds. “How many anxiety attacks has he had since we’ve known him? Since we’ve been together, even?”

“Lots,” Gray concedes.

“And are you tired of him?”

“Never.” Gray’s voice is so full of conviction, and Natsu can hear tears on the edge of it. “No, I’d never—I love him so much and it’s not his fault. He…” Gray trails off. “Oh.”

Natsu lets the realization sink in before he says, “you don’t have to pretend. You’re not a burden or broken, and you can always talk to us when you don’t feel right.”

Gray doesn’t say anything, just wraps his arm around Natsu’s waist. Natsu thinks back to the song they were listening to in the car and starts to hum it quietly. Gray tenses, but Natsu keeps playing with his hair until he relaxes again.

“I’ve got you,” Natsu murmurs. “It’s okay to not be okay.”  

~

They fall asleep not long after, tangled together and breathing in tandem. Natsu wakes at one point when Sting and Rogue come to bed, both kissing him before settling down on the other end of the bed to give him and Gray space.

When Natsu drags himself out of sleep the next morning, the first thing he notices is that Gray isn’t beside him anymore. Instead, Rogue’s curled up behind him with an arm thrown over his stomach. The second thing is that Sting is singing again, and it immediately brings a smile to Natsu’s face.

He cracks an eye open, hoping Sting won’t notice him, but Sting isn’t up and moving around like yesterday. He’s still lying on the bed, propped up on a pillow with Gray resting on his chest. Gray looks like he’s still half-asleep, but Sting’s holding his hand and is kissing Gray’s fingers between lines of the song. It’s the one that Gray had turned off yesterday in the car.

You put up walls and paint them all a shade of greyand I stood there loving you and wished them all awayand you come away with a great little storyof a mess of a dreamer with the nerve to adore you

Natsu reaches down and rests his hand over Rogue’s, smiling when Rogue stirs and presses a sleepy kiss to his shoulder. Sting looks up, cheeks turning pink when he realizes Natsu’s listening, but he doesn’t stop singing.

When the song’s over, Sting kisses Gray’s forehead and Gray makes a sleepy sound, snuggling closer to him. Natsu reaches out and runs his hand up Gray’s back.

“How’re you feeling?” he asks.

Gray looks like he’s about to pretend he’s fine, but instead he looks at Natsu and quietly replies, “still sad.”

Natsu shuffles forward with Rogue until all four of them are touching. Then he grabs Gray’s hand and squeezes.

“You can be sad if you need to be,” he says, resting his forehead on Gray’s shoulder, “and we’ll be right here with you while you feel that.”

[if-there-was-any-more-left-of-me]

I need to get this all down.

I shake all day long. My hands mostly, but my whole body too.

I'm always either starving or nauseous and wanna throw up. Nothing I eat makes it better. I crave garbage food and shovel down sugary snacks as fast as I can.

I'm always bloated, painfully so, and gassy. My stomach is swollen and hard, and it hurts to sit, stand, or lay down. I'm constipated most of the week, then visited with violent, painful, explosive diarrhea.

I'm thirsty and I drink and drink and drink but I never feel better.

I can't go to sleep til 5 or 6 am. I wake up at 7 or 8,go back to sleep, wake up at 11 or so and eat breakfast then go back to sleep til 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 pm. When I wake up, I am always The Most Tired I have ever been. I never wake up feeling happy or rested or content. I often have these really intense dreams that are more exhausting than being awake and I wake up panting, shaking, hot and sweaty (even with AC, a fan, and just a sheet), and feeling as though I had been clenching my whole body tight for hours.

Every sound is the most annoying sound ever. The radio, people talking, electronics, pet lickiing foot, water filter. My ears feel big and hollow and resonate these sounds like a big empty tin barn. Some sounds feel more like a thin, long drill bit being driven deep down in my ear.

I can't smile or laugh. I can't lift my head up.

I am so depressed and so angry. I hate the government, I hate the public for letting it all happen, I hate my mother for squandering our money and getting my health insurance canceled and for acting like she's not responsible for me being so sick.

I hate being trapped in this house where I can't even flush the toilet. I hate that my only outing is driving to go feed all the cats.

I hate that I can't use my phone consistently to escape because of the shitty service. I hate that my friends have all forsaken me and don't even wonder about me let alone want to see me.

My memory is gone. I can't remember anything, what time it is, what day it is, who I was just talking to, what I ate for breakfast. I don't know anything. My brain doesn't work. I used to be funny and clever and genuinely smart. But right now I can't figure out how to turn the shower on. People ask me questions and I can't answer. I can't listen to conversation because I dissociate so hard.

My head hurts all the time. Much worse having to drive facing the sunset. I can't see from it. Just painful white glare.

My diabetic neuropathy is getting much worse than the Gabapentin can handle. My feet are numb and everything I touch hurts my hands. Having to do things with my fingers is excruciating.

My back hurts all the time, whether I am trying to work or not. In addition to my lower back injury, it now hurts up high. Any way I move my neck or arms hurts.

I am dizzy all the time. Standing up feels woozy and thick. My knees, ankles, hips buckle when I walk. Obviously, walking hurts my numb feet. I have no sense of balance anymore. I used to be strong and steady.

Without my insurance, I can't follow through with the important testing my GI doctor was doing, which was originally to find out what was causing all my digestive problems, but then also included making sure something she found wasn't cancerous. But that's not important.

I can't afford my allergy pills, which are not important.

I can't see my podiatrist to fix my horribly painful ingrown toenails. Not important.

Can't see the pain management doctor who prescribes my pain medication and does minor pain alleviating procedures. Not important.

Can't see my psychiatrist who was in the process of trying out new depression medication and getting me to a level of functioning. I'm stuck in limbo with a medication that doesn't work for me.

Definitely can't see a therapist cuz even if I could afford it, I would be told every day what a waste it is and that I should manage my problems like SHE does, by yelling at my family and belittling my elderly husband (no that was a actual conversation we had)

Can't afford to get my regular blood work done by my regular doctor that she always insists we do monthly because we're very sick, unmanaged diabetics. I'm not even getting to take the diabetes medication I'm supposed to I'm just taking whatever free samples she has in office

God I miss going to the doctor. But that's not important. You know what's important? A 2005 red ford mustang pony edition that's held under titlemax. I have been told many times that that car will not be relenquished no matter what else has to go. I think that includes m8. Because I am very sick but I keep being told that I am imagining that I can't go to the doctor. I'm imagining that I can't afford my prescription.

Am I imagining the sick cat with a massive infection that's eaten a 2" by 4" patch of skin off his back that he licks raw every day? Am I imagining not being able to afford to take him to the vet? Am I imagining the massive tumors on HER dog? The dozens of them? I guess it's fine that she dies as long as we get to keep the mustang.

I am definitely imagining that the house is infested with millions of fleas and we can't afford the good medication (ie the $15/animal stuff that actually kills fleas) for 3 dogs and 16 cats.

Definitely imagining not being able to get get 14 wild kittens spayed and homed.

But I know I am not imagining the dozens of stray cats we spend more money on every day that we feed. Those are real.

More real I guess than my sister's need for therapy or my dad's need for dental surgery after all of his teeth have rotted out and the infection is getting ready to spread.

But that's not important. My teeth aren't important and it is definitely my fault for not going to the dentist that I have holes and cavities and pain and shit and definitely not because SHE complained constantly about me wasting money by going to the dentist every year (back when we had money) and then obviously not going anymore once the money dried up.

I remember her screaming at me in 2017,threatening to tell the doctors and police that I refused to take my medicine so they'd lock me up because she didn't like how I responded to some of the dozen different meds I tried that year. I remember because now she has convinced herself that I never take my medicine and that all my problems would go away if I would just take my medicine.

I'm so sick. I'm so scared. I'm so angry. I don't know what to do. I just want to scream and tear myself open.

It's getting worse. And every time I say that I'm upset about concentration camps or not being able to get the medicine I need, I get told to take more medicine. I can't take this level of invalidation. The gaslighting. I do not know what is real anymore.

This seems like an afterthought but I also can't buy any healthy snacks to maybe cut back on the horrifying amount of sugar I consume every day because all the food money goes to pet food and sugary treats. And I get yelled at for asking for less sugar in the house. Told to just eat something else but there is nothing else. I don't know what to do. Lacy makes these watery soups out of whatevers in the fridge to feed us. But I want real food.

I can't stop shaking. I know why I am so goddamn sick. Because I am malnourished, angry, frightened, stressed out to the maximum, and have no recourse. Every complaint is met with gaslighting or being told to take more antidepressants, as though they're some kind of magic happy pills.

I want to check myself into the hospital but I can't afford it. I would have already killed myself but I am not villainous enough to abandon my 85 yr old deaf dad whose had 4 strokes and does all the outside work and whom mom screams and ridicules mercilessly. And my sister who's anxiety is on a hair trigger and whom mom loves to trigger and laugh at her panic.

I need a miracle. I need help. I need someone to fucking shoot me in the face. God kill me please I can't take this anymore please

[lovemesomesurveys]

What battery percentage is your phone on right now? 97%. Do any medical afflictions run in your family? Some family members on my dad’s side have had cancer and diabetes runs in my mom’s side. Who did you last talk to in person and what did you say? My mom and brother. I was just talking about how I was hungry and if they were going to go soon to get the food. What’s your favourite Mexican dish? Burritos. Have you ever been to a professional sports game? Yeah.

How far do you live from New York City? The previous survey just asked me how far I live from New Jersey. Anyway, it would also take about 43 hours by car,  5-9 hours by plane. How often do you talk to your parents? Everyday, all the time. We live together and we’re close. What was the weather like in your town today? It rained a bit off and on and was super windy. Are there any phrases or words that you say a lot? “I don’t know.” ha. How many boyfriends or girlfriends have you ever had? One, technically. I always count what Joseph and I had, whatever it was. Have you ever ordered a specially made cake from a cake shop? Yeah. What was the last movie you saw and who did you watch it with? In theaters it was Glass. I saw it with my mom. What’s the name of your first real boyfriend or girlfriend? Derek. Do you clean your ears daily? No. It’s not good to do that. What accent do you have? A California one? It’s weird cause I don’t think of myself having an accent, but I guess we all do. What scent of air freshener do you keep in your bathroom? A lavender scented one. Have you ever dated a model? No. What’s the best job you’ve ever had? Never had a job. How about the worst? Do you have naturally straight hair? It’s more wavy. What is your ultimate goal in life? I just want to get to a good place health wise, both mentally and physically. That’s my main thing right now. Some things I’ll always have to deal with, but I would like to be able to get to a place where things are better managed. I don’t want my health to hold me back and have this hold over my life anymore. Have you ever visited someone in prison? Yeah. What months were you and your siblings born in? I was born in July, my younger brother was born in February, and my older brother was born in November. Do you write down your passwords in a physical place to prevent losing them? Yeah. What are your three favourite vegetables? Broccoli, spinach, and corn. How many times a day do you check Facebook or any other social network? I go on there at least a couple times a day. I don’t spend much time on it, though. I just scroll through the feed for a few minutes. When was the last time you had a blocked nose? Back in January. Who is your favourite comedian? I don’t have one What colour are the socks you’re wearing today? Black. What did you have for dinner last night? Salisbury steaks and mashed potatoes. What was the last concert you went to? Green Day back in 2009. Are you an ugly crier? Yeah. I’m just ugly, ha. What scent is the soap or body wash you use in the shower? Soap scent. Have you ever had sex in/on a vehicle? No. Who do you live with? My parents, younger brother, and doggo. What letter does your street name begin with? Nah. Do you do anything to groom your eyebrows? I tweeze them. When was the last time you ate at McDonald’s? January some time. What’s your favourite Popsicle flavour? Not a Popsicle fan. Who was the last person you sent a Facebook message to and what did you say? I don’t recall. Do you have any injuries at the moment? Yeah. A permanent one (spinal cord injury) and something else. Have you ever been to an ophthalmologist? No. I’ve been to the optometrist, though. Do you own any animal print clothes? No. Are you tall, short or average? Would you change this? I’m short. When was the last time you went to a drug store/pharmacy? I haven’t been myself in quite awhile. My mom picks up my medicine. Do you ever binge-watch TV shows? Yeah. Have you ever mustered up the courage to tell someone how you feel only to be rejected? Yes. Twice. Good times. Actually, it was a few times with Joseph. Do you keep your files and documents organised in one place? No. I need to be better with that. What’s your favourite sweet treat to bake? Cupcakes. Are you good at flirting and letting people know you’re interested? Ha, no. What did you have for breakfast today? Eggs and fried potatoes. Do you prefer sweet or savoury breakfasts? Savory. Do you like chick-flicks? Yeah. Have you ever taken an acting class? Actually, yes. Two. :O What is your favourite kind of berry? Strawberry. When was the last time you watched one of your favourite movies? I’m watching one now. How often do you use Youtube? Everyday. I listen to a lot of ASMR, and I also watch some vlogs. Do you prefer Prince or Michael Jackson? Well, I liked a lot of Michael Jackson’s music, but now with everything currently going on and all the allegations... What’s the coolest thing you’ve ever dressed up as for Halloween? Nothing all that cool. Are you ignoring anyone right now? Not intentionally, but that is what has happened. :/ How do you usually style your hair? Up in a pony tail. I don’t do anything with my hair. I grew it out down to my butt after having the short “bob” hairstyle for awhile, and shoulder length before that, only to do absolutely nothing with it. Part of me wants to cut it short again because I just don’t have the energy to deal with the maintenance of long hair and it’d be so much easier, but ugh it took so long to grow it out like this. I’m torn. Do you have any tattoos? Tell me about them. Nope. Have you ever worked in a store while someone shoplifted there? I’ve never worked in a store. Or anywhere. I’ve witness someone shoplifting before, though. When was the last time you used a stove? Yesterday. Is there anything you absolutely refuse to eat? Seafood. Are you sitting, standing or laying (or something else) right now? I’m always either sitting or lying down. How many hours per week do you typically work? What was the last pill or tablet you took? My pain med. How far away from your house is the closest grocery store? Less than a 5 minute drive. Have you ever lived in university/college campus housing? No. Who was the last person you complimented? My mom. Are you the type of person to take naps, even if you’ve slept plenty? Haha I never feel like I’ve slept plenty. Do you have a crush on anyone at the moment? No. The age old question: dogs or cats? Dogs. When was the last time you saw your best friend? I see my mom all the time. Do you know any couples who resemble each other? No. Have you ever been fired from a job? Why? Are you tired right now? Always. Do you like spring rolls? Yeah. What do you live on in terms of a street, road, crescent, place, court etc? Street. How many purses or handbags do you own? A few. Do you get along with all your aunts and uncles? Yeah. I’m not close with all of them, but yeah we get along. Have you ever eavesdropped and heard something you didn’t want to hear? Yes. When was the last time you used a pen, pencil or marker? I used colored pencils this afternoon. What’s your favourite type of curry? I don’t eat it. Do you often go to do or say something and then just forget? Not often, but it happens now and then. Who makes you laugh the hardest? My doggo and brother. Have you ever had casual sex? No. What was the last thing you paid for with cash? Food. What’s the last letter of your middle name? Nah. If your phone rang right now from a number you don’t know, would you answer? Nope. How long is your hair? It’s down to my butt. What was your first pet’s name and how did you pick that? Scruffy. I don’t recall how we picked that name, I wasn’t even 5 years old, yet. Do you drink diet or regular soda? Regular. Have you ever been to Europe? No. I’d love to go, though. Do you worry about your own health? All the time. It’s something I worry and deal with every single day, all day. Who did you last make plans with, and what plans did you make? I haven’t made plans in a long time. Can you smell anything right now? No. How old were you when you got your first cell phone? Like 16. When was the last time you bought a pair of shoes? Myself, personally... I don’t recall. The last few pairs my parents got for me for Christmas or my birthday. Do you like fruit and vegetable combo juices? I can’t get behind putting vegetables in my smoothies. lol. Everyone says you can’t taste them when mixed with fruits, but it just sounds gross. Have you ever been on a spring break trip? Yeah. Would you rather be warmer or colder right now? Colder. How tall are your highest heels? I don’t wear heels. What’s your favourite flavour of frosting? Vanilla. When did you wake up today? 530 at first, then about 8ish. Do you change your appearance often? No. What colour are the street signs in your town/suburb? Green. Have you ever blocked someone on Facebook? Why? No. How many people do you work with? What was the last thing you ate? Burger King chicken sandwich and fries around 130 this afternoon. It’s now 930 at night. Normally I would have had dinner by now, but first there were car troubles that prolonged things and now the place we got takeout from is busy and it’s taking forever. Ughhh. Do you have any plans for three hours in the future? No. Has anyone ever made a comment about your weight that offended or upset you? Yes.

[baldandfatandondialysis]

where does Dan work  ?

In short, he doesn’t

He has 7% kidney function. Humans need at least 30% to feel functional. Dialysis brings him up to 22-25% ish …

Dialysis is a life sustaining therapy…as long as you do this every day…you should stay alive…End Stage Renal Disease is fatal without dialysis…so in a nutshell he has a disorder that will kill him if left untreated for a few days. Combine this with Diabetes and the damage to his heart from the diabetes caused heart attack…

That means you will likely not have the energy to do a part-time job…let alone a full time one. 

He was a Mobile Patrol Supervisor. He had his qualifications to be an EMT. He had ideas and energy to try a new business when he was laid off during the last market crash. But then he began to be tired…. all the time….

His days are now filled with medications and therapy and finding small joys wherever he can

A typical day starts when the 8 hour peritoneal dialysis therapy stops.

Unplug Gizmo (dialysis machine)

Write down all the readings

weigh himself

take his blood pressure, twice..once sitting and once standing

drain all the excess fluid from the bags

drain the waste bags down the toilet

change his dressing on his exit site

he gets up every morning to make my breakfast

packs my lunch bag

takes his first handful of pills

tests his sugars to see if he can eat

if yes, then makes some breakfast while i get ready to leave

sees me off and sits for breakfast or waits for sugars to go down

if its a good day, small chores such as dishes and laundry, feed the cats

if its a bad day, he may go back to bed

snack time if sugars are behaving and stomach isn’t pukey

test, medicate

by 12 or 1 hes back to bed, good day or bad

anywhere from a 1-3 hour nap

then hes up, more pills, more blood sugar tests

i get home and he is usually cooking supper

test sugars, medicate…maybe he can eat, after more pills

after supper, clean a bit, do some more laundry

maybe shop, maybe watch a movie

but only after Gizmo is set up for bedtime

use his numbers from this morning to decide on therapy

too much weight gain…stronger solutions

too low of blood pressure…lighter solutions

two bags of sugar solution, one of starch, waste bags, cassette, y manifold

20 minutes later Gizmo is happy and waiting, on a good night

its time to shower, to relax for a few minutes, maybe watch netflix

Before bed, test sugars again, more needles of insulin

then Gizmo is reattached, to be Dan’s external kidney, to filter the toxins out that would kill him if left alone. A function that most people complain about, having to go pee, is actually your body cleansing toxins. For Dan, 8 hours of being tethered to a machine that circulates fluids to do what his one kidney can no longer do. A daily juggling act of dialysis, meds and insulins that keep him here with me and his daughters. An act that somedays works and somedays causes more frustrations than happy moments.

then add in, doctors appointments, specialist appointments, Kidney clinic visits, dialysis supply deliveries, grocery shopping, and trying to have a life outside the house…

This is work

This is a daily struggle to make sure he stays alive

That is not over-dramatizing, this is our reality

And because of that, I work-2-3 jobs to keep the food on the table, the heat and power on, the bills paid. And its a struggle, its draining and it doesn’t leave us a lot of time for extras 

He makes people smile. He likes to visit and share what little we have and will share his time as best he’s able. He loves to cook for family and friends. He loves to work on cars. He tries his best to bring in a little firewood when he can. He amuses the pharmacists and nurses and generally confounds the doctors as the try and keep him healthy. But from my point of view, this regimen of drugs and therapy and rest keeps him here with me. Building our little corner of the world and opening it up to friends, family, couchsurfers and anyone who needs a space. 

I admire that he gets up every day to try again

[ezatluba]

Wellness has come for your pets

The $636 million pet supplement industry is fueled by the greatest suckers of all: millennial dog owners, like me.

Gray Chapman

 Aug 12, 2019

They’re frustratingly unaware of it, but my two dogs, Jerry and Juno, enjoy nice things. I don’t lavish them in bespoke raw pet food or designer dog clothes, but Juno, a deranged hell-goblin who just turned one year old, often gets a stick of dried Himalayan yak cheese (usually $8 a pop) to keep her occupied inside her crate. And Jerry, a beatific senior lab mix, takes a glucosamine tablet ($9.99 per bottle) with each morning meal. I’m not sure how much it actually helps him, beyond the fleeting happiness he possibly derives from believing he’s getting a Special Breakfast Treat.

I do these things because I love my dogs deeply and care about their health, obviously, but I suspect it’s also for more selfish reasons: I simply need them to live forever.

Unsurprisingly, I’m a sucker for my animals, largely because confronting their mortality is worse than thinking about my own. A lot of other dog owners my age feel similarly, as it turns out — millennial dog people are pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into the pet supplement industry, which in 2018 had an estimated value of around $636 million, according to an April 2019 report from market research publisher Packaged Facts. That’s a mind-boggling figure that, by all measures, appears to be growing. (For context, that sum is roughly equivalent to the value of another millennial-baiting cash cow: the pumpkin spice industrial complex.)

DOG OWNERS AGE 25-34 SKEW PARTICULARLY HIGH FOR BUYING SUPPLEMENTS FOR THEIR ANIMALS.

The American pet product industry, which is reportedly worth $75 billion, has become such a gold rush that there’s even a summit for venture capitalists and corporate buyers to connect with pet product startups pitching “smart” litterboxes that measure how frequently your cat pees, “Blue Apron for dogs,” and depression-soothing television programming for pets (the event is called, aptly, the Pets and Money Summit). Pet food is one of the food sector’s fastest growing segments, according to an annual report from Global Industry Analysts, Inc., and is projected to reach nearly $35 billion by 2024. And the category of pet supplements — from fish oil to probiotics to Jerry’s special breakfast treat — has grown year over year for the past five years, according to  Packaged Facts. Their nearly 200-page analysis was compiled from surveying pet owners of all ages, but according to the data, dog owners age 25-34 skew particularly high for buying supplements for their animals. Overall, dog people spend four times as much on their good boys and girls as cat people do, and last year, accounted for an estimated 78% of all pet supplement sales. Talk about rolling over! (I’m very sorry.)

The factors that contributed to such massive growth in pet wellness read like a rousing game of Millennial Mad Libs. There’s the rise of slick, direct-to-consumer ecommerce brands — Packaged Facts’ 2019 surveys show that 43% of dog owners who purchase supplements do so online, compared to a measly 27% just two years ago. There’s the seismic surge of interest in CBD, and the “halo effect” its popularity has had in the pet supplement category. There’s the explosion of (human) wellness and self-care culture over the last few years, and its ensuing trickle-down effect on our pets: according to the report, “pet supplement purchasers are more likely to be supplement takers themselves.” And then, of course, there are the millennial customers themselves: a generation for whom pets often function like kids. (Industry experts call this phenomenon “humanization.”)

Steve King, president of the American Pet Products Association and 30-year veteran of the industry, tells me that millennials, who recently surpassed boomers as the biggest buyers of pet products, have brought along some fairly major attitudinal shifts in what, and how, we buy for our pets. “Products that were considered perhaps luxuries by earlier generations are now considered essentials by millennial pet owners,” says King. “And that definitely feeds into the area of supplements.”

Take Jerry’s daily glucosamine regimen. Glucosamine started out as a human dietary supplement for joint health decades ago, and trickled over into canine health over the last decade, but only attained mainstream popularity among dog owners in recent years. “Ten years ago, consumers may have heard of it, but they weren’t really sure what it does,” says King. “And now, it’s just part of the life stages of their pet. They know that that’s something that will be good for them and help them with joint health throughout their lives.” Sure enough, a Google Trends search for “glucosamine for dogs” shows a steady uptick in queries over the last fifteen years, as glucosamine joined the ranks of leashes, beds, and bones as a totally normal thing to buy for your dog. I get mine at Trader Joe’s.

The CBD chews purported to soothe a dog’s anxiety, the gut health products you can order custom-tailored to your border collie’s microbiome, the personalized pet medsdelivered to your door — these things have crept from niche corners toward the mainstream; from products you’d seek out at vet clinics or specialty stores to products you might consider subscribing to after seeing it on Instagram.

One of those Instagram ads I spotted recently was from a company called Goodboy, which is kind of like a Ritual or Care/Of for dogs. The visuals on Goodboy’s website tick all the millennial boxes: emojis, the word “doggo,” that trendy ‘70s font atop hues of millennial pink and hunter green. Users fill out a quiz about their dog, selecting from various canine concerns such as bone health, mobility, immunity support, and stress/anxiety, and are subsequently served recommendations for one or more of Goodboy’s four formulas.

Cofounders Stefan Lewinger, 31, and Kari Sapp, 30, launched the Atlanta-based brand in July after working together on Lewinger’s last startup, a specialty sock subscriptionservice. (Both are also dog owners: Lewinger has a German short-haired pointer, and Sapp has two labs.) “We just wanted to demystify the supplement industry,” says Sapp. “Now, people are looking for alternative ways to take care of their pets.”

The co-founders told me on the phone that, along the lines of direct-to-consumer vitamin startups like Ritual, they hope to reach millennials who are perhaps wellness-curious but not necessarily interested in embarking on a biochemical research project or sifting through PubMed. A quiz is much easier. “I think the success of [brands like] Ritual and some of these other direct to consumer brands is that it is simple, it’s familiar, but exciting,” says Lewinger. “It can get boring to do your own research. So, we try to do it through a more fun and playful lens.”

In the development phase, the cofounders talked with fellow dog owners in their age group. “Everybody had one or two different concerns that they wanted to address with their dogs, but they didn’t really know where to start,” says Lewinger. “Maybe it wasn’t something that was worth a vet visit, or maybe it was something that, if you poke around the supplement aisle in PetSmart, there’s a million different labels and bottles.”

WHEN DOG OWNERS ARE FACED WITH FIVE-FIGURE MEDICAL BILLS $30 A MONTH FOR SOME VITAMINS MIGHT NOT SEEM SO TERRIBLY INDULGENT.

On the spectrum of pet healthcare, there’s a pretty wide gap between “not great but probably fine” and “needs to go to the vet right now.” Supplements and other products of not-quite-mainstream “wellness,” both canine and human, attempt to fill this gap; to circumvent the barriers and costs of mainstream healthcare while still proactively protecting your pet’s health. When dog owners are faced with the specter of five-figure medical bills, or even bankruptcy, to save their dog’s life, $30 a month for some vitamins might not seem quite so terribly indulgent.

Pet supplements share another attribute with the wellness bubble, and that’s a lack of regulation. Just as Hairfinity, Hum, or Ritual aren’t forced to conduct clinical trials to prove whether their vitamins really do give you thicker hair or glowier skin, it’s largely up to pet supplement brands to ensure their own products are safe and their marketing claims are honest.

Fortunately, there are some non-government watchdogs (you get it) keeping an eye on pet supplement manufacturers. Bartges points to the National Animal Supplement Council (NASC), a voluntary organization to which companies can submit information about the quality of their product. “If it meets requirements established by NASC, then it receives a seal of approval,” says Bartges, though he notes that not all companies apply for the seal. Failing that, he adds, pet owners should always read the labels. “If the company cannot provide what is exactly in the product — not only the ingredients but [also] the amounts — then I would choose another product and company,” he says. “You should know exactly what is being provided to a pet.”

I try to give my dogs nice things, but I could always be doing more. Does Juno, who consistently eats the mulch in my backyard and promptly regurgitates it indoors, need probiotics for her microbiome? Does Jerry’s bladder deserve a blend of cranberry powder, marshmallow root powder, and various other powders distilled into one healthy, all-natural chew? Do my dogs, as Goodboy suggests, “deserve” this?

I asked Dr. Bartges whether I’m a bad dog mother for not giving each of my dog-children their own tailored vitamin blends. He mostly absolved me of my guilt. “If a pet has a specific problem, then supplements may help,“ says Bartges. “But in general, most healthy pets do not need supplements if they are eating a good quality diet. If you feel the need to supplement a diet, then consider changing their diets.” Maybe I should look into Blue Apron for dogs after all.

[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.

[autstudy]

STUDY MONDAY #4: Low Energy Study Hacks I'm a student and I'm a spoonie. In spoon theory of disability and chronic illness, a person who is disabled and/or chronically ill has limited energy, or spoons, to get through the day. It can be caused by symptoms, such as pain, fatigue, brain fog, anxiety, and so on, experiences like sensory overload or a panic attack, or even by the requirement to modify your behavior (for autistic people - having to pass as neurotypical). As a result, things that may seem simple, like brushing your teeth, making your bed and cooking a breakfast, can require a lot of energy. Most spoonies can only do a limited amount of things in a day and then we get so exhausted, we have to rest or even wait for the next day to get more spoons. And as you can imagine, studying when your energy sources are limited is quite tricky. This is my list of tips and tricks that might make your spoonie student life a bit easier. 1. Get some sleep I'm putting this first because in my opinion this is the most important advice I can give you. I feel like my energy levels are very dependent on sleep quality. If I am sleep deprived, I barely have any spoons. And I'd guess it is like that for many people. So getting enough sleep should be your number one priority. I know it might sound like "just don't be depressed!". I understand. I have delayed sleep phase disorder and I've had it all my life. Melatonin pills are the only treatment that helps me. For you it might be something simple, like turning down blue light on your smartphone and drinking calming herbal tea, or something more complex, like meds and a strict sleep schedule. Not everyone will find their solution, but many will, so don't give up. You should be getting at least 7-8 hours of sleep every day. Some people need less, some need much more. If you sleep for more than nine hours and still wake up feeling groggy and tired, you might need to adjust your schedule to not wake up during the REM phase (the one where you dream the most). Experiment with alarm clock time, and find a balance that allows you to wake up without sleep inertia. And some generic advice: don't consume caffeine six hours or less before bedtime (yes that includes black/green tea and dark chocolate!), don't nap for longer than half an hour, keep your bedroom cool (almost cold) and clean and don't eat a big meal an hour before bedtime. 2. Prioritize Prioritizing is sometimes the only thing you can do when you have ten important tasks and enough energy to do just five. It starts with being honest about your abilities, as well as responsibilities, and making a realistic plan. In your to do list, the tasks should be arranged from the most important and urgent to the least important and urgent. If something can wait, it can wait - do the assignment that is due in two days. It might also mean "neglecting" things people feel are essential. You don't actually need to make your bed in the morning - it only helps the dust mites to breed. You don't actually need to take a shower every single day - once every 48 hours, or even three times a week, is enough. You won't get malnutrition if you have frozen pizza for dinner once a week - your body can manage. You can wear the same shirt for an entire week - as long as it's clean, it's unlikely people will judge you for it. And so on. I'm not saying "live like a filthy animal", but sometimes you have to cut down the amount of tasks in your daily to do list, and it's better to choose wisely. Sometimes you have to admit you will never be an A only student, and set a goal of learning as much as possible. If you need a certain average grade, calculate how many good grades you actually need and don't worry about others (as long as you pass). For example last semester I had two "I don't give a damn" subjects which I barely passed, and my average was still 4.2 out of 5. Pick easy subjects when possible! It's allowed. Get your As and Bs where you can, but don't forget to rest and take care of yourself. 3. Make compromises You will have some days when you will be able to do very little. You will have many such days. On those days, the most important thing is to do /something/. Just a little bit. Just one small thing you can manage. If you can only read ten pages of a book, do it! Ten less pages to read tomorrow. If you can only write two paragraphs of an essay, do it! Two paragraphs less to write tomorrow. Every tiny thing you will manage is an achievement, and it's progress. Don't fool yourself into thinking "that's not enough, so I won't do it at all". A tiny bit of work is still work. You will also have days when you won't be able to study at all. If you realize that nothing you try is working, it's okay to stop and take a break. Use such "useless" days to take care of yourself. Watch five episodes of your favorite show. Eat junk food. Stay in the shower for an hour. Talk to your friend (or maybe even to your cat). Listen to some good music. Relax! If you know you can't do anything today, you can either be miserable about it or enjoy a tiny holiday. I know what I would choose. 4. Waste some time When you have a lot to do, instead of panicking about it and rushing your work, slow down! Sleep an extra half an hour. Go through your morning routine as usual. Calmly examine your to do list. Prepare your study place. Take a deep breath in. Yes you just "wasted" an hour, or even more. But, you hopefully got into a calm, determined mood, and will be able to deal with stress and do your work much more effectively. Believe me, it is worth it. 5. Find low energy study methods The best form of studying for me is making study/revision notes using many different sources of information, then reciting them. I can't do it every day though. On some days my executive dysfunction is bad and I don't have energy to write study notes. That's when I use my low energy study methods. My favorite is YouTube. Crash Course is rather brief, but good when you are unfamiliar with the subject and need an introduction and a great explanation of the basics. Khan Academy is more detailed and has lectures for many different subjects. Just searching YouTube for good videos also works sometimes. For me this is an amazing study method because it is engaging enough but passive - all I need to do is watch and listen. It's not perfect, but it's better than doing nothing. Find a low energy study method that works for you and use it. It will make a huge difference on "low on spoons" days. 6. Feed your brain Your brains favorite fuel is a simple sugar: glucose. And it needs a lot of it. Human brain consumes around 20% of all calories the body needs, and it weighs less than 10% of the total body mass. When you eat carbohydrates, your body can extract sugar directly from it. When you eat fats or proteins, your body needs to metabolize them to produce sugar. Your diet should contain all kinds of foods, and you shouldn't eat too much carbs, especially simple carbs. HOWEVER. When you feel tired and can't concentrate, sometimes it's because your glucose levels are low. If you don't have metabolic issues like diabetes, a sugary snack can help get you back into working mode. Chocolate, fruits and sweet drinks like tea, coffee or juice are all great for giving you a quick sugar boost. Some people say even the taste of sweet in their mouth helps them concentrate and study, and chewing gum with an artificial sweetener is enough for that. So if you do this in moderation, a sugar boost is great for low energy studying. Just don't abuse it. It loses the effect if overused. 7. Be compassionate to yourself No matter how hard your try, sometimes life is just difficult. It's okay. It's okay to fail a test or an exam, it's always a learning opportunity. It's okay to not get the grades you wanted, it can be a totally random thing. It's okay to miss class sometimes, everyone does it. It's okay to take breaks, you earned them. It's okay to ask for help, you deserve it. Measure your success by how hard you tried, not the result you got. And be kind to yourself. If you did your best (which definitely doesn't mean exhausting yourself to a point of mental breakdown), it's enough. That's all I have to share. Hope it helps. What are your low energy tips and tricks? Share them in the replies!