Life With Chronic Pain

(Shel)duck face!

Today I was watching Supergirl when towards the end Giles woke up and let out a couple of yowls before he started swaying his head back forth, like he just couldn’t keep it straight. He couldn’t walk right and started excessively drooling. I immediately got my mom and we left for the er vet. Luckily it was not busy and the wait was maybe 90 minutes and they checked on him too while waiting to make sure he wasn’t in immediate distress.

A few years ago some of you might remember he accidentally ingested ammonia that was being used to soak a shade in a bathtub. My mom decided she was too tired to deal with it that night and left it for tomorrow. (And still doesn’t forgive herself for what happened) We suspect Giles put his paw in and licked it. So some of symptoms he had reminded me of that event. (That was a scary one) Only problem is there was no obvious source of poisoning, nothing was left out, spilled, or improperly covered.

So eventually we saw the vet and she said that with no consistent signs of poisoning and no obvious cause that it likely wasn’t that. We did discuss plants but I have told my mom what is toxic, it’s all safe. So she thinks the likely cause is a seizure or minor stroke. The way Giles first moved his head around makes me lean towards seizure. She said that since it’s a first time event where Giles was almost back to normal by the time he was seen, that there wasn’t anything medically to do except take his blood for testing.

I already talked to Giles’ vet about doing blood testing for his physical and since it’s cheaper there, I suggested we just take Giles home, monitor him, and have his normal vet take it up and do the blood work. They will email the clinic everything about this visit. Meanwhile I need to try and record him if he has another attack.

So tldr: we think he had a minor stroke or seizure and recovered quickly enough to go home and the vet who always sees Giles will follow up.

Boy howdy, do I!

Get the right kind of seat cushion

Make sure your skin stays dry and clean

Touch. Your. Ass

Regularly shift and adjust your weight and position in the chair. This includes getting out of the chair if you can manage it. I don't have an article for this particular tip so I'm posting it here.

Hygiene. Hygiene. Hygiene. Keep your skin clean, keep your skin dry. Bathe regularly. If an accident happens, clean yourself as soon as possible. The health risks due to pressure sores are extremely high. If you do get a pressure sore, it is not a moral failing. For some folks, especially those with fully paralysis, it's a fact of life. If you do get a pressure sore or you think you're starting to, go to the doctor. And for those about to be like

History professor Dr. Jason Gibson at Alcorn State University used an invisible "prompt injection" trap to catch students using AI on a midterm exam about the Industrial Revolution. He hid white-font instructions inside the online question that told AI chatbots to insert bizarre, nonsensical references to "Madagascar".

Out of 35 students across two classes, 32 copied the entire prompt into AI without reading the hidden text, then pasted the chatbot output directly into their submissions. The resulting essays contained ridiculous phrases such as "Madagascar purple bicycle whispers to the ceiling," exposing that students hadn't proofread their work.

Hilarious and sad at the same time.