In Between

I went to my doctor after the er discharged me with “stress” and said “help my face is numb and I’m scared. He looked at me in my face and said “well what do you want me to do about it?” I had to beg to see a neurologist. The neurologist refused to let me speak and told me I was just stressed and refused to schedule me for an mri. Had she done that they would have found lesion on my brain.

4 years later I have now 2 lesions on my brain consistent with MS. I only found a doctor willing to take me seriously by happenstance after being hospitalized and refused a surgery that I would need anyway a few short months later. While on the hospital I was dismissed and refused pain medication unless I was literally screaming.

If a doctor refuses treatment or tests, say “I would like your refusal to treat documented in my chart.”

Then wait about 24 hours. (Partly for computer processing time, partly so if they think they’re being smart and saying yes but not actually doing it they’ll think they’re in the clear.)

Then call the doctor’s office AND SAY YOU WANT A COPY OF YOUR MEDICAL RECORDS.

If the refusal to treat isn’t in your records, you now have a malpractice suit.

Very, very few doctors are going to risk that possibility. They’ll bitch and moan when you ask for documentation, but they’ll run your tests.

As a comparison, by the way, here’s a doctor who had nothing to hide: my mom’s eye doctor when her eye started getting to the “It’s going to have to be physically removed” stage. He met us at the office at 9pm, long after close, with his date, to give my mom an injection to try to relieve the pressure in the eye. (Luckily said date also worked at the clinic and completely understood why he was doing this. He’s a great guy, he deserves a great lady.) I asked if he could note the exact time in her records, because the time needed between these injections was speeding up immensely. His reply:

“Actually that could give us an idea how fast this is progressing. Yes. What time is it? I’ll look up her earlier visit when I’m done.”

I just wanted to make a note for people that are off on their own, on the their own insurance for the first time, it can be a bit nerve wracking selecting a primary care physician, especially if you are at a point where all your peers are in the same boat and recommendations are not available to you (but seriously, communicate with your community, it can really help you weed out terrible doctors and find helpful ones).

First off, you can literally look up multiple reviews on doctors (also leave reviews for others, we gotta help each other out), but in my personal experience find new doctors.

You can usually tell by their age, how many clients they have and often clinics list how long their doctors have been there.

Not only are you finding someone with fresher medical knowledge, while this person may be quite a bit older than you, you are likely to have a generation in common, I find this is extremely helpful for mental illnesses; as a millennial, i have more faith in a millennial doctor to empathize with me than I do a boomer.

But more than anything, they are usually eager to do their job well, for whatever reason. they can finally help people, they are finally paying off those student loans, they are a new employee and eager to please. Really there is a plethora of reasons, but more often then not, you get the care you need.

I decided to do this when I first moved out, because I noticed the pattern between doctors that tossed me aside and ones that genuinely helped. I was nervous about sacrificing possible experience for eagerness but I decided to try it. Let me tell you, the best decision I've ever made. To the point I literally recommend my doctor to others. A doctor that is willing to help you is worth a hundred of "experienced" doctors. I know it can all be stressful figuring it out, but it is possible!!

Chief was almost certainly being sold because someone hatched him on purpose from their pets. Chances are good that if these two have a “local” livestock auction, they live in some approximation of “the country” rather than the city, so I’m guessing they are perfectly capable of keeping both of these birds just fine. Whether they do or not I don’t know, but even if they don’t, it wouldn’t change the fact that plenty of people on farms do.

Like me, for example. Here’s one of my purple kids looking for some attention. That’s their pen in the background. He was out free ranging with my chickens.

One of my ladies begging for a treat:

Here’s our pens:

Here’s a baby I was babysitting for a friend down the road that has them. Two of my other neighbors have them too.

They were originally domesticated in Asia/SE Asia, not the US, and they’re still kept there. Australia has really strict no-import laws so they’re doing the best they can with colors and patterns down there (last I heard they have pied, white, cameo, and I think BS? maybe Steel, and I’m PRETTY sure they managed to get green imports to make spaldings at some point) but they definitely keep them on farms there too. Europe has a really beautiful morph called EU violet that is SO much bolder than the US purples, but we’re having a difficult time getting them over here since it’s a few thousand dollars to ship w/ the vet work, but people are doing it. Germany has a morph just started up called Elfenbien that is a mutation of a mutation, something Went Wonky in the opal mutation and caused a sex-link blackshoulder pattern to appear, but since the original breeder doesn’t know what exactly is going on yet, he’s not really spreading them to the other breeders in the area yet. I belong to several peafowl groups online and I regularly see posts from Russian, African, and Brazilian breeders, and just this weekend I had a long discussion with someone in Scotland who was lamenting not having purples yet and I got to introduce her to another Scottish breeder who has EU violet, and show pics of the differences. They’re considered domestic fowl in England, and kept on farms. I’ve seen fewer Canadian breeders/keepers, possibly because it’s so cold up there they don’t fare well, but I definitely have seen them there too.

“You clap for us now.”

— Britain’s immigrants and children of immigrants who are key workers 

1. Are you enjoying yourself?

2. Do you miss how life used to be?

3. What are you doing with your time now that you're home?

4. What drinks do you have in the fridge right now?

5. What snacks do you have in your house right now?

6. When was the last time you stepped outside, and what for?

7. What's a book you hope to read while quarantined?

8. What's a goal you hope to achieve while being quarantined?

9. How long do you think you can last like this?

10. What is the last thing you've read?

11. What show are you catching up on?

12. Are you a "stay in pajamas all day kind"of person?

13. What time did you go to sleep last night?

14. What time did you wake up today?

15. Are you staying active?

16. Are you staying hydrated?

17. How long do you think this quarantine will last?

18. If you had to study one subject everyday for the rest of this quarantine, what would you study?

19. How much weight do you suppose you'll put on by the time this quarantine is over?

20. What's your favorite board game?

21. What's your favorite card game?

23. What's your favorite tv show?

24. What's your favorite snack?

26. What's your favorite beverage?

27. What do you like most about the quarantine?

28. What are you finding most challenging about the quarantine?

29. Do you think COVID-19 is as bad as the media says it is?

30. What precautions have you taken to stay safe from COVID-19?

31. What have you learned so far from this experience?

32. Are you introverted, omniverted, or extroverted?

33. Which room in your house do you spend the most time in?

34. Who are you most worried about?

35. Who was the last person you texted, called, facetimed?

36. What three emojis best describe your attitude towards what's going on right now?

37. If you had to live in one item of clothing for the rest of this quarantine what would it be?

38. What was the last meal you cooked and how did it taste?

39. What's your favorite restaurant? Is it closed?

40. What is your favorite store? Is it closed?

41. How many things have you purchased online since being in quarantine?

42. What was the last thing you purchased online?

43. What's getting you through these tough times?

44. Are you keeping up with the news?

45. Are you stressed?

46. Tell me something positive.

47. Give me some advice.

48. What's your favorite quote?

49. What's your favorite book?

“How can I help you my child?”

“So the Chair I got from you and your dad is great, but I tripped over it and it broke, I was hoping you could fix it?”

“Go home and be at peace, your chair is fixed.”

“Lord, did you really just use a miracle to fix his chair?”