#ive been sick for 1 1/2 weeks with cold and cough - at least it's getting better now

[theresa-draws]

late sketchy boy for his bday #聂怀桑0520生日快乐

#mdzs #nie huaisang #聂怀桑0520生日快乐 #魔道祖师 #聂怀桑 #theresa draws #2023 #ive been sick for 1 1/2 weeks with cold and cough - at least it's getting better now

[weathergirl8]

Master of Deflection - Part 6

Finally found time to post this sucker during this crazy week of graduation prep! Graduation practice tomorrow and actual ceremony Friday night for my associate's degree!

This is for you @ak47stylegirl and anyone else who enjoys Alan whump/smothering. Of course, there will be some extra Virgil in there too, because I just love the big guy.

@misssquidtracy @gumnut-logic @godsliltippy Thank you for your support on this fic!!

I bring you some Sky Turnip and Land Cabbage 💙💚

As a friendly reminder, I originally came from the TOS and TB 2004 era. I’ve tried to write a few TAG point-of-views, but my comfort zone is the previous. This will take place with Gordon as the redhead, and Virgil as the middle bro. Sorry!

Summary: Being the youngest of five is always hard, especially when they pounce at the slightest hair out of line. Sometimes the art of deflection can sting.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Virgil tried to suppress a yawn as he grabbed the needed medication from the infirmary. Alan’s fever had climbed nearly another degree. The medic of the family instinctively made the call to start antibiotics quickly. Virgil was confident they were now dealing with more than the common cold and that a bacterial infection was beginning to set in.

Entering Alan’s room, the middle Tracy was concerned to see the bed empty. Only the sight of the strewn sheets and a pile of used tissues remained. “Allie?”

“I’m in here,” Alan’s hoarse voice called from the bathroom.

Virgil sat the meds down and met the crumbled form of his baby brother. Alan sat on the bathroom floor, the wall seeming to be the only thing holding him up. “Sick again?”

“Yup,” Alan grumbled as he reached to flush the toilet. Virgil handed him a towel to clean himself up. “Thanks.”

Virgil helped him up but quickly took hold of his younger brother’s waist as the teen’s legs nearly crumbled. “Alan, you okay?”

“Yea,” the teen panted as another cough erupted from him. “Brain and body just don’t want to cooperate at the moment.”

“C’mon, let’s get you back in bed,” Virgil urged as they made the short walk to Alan’s bed. “If you don’t start keeping things down, I’m going to have to start an IV, kiddo. I’m worried about dehydration.”

“You’re preaching to the choir. This isn’t exactly a party,” Alan wheezed, letting his head sink back into his pillow.

Virgil observed him as Alan coughed and tried to take in a deep breath. “How long has that been going on?”

“I dunno,” Alan shrugged. “Awhile, I guess. It’s not like I’m writing all of this down.”

The middle Tracy handed Alan two pills, motioning for the teen to take the antibiotics. “When you’re not exerting yourself, is it hard to breathe?”

Alan gave his older brother a weird look but decided against the first thought that entered his mind. He wouldn’t exactly call laying in bed exerting himself, but who was he to judge? “If you call breathing with my mouth mostly, then sure.”

Virgil now wished he had kept the kid in the infirmary so he could ease his mind and have all of his equipment at his disposal. Knowing it wasn’t something the baby of the family would do, he opted for what he had in front of him. “Alright, if it gets worse, let me know immediately. Here’s something that will help with nausea, and something to hopefully help with that cough,” he said, handing Alan the tiny pill and cup of cough suppressant.

“Why do these always have to taste so gross?” Alan complained as he quickly swallowed several gulps of water.

“That’s how you know it’ll work,” Virgil smirked, winking at his annoyed sibling.

-TB-

The sunrise was Scott’s favorite part of his morning run. The smell of the morning dew across the island jungle and the colorful orange and yellow hues that rippled across the water.

He slowed his pace to a jog as he came across the broadest part of the beach on the Island. Wiping the sweat from his forehead, the oldest Tracy paused as he noticed a figure ahead. Confusion met him as he recognized the build of the person. Scott quickly jogged forward, calling out to his younger brother. “Virgil?”

“Hey, Scott,” the chestnut-haired Tracy greeted, wiping the sweat from his forehead with a towel.

Scott struggled for a moment. He knew he was treading on thin ice for his brother to be up this early. Virgil was always active, but athletically the medic was more of a gym guy. He found more solace in lifting weights and punching bags. Sprinting and running were always something the other brothers had enjoyed, barring John. It was rare to catch Virgil on a run outside of the gym, especially on one before the sun had been up for at least one hour in the sky.

“Pretty view, huh?” Virgil interrupted his thoughts, almost sensing his brother’s unease.

“Always is,” Scott smiled in appreciation. “No sunrise seems to be the same.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” Virgil replied, taking a seat along the sand.

Scott’s concern only increased, but he followed his brother along the cool sand. His blue eyes searched the ocean while taking small glances at Virgil.

“You can ask,” Virgil exhaled, surprising the elder. “I know you’re wondering why I’m out here so early.”

Scott tried to suppress the grin that he knew was also on Virgil’s face. “Didn’t want to push.”

Virgil nodded in understanding, letting his hands rest on his raised knees. “Bad dreams and worried about Alan,” he stated plainly.

“I checked in on the kid before I started my run. Al was sound asleep, but he still felt warm and sounded congested. I think that humidifier might be helping,” Scott said, watching Virgil as he stared out into the water. “I didn’t want to disturb him. He needs his rest.”

“Allie’s exhausted,” Virgil admitted. “Between the coughing, vomiting, and congestion, his sleep has been interrupted. I gave him a round of antibiotics and something to help with the other symptoms. Alan’s definitely caught something bacterial for sure. Those cold waters from the rescue didn’t do him any favors.”

“I’m sure those will help,” Scott reassured. “He just needs time for the meds and his immune system to work.” The elder Tracy studied his brother once again. “Do you want to talk about the dreams?”

Virgil sighed as he threw a rock he had been playing with toward the water. “It was about the last mission.”

“I figured,” Scott added. “I would’ve been surprised if you didn’t. I know what it felt like being on the receiving end. I can only imagine what it was like in the moment physically.”

“Definitely won’t be in my top 20,” Virgil chuckled solemnly.

“Who said it was getting past the top 50?” Scott laughed, nudging Virgil.

“Point taken,” the middle Tracy smiled.

“All jokes aside,” Scott started. “Are you okay?”

“Okay is a relative term, Scott. We compartmentalize and move on-“

“-Virg, you know that’s not what I meant.”

“I do,” Virgil acknowledged meeting Scott's intense gaze. “Look, you know what happened. I don’t have to tell you again. I just…. I can’t get the image of the gun shoved against Alan’s neck out of my head and that look on his face. That look… Damnit, Scott. He’s too much like you!”

Scott tried not to laugh but empathized.

“I could tell Alan was scared, but the kid refused to show it. He was so trusting. Trusting of me to get us out of that situation.”

“You did, Virgil. Allie is safe because of you, and so are you. I was just as worried about you as I was our baby brother,” Scott countered. “You did what you had to, and no one was harmed.”

“That’s not the point, Scott. You have no idea how close it came.”

“What do you mean?” Scott asked, confused.

“There’s a bullet hole in the floor of the rescue platform. A hole that was inches away from hitting Alan when he hit the deck.”

Realization dawned on the oldest Tracy. “Is that what your dream was about? That the bullet actually hit Alan?”

Virgil remained silent as he collected his thoughts. He felt Scott turn to face him, the older pilot’s knees resting against one of his own. “Mostly, but what stuck with me most was that look. Like I said, having a hard time getting it out of my head.”

Scott placed a comforting hand along Virgil’s knee, squeezing it. “I know you don’t need me to tell you about how great you are when quick decisions need to be made. That goes without saying, but Allie trusted you with his life because so would I. Any of us would. The next time a lunatic threatens one of my brothers with a gun, he’ll wish neither one of us were around.”

Virgil smiled. “Thanks, Scott.”

“Anytime. You good?”

“I’ll be fine,” Virgil replied. “We probably should head in. Breakfast will be started soon, and I need to check on Alan and make sure Dad isn’t camping at his side.”

“Dad was still asleep when I checked on Al,” Scott said as they began to walk up the path that led to the main villa. “Besides, he has an early call with one of the new brokers, if I remember correctly.”

“Good, that should keep him occupied,” Virgil grinned.

TBC…

#thunderbirds fanfiction #thunderbirds #thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds 2004 #thunderfam #alan tracy #virgil tracy #scott tracy #my writing #part 6 #fanfic #writing

[hey-hamlet]

BNHA FIC PROMPTS

A collection of all of the fic ideas from that ask game, as of now. I’ll throw in new ones if i get any and when I remember. Feel free to use any of them, I’d love a link if you did!

with hands to the sky, I beg (what will save us?)

Izuku is a god who asks to be reborn as a human to try and help. He is warned he can’t return to being a god and will join the mortal realm, ever reincarnated. He agrees.

Izuku is a child with faint memories of a life he never lived, who knows too much about the world but not enough about the people around him. He’s not listed as having a quirk but he’s never gotten sick, never been hurt. He scares the other children and the adults don’t like his precocious nature. Inko loves her little miracle.

 My Soul is Like a Supernova

Things happen around Izuku. Always have. Everything from earthquakes and villain attacks to miraculous healing and lottery wins. He’s always attracted big events like this - as if even the universe can see how important he is and it warps itself around him.

He sees this as perfectly normal. 1A is begining to notice a stressful pattern.

This one regret of mine

Character study of Inko and how she deeply regrets so many things she’s done in her life, from her husband, to giving up on her carrier, to telling Izuku he couldn’t be a hero and then letting him keep going to UA.

But no matter what she’d never regret her son.

Of souls and lost causes

A good ol’ Izuku sees dead people AU, focused more on his younger years when he’d wander around the city helping as many spirits as he could, only to return home at the end of the day exhausted and dirty to an increasingly worried mother who believed the doctor when he said seeing ghosts as a quirk would be impossible.

my life.your choice

Underground heroics AU (i dont think ive ever posted that au huh): Izuku is the well-known son of japan’s immortal emperor, All for One. Born quirkless, he’s been emotionally abused but violently protected his whole life by his father, his mother killed before his eyes for trying to take him away. He’s never been able to make a choice for himself save for his bodyguard - his childhood friend, Bakugo Katsuki.

Katsuki made a pledge to protect him when they were in kindergarten and he’ll be damned if he breaks it now. And if it takes the two of them joining the resistance, meeting a vigilante by the name of All Might thought long dead and Izuku receiving a near-mythical quirk? Well, that just makes it more exciting, doesn’t it?

I forgot that you existed

Izuku gets hit with a quirk that not only makes people forget him, it prevents them from seeing him as well - all but erasing him from reality for everyone he knows. He can still interact with things but all it manages to do is just UA shut down under fear of villain infiltration. They find Izuku 18 hours later when the quirk wears off - a motion tracking gun trained on his forehead.

certain uncertainties

No one can predict the quirks trapped in One for All or when they’ll show up. Anthology fic of Izuku discovering each of them, some being rather helpful, and at least one piece of merch being sent into a low orbit.

Sometimes goodbye is a second chance

Set in the same universe I wrote console reset in; during the two heroes movie: they never defeat Nine and he slaughters the whole island and his class, leaving Izuku till last. He comes back at the start of their first day on the island and doggedly makes friends with every islander he can because while it hurt seeming them die, it hurt even more knowing he’d never even learnt most of their names.

They win this time the first time they meet him, even if it’s a marathon fight of 8 hours with him and Bakugo doggedly wearing him down. No one dies. Izuku thinks it’s worth dying as many times as he has to to keep the people he loves smiling.

The immortality of the heroic spirit

One of the quirks in One for All is determination: if you have something you desperately want to do, you can’t die - no matter how much blood you lose or home many pieces your body is crushed into - you’ll just heal back to where you were before you died. All Might and Aizawa find this out to horrifying effect during a brutal villain fight they are stuck watching on the news with the rest of a terrified UA.

In hindsight this makes a lot of sense to Izuku. Aizawa wants to scream. All Might has coughed up more blood than is probably healthy and all of 1A bruised hands from where they were clutching each other’s when it got too tense.

Shine on you invincible legacy

Izuku becomes a top 10 hero before hes even out of high school, hitting No.2 the second he graduates and taking No.1 from Hawks literally the next time the ranking is counted. 1A will not stop throwing him parties each time he moves up in the ranking, even if in 3rd year it was every other week. All Might comes to ever one of them.

Shake the Dirt from Your Shoes

Izuku will be a hero and no one will stop him - an AU a fair bit like the beginning of canon except Izuku fights back, remains unending optimistic and maybe engages in a light bit of technically legal vigilantism, accidentally befriending a vast array of heroes and a student or two.

To his horror, they recognise him out of costume as soon as he speaks to them, resulting in a very eventful first day at UA.

do you feel with a heart of steel

Original Sin AU, young Izuku finding feeling emotions difficult and not knowing why. He finds a dying animal on the way home and sits with it, patting it until it passes away. He doesn’t think he feels anything, but his cheeks feel wet.

all you want is milk and honey

Villains have been trying to use Izuku his entire life, much to his annoyance and confusion (I wonder who in his family might make him known to villains? hm). He’s gotten very good at being intimidating, even as a child.

When he gets kidnapped with Bakugo on a primary school field trip he decides to hell with it and breaks out all the stops. Turns out villains don’t tend to want a 10-year-old who can describe in great detail how they would hang you with your own intestines.

Bakugo decides that fuck Izuku being quirkless, he’s kind of amazing.

Even the stars

Izuku dies young and no one but the stars cry for him. They bring him back, but his body is cold and he has a nova burning where his heart should be. A four-year-old who has known death and walked among the stars is a terrifying thing. His skin has a shimmer to it, his eyes look like planets with no visible pupil, and he knows far too much.

The stars still speak to him, and they see everything.

bitter dreams and optimistic nightmares

Bakugo and Izuku grow up good friends, until Izuku is taken by villains age 9.

Bakugo’s determined to be a hero to save Izuku, even if it hurts to be at UA without him.

Izuku hates hurting people but he’s determined to make the most of his horrible situation by leaking information to heroes whenever he can. He’s given to All for One to serve as a lab hand to the doctor when All for One finds out this rag tag outpost of his had been hiding a valuable resource.

They meet at the USJ.

Mind Games for Two Shinsou and Izuku are both gen ed students in the same class, but with Shinsou stubbornly refusing to make friends and Izuku being the vice president they are almost strangers. UA has a no quirkless students policy and Shinsou has accidentally discovered that he student in his class with an analysis quirk, doesn’t, actually, have one. Izuku is aware Shinsou knows. They both want to get into the hero course but are under the impression there is only one spot.

It’s tense.

The Melody Stuck in My Soul

Izuku has an empathy/emotional control quirk that hears other’s emotions like music. He uses this both to read people, to defend himself, and, because hes Izuku, to ramp up his adrenaline/motivation/anger to kick ass. He and Bakugo are friends because baby Bakugo was lowkey impressed Izuku managed to weaponize his tears.

Advantage of the musical element: it gives him something concrete to latch on to and change, and it was very easy to work out which emotions were which. Also he has his own theme song, even if he’s the only one who can hear it.

Disadvantage: He cant turn it off. The stronger the emotion the ‘louder’ the music (it doesn’t cover up natural sounds because its not technically there, you get me?)

Error 404, childhood not found

A Hero’s Son AU, snapshot’s of Izuku’s childhood with No.1 Hero All for One as his abusive father.

Age 4 when his quirk never comes in and All for One abandons all pretences of loving him. Age 6 when he realises his son is intelligent and has a use as a lab assistant for the doctor. Age 8 when Bakugo first realises something is wrong. Age 9 when his father is almost killed by the No.1 villain All Might. Age 9 when he’s made to work in the labs with the doctor.

Age 14 when he meets All Might. Age 15 when he makes it into UA.

Darkness Growing (The Light Ever Smaller)

Villains take over Japan after the current arc, leaving all heroes and students that don’t switch sides on the run. 1A is instantly separated with a few of them  being killed, most of the living students with Aizawa and Izuku and Bakugo by themselves, both too stubborn to leave the other.

Aizawa is desperately trying to get to Izuku and Bakugo in an attempt to keep them safe, while the two of them are avoiding Aizawa to keep the rest of their class safe(er), all while avoiding the villains, turncoat heroes and police out to get them. Public support is spotty at best with anyone found ‘harboring a criminal’ given the same punishment as the hero.

Lost soul of last hope

The first wielder has been Izuku’s imaginary friend since he can remember. He’s not very imaginary.

Featuring Izuku with the world’s strangest older brother, Inko coming to the realisation her son can see a ghost, but only one ghost and no one will believe them, Izuku’s quirk being listed as Inko’s because the first wielder can help him fake it, and Izuku wondering why first looks so much like that picture of his father on his mother’s bedside table.

The kids the system failed

100% The 1A run aways au with 1A, Aizawa and Mic being runaways kids of various ages that band together to stay alive and maybe do a little vigilante work on the side.

Izuku has All for One and uses it like you’d expect a traumatised kid to - cautiously at first but when he gets the hang of it there are suddenly no more criminals with quirks in their area, and it looks suspiciously like Uraraka can fly.

Just a second to soon? For the Fic thing?

Aizawa struggles and gets knocked out just before Shigaraki lunges at Tsuyu. She and Izuku are left horribly injured by his quirk with massive facial scarring, and in Tsuyu’s case, the loss of an eye.

Daze

An illusion/fear quirk makes his teachers look like villains and convinces him he’s in danger. They try and stop him without hurting him but it’s difficult considering Izuku is convinced he’s protecting his friends, considering he can only see them broken and bloodied with villains he thought were locked away loaming over them.

Even as Aizawa cuts out his quirk Izuku still tries to shield his friends, snarling ferally.

Morning Glories and Forget-me-nots

A memory quirk of unknown duration hits Izuku, leaving him remembering none of his life. 1A starts to fall apart without one of their pillar’s.

hopeless but not broken

The Long Con au where Izuku asks All Might if he could be a hero without a quirk - he’s really asking if he can stop pretending to be a villain, if he’s worth anything without the quirks he’s been given, if he’s worth something as himself rather than the limited use he can provide. He doesn’t know how to say all of that, so he just asks if he could be a hero.

All Might says no. And Izuku basically decides right then that the only way he’ll ever be able to help people is by being a mole for the heroes like he’s been since he was 10 - that he isn’t worth anything because he’s quirkless and to be considered just as valuable as the people around him are he needs to give his life and more.

He shows up to the bar crying because of All Might and Shigaraki moves his murder plot forward a few months.

Sunflowers and Summer Gardens

All Might starts a garden on campus and 1A like to help. He uses it as a nice place to chill and as physical therapy. He likes to give the different classes bunches of flowers when they sprout.

For Dos and For Donts

Izuku runs into some of his old bullies when out with some of his friends. Uraraka, Iida, Todoroki, Shinsou and Asui intimidate the fuck out of them, and Izuku realises hes not scared of them any more. Then they get frozen yoghurt!

your mistakes, my unbecoming

Aizawa assigns a project on quirk related issues, Izuku ends up with quirkless discrimination, Aizawa assumes his discomfort is just him being upset he doesn’t get to talk about quirks. He doesn’t realise his mistake until he finds Izuku dissociating on the roof.

one and one into the vast

Original Sin AU, All for One and Izuku seeing the vestiges together. One for All sees his brother for the first time and Izuku learns a lot about the voice in his head.

All for One has a mini-crisis about his not son learning he’s a horrific villain, especially considering he has the power to cast his soul out at any time, killing him at will. Izuku doesn’t kill him. He admits its probably not right of him to let AfO remain considering the things he’s done, but All for One is a part of him now and it would be like killing a friend.

All for One quietly decides to hold off on the villainy until all of 1A is dead, for Izuku’s sake.

between the stars of our souls

Izuku and All Might are old gods who keep getting reborn into human forms with their memories regained when they turn 4. Normally finding each other takes a while, and their last reincarnation they never found each other, so this time he resolves to make himself as easy to find as possible, all while saving as many people as he can.

Izuku, aged 4, memories fresh in his head, makes it his mission to get into contact with the man he knows is his father/mentor’s reincarnation. All Might’s agency was not expecting a 4 year old to repeatedly try breaking in to their office, and they especially weren’t expecting him to be so good at it.

you really should have thought this through

Different (and ill-advised) attempts at special moves or team up combo moves. Featuring:

Izuku managing to break Kirishima’s nose.

Uraraka sending Bakugo so high he broke the sound barrier coming back down to earth.

Kaminari and Shouto managing to electrify ice.

Izuku, Todoroki and Bakugo levelling a whole suburb (at least it was condemned???)

I'll Break Anything You Give Me

Different times Izuku desperately tried to repair his relationship with Izuku over the years and the one time Bakugo fully grasps how much he fucked up and reaches out his hand to try to fix it for the first time. Probably includes a lot of screaming, Bakugo learning how to say sorry, a field trip and them having a conversation on Aldera’s roof.

Sinking

One for All kind of possesses Izuku during a quiet night at the dorms. One for All, made of 8 people, 7 of which are dead and had their last experiences in life be rather painful and violent, breaks down, Izuku alone not enough to drown them out. They lash out at anyone who tries to touch them, their quirks tearing Izuku’s body apart.

All Might’s vestige reaches out a hand to Izuku to keep his mind from being torn apart as 1A set about both trying to protect Izuku and get Aizawa who was off campus on patrol.

Feat. Bakugo and All Might being the only people with any idea about what’s going on and getting more and more stressed each second that passes. Iida, Uraraka and Todoroki being good heroes and even better friends. Blood King deciding he’s never watching 1A for Aizawa again, and Aizawa deciding he’s never leaving 1A alone ever again.

A Long Way From Home

Shirakumo wakes up in Kurogiri’s body in Tartarus with only shadowed memories of his time as a villain. He’s scared and alone and he just wants to see his friends again, even if he’s scared they hate him because at least that’s something he knows.

Too Far Gone

The other side AU, it comes out Izuku is a villain with (knockoff) All for One and he has a showdown with Mirio. He and Izuku trained together under All Might and Mirio tries to plead with him but Izuku has to basically tell him to go to hell to not ruin his placet as crown prince of the underworld.

Of course, he’s not only doing this to save people, he’s also doing it with All Might’s blessing - taking over from All Might himself serving as a villain after he killed All for One to prevent a power vacuum.

Doesn’t mean that his friends in 1A know that.

Snowy hills and sunlit peaks

Probably an AU about All Might being a mountain spirit with a little shrine that Izuku is the only one who visits - Izuku gets in trouble and All Might manifests himself, saves him, and tells everyone to keep their hands off his human son.

Wilting

Izuku gets sick and he tries to hide it because he’s scared its something serious but he just gets worse and worse. His friends are the ones who eventually step in and comfort him.

I’d probably write two endings with one being a bad end and the other a good end.

My wish came true without me realising 

Izuku wakes up one morning, comes downstairs and just starts crying. Everyone panics and he reassures them they are happy tears and that he's just glad to be here. They all call him sappy and give him a hug. Later in the day he and Bakugo chat and Izuku reveals he never even expected to live this long, let alone become a hero. Bakugo grumbles that he’s too stubborn to die, and not to get too cocky. Izuku promises he wont.

#38 of them damn #bnha prompts #mha prompts #prompt list #bnha #mha #bnha au #boku no hero #my hero academia #hero aca

[smashrhenae23]

I would love to know how many people actually get sleep the night before a surgery. It’s 2am and I will be woken up by the nurses around 5:30 or 6am, in order to shower and start getting prepped. I will be going under the knife for my second thoracotomy. They will be doing a lobectomy on my left lung, which is a removal of one of the lobes. Hopefully this will be the last speed bump in my long recovery.

This past September, I caught a cold and went to an urgent care center to see if I actually had COVID. Test was negative, but the doctor said I had bronchitis. No big deal, right? I used to get that type of stuff all of the time when I was young. About a week later, I went in to work and had to leave about an hour later since I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I had progressively been getting worse so I assumed I had COVID and that last test wasn’t right. I went to a different urgent care, and I was immediately put on oxygen. They did a COVID test (negative) and an X-ray. The X-ray showed that my entire left lung was whited out, and said they needed to call an ambulance to take me to the hospital (only 6 miles away 🙄). While at the hospital, they put in a chest tube. The doctor had told me that they didn’t get many people needing chest tubes and I would probably be sent to a bigger hospital. That was pretty much the last thing I remember before waking up in a hospital in Tulsa, OK....6 days later.

I was so confused and still highly medicated, and started begging for them to call my mom. I also was convinced that she had sent me there for punishment, and that they had taken me into outer space to do it. I hurt everywhere, didn’t understand why there were so many manchines, etc. My mom got there and explained what she could. I had been life flighted and put on life support. I went septic and had a thoracotomy to drain and clean out that lung. I had 3 chest tubes at that point. I had lost most function of my hand. I was on life support for 6 days and was told that they didn’t think I was going to survive that first night.

I spent 20 days in, was sent home, then came back 4 days later because I couldn’t breathe. I was admitted and spent another 14 days. At least I got to spend time with my daughter on her birthday when I was home those short 4 days. Altogether during those 34 days, I had a thoracotomy, thoracentisis, 6 chest tubes, a JP tube (draining from my stomach), 256 X-rays, 1 MRI, and 30 something CTs. They diagnosed me with Necrotizing Pneumonia, Necrotizing Pancreatitis, and they found a large pseudocyst. The pseudocyst went from behind my liver, up through a hole in my diaphragm, and was pushing up against my esophagus. I was sent home with IV antibiotics and I’m now on a 24 hour one while still going to work and taking care of my kids.

Which brings us to today. I started coughing up blood on January 2. Its been a constant, all day, bright red blood anywhere from the size of a quarter to a handful if I have a coughing fit. I spent this month going back and forth to see 4 of my doctors. I had a couple of CTs, xrays, labs, and a bronchoscopy. The doctors all said everything looks great and is getting better, but my left lobe is what is causing the blood. They believe it was just damaged too much during the previous stay.

I’m ready to get this over with. I’m also dreading the pain. They will go through my same scar that goes from under my armpit, around to about an inch away from my spine. It is still very tender. I’m not looking forward to the discomfort of the tubes, the box I have to carry around, the walks you have to take while in pain, the feel of the tubes being yanked out, etc. With how sick I was, I was told it would take at least a year of recovery. I’m just hoping this is my last surgery.

Anyways, wish me luck!

Ashley

#thoracotomy #thoracentisis #lobectomy #chest tubes #pneumonia #pseudocyst #coughingupblood #surgery

[fruitoyepk]

Can Vitamin C Prevent and Treat Coronavirus?

Source: MedicineNet Health News In a mad dash to discover effective treatment for the novel coronavirus, doctors and scientists are testing existing antivirals, antimalarials, monoclonal antibodies, and other medications against COVID-19. Now Chinese teams are adding vitamin C to the list of potential therapies. ناول کورونیوائرس کے موثر علاج کی دریافت کرنے کے ل a ، ڈاکٹروں اور سائنسدانوں کو موجودہ اینٹی وائرلز ، اینٹی میلاریئلز ، مونوکلونل مائپنڈوں ، اور دیگر دواؤں کو کوڈ 19 کے خلاف جانچ کر رہے ہیں۔ اب چینی ٹیمیں ممکنہ علاج کی فہرست میں وٹامن سی کا اضافہ کر رہی ہیں۔ ZhiYong Peng, MD of the Department of Critical Care Medicine at Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University recently registered a phase 2 clinical trial on ClinicalTrials.gov to test the efficacy of vitamin C infusions for the treatment of severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) associated with the novel coronavirus. ووہان یونیورسٹی کے زونگنان اسپتال میں کریکٹیکل کیئر میڈیسن کے شعبہ کے ایم ڈی ژیانگ پینگ نے حال ہی میں شدید شدید تنفس کے انفیکشن (ساری) سے وابستہ وٹامن سی انفیوژن کی افادیت کی جانچ کے لئے کلینیکل ٹرائلز.gov پر فیز 2 کلینیکل ٹرائل درج کیا ہے۔ ناول کورونا وائرس The study description notes that vitamin C is an antioxidant that may help prevent cytokine-induced damage to the lungs. Cytokines are small proteins released by cells, which trigger inflammation and respond to infections, according to MedicineNet author William C. Shiel Jr., MD, FACP, FACR. Severe lung inflammation with COVID-19 may result in respiratory distress and even death. مطالعے کی وضاحت میں بتایا گیا ہے کہ وٹامن سی ایک اینٹی آکسیڈینٹ ہے جو پھیپھڑوں کو سائٹوکائن سے متاثرہ نقصان کو روکنے میں مدد فراہم کرتا ہے۔ میڈیسنیٹ کے مصنف ولیم سی شیئل جونیئر ، ایم ڈی ، ایف اے سی پی ، ایف اے سی آر کے مطابق ، سائٹوکینز خلیوں کے ذریعہ جاری چھوٹے پروٹین ہیں ، جو سوزش کو متحرک کرتے ہیں اور انفیکشن کا جواب دیتے ہیں۔ COVID-19 کے ساتھ پھیپھڑوں کی شدید سوزش کے نتیجے میں سانس کی تکلیف اور یہاں تک کہ موت واقع ہوسکتی ہے۔ The clinical trial description states that vitamin C reduces the inflammatory response, and both prevents and shortens the duration of the common cold. The description further states that insufficient vitamin C is related to an increased risk and severity of influenza infections. The team aims to see if vitamin C has similar effects against viral pneumonia associated with COVID-19. کلینیکل آزمائشی وضاحت میں بتایا گیا ہے کہ وٹامن سی سوزش کے ردعمل کو کم کرتا ہے ، اور دونوں عام سردی کی مدت کو روکتا اور مختصر کرتا ہے۔ تفصیل میں مزید کہا گیا ہے کہ ناکافی وٹامن سی انفلوئنزا انفیکشن کے بڑھتے ہوئے خطرہ اور شدت سے متعلق ہے۔ ٹیم کا مقصد یہ دیکھنا ہے کہ کیا COVID-19 سے وابستہ ویمن نمونیہ کے خلاف وٹامن سی کا اثر پڑتا ہے۔ However not all experts agree. MedicineNet content reviewed by Carol DerSarkissian, MD states, "Your immune system does need vitamin C to work right. But extra won't help you avoid a cold. It may make it go away faster or not feel as bad – if you were taking it before you got sick." تاہم ، تمام ماہر متفق نہیں ہیں۔ میڈیکل نیٹ کے مشمولات کا جائزہ MD ، کیرول ڈیرسکیسیئن ، ایم ڈی نے لکھا ہے ، "آپ کے مدافعتی نظام کو صحیح طریقے سے کام کرنے کے لئے وٹامن سی کی ضرورت ہے۔ لیکن اضافی آپ کو سردی سے بچنے میں مدد نہیں دیتا ہے۔ یہ آپ کو تیز رفتار سے دور ہوجائے گا یا برا محسوس نہیں ہوگا - اگر آپ لے رہے تھے اس سے پہلے کہ آپ بیمار ہوجائیں۔ " Currently, there are no effective targeted antiviral medications for COVID-19. The main treatment consists of supportive therapy to manage symptoms. Participants in the experimental group will receive 24 grams of IV vitamin C per day for 7 days. That's more than 260 times the Daily Value (DV) for vitamin C for adults and children age 4 years old and up, which is 90 mg per day. تجرباتی گروپ میں شامل افراد کو 7 دن تک 24 گرام IV وٹامن سی حاصل ہوگا۔ یہ بالغ افراد اور 4 سال یا اس سے زیادہ عمر کے بچوں کے لئے وٹامن سی کے لئے ڈیلی ویلیو (ڈی وی) سے 260 گنا سے زیادہ ہے ، جو یومیہ 90 ملی گرام ہے۔ In a series of YouTube videos released within the last two weeks, Richard Cheng MD, PhD, Chinese Edition Editor of the Orthomolecular Medicine News Service states there are at least three clinical trials in China studying the effects of high-dose IV vitamin C for the treatment of COVID-19. He mentions the Shanghai Medical Association has released an expert consensus statement on the comprehensive treatment of COVID-19 where they endorse the use of high-dose IV vitamin C for the illness. پچھلے دو ہفتوں کے اندر جاری کردہ یوٹیوب ویڈیوز کی ایک سیریز میں ، آرتھمولکولر میڈیسن نیوز سروس کے چینی ایڈیشن رچرڈ چینگ ایم ڈی ، پی ایچ ڈی کے مطابق ، چین میں کم سے کم تین طبی جانچ پڑتال کی جارہی ہیں جو اعلی خوراک IV وٹامن سی کے اثرات کا مطالعہ کرتے ہیں۔ COVID-19 کا علاج۔ انہوں نے ذکر کیا کہ شنگھائی میڈیکل ایسوسی ایشن نے COVID-19 کے جامع علاج سے متعلق ایک ماہر اتفاق رائے بیان جاری کیا ہے جہاں وہ بیماری کے ل for اعلی خوراک IV وٹامن سی کے استعمال کی توثیق کرتے ہیں۔   To the best of his knowledge, Dr. Cheng said the so-called "Shanghai Plan" published on March 1 is the first and only official government guideline for using vitamin C for something as serious as the novel coronavirus. He said there is a push to get additional Chinese hospital groups to study oral liposomal vitamin C for treatment of the virus because oral forms can be administered rapidly and widely to large numbers of affected patients. اپنے بہتر معلومات کے ل Dr. ، ڈاکٹر چینگ نے کہا کہ یکم مارچ کو شائع ہونے والا نام نہاد "شنگھائی منصوبہ" ناول کورونا وائرس کی طرح سنگین چیز کے لئے وٹامن سی کے استعمال کے لئے حکومت کی پہلی اور واحد سرکاری ہدایت نامہ ہے۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ ایک اضافی چینی اسپتال گروپوں کو وائرس کے علاج کے ل oral زبانی لیپوسومل وٹامن سی کا مطالعہ کرنے کی ضرورت ہے کیونکہ زبانی شکلوں کو تیزی سے اور بڑے پیمانے پر متاثرہ مریضوں کی بڑی تعداد میں دیا جاسکتا ہے۔ Dr. Cheng states that the principle investigator of the first high-dose IV vitamin C trial in China has told him that the preliminary results of the study are promising. The investigator said the administration of 24 grams per day to COVID-19 patients leads to significant reductions in inflammation. Dr. Cheng said this is notable because massive inflammation in the lungs and potentially other organs may be fatal in the illness. ڈاکٹر چینگ نے بتایا ہے کہ چین میں پہلے اعلی خوراک IV وٹامن سی ٹرائل کے اصولی تفتیش کار نے انہیں بتایا ہے کہ مطالعے کے ابتدائی نتائج امید افزا ہیں۔ تفتیش کار نے کہا کہ COVID-19 مریضوں کو روزانہ 24 گرام کی انتظامیہ سوزش میں نمایاں کمی کا باعث بنتی ہے۔ ڈاکٹر چینگ نے کہا کہ یہ قابل ذکر ہے کیونکہ پھیپھڑوں اور ممکنہ طور پر دوسرے اعضاء میں بڑے پیمانے پر سوزش بیماری میں مہلک ثابت ہوسکتی ہے۔ MedicineNet author Betty Kovacs Harbolic MS, RD adds that vitamin C is generally safe but, "Large doses of vitamin C may cause stomach upset and diarrhea in adults and have been reported to cause kidney stones." میڈیسن نیٹ کے مصنف بٹی کویکس ہاربولک ایم ایس ، آر ڈی کا مزید کہنا ہے کہ وٹامن سی عام طور پر محفوظ ہے لیکن ، "وٹامن سی کی بڑی مقدار بالغوں میں پیٹ کی خرابی اور اسہال کا سبب بن سکتی ہے اور یہ گردے کی پتھری کی وجہ سے بتایا گیا ہے۔" Will vitamin C be effective to prevent and treat novel coronavirus? Hopefully, ongoing studies will provide the answer. Follow the guidance of your health care professionals if you have questions about vitamin C or other supplements. In the meantime, take the recommended precautions to keep yourself and loved ones safe from the virus, including avoiding close contact with those who are sick and washing your hands frequently. Seek medical attention if you develop fever, coughing, and shortness of breath. کیا وٹامن سی ناول کورونا وائرس کی روک تھام اور علاج کے لئے موثر ثابت ہوگا؟ امید ہے کہ جاری مطالعات اس کا جواب فراہم کریں گے۔ اگر آپ کے پاس وٹامن سی یا دیگر سپلیمنٹس کے بارے میں سوالات ہیں تو اپنے صحت کی دیکھ بھال کے پیشہ ور افراد کی رہنمائی پر عمل کریں۔ اس دوران ، اپنے آپ کو اور اپنے پیاروں کو وائرس سے محفوظ رکھنے کے لئے تجویز کردہ احتیاطی تدابیر اختیار کریں ، بشمول جو بیمار ہیں ان سے قریبی رابطے سے گریز کریں اور آپ کے ہاتھ اکثر دھوئیں۔ اگر آپ بخار ، کھانسی اور سانس کی قلت پیدا کرتے ہیں تو طبی امداد حاصل کریں۔   Read the full article

#Coronavirus

[hangonimevolving]

The Happiest Place on Earth, and New Year 2020 Adventures

Dear readers - I have a really convoluted update for you all today, but (I think) it has a happy ending!

First of all. HAPPY NEW YEAR 2020! Hope the new year brings us all peace, fulfillment, and most of all.... GOOD HEALTH.

The family and I kicked off the holiday season in a veritable flurry of activity. The kids celebrated their school holiday show with great fanfare...

And then I had a personal high, as I completed my second-ever Jingle Bell Jog 5K race successfully!

This was the first event of my race series and fundraiser for the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. so I was extra happy at having ticked this item off my to-do list.

That same day, just hours after I crossed the finish line, Dr. Spouse, the kids and I packed up the car and headed north to the Orlando area, for a 6 day vacation. The week was planned to include a four-day stint visiting the parks at Walt Disney World along with my parents, who would be flying directly from New Orleans to join us.

We had a blast on this trip! After a few rough months, it was so much fun to make new memories with Ajima and Thatha, especially since taking the grandkids to Disney has long been an item on Thatha’s bucket list. We were delighted to help him work on this one!

The trip was *almost* perfect. Almost. There was just one hiccup.... and fortunately/unfortunately, it mainly involved me.

I woke up on the final day of our Disney parks adventures - Thursday, December 26 - ready to tackle Epcot, which is my favorite of the four parks. But the minute my eyes popped open, I just knew something wasn’t 100% right with me. I felt like I’d been hit by a BUS. I had horrible body ache all over, my head was pounding, and my chest felt heavy, as if someone had poured a gallon of wallpaper paste into my lungs. I groaned to myself, knowing what this meant - I was probably coming down with a cold - but I still forced myself up and to get ready, since it was our last day of the trip and there was no way I was missing it!

By the time we loaded into the car and headed out, the leaky faucet nose had started.  I definitely sneezed a LOTTTTTTT through the entire day - huge, rib-cracking sneezes, that had my entire rib cage and back hurting well before lunchtime and through the evening. But I pressed forward, tried not to make a big deal. As I had been throughout the trip, I was even more militant in insisting the family use hand sanitizer and antibacterial hand wipes all day long than I already had been (which was a lot). But yeah, it was a very long and difficult day.

I put myself to bed in isolation that night - I didn’t want anyone else catching my germs!  The good side of my isolation is, I didn’t disturb anyone else’s sleep that night, and I managed to abstain from infecting anyone. One down side is, I suppose it meant that no one in the house saw how sick I actually was, and by the transitive property, perhaps even I didn't register how sick I was. That night, I ran a very high fever, yet was having teeth-chattering chills for hours. I couldn’t breathe through my nose, and coughed nonstop. I got awful, fitful sleep, with weird, violent, vivid dreams all night.

The next day, I started suspecting that maybe I didn’t just have a cold - maybe it was the flu?  We tried to locate an urgent care clinic where I could get a rapid flu test, but it proved hard to find anywhere with a <6 hour wait, and I was absolutely determined not to get anyone else sick (least of all my post-CABG father or my two young kids).  So I insisted Dr. Spouse just call in a Tamiflu prescription for the entire household - it would be therapeutic for me, and prophylactic for all of them. He dutifully obliged, and we were all on Tamiflu by 2:30 pm Friday. We said goodbye to my parents this evening - they flew out of Orlando directly to New Orleans - and Dr. Spouse, the kids and I would drive back to Miami the next day.

That night’s sleep was worse than the previous, and featured the worst fever sweats I’ve ever had in my life, soaking through all my clothes, all the bedsheets, down to the mattress cover. It seriously looked like someone had dumped the Gatorade bucket on me after winning the Super Bowl. And again, I had violent, bloody dreams of war imagery all night....

The next day was every bit as painful as the last, and perhaps more so - my entire head and chest were clogged with sludge, the body ache was debilitating, and worst was that I felt like I couldn’t really think straight or make good decisions.  In a nutshell, we weren’t packed up at all, and I woke up from fitful sleep about 9:30 that day and to my horror realized we had to check out of the rental cottage by 11 - - I was trying to run around and pack, but my body and brain were literally not working properly together.  It was brutal - and we were definitely an hour late vacating the property.  I ended up falling asleep within minutes as we started our drive home, and slept 3.5 hours of the 4 hour drive, which SHOCKED me and Dr. Spouse - I never sleep on road trips!  Should have known this was a bad sign that something was really wrong.

Sunday and Monday, things started looking up. I still had terrible sinus congestion, but the cough and fevers were improving, and my energy level was slowly returning! Hurray! Time to get back to normal..... except, weirdly, some new weird symptoms popped up. I was blowing my nose a LOT, admittedly - but I developed a nosebleed sometime early Monday morning, and it just... didn’t stop. For well over 24 hours. Then I noticed a few weird red spots on my face and neck - I assumed maybe I’d scratched in my sleep when I was sweaty at night? But by Tuesday, there were more red spots in more places. Everywhere. On my back, stomach, chest, arms, legs, feet... my sinus symptoms were better, but these spots were weird.  It hit a head on Tuesday morning when Dr. Spouse and I sat down to breakfast. I definitely had more spots than I’d had an hour before. I poured myself a bowl of cereal and began to eat, but then I noticed my mouth felt funny. I realized, to my horror (sorry, TMI) - I had big spots in my mouth too, and they looked like these blood-filled blisters all over the insides of my cheeks and the back of my throat. They looked like dark purple jellybeans, stuck everywhere on my oral mucosa - and some of them were doubling and tripling in size before my very eyes. One burst, right there at the table, and suddenly a trickle of blood oozed our the corner of my mouth. Dracula Mommy, yikes - Dey was at once amazed and horrified. And all the while, my nose was still bleeding.

Dr. Spouse looked grave and got panicky. He had three patients to see in clinic, but he wanted me to get medical attention ASAP.  I initially felt like maybe this was a bit of an overreaction, I didn’t think it warranted an ER trip, and I was feeling rather sheepish to bother a lot of people, and bewildered at the childcare logistics - especially considering it was New Year’s Eve.  Besides, my sinus congestion and energy level were feeling better - so how sick could I really be?  

Well, turns out I was wrong. It turns out there was actually something seriously wrong with me.

Blood tests revealed I had developed a very serious condition called thrombocytopenia. This is a condition where a person’s blood platelets levels drop dangerously low, making it difficult or impossible for them to clot. It makes any sort of wound or injury or weakness in any vessel or the body a potential site for deadly hemhorrage. In my case, it happened to be very severe. The normal lab ranges for blood platelets are between 150,000-400,000. At my ER admission, my labs came in at 1,000, with a little downward arrow next to them! It was a dire situation - basically, I could have hemhorraged from anywhere, from my head to my toes, from my brain to my entire GI tract.  I could have died.

Very quickly after the issue was diagnosed, I was administered a transfusion of IV steroids, followed by two units of donor platelets.

After the platelets, I had to receive something called IVIG, or IV immunoglobulins. I believe these are to boost my immune system and help it stop accidentally nuking itself in the course of fighting the flu virus, or whatever pathogen started me down this insane road. The IVIG infusion, as it would turn out, would take like HOURS - maybe 8 hours total - and it was determined that I’d have to be admitted to the hospital (to the ICU, no less!) for a whopping FOUR DAYS, to receive further IVIG treatments until my platelet levels came back to an acceptable range. I was FLOORED and overwhelmed at this news, of course - again is really thought perhaps Dr. Spouse was being overly cautious initially. But I soon realized the gravity of the situation and promised to comply with all the healthcare professionals’ advice.

Although I cringed to do it, knowing a) what they’ve gone through recently, and b) the fact that we’d JUST spent the week with them in Orlando and sent them peacefully home, I found myself with no choice but to phone Ajima and Thatha from the ER and explain what was going on. True to form, they mobilized within minutes, and had plane tickets booked in no time. They arrived right around midnight on New Years Eve to relieve our wonderful friend/former Nanny S, who graciously pinch-hit and babysat the kids at home so Dr. Spouse could come be with me. I’d been in the ER from about 1 pm till maybe 5:30 or 6 pm, and eventually been transferred to an intermediary ICU room, where I’d spend the next 4 days.

Do you see my purple spots??  Hard to visualize in these pics, but they’re there.

I spent the next 4 days mostly in bed - I wasn’t permitted to walk around unattended, use the bathroom on my own, shower without supervision, etc. because even though I felt fine and am ordinarily physically able, I was considered a bleed risk if I accidentally stumbled or took a fall.  So in bed I stayed.  And for about 10-12 hours each day, I received IV infusions through both arms of steroids and IVIG.  It was a surreal experience, but also an incredibly fortuitous one, in that I didn’t really feel all that sick!  Dr. Spouse would come visit me for a few hours each afternoon through the nights, and my parents would bring the kids for about an hour each evening.  I had a wonderful crew of nurses who looked after me, talked with me, made sure I was comfortable and well-fed.  And my medical team was also very good, especially my hematologist, who was careful, methodical, and very even-keel about everything, explaining what had likely happened to me, what the next steps were, and what I should look out for in the future. 

I have A LOT more to say about this experience, especially all that has now happened afterwards, and all the follow-up care I must now receive.  It is going to be a journey for awhile longer.  But for now, a few thoughts in closing out this post....

It’s weird. Obviously, I wish NONE of this had happened - but I also felt so incredibly lucky.  Because: 

1). I’m so glad my post-heart surgery dad, senior citizen mom, and young kids didn’t get this virus, and that it was only me.  I’m also glad Dr. Spouse, our primary breadwinner, care provider for hundreds of people, and our beloved daddice of our family didn’t get it.  

2). If this absolutely had to happen to me, I consider myself lucky that in recent years, I’ve put my fitness first, and especially these last few weeks, I’ve been training for a race series, which means I’ve been eating right, training rigorously, attending to my cardiovascular health as well as my lean muscle composition, taking lots of multivitamins, and even pursuing yoga for restorative, rehabilitative, and emotional/mental health.  Basically, I was AS HEALTHY as I could have been going into this, and I think that saved my life.  I didn’t have a fatal vascular weakness that gave way to hemorrhage, because I’ve had the blessing of the opportunity to take good care of myself.

3). I have an ANGEL on my side.  My uncle Marley was definitely looking out for me.  Aside from being a huge source of love and support - it so happens that Marley suffered for many years from a platelet disorder which was constantly being managed.  He was of course the first person who came to mind when I got diagnosed with this issue - - and I swear he was looking out for me. I even have evidence to that effect.  Will share in a followup post.

4). Last but not least - - this one is overwhelming and wonderful.  

I met my husband when we were about 18 years old.  I had no idea at the time what the future held for us - but this person has evolved into many things, including a WONDERFUL, sensitive, intelligent, and proactive physician. He is REALLY, REALLY good at what he does for a living - and I think that’s because he would do it even if he didn't make a living doing it.  He LOVES his particular field of medicine.  And it so happens that he is a stroke neurologist, who sees patients with brain bleeds and emergency events related to bleeding/clotting every single day.  So it was my incredible fortune that the man I’m married to, saw what was happening with me, wasted ZERO time, and insisted I get care. 

My husband saved my life.  He is my hero.

Alright.  I think I’ll end this one here.  In upcoming posts, I’ll be discussing several things, including:

- the aftermath of my great Flu Adventure - the types of follow-up care and remaining question marks about my health (and hopefully I’ll be getting some reassuring data to share here!)

- an update about my Race Series!  Obviously (and heartbreakingly) I’m going to have to rejigger some things here.  I am working on my emotions with this.  But I’ll share it all with you.

In conclusion - -  I want to wish you all a happy new year.  May it be a year of good health and fortune for everyone!  Big hugs and big love  :)

#illness #ITP #thrombocytopenia #flu #Disney #travel #family #Dr. Spouse #marriage

[bigyack-com]

A Doctor’s Diary: The Overnight Shift in the E.R.

My choices as a doctor in the emergency room are up or out. Up, for the very sick. I stabilize things that are broken, infected or infarcted, until those patients can be whisked upstairs for their definitive surgeries or stents in the hospital. Out, for everyone else. I stitch up the simple cuts, reassure those with benign viruses, prescribe Tylenol and send home.Up or out is what the E.R. was designed for. Up or out is what it’s good at. Emergency rooms are meant to have open capacity in case of a major emergency, be it a train crash, a natural disaster or a school shooting, and we are constantly clearing any beds we can in pursuit of this goal.The problem is, traffic through the emergency room has been growing at twice the rate projected by United States population growth and has been for almost 20 straight years, despite the passage of the Affordable Care Act, and through both economic booms and recessions. Americans visit the E.R. more than 140 million times a year — 43 visits for every 100 Americans — which is more than they visit every other type of doctor’s office in the hospital combined.The demand is such that new E.R.s are already too small by the time they are built. Emergency rooms respond like overbooked restaurants during a chaotic dinner rush, with doctors pressed to turn stretchers the way waiters hurriedly turn tables. The frantic pace leaves little time for deliberating over the diagnosis or for counseling patients. Up, out.Private exams on stretchers in hallways, patients languishing without attention for hours, nurses stretched to the breaking point; all of it has become business as usual. I think about this on nights like tonight, when I start my shift inheriting 16 patients in the waiting room. I think about what I will learn that these people need, and about what I will fail to provide.Image

10 p.m.

Work starts simply enough. Twenty-two-year-old was drunk and drove into a tree, now has a sore elbow. The X-rays are normal and he is sober enough to walk: discharge home with girlfriend. Woman with a migraine holding a towel over her eyes and a crumpled blue emesis bag in her right hand, for when she vomits. I start the standard “migraine cocktail” of IV drugs and turn off the lights in her room. I will wait until she feels better, then discharge her, too.More. A woman six weeks pregnant with cramps and vaginal bleeding; I check whether her miscarriage is inevitable. A drug overdose, likely a suicide attempt; I clear for psychiatric care. Homeless man with foot pain, back pain and a cough, but here mostly because it’s too cold outside. I hand him a sandwich.Then an ambulance crew rolls a gaunt man with one leg toward me on a stretcher. The paramedics hand over a thick packet of paperwork from his nursing home and walk away. I read the label: Jean-Luc. Age: 38.Jean-Luc doesn’t have a typical amputation stump. His left hip is also missing. According to his file, 10 months ago an aggressive strain of bacteria attacked his thigh and quickly began to liquefy his flesh. Antibiotics would not work fast enough; the only way to stop the bacteria’s spread was to cut out the infected parts.The paperwork tells me nothing about who Jean-Luc was 10 months ago. All I know is that those few hours of surgery rendered him dependent on nurses for most things he used to do himself.I leaf through Jean-Luc’s packet and find a scribbled nursing note. Someone was concerned that his urine looked different the past few days, and this morning he spiked a fever. Did he have a urinary tract infection? Jean-Luc’s belly is tender over his bladder, and his urine looks cloudy and smells pungent. I send some samples to the lab.

1:18 a.m.

You get little hints about the quality of nursing homes from the patients they send us. If a patient’s hair is combed and his clothes are neatly pressed, the nursing home is probably decently staffed. Most impressive is healthy skin. The skin of a bed-bound patient is paper thin; keeping it intact, like the unbroken film on a French pudding, requires a herculean effort.Jean-Luc’s skin had not been so fortunate. He had a bed sore; it was less than an inch wide, but I could probe an instrument through it to the bone. Once such holes form, doctors don’t really know how to coax the skin to heal itself. Creams, high levels of oxygen, even maggots — nothing works reliably. This is going to be a problem, I think to myself.Forty minutes later, the lab results come back positive for a urinary tract infection. I start Jean-Luc on antibiotics. The E.R.’s role is considered completed at this point. Up, not out. The waiting room is busy; I should admit Jean-Luc to the hospital for IV antibiotics and free up his stretcher.I look over from my desk. Jean-Luc is polite and not a complainer, but I can tell he is depressed. A month ago the nursing home put a catheter through his penis and into his bladder, presumably because emptying a bag is easier to schedule into a shift than running over every time he rings a call bell asking for help, and safer than letting him sit in his own urine, which would further break down his skin.But for bacteria, that plastic tube is a boulevard into the body. He would be better protected by a condom catheter, which catches urine the way a condom catches semen. I start to mull this over when a nurse calls me: “Gina, Bed 5 is vomiting and says she needs more pain meds.”

2:28 a.m.

Cynthia, in Bed 5, recently completed a round of chemotherapy. She tells me her pain and nausea have been unbearable, just as they were two weeks ago, when she was here after her previous treatment. I examine her, check her labs to make sure there isn’t another reason she is dry-heaving and type in a request for a hospital bed.Cynthia is on a state-of-the-art cancer therapy, available only at a few of the top centers in the world. It is also expensive, experimental and extraordinarily taxing on her body. The discussion with her oncologist must have been difficult: the possibility of improvement weighed against the risk that the treatment could cause her to spend most of her remaining days in hospitals, hooked up to IV drugs.For the E.R. visit, Cynthia will be charged more than $1,000 plus about $600 in professional fees for the few minutes of critical thinking I expended on her. That is the thriftiest part of this arrangement: Her admission stay for several days in the hospital will be billed at about $10,000.To the hospital’s finance department, each case like Cynthia’s is another base hit, a fuss-free bill to collect from the insurance company requiring minimal work from E.R. personnel. But to what extent will this hospital stay prevent Cynthia from returning in two weeks, when she is again due for chemotherapy?Maybe a different regimen of cancer drugs would sit better with Cynthia. But finding it involves trial and error and is seen as work that doesn’t have to be done — work that could get the oncologist in trouble for rocking the boat, that exposes the hospital to liability. A plan focused on keeping Cynthia out of the hospital would require more frequent check-ins at her home, which the hospital isn’t set up to do. We are choosing the path of least resistance for us, even though it is the path of last resort for her.One in five people who stay in American hospitals are on the same morbid merry-go-round as Cynthia and Jean-Luc and will wind up back in the E.R. within one month of leaving. We tell ourselves the E.R. is meant only to stabilize patients, that someone else will handle the rest. But the problems I punt in the E.R. are also punted by the hospital’s doctors upstairs and by primary care doctors outside. No matter where I send patients, these gaping holes in care fester, like bed sores tunneling to bone.So I wait in the E.R. for the same patients to return even sicker and even more dependent on the hospital. I’m thinking about this when an overhead speaker calls me to the resuscitation room for a “Level 1,” the highest level of urgency in the E.R. I hang up on Cynthia’s oncologist and head to the north side of the department.

4:12 a.m.

A young woman is gasping loudly through the oxygen mask that paramedics put over her face, screaming, crying and thrashing all at once. She swats at the nurses trying to hold her arm down to place an IV, and at the technicians cutting her clothes off with shears. Her sweat prevents the electrical leads we try to attach to her chest from sticking.This is routine for us. Many things can make a patient acutely agitated: pain, drugs, rapid blood loss or a shortage of air. Until we know the cause, we carry on even when patients resist. With little explanation, we surround them on all sides, pin them down and undress them, placing probes and leads while we get our bearings.Someone tries to calm the young woman down while I scroll through her electronic chart. Mariah is 23. She has severe asthma and has been to the E.R. many times. She has bipolar disorder. The last time she was in the hospital proper, two months ago, she left abruptly once her breathing stabilized, before we could send her home with an inhaler and a steroid regimen for her asthma.As far back as I look in her records, I find no visit with a primary care doctor. Like many patients in the E.R., especially younger ones, she doesn’t see any other doctors regularly. In effect we have been her primary doctors, although we didn’t know it and didn’t do much primary care.I close the screen and look back at her. She is now on the monitor, the beeping display of her heartbeats and respirations scrolling along in green and red like a stock ticker at the bottom of the evening news. The numbers are terrible. She isn’t resisting us anymore, and her breathing has slowed. Mariah is starting to look confused.We had achieved a sense of control, but it evaporates in an instant. Everyone starts moving quickly, jumpily, trying to suppress the sinking feeling that this is not like the other asthma flares we see, that this person is too sick for us to save. We focus on our roles. I’m worried she will stop breathing, so I come to the head of the bed and tell her we’re going to sedate her and put her on a ventilator.Through the breathing tube and the IVs, we give everything we have already given, again: albuterol, epinephrine, magnesium, helium, antibiotics, lidocaine. Nothing is working; her lungs remain stiff and in spasm. Her heart slows, then stops. We start chest compressions and push more medications. We probe her heart and lungs with the ultrasound, trying to find something we can reverse. Nothing.I look at the senior doctor in the room. He knows I’m asking if there is anything else we can do, and he shakes his head. We record the time of death.

5:47 a.m.

There is a silent pause in the room. Before it passes, the unit secretary hands me the packet of paperwork for the deceased.A death certificate differs from other medical records. It presents not one lone diagnosis field but four nested together, each line asking for the proximal cause of the line above. In the first line I write the diagnosis: cardiac arrest. I consider why her heart stopped, and in line 2 — “CAUSED BY” — fill in: respiratory failure. Line 3, CAUSED BY: severe asthma exacerbation. I am ashamed, but I know the cause of this as well. In line 4 I write, CAUSED BY: no medications at home to control her asthma.This is the first patient all shift for whom the modern E.R. and I have acknowledged the root cause of illness. Our failure was not today but a few weeks ago, when she was last in the E.R. and we didn’t find a way to get her asthma inhalers to her at home. Maybe we assumed the medical team upstairs would handle it; maybe that team expected a primary care doctor would do so. Now our failure is the bottom line in black ink, pressed into the carbon-copy pages that will accompany Mariah’s body to the morgue.Should the emergency room treat only emergencies? More than 80 percent of our patients arrive without sirens blazing, by walking in or after parking their cars with the valet out front. A rash that won’t stop itching, a lower back that won’t stop aching, a child who won’t stop vomiting. If their problems aren’t in our manual of emergency conditions, we say they are misusing the E.R. and try to dispense of them as quickly as we can. But here they are, having waited six hours to see me, asking for help. What to do for them?I click a few perfunctory buttons in their charts. I say there’s nothing life-threatening going on as I hand them boilerplate discharge paperwork to sign. Someone calls me to see my next patient. I send them back to their families, jobs and responsibilities equipped with little more than these unceremonious goodbyes.Almost one in 10 — 8.2 percent — of these discharged E.R. patients return to an E.R. within three days. What I leave unaddressed — persistent pain, nagging uncertainty about a diagnosis, a social dilemma — tends to stay that way, begetting yet another visit. An E.R.’s success is measured by how fast it sees these patients, not by whether it breaks these cycles.The waiting room is empty now. I review the labs on an elderly man in Bed 3, enter the admission details for Cynthia and Jean-Luc, check that the woman with the migraine feels better and print her paperwork, and look at my watch: 7:00. My shift is over.

7:01 a.m.

Although the E.R. was built to quickly get the sick “up” into the hospital, it has exposed, better than anywhere else, what patients lack while “out” in their otherwise private lives. Patients like Cynthia and Jean-Luc will survive devastating diseases under our care “up” in the hospital, but we send them “out” unable to sustain their precarious conditions without us. Patients like Mariah make their needs clear in the E.R., but we are too busy to meet them, and by the time they come back it’s often too late.From 2012 to 2014 the federal government, recognizing that neither up nor out was solving the problem for a growing group of patients, financed an experiment at the University of Colorado. The typical E.R. has surgeons on-call to treat patients with broken bones; following that model, the E.R. in Colorado set up a team on-call for patients with broken homes.Disadvantaged patients who kept returning to the E.R. were matched to social workers, health coaches and doctors who visited them where they lived and kept in touch for several months. By staying involved after the E.R. visits and not letting details fall through the cracks, the team reduced these patients’ need to revisit the hospital by 30 percent compared with the need of those in a control group.The E.R. at Yale, where I work, addressed a different group in need. Elderly patients who came to the E.R. after a fall were offered a follow-up at home. There, they were screened for risk factors that might lead to another fall, such as loose rugs, medications that increased their risk of balance problems, or lack of necessary equipment or support at home. Over the next month, those who received such visits called 911 about half as often as similar patients who did not participate in the program.Programs like these are not considered the E.R.’s core business, so they often rely on grants — and they end if funding dries up. Of the slim resources that E.R.s do set aside to address patients’ barriers outside the hospital, most are put toward hiring social workers and care managers. But these employees, stymied by mountains of paperwork and unrealistic patient loads, never get outside the hospital to see their patients, either. The programs at Colorado and Yale succeeded by framing the E.R.’s resources differently. They recognized that the E.R. staff could identify problems that were destined to arise after discharge — and empowered those employees to help. Both programs orchestrated follow-ups outside the E.R; those teams worked on the day-to-day problems at home that go unaddressed in hospitals and clinics and can cause catastrophes.As I zip up my bag, I head to Jean-Luc’s room to talk to him about urinary catheters. But when I arrive I find only our custodian with a mop, pulling the crumpled sheets and throwing out the extra tubes of blood. Up or out; Jean Luc is already up. His fate is out of my hands now, and I worry that he won’t keep his spirits up, that his bed sore will never heal.Only a few minutes have passed, and the waiting room has filled up again. A man with a nosebleed has arrived. A nurse hands him a nasal-compression clip and a basin to spit in. He and his wife look around, wondering how long they will have to wait. By now, Jean-Luc’s bed is freshly made. For this couple, his quick move upstairs was a blessing. It means that, on my way out, I can tell them that they will be called back soon. A room just freed up. Read the full article

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Human Sample #7

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8>>

Chapter 7: Mutual Concerns

Beep. Beep. Beep.

…

…

Beep. Beep. Beep.

“I don’t care if he hasn’t got any medical records! Make some!!”

“Mr Sanchez, please, calm down. We’re doing everything we can to -”

“Well you’re not doing enough!”

….

Beep. Beep. Beep.

H… huh…? Wh….what… where am I…?

“Mr Sanchez, if you can’t behave in a dignified way, I’m afraid I shall have hospital security remove you from the premises and you will not be allowed back in to visit your friend.”

I’m… in a hospital…?

Ford heard a door open to his left and somebody walk in. The door clicked shut behind them. There were footsteps getting closer, followed by the sound of a chair being dragged across the floor towards his right. The noise stopped right beside him. Someone was muttering under their breath, every twenty words or so punctuated with a quiet belch. Ford couldn’t make out what they were saying. His head felt like it was full of cotton. His whole body was numb, save for a sharp pain in his right side and the sensation of something pricking the back of his left hand.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Something was making a repetitive, steady beeping noise just above his left shoulder. It was really irritating. As the clouds in his mind began to dissipate, Ford could feel small objects attached to his chest, abdomen, wrists and neck. Something tight was wrapped around his middle and around his forehead. The air smelled far too fresh to be natural. His chest ached every time he inhaled. He was lying down on something soft - a bed? What had happened? What was he doing in a hospital? Who was that next to him, still muttering profanity?

All at once, the memories of the previous evening came flooding back to him. He’d been with Rick at a bar. They’d had a meal. As they were leaving, Ford had… done something to aggravate another customer. There was smashed glass .. that’s right. He’d bumped into somebody and they had dropped their beer. He’d been surrounded, shoved, punched, kicked… Rick had been watching. Then, there had been pain. So much pain. He’d collapsed. The men had run off. There’d been gunshots, shouts… Rick had been the one shouting.

Rick!

It was Rick sat next to him now, wasn’t it? The scientist had been there when Ford had passed out. He’d been holding Ford’s hand, pressing down on his wound, shouting at him to stay awake. Ford remembered something hitting his face. Something wet. Rain? No. No, it hadn’t been raining. The sun was going down when they had left the bar and there had been no clouds. He remembered the pink and orange sky. Well, if it hadn’t been rain, what had it been?

Tears. Rick’s voice had been cracking and shaking. He’d been screaming at Ford to stay awake, hadn’t he?

Shit, Rick!

“Mhh… nrrggh.” Ford gripped the bedsheets. His eyes refused to open, but at least his mouth was working now.

“...or...Fo...Ford…?”

Ford gritted his teeth and forced his eyes open. He shut them instantly, the bright light burning them. After a moment, he opened his eyes again, slowly. “Ngh…”

“Hey, Fordsy, can you hear me?”

“R...Rick…?” Ford turned his head to the right slowly. Everything was blurry. There was a faint pale pink shape. He felt someone grasp his right shoulder gently.

“Open your eyes you dumbass.”

Ford flinched at the light, opening his eyes further. His vision focused enough for him to be able to see Rick beside him. He realised he didn’t have his glasses on. No wonder he couldn’t see properly. It still looked like he was underwater. The shapes were slightly blurred. “Ngh… how long have I been out…?”

“Three days,” Rick said quietly.

“Th… three days…?”

“Hey, you might not have woken up at - uurp - all. If that knife got into your lung you would have died.”

Ford shifted slightly in the bed. His side flared up in pain and he inhaled sharply. His head started spinning.

“Don’t get up, you idiot.” Rick laid back in the chair. “You lost almost a fatal amount of b-uurp-blood. Moving isn’t a good idea right now.”

“No shit,” Ford muttered, lying back down slowly. He was breathing heavily. “How bad’s the damage?”

Rick leant over towards the end of the bed, by Ford’s feet. He picked up the clipboard from the tray and held it in his hands, reading the information written on the sheets of paper. The top sheet had details on the injuries Ford had sustained. There were three graphs drawn on the sheets underneath - monitoring Ford’s pulse and blood pressure over the course of the last three days. “The knife was embedded about three and a half inches into y-uurp-your side. It missed your lung but got your large intestine and the bottom of your liver. You lost nearly three pints of blood. They had to g-uurp-give you a liver transplant.”

Ford couldn’t help it. He laughed. It hurt to do so, but that didn’t stop him from doing it. He wasn’t laughing particularly loudly, but it was enough to make Rick look at him as if he had just fallen out of the sky. The oxygen mask around his mouth muffled the noise.

Rick raised an eyebrow at him. “What’s so funny?”

“Well, it’s just that I thought you’d be the one to get a liver transplant, not me.” Ford chuckled.

Rick snorted and rolled his eyes. “Hilarious, Pines. You’re a real fucking comedian.”

Ford smirked. He looked over at the doorway as he heard someone else enter. A nurse walked in. She had short curly hair and square, black-rimmed glasses. She walked over and stood at Ford’s left side. “Good morning, Mr Pines. I’m glad to see that you’re awake. How do you feel?”

“Dizzy,” Ford sighed. “My head feels like it’s underwater and it’s making me feel sick.”

“That’s a side effect of the morphine, I’m afraid,” the nurse held her hand out in front of Rick, silently asking for the clipboard. Rick handed the object to her. The nurse flipped the pages over until she reached a half-completed graph, a jagged line jerking up and down across the centre of the page. “So far today, your heart rate has remained low. It seems to have increased since you woke up, however. Your blood pressure is rising again, back up to normal levels. That’s a good thing.”

“How much longer am I going to be here?” Ford asked. He’d always detested hospitals. They felt like prisons. Ten years of treating his injuries himself meant that he hadn’t been to one in a considerable length of time.

“Well, if you continue to heal at the rate you’re doing so now, I’d say…” the nurse hummed in thought for a moment. “Another two weeks, give or take a couple of days. The stitches in your abdomen are likely to rip and come apart if you’re back to normal levels of activity less than three weeks after the initial injury. That would mean you would have to be rushed back in for emergency surgery and have another three weeks added to the treatment, on top of whatever was remaining before you left.”

“Fantastic,” Rick grumbled. He leaned back in his seat, the chair rocking back on its hind legs. Rick kept his feet planted firmly on the floor to keep himself from toppling over. “Guess I’ll have to play babysitter until you’re better. How long will it take him to recover once he’s - uurp - outta here?”

“A further month or so,” The nurse responded. She adjusted the IV stand (so that was what was stabbing Ford’s hand - he had only just now noticed the cannula hooked up to an IV of a clear liquid he could only assume was morphine) and checked the monitor the morphine was attached to. “Try to avoid any sort of rigorous exercise or activity until then. You’ll have to take particular care in bed and in the shower. Any sort of blunt trauma to the stitches is likely to cause them to tear open.”

Ford nodded. “What about this mask?”

The nurse checked the oxygen level of the gas canister the mask was attached to. “The canister is still half full. I’ll take that off if you like, but if you start to feel a shortness of breath or a persistent dry cough, you must put it back on straight away, understand?”

“Yeah, got it.” Ford said. He sat up slightly, allowing the nurse to unhook the mask from his face and remove it. He inhaled slowly, taking a good lungful of the crisp, sterile hospital air around him. The nurse did one final check of Ford’s vitals and left the room, pulling the door half-shut as she did so.

Ford continued to breathe slowly. He picked up on the faint stench of stale alcohol from Rick. The man had been drinking again, hadn’t he? By the smell of it, though, it seemed as though he’d been drinking an awful lot more than usual. The more he breathed, the stronger the smell became. “Rick?”

Rick had the mouth of his flask against his lips, mid-way through taking a sip. He pulled the flask away. “Yeah?”

“How much have you had to drink since the night I was stabbed?”

Rick nearly choked. Clearly, the question had come as a shock. He hadn’t expected Ford to have noticed the minute difference in the strength of the alcoholic smell. “Not much more than usual, why?”

“I can smell it on you. It’s stronger than normal.” Ford said simply. “You’re lying.”

Rick scoffed. “The hell do you care? I’m practically drinking myself to death anyway.”

“Rick.” Ford’s voice turned cold.

Rick threw his hands up in the air, a few droplets of alcohol flying from the still-open flask. “Fine. I’ve gone through three bottles at least. Happy?”

“Three bottles of what? Whiskey? Beer?”

“Moonshine.” Rick said flatly.

It was Ford’s turn to choke, this time on his own breath. “What?! Do you have any idea what that’s doing to your system?!”

Rick shrugged. “Don’t know, don’t care.”

“Rick. That is going to kill you!” Ford couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He did a mental calculation in his head. The moonshine Rick consumed was about 60% ABV, so three times five hundred millilitre bottles, one unit is 10ml alcohol. “You’ve consumed about 90 units of alcohol in three days. That’s fifteen times the limit of what’s safe! You’re insane!”

“Well maybe I don’t fucking care!” Rick snapped. He slammed his flask down on the nightstand, his hands clenched into fists. “I’ve been drinking since I was ten. Ten! It’s not the sort of thing I can just give up easily!”

Ford growled, a feral sound Rick was surprised to hear. “Well maybe I care! I don’t exactly want to see the only friend I’ve had for ten years drink himself to death!”

Rick opened his mouth to swear, but his protests died on his tongue as Ford started coughing violently. The man’s whole body was shaking. Ford lifted a hand to his mouth to cover it as he hacked. His breathing was uneven and ragged. “Shit… shit!” Rick leapt from his chair and grabbed the oxygen mask, pulling the elastic around the back of Ford’s head and fixing the mask in place over his mouth and nose. “Easy… Jesus Christ…”

Ford visibly relaxed once the oxygen mask was back on his face. He was still panting, his body trying to make up for the temporary lack of air. He ran a hand through his disheveled hair.

Rick let out a shuddering breath he didn’t realise he’d been holding. “Don’t you fucking dare scare me like that again. I’ve had enough worry over the past few days as it is.”

“Worry you’ve been trying to drown in alcohol, you mean?” Ford said acidly.

Rick flinched. “So what?”

“So what?! So what?! Don’t ‘So what?’ me, Sanchez.” Ford snapped. “What the hell would I do if you killed yourself through alcohol poisoning?” Ford’s lungs burned. He took slow, deep breaths. “I’ve already lost my family and my home. I can’t lose you too.”

Rick sighed. “Oh fuck, man… Shit, I’m…”

Ford looked away so Rick couldn’t see the tears threatening to spill from his eyes. “I can’t lose you.”

Rick leant back in the seat, running a hand through his hair. “Shit… I-I’m… damnit. I’m sorry…”

Ford sighed, but didn’t turn to look at Rick. “It’s alright… who the hell am I to tell you how to live your life?”

“You’re the only person who’s given a shit about me in years,” Rick muttered. He wasn’t lying, either. Ever since he’d left his wife years ago, he hadn’t met a single person who’d actually cared about him. Most of the time, people used him for their own personal benefit. He’d made weapons for serial killers, transported drugs, pulled off heists, but no matter who he worked with, at the end of the day, he was still left to fend for himself. Not a single person cared about whether or not he lived to see another day, or if he was arrested, or if he was beaten up. He’d been evicted from so many different apartments in so many dimensions that he’d grown to realise he was on his own in the world. At least, he had been until he met Ford. The pair shared so many similarities. They’d both been separated from their families, from their homes, for so long. They’d both been on the run from the Feds for years. They’d been fighting by themselves for ages.

Ford turned his head to face Rick. He was shocked to see that the scientist’s gaze was fixed on a point on the floor. His hands were shaking. “Rick?”

“Do you have any idea what it was like, watching you bleed out in front of me?” Rick’s voice was cracking again. Ford could see his shoulders shaking. “I thought you were going to d-uurp-die. The first friend I’d had in years could have literally died in my arms.” Rick’s head snapped up. “You were so fucking pale. There was blood everywhere. You were so fucking cold. You were shaking like a leaf and there was blood running from your mouth. When you passed out I literally thought you’d…” His voice broke off with a sob and he covered his face with his hands.

Ford was stunned. Rick Sanchez had just had an emotional breakdown in front of him. From what Ford had learned over the week or so he’d spent with the man, Rick never showed any sort of emotional fragility like this. Ford lifted a six-fingered hand and grabbed Rick’s wrist. “Hey, look at me.”

Rick looked up, angrily rubbing his eyes with the heel of his free hand. They were bloodshot, tears still leaking from the corners.

Ford looked him in the eyes - or at least, the darker patches of his face he assumed were Rick’s eyes. “I’m sorry I scared you like that. I didn’t intend for that to happen. I really care about you, you know? I’d never do anything like that on purpose.”

Rick laughed bitterly. “Yeah, I don’t really see you as the guy who’d actively try to kill himself.” He held Ford’s hand gently, shifting the chair closer to the bed. “I just got so fucking worried. I shot the guy who stabbed you, by the way.”

“What?!” Ford’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline.

Rick snorted. “I figured you’d react like that. You’re suck a fucking dork.”

Ford rolled his eyes and smirked. “Least I don’t go around shooting the people who cause me problems.”

“Hey, he could have killed you, the bastard - uurp - deserved it.” Rick smirked. “I couldn’t just let him run away.”

“You didn’t kill him, did you?”

“Don’t think so. The shot clipped his shoulder, it didn’t look fatal.” Rick shrugged. “Don’t really care if it was, to be honest.” Rick squeezed Ford’s hand. “I wanted to make him pay for stabbing you.”

“Well I appreciate the concern,” Ford grinned. He let out a quiet yawn. He must have been awake for at least half an hour by now and he was exhausted. His body was still very weak.

The yawn didn’t go unnoticed by Rick. The scientist raised an eyebrow. “You’d better get some more sleep Pines,” he said quietly, squeezing Ford’s hand again.

Ford shrugged. “I’m not that tired.” He lied. “It’s just the painkillers. By the way, what happened to my glasses?”

Rick cringed. “One of those assholes stood on them as they ran off.” He reached a hand into the pocket of his lab coat and pulled something out. He held it out to Ford.

Ford took the item in his free hand carefully, holding it up to his face to try and focus on it. His glasses. The lenses were cracked and shattered, barely still attached to the frame. The metal frame was bent and one of the arms had snapped off. Any part of the lenses that wasn’t broken was scratched and spotted with blood and dirt. “Well, fuck.” Ford tossed the broken glasses down towards the bottom of the bed, where they landed somewhere by his feet. “Guess I’ll have to get some new ones.”

Rick frowned. “Sorry.”

Ford shook his head. “It’s not your fault. They’re not that hard to replace. I’m sure I can get some new ones once I’m out of the hospital.”

“What’s your prescription?” Rick asked. “You can’t go two weeks without glasses. Your eyes will be ruined.”

“Well they’re pretty shit in the first place.” Ford smirked. “They’re +8.5,”

“Jesus Christ!” Rick balked. “You’re blind, Fordsy.”

Ford shrugged. “I’m used to it. I’ve worn glasses all my life. It made swimming difficult, though.”

“Well, first thing tomorrow, I’m going to get you s-uurp-some new ones,” Rick said. “You’re squinting an awful lot and your eyes will only get worse the longer you’re without glasses.”

“Fine. You’d better not get me any hideous ones.” Ford raised an eyebrow. “If I end up looking like some sort of circus performer I’ll kill you.”

“Relax,” Rick waved him off. “I’ll get ones like your old ones. Don’t you have any spare ones?”

“I haven’t been able to find any places that sell ones that are anywhere near suitable for a human.” Ford sighed. “The only spare pair I had were lost when I was pulled into the portal ten years ago. My brother’s got them.”

Rick sighed. “Alright, I’ll see if I can’t get them to make two pairs, then.”

Ford nodded. He yawned again, this time slightly louder. He felt absolutely drained. He scrubbed a hand over his face and rubbed his eyes. He felt Rick let go of his hand and get up.

“Seriously, get some rest.” Rick pointed a finger at him. “You could carry groceries in the bags under your eyes.”

“You’re one to talk.” Ford retorted. “When was the last time you slept?”

Rick shrugged. “I dunno. On and off. I’ve barely left this room since you were br-uurp-brought in.”

“Go home, Rick. Get some proper sleep.” Ford yawned, reaching his arms out behind his head and stretching his feet down towards the end of the bed. “I mean it.”

Rick plonked himself down in the chair and crossed his arms. “I’m not going anywhere until you fall asleep. You’re still injured, dumbass, you need rest.”

Ford rolled his eyes. “Fine, but if I wake up and you’re still here, I’ll be pissed off.”

“Deal.” Rick smirked. Ford shut his eyes and pulled the bedsheet up to his shoulders. His fatigue soon took over and he fell asleep, his quiet snores being muffled by the oxygen mask.

Rick couldn’t help but smile. Ford looked downright cute when he slept. His rough expression faded, making him look much younger than forty-something. He looked so peaceful. Rick folded his arms on the side of the bed and leaned forward, resting his head on them. He didn’t care that his back would be killing him in the morning, or what Ford would say when he woke up to find Rick sleeping like that. He wasn’t going to leave Ford’s side until his friend was better. He’d have to go and get supplies eventually, but for now he was content not going anywhere. He wasn’t going to leave his sleeping charge alone.

Damnit. He’d gone soft.

-----

Wow. This thing has moved so far from the original plotline based off this post by @looloolalalol 

AO3 link

It’s getting so gay

#this is getting more gay the more I write #i'm not sorry #rick is different to in the show because he's a different Rick #so I get free reign for character development #stanford pines #ford pines #rick sanchez #rickford #gravity falls #rick and morty #human sample

[jakehglover]

How Cold Weather Can Make You Sick

By Dr. Mercola

The common cold is likely the most easily recognized illness. Symptoms include a runny nose, sore throat, itchy eyes and low-grade fever. The illness is usually mild, lasting one to two weeks and requires nothing more than supportive care at home. However, while mild, it often results in days of lost work, lost productivity and lost income.

The common cold is the leading cause of doctor visits, and American school children miss about 22 million school days each year due to colds. Some estimates are that 1 billion colds occur each year in the U.S.1 Children may have between six and 10 colds each year and the average adult suffers between two and four each year.

In the U.S. the majority of colds appear to occur during the fall and winter months. In the past, seasonal variations have been attributed to staying indoors during cold weather, lower vitamin D levels from lack of sunshine and close quarters with others who may be ill.

Growing up, your mom may have told you to stay warm and out of the cold to stay healthy. You may have dismissed this advice as an old wives’ tale, as colds are caused by viruses and not by the weather. However, recent research has demonstrated that while viruses trigger your symptoms, cold weather has a significant impact on whether you “catch” a cold.2

How a Cold Starts

A cold passes through direct physical contact with one of nearly 200 viruses that can trigger symptoms.3 Someone who has a cold can pass it to you by touching your hand, sneezing near your face, or through contact with their body where the cold virus has been sprayed after a cough or sneeze. You may also acquire the virus after touching a door handle, computer keyboard or utensil where the cold virus has been deposited, and then touching your face or nose.

Once inside, the virus attaches itself to the lining of your throat or nose, triggering your body’s immune system to send white blood cells. If you’ve built antibodies to this virus in the past, the fight doesn’t last long. However, if the virus is new, your body sends reinforcements to fight, inflaming your nose and throat. With so much of your body’s resources aimed at fighting the cold, you are left feeling tired and miserable.

Dr. William Schaffner, chair of the department of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, points out that you may not even know you’ve been around someone who has been sick, saying:4

"You can catch a cold even when you cannot recall being around anyone with a cold. It's not really a mystery — people can excrete [exhale] the cold virus for at least 24 hours before they become sick. Thus, the person from whom we caught the cold was without any symptoms when [he] passed the virus on to us."

You may have noticed that some people get more colds than others, or people you’re with get sick when you don’t. There are several factors that increase your potential risk for a cold, including:5,6

• Season The cold virus is spread more easily during cold weather months when many spend hours indoors, placing you in close proximity to those who are ill. Dry air in the cold months may dry your mucous membranes, making the symptoms of a cold much worse.

• Age The immune system in children younger than 6 is still developing and they have not yet developed resistance to many viruses. These factors increase their risk for developing a cold.

• Weakened immune system While children’s immune systems are developing, others may have compromised immune systems, or other chronic illnesses or nutritional deficiencies. Lack of sleep and psychological stressors are two common factors that may weaken your immune system.

• Smoking In a study of 391 people intentionally exposed to one of five cold viruses, researchers found those who smoked had a far greater risk of developing a cold than nonsmokers, and had a greater risk of developing subsequent infections.7 They concluded smoking increased your susceptibility to developing a cold.

• Exposure If you are in a situation where others are in close contact, such as a school, day care or airplane, your risk for developing a cold increases.

Cold Weather Closely Associated With Your Immune Function

Cold weather not only drives people indoors where exposure to those who are already ill increases, but the temperature may also increase your overall risk. Although the name implies temperature has something to do with an increased risk, researchers from Yale University only recently discovered cold temperature weakens your first line of immune defense in your nose.8

Using a rodent model, scientists modified a strain of rhinovirus to enable it to infect mice in order to demonstrate the increased number of people with colds in the winter weather had a biological component as well as a behavioral one.

Researchers built their model based on the knowledge that rhinoviruses, responsible for nearly 50 percent of all colds, replicate faster at lower temperatures. They then asked if previous research wasn’t looking at the wrong side of the equation, and instead should attempt to determine if your ability to fight these growing invaders was at all compromised by temperature.

Led by immunobiologist Akiko Iwasaki, Ph.D., the team designed an experiment in which they were able to observe what happened to nasal cells when the rhinovirus attacked.9 When the tissue was exposed to rhinovirus at body temperature, the cells were able to effectively mobilize the immune system to kill the virus before the viral cells replicated. However, at lower temperatures, the cells managed only a weak defense that allowed the virus to replicate quickly and become established.

To test the theory that at colder temperatures the immune system responds slower than at body temperature, they analyzed the chain of proteins defending the cells and found when the genes responsible for making the proteins were shut off, the cells couldn’t mount a defense, even at body temperature. The rhinovirus may have found a niche by invading the body through the nose where the air is often cooler than body temperature.

The results of the study from Yale University were confirmed by researchers from Sweden and Scotland when they collected over 20,000 nasal swabs over three years and compared the results against local weather data,10 finding you are much more likely to get sick when it’s cold than during warmer weather.

Fever Plays a Vital Role in Supporting Your Immune System

Other viruses, such as the influenza virus, begin to replicate and grow further into your lungs, specializing where temperatures are higher than your nose. These viruses carry genetic material that help jam the early warning system your cells use to fight infections. Scientists have also discovered specific strains of rhinovirus can successfully replicate further into your lungs and have been linked to asthmatic attacks in children.11

These new findings further suggest that your body develops fever to boost the effectiveness of your immune system to fight bacterial and viral invaders. Iwasaki believes it will be important to explore how higher and lower body temperatures may affect your immune system and how you are able to fight infections.12 Researcher Elizabeth Repasky, Ph.D., from the department of immunology at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, commented on the necessity of rising temperatures as it relates to your health:13

"An increase in body temperature has been known since ancient times to be associated with infection and inflammation. Since a febrile response is highly conserved in nature (even so-called cold blooded animals move to warmer places when they become ill) it would seem important that we immunologists devote more attention to this interesting response."

A fever is a substantial difference from your normal temperature of 98.6 Fahrenheit (F), more than 1 degree higher or lower. Your body normally fluctuates between 97.6 F in the early morning hours and as high as 99.6 F in the late afternoon.14 Body temperature may also vary between those taken orally, under the armpit or rectally, as internal temperature in the rectum is usually higher than skin temperature taken under the tongue or armpit.

The presence of a fever helps support your immune system’s fight against invaders or may be triggered by an environmental factor such as heat stroke, drug abuse or alcohol withdrawal. Although effective in helping the body fight infections, sometimes a fever may go too high.

Internal temperatures greater than 105 F threaten the integrity and function of proteins necessary for life.15 Thus, while it may be beneficial not to treat low-grade fevers, it is imperative you seek medical care when a fever climbs to 104 F, before it can reach lethal heat.

Vitamins C and D Help Prevent Colds by Supporting Your Immune System

Vitamins C and D are intimately involved in the functioning of your immune system. Thus, maintaining adequate levels of these vitamins may help prevent a cold and likely will help shorten your cold. Some health experts, such as Dr. Ronald Hunninghake, advocate using vitamin C for anything from a cold to supporting cancer treatments.

Research supports the use of vitamin C during a common cold to reduce the length of symptoms and regular supplementation, especially during cold season, consistently reduced the duration of your cold.16

People with higher blood levels of vitamin C also have a lower risk of death from all causes.17 Typically, the higher the dose you take the better the results during a cold. However, there are limitations when taking oral vitamin C, as it can cause loose bowels. You can get higher doses when using IV vitamin C or liposomal vitamin C. Personally, I use 3 to 4 grams of liposomal vitamin C every hour when I get sick, with great results.18

Kiwi fruits are exceptionally high in vitamin C, along with vitamin E, folate, polyphenols and carotenoids. Research19 published in the British Journal of Nutrition found that a kiwifruit-packed diet reduced the duration and severity of upper respiratory tract infections symptoms in older individuals. Other foods high in vitamin C include: citrus fruits, red bell peppers, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, butternut squash, papaya, sweet potatoes and tomatoes.

Suboptimal levels of vitamin D also increase your risk of developing symptoms.20 Vitamin D is actually a steroid hormone with powerful antimicrobial actions involved in producing 200 to 300 peptides in your body responsible for fighting bacteria, viruses and fungi. The evidence is clear that the closer your vitamin D levels are to optimal levels, the lower your risk of developing a cold or the flu.

In the largest nationally representative study, researchers measured blood levels of over 19,000 Americans and correlated these results with reports of cold and flu.21 They found those who had the lowest levels experienced the greatest number of colds and flu.

Your best source is sensible sun exposure. If this is not an option where you live, using an oral vitamin D3 supplement is advisable. Just remember that with high-dose vitamin D3 supplementation you need to take additional vitamin K2 — MK7 form —to protect your arteries.

Vitamin D has a number of other health benefits as well, including reducing your risk of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes, heart attack, stroke and cancer. Vitamin D may also play a role in macular degeneration,22 multiple sclerosis,23 colorectal cancer, inflammatory bowel disease24 and inflammatory rheumatic diseases.25

Other Natural Remedies That Can Help Prevent Colds or Hasten Recovery

Despite significant advancements in conventional Western medicine, there is little to offer in the care and treatment of the common cold caused by viruses. Although your physician may prescribe antibiotics for a cold, these have no impact on your symptoms as antibiotics work against bacteria and not viruses. Antibiotics are effective only if you develop a secondary bacterial infection after your immune system has been assaulted by a virus.

An uncomplicated cold may last between two days and two weeks, depending on your overall health, the specific virus involved and your use of natural strategies to help reduce the length of your symptoms. Over-the-counter remedies typically do not speed your recovery time; they only affect your symptoms for a short period. Many of these contain acetaminophen (Tylenol) or ibuprofen (Advil) that suppress your body’s ability to produce antibodies to fight the virus.26 This may actually lengthen the course of your illness.

For a list of 17 natural remedies you may consider to prevent a cold or to shorten the length of symptoms, see my previous article, “Natural Cold Remedies: What Works, What Doesn’t.”

from HealthyLife via Jake Glover on Inoreader https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2018/01/31/how-cold-weather-can-make-you-sick.aspx

[sherristockman]

How Cold Weather Can Make You Sick Dr. Mercola By Dr. Mercola The common cold is likely the most easily recognized illness. Symptoms include a runny nose, sore throat, itchy eyes and low-grade fever. The illness is usually mild, lasting one to two weeks and requires nothing more than supportive care at home. However, while mild, it often results in days of lost work, lost productivity and lost income. The common cold is the leading cause of doctor visits, and American school children miss about 22 million school days each year due to colds. Some estimates are that 1 billion colds occur each year in the U.S.1 Children may have between six and 10 colds each year and the average adult suffers between two and four each year. In the U.S. the majority of colds appear to occur during the fall and winter months. In the past, seasonal variations have been attributed to staying indoors during cold weather, lower vitamin D levels from lack of sunshine and close quarters with others who may be ill. Growing up, your mom may have told you to stay warm and out of the cold to stay healthy. You may have dismissed this advice as an old wives’ tale, as colds are caused by viruses and not by the weather. However, recent research has demonstrated that while viruses trigger your symptoms, cold weather has a significant impact on whether you “catch” a cold.2 How a Cold Starts A cold passes through direct physical contact with one of nearly 200 viruses that can trigger symptoms.3 Someone who has a cold can pass it to you by touching your hand, sneezing near your face, or through contact with their body where the cold virus has been sprayed after a cough or sneeze. You may also acquire the virus after touching a door handle, computer keyboard or utensil where the cold virus has been deposited, and then touching your face or nose. Once inside, the virus attaches itself to the lining of your throat or nose, triggering your body’s immune system to send white blood cells. If you’ve built antibodies to this virus in the past, the fight doesn’t last long. However, if the virus is new, your body sends reinforcements to fight, inflaming your nose and throat. With so much of your body’s resources aimed at fighting the cold, you are left feeling tired and miserable. Dr. William Schaffner, chair of the department of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, points out that you may not even know you’ve been around someone who has been sick, saying:4 "You can catch a cold even when you cannot recall being around anyone with a cold. It's not really a mystery — people can excrete [exhale] the cold virus for at least 24 hours before they become sick. Thus, the person from whom we caught the cold was without any symptoms when [he] passed the virus on to us." You may have noticed that some people get more colds than others, or people you’re with get sick when you don’t. There are several factors that increase your potential risk for a cold, including:5,6 • Season The cold virus is spread more easily during cold weather months when many spend hours indoors, placing you in close proximity to those who are ill. Dry air in the cold months may dry your mucous membranes, making the symptoms of a cold much worse. • Age The immune system in children younger than 6 is still developing and they have not yet developed resistance to many viruses. These factors increase their risk for developing a cold. • Weakened immune system While children’s immune systems are developing, others may have compromised immune systems, or other chronic illnesses or nutritional deficiencies. Lack of sleep and psychological stressors are two common factors that may weaken your immune system. • Smoking In a study of 391 people intentionally exposed to one of five cold viruses, researchers found those who smoked had a far greater risk of developing a cold than nonsmokers, and had a greater risk of developing subsequent infections.7 They concluded smoking increased your susceptibility to developing a cold. • Exposure If you are in a situation where others are in close contact, such as a school, day care or airplane, your risk for developing a cold increases. Cold Weather Closely Associated With Your Immune Function Cold weather not only drives people indoors where exposure to those who are already ill increases, but the temperature may also increase your overall risk. Although the name implies temperature has something to do with an increased risk, researchers from Yale University only recently discovered cold temperature weakens your first line of immune defense in your nose.8 Using a rodent model, scientists modified a strain of rhinovirus to enable it to infect mice in order to demonstrate the increased number of people with colds in the winter weather had a biological component as well as a behavioral one. Researchers built their model based on the knowledge that rhinoviruses, responsible for nearly 50 percent of all colds, replicate faster at lower temperatures. They then asked if previous research wasn’t looking at the wrong side of the equation, and instead should attempt to determine if your ability to fight these growing invaders was at all compromised by temperature. Led by immunobiologist Akiko Iwasaki, Ph.D., the team designed an experiment in which they were able to observe what happened to nasal cells when the rhinovirus attacked.9 When the tissue was exposed to rhinovirus at body temperature, the cells were able to effectively mobilize the immune system to kill the virus before the viral cells replicated. However, at lower temperatures, the cells managed only a weak defense that allowed the virus to replicate quickly and become established. To test the theory that at colder temperatures the immune system responds slower than at body temperature, they analyzed the chain of proteins defending the cells and found when the genes responsible for making the proteins were shut off, the cells couldn’t mount a defense, even at body temperature. The rhinovirus may have found a niche by invading the body through the nose where the air is often cooler than body temperature. The results of the study from Yale University were confirmed by researchers from Sweden and Scotland when they collected over 20,000 nasal swabs over three years and compared the results against local weather data,10 finding you are much more likely to get sick when it’s cold than during warmer weather. Fever Plays a Vital Role in Supporting Your Immune System Other viruses, such as the influenza virus, begin to replicate and grow further into your lungs, specializing where temperatures are higher than your nose. These viruses carry genetic material that help jam the early warning system your cells use to fight infections. Scientists have also discovered specific strains of rhinovirus can successfully replicate further into your lungs and have been linked to asthmatic attacks in children.11 These new findings further suggest that your body develops fever to boost the effectiveness of your immune system to fight bacterial and viral invaders. Iwasaki believes it will be important to explore how higher and lower body temperatures may affect your immune system and how you are able to fight infections.12 Researcher Elizabeth Repasky, Ph.D., from the department of immunology at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, commented on the necessity of rising temperatures as it relates to your health:13 "An increase in body temperature has been known since ancient times to be associated with infection and inflammation. Since a febrile response is highly conserved in nature (even so-called cold blooded animals move to warmer places when they become ill) it would seem important that we immunologists devote more attention to this interesting response." A fever is a substantial difference from your normal temperature of 98.6 Fahrenheit (F), more than 1 degree higher or lower. Your body normally fluctuates between 97.6 F in the early morning hours and as high as 99.6 F in the late afternoon.14 Body temperature may also vary between those taken orally, under the armpit or rectally, as internal temperature in the rectum is usually higher than skin temperature taken under the tongue or armpit. The presence of a fever helps support your immune system’s fight against invaders or may be triggered by an environmental factor such as heat stroke, drug abuse or alcohol withdrawal. Although effective in helping the body fight infections, sometimes a fever may go too high. Internal temperatures greater than 105 F threaten the integrity and function of proteins necessary for life.15 Thus, while it may be beneficial not to treat low-grade fevers, it is imperative you seek medical care when a fever climbs to 104 F, before it can reach lethal heat. Vitamins C and D Help Prevent Colds by Supporting Your Immune System Vitamins C and D are intimately involved in the functioning of your immune system. Thus, maintaining adequate levels of these vitamins may help prevent a cold and likely will help shorten your cold. Some health experts, such as Dr. Ronald Hunninghake, advocate using vitamin C for anything from a cold to supporting cancer treatments. Research supports the use of vitamin C during a common cold to reduce the length of symptoms and regular supplementation, especially during cold season, consistently reduced the duration of your cold.16 People with higher blood levels of vitamin C also have a lower risk of death from all causes.17 Typically, the higher the dose you take the better the results during a cold. However, there are limitations when taking oral vitamin C, as it can cause loose bowels. You can get higher doses when using IV vitamin C or liposomal vitamin C. Personally, I use 3 to 4 grams of liposomal vitamin C every hour when I get sick, with great results.18 Kiwi fruits are exceptionally high in vitamin C, along with vitamin E, folate, polyphenols and carotenoids. Research19 published in the British Journal of Nutrition found that a kiwifruit-packed diet reduced the duration and severity of upper respiratory tract infections symptoms in older individuals. Other foods high in vitamin C include: citrus fruits, red bell peppers, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, butternut squash, papaya, sweet potatoes and tomatoes. Suboptimal levels of vitamin D also increase your risk of developing symptoms.20 Vitamin D is actually a steroid hormone with powerful antimicrobial actions involved in producing 200 to 300 peptides in your body responsible for fighting bacteria, viruses and fungi. The evidence is clear that the closer your vitamin D levels are to optimal levels, the lower your risk of developing a cold or the flu. In the largest nationally representative study, researchers measured blood levels of over 19,000 Americans and correlated these results with reports of cold and flu.21 They found those who had the lowest levels experienced the greatest number of colds and flu. Your best source is sensible sun exposure. If this is not an option where you live, using an oral vitamin D3 supplement is advisable. Just remember that with high-dose vitamin D3 supplementation you need to take additional vitamin K2 — MK7 form —to protect your arteries. Vitamin D has a number of other health benefits as well, including reducing your risk of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes, heart attack, stroke and cancer. Vitamin D may also play a role in macular degeneration,22 multiple sclerosis,23 colorectal cancer, inflammatory bowel disease24 and inflammatory rheumatic diseases.25 Other Natural Remedies That Can Help Prevent Colds or Hasten Recovery Despite significant advancements in conventional Western medicine, there is little to offer in the care and treatment of the common cold caused by viruses. Although your physician may prescribe antibiotics for a cold, these have no impact on your symptoms as antibiotics work against bacteria and not viruses. Antibiotics are effective only if you develop a secondary bacterial infection after your immune system has been assaulted by a virus. An uncomplicated cold may last between two days and two weeks, depending on your overall health, the specific virus involved and your use of natural strategies to help reduce the length of your symptoms. Over-the-counter remedies typically do not speed your recovery time; they only affect your symptoms for a short period. Many of these contain acetaminophen (Tylenol) or ibuprofen (Advil) that suppress your body’s ability to produce antibodies to fight the virus.26 This may actually lengthen the course of your illness. For a list of 17 natural remedies you may consider to prevent a cold or to shorten the length of symptoms, see my previous article, “Natural Cold Remedies: What Works, What Doesn’t.”

#VitalityPath

[workeatandsleep-blog]

November

It was the middle of November and I caught a small cold,  my nose was running and I had a small cough,

I spoke with my doctor and he listened to my chest it was clear, I was told to wrap up and keep warm. I did this, but I still did but I still didn't feel right,

I got up for work 2 days later and I had a small pain in my chest, fobbed it off and went to work, as I was walking it got worse, so I decided to ring the Drs I was in a cue of 35, so I walk to work while held in a cue, having to stop a few times while the pain subsided. I clutch my chest stood at the side of Subway, "geez, that one hurt"  as I get up and walk to work a work a colleague sees me and asks if i'm ok , "yeah i'm ok, really I just have a few pains, just in a queue for dr" just then the receptionist speaks, I tell her who I am that I had a stent and I have chest pains, tells me to ring 999, I put the phone down, I ask one of they guys I work with to come up, I tell him whats going on , I don't think he knows what to say and says ok "Julie says" hes much help " I look at her and laugh she walks with me to Taxi rank and I get in the taxi, to the hospital, I ring my specialist Dr Gouse when in the taxi and tell his secretary that i'm on my way to a & e as I walk in I tell them i'm having chest Pains i'm pushed through the double door to the Major ward, stripped and gowned under 1 minute, I have a heart monitor or ecg machine put on me, the nurse doing it walks out the next I have two Drs in and i'm wheeled through to The major ward Near Resusation (yep now bat sh*t Scared) I ask them if I can ring my mum they roll a phone into the ward

"Hi Mum" I say

"Where are you this isn't your number" she says

"Oh, don't be scared ok, i'm in hospital, they are monitoring me for these chest pains i'm ok"

"What really sue  are you ok"

"Mum i'm fine really they are monitoring me and I can go home"

"Ok keep me informed ok"

"Ok wil do"

I put the phone down, no harm in scaring her she had my son with her I wasn't going to make her run up here with him,

I had Bloods Taken , my oxygen was low so I had that on too. they couldn't hear anything on my chest, but they weren't sure, so after another blood test and another I was cleared to go home work had finished i'd missed my dinner so I went home thank fuly my mum had made me a chcken salad it was beautiful. I went back to work the next day feeling poop still but I could walk so I went to work I had become breathless but carried on. after two days I was really bad, I felt like I was being chocked , my heart felt lt was going to explode, so on my lunch I rang my drs Hoping to get in they had an Appointment at 1.35 cool I had time to get in get antibotics and get back to work

she listened to my chest, she wasn't hapy she put the finger heart monitor on me she rubbed her head made me walk the room and she said " you need to go to hospital now" I said ok my plan was go to work finish the important jobs and hopefully be done for 3 and go then.

But my chest had other plans as I walked outside I felt like been stabbed in the chest , ok I had to listen to my dr I rang work and spoke with Vicki, she was understanding but I was struggling to breathe I couldn't get any air in my lungs, A lady smoking outside, ran inside, a few minutes later I was in an ambulance being rushed to hospital I had a oxygen mask on my oxygen levels was 60% it was dangerously low, I should of listened, I rang my mum and told her what had happened yep I got shouted at as I told her it wasn't that bad when it was, she came straight up to see me and was crying when she came in as I was in resusation, I was ok I was getting my sats and oxygen back to Normal,

after two blood tests I was told I had Myocarditus a common Virus especially after having a stent, well at least I knew what it was and I wan't making it up,

I was given iv antibitoics and after begging and pleading with Dr Bolton I was allowed home to rest.

I got outside and got text after text, one from Hr telling me not to come back into work as I was ill, they were right but to me I was letting them down I was told by my drs to self cert for a week and if I was better which they told me I wouldn't be I would be back . my plan have the week feel better and get back to work, I had a week off but it didn't feel like it, I was either at the Drs or at the hospital for Tests, I felt like a pin cushion after having needle after needle.

the Drs went Happy with my results I had The dr and the home owygen team out to me, I had a little oxygen tank that I had to use while I was off and I had to keep it on at night, the first night I had this on I couldn't sleep, as I could here the oxygen

the day I was due back I went to the drs and I was told that the infection was clear, but I still had the breathlessness Dr Still examined me and said to have another week off, my mum came with me so I couldn't say I was better.

so I told work and I felt  10 times worse for being sick, I just wanted to go  back and help.