Its Getting Bad Again. The Pain Is Always Worse At Night, When I Dont Have As Many Things To Distract

It’s getting bad again. The pain is always worse at night, when I don’t have as many things to distract myself with. I think I pulled every muscle in both legs. Hurt my knees and ankles, too. Of course. Just my luck that my joints are more flexible than they should be and that I was born with low muscle tone. And sensory issues, which essentially force my brain to focus on the fact that I’m in pain, making little to no room for thinking clearly.

All this because I tried to get some exercise. More than 24 hours ago.

I fucking hate everything right now

Umm. Why are there taxidermy bats on Amazon?! Bats are a protected group of animals, meaning that the only place you should be able to find taxidermy of them is museums. The fact that they’re on Amazon means that Amazon is selling illegally obtained animals, likely poached. Sellers will claim that they “found” a bat and decided to turn it into a taxidermy piece. That’s bullshit.

I’m not surprised that Amazon is selling illegal items, it’s just awful that they’re selling taxidermy of animals that are legally protected.

Do NOT buy these items. If you want a bat, please just buy a plushie. It’s legal and doesn’t encourage poaching.

Slight correction: Not every bat species has legal protections, but Amazon didn’t specify what species was being sold.

psa for cane, crutch, and wheelchair users getting top surgery:

you will not be able to exert much effort with your arms. self supporting with a cane or crutch or self propelling in your wheelchair is inadvisable.

make sure you have a support person to help you, or be prepared to be using your legs more if you are able.

Ok so my kid had an ear infection, right? As kids often do.

The doctor scraped out a bit of earwax to have a better look inside.

I was sent a bill for $200 PER EAR for this 5 second procedure which I did not give permission for them to do.

That was key- they did not ASK me if they could do this "procedure". And, as I OWN a medical practice (it's me. The medical practice is me, sitting in my house on video calls) I knew to call them when this bill came in to be like "You did not obtain informed consent for this procedure, and it was not en emergency procedure. You had full ability to gain my consent and didn't. I'm not paying."

And the massive hospital who owned the bill said "yuh-huh you do have to pay."

And I said "I own a practice. I know these laws. I do not owe you money for this."

And they conducted an "internal review" and SURPRISE! Decided I totally owed them money and they had never done anything wrong ever.

And so I called my state's Attorney General office, and explained the situation because, as I mentioned, I know the law. The AG got in touch within a couple days to say they were taking the case and would send the massive hospital conglomerate a knock it off, guys letter.

Lo and Behold, today I have a letter where said hospital graciously has agreed to forfeit the payment.

"How not to get screwed over by companies" should be part of civics class.

Know your rights and know who to call when they're infringed on. This whole process cost me $0 and honestly less effort than I would have expected.

May this knowledge find its way to someone else who can use it.

Trying to build up strength so I can do stuff on my own. So I was on the stationary bike for twenty minutes. Three and a half miles. My legs feel like they’re on fire. This was about eight hours ago.

What I’ve learned is that next time, I should maybe stop at two miles, take a few minutes, and consider calling it a day.

Sucks that I already know I’m still going to be in this much pain tomorrow, and I’ve still got to go to work. I really fucked up this time, didn’t I?

That’s the problem with how I do things. All or nothing. I’ll either lay in bed all day, or go all-out until my legs are shaking. I don’t know how to find the in-between space where things can be done in a healthy, productive, and safe way.

But yeah. Every muscle in both of my legs feels like it’s being stabbed from the inside out with a thousand red-hot needles. I’m sure that’s normal, though.