yo🤙

i have fully commited to being a feral dazai kinnie and uhh here's a facereveal idk ✨🪤

can't go even a week without posting pics of myself woops (they)

For the event, Nanook with Augst 8 but instead reader is the one got hurt

❀ ˎˊ- prompts: They come home beaten, bloody, and bruised. ❀ ˎˊ- 1k followers event ❀ ˎˊ- character: nanook ❀ ˎˊ- warnings: implications of physical violence, mentions of bruises and blood, nanook is scary ❀ ˎˊ- a/n: im scared of nanook but also incredibly attracted to them ALSO WHAT IS IT WITH YALL AND ASKING TO GET BEAT UP /LHJ but ykw i know u asked for angst but i kinda made it fluffy imsorry. not really satisified w how this ended but i think its okay

Honestly, whoever did this to you was an idiot.

It was one thing to antagonize the lover of the Destruction. It was another to physically hurt them.

So either your assaulter had a death wish, or a severe deficit in braincells. Although, you weren't too keen on the idea of just running to your lover - knowing them, Nanook would break all of hell loose, giving them a fate worse than death itself.

You sighed to yourself as you rubbed at your cheek, which had already begun to bruise. Thankfully, you weren't hurt too bad, so you could probably just brush it off with a few bandages and ointment. All you had to do was to hope that Nanook wasn't home today.

But of course, fate wasn't on your side.

The second you opened the door to your shared room with the Aeon, what greeted you was a sight of Nanook in their mortal form, lounging on the bed. They weren't doing anything in particular, simply staring up off into space as golden specks flickered around them like fireflies.

Their eyes flicked to you the moment you walked through the doorway. Slowly, their gaze roamed your body, zeroing in on your injuries - evidence of a fight.

Their expression barely changed, save for the slightest narrowing of their eyes. But the atmosphere immediately dampened, as though a black hole had came and sucked all of the air out of the room. The pressure dropped so quickly that your ears popped, and you winced.

Noticing your discomfort, Nanook immediately snapped out of their momentary rage, and the air went back to normal - only slightly, though.

Wordlessly, they beckoned you towards them with a finger, their right arm open for you. Cautiously, you sat down on the bed, allowing Nanook to wrap their arm around you and pull you close.

They studied your bruise carefully, running their finger across it. Swiping their thumb against it, a bit of their power seeped into you, instantly mending your wound.

"Healed by the Destruction," you couldn't help but muse, leaning your head against their broad shoulder. "How ironic. Aren't all Aeons bound their Paths?"

Nanook only hummed, a deep rumbling in their chest. "I've strayed from my Path twice before. The first was when I fell for you. The second is now. Clearly, the laws of the universe are not as rigid as you make them out to be."

"I guess," you shrugged, closing your eyes. Nanook doesn't breathe, nor do they have a heartbeat, but they are warm. Warmer than a human, more like a flame, if anything. "You're not going to ask who did it?"

"I already know," they merely replied. You couldn't help but feel as though their gaze was quite literally burning into your skin as they stared down at you. "I will take care of them, do not worry."

"Don't overdo it," you sighed, shifting into a comfortable position. "The last time you went after someone who hurt me, you destroyed an entire planet."

"I was killing two birds with one stone," they explained matter-of-factly. You laughed, squinting your eyes at them.

"Mmm, I suppose you were," you admitted. Nanook only smiled briefly before poking your nose.

"You should get go wash up," they advised. "You're filthy."

"Gee, thanks," you scoffed, but stood up regardless. You stretched for a bit, rolling out your shoulders before kissing Nanook on the cheek, and then you were off to the bathroom.

But as you closed shower door, and the Aeon heard water running, Nanook's gaze darkened. They dissipated into golden sparks, the only thing that hinted at their existence being a divot in the bed where they had once laid.

That night, as you peacefully rested, unaware of what was happening, your attacker awoke to flames - dark, dark flames devouring their home world as the Destruction watched from afar, the burning planet resting in their dark hand.

reblogs w comments are appreciated !!

Preserving Lord Nelson

Yes, ok, I know it's not a classic age of sail topic, but I've been asked this several times and I'm also very interested in it myself, so I thought I'd shed some light on what exactly happened to Nelson after the Battle of Trafalgar. Yes we all know he died but what exactly was done and how was he brought back home. - little warning it is about preparing a body, so anyone who has a problem with that should not read any further -

After his death on 21 October 1805, Captain Hardy captain of HMS Victory, Nelson's flagship, was faced with a major problem. Nelson and he were friends and Nelson is said to have asked him not to bury him at sea, he wanted to be buried at home. Now he and his superior Admiral Collingwood agreed that Nelson, a great naval hero, should be brought back to England, but the question was how.

The Death of Lord Nelson in the Cockpit of the Ship 'Victory', by Benjamin West 1808 (x)

First of all, HMS Victory was in a bad state after the battle. Therefore she had to be brought to Gibraltar to be repaired so that she could sail home. But until then, something had to happen to the body, and it was not possible to lay him in his hammock and wait. So, together with surgeon Sir William Beatty, it was decided to put him in a leaguer. A cask that was 1.5 m high and could hold 836 litres. But instead of water, it was filled with high-proof alcohol. Nelsons was completely undressed, his head shaved and the hair later given to Lady Hamilton, then he was folded so that his head and feet looked down and the brandy poured over it. No it was not rum as the legend has it, it was the collected brandy that the officers had in their stores. The barrel was then guarded by a marine who stood in front of it around the clock.

The cask was then put under the charge of a Marine sentry on the Middle Deck. It stood on its end, having a closed aperture at its top and another below. In that way the old brandy could be drawn off and new brandy poured in, without disturbing the body. (‘William Beatty, M.D., The Death of Lord Nelson, Constable, Westminster, 2nd edition, 1895, p. 58.)

However, during the night the fleet was caught in a storm that hit them all hard. Nelson was shaken up quite a bit, but all in all he survived it quite well and Victory was brought into port. Beatty now reported:

On the 24th there was a disengagement of air from the body, to such a degree that the sentinel became alarmed on seeing the head of the cask raised. The spirit was drawn off at once, and the cask filled again, before the arrival of the Victory at Gibraltar on October 28th, where spirit of wine was procured; and the cask, showing a deficit produced by the body’s absorbing a considerable quantity of the Brandy, was then filled up with it. (‘William Beatty, M.D., The Death of Lord Nelson, Constable, Westminster, 2nd edition, 1895, p. 59.)

On 4 November HMS Victory sailed from Gibraltar, bound for Portsmouth. The voyage home took just over a month, during which time the spirits in the leaguer were changed twice. Finally, around 14 December, Beatty removed the body, and took out Nelson’s bowles, which would have decayed faster than the rest of the body. The remains were wrapped in cotton, and then swathed in bandages. Finally the body was placed in a lead-lined coffin, filled with brandy mixed with camphor and myrrh (desinfection and fragrance). Nelson’s body was taken to Greenwich, where it lay in state. On 9 January 1806 his body was solemnly buried in St Paul's Cathedral.

Black Fungus Infection: Symptoms, Treatment, and Causes

Black fungus is a severe invasive fungal infection caused by RHIZOPUS  typically seen in immunocompromised individuals.

There has been an increased incidence of this fungal infection in patients suffering from COVID 19 disease.

Several factors including underlying diabetes, immunosuppressives, host factors, pancreatic endocrine dysfunction by COVID 19 have been proposed as the putative causative mechanisms for Mucormycosis.

However, the judicious use of steroids and/or other immunosuppressants should not be withheld in patients with severe COVID 19, as they can be life-saving.

Treatment is long term and involves a combination of drugs and surgical measures.

What Black Fungus/Mucormycosis?

Mucormycosis, popularly termed “Black fungus” by the media and public, is a disease caused by ubiquitously occurring mold found in decaying vegetation and soil. It leads to necrotic black tissue at the infected sites, hence the name. In the Indian setting, it was more commonly seen in uncontrolled diabetics or people on extensive immunosuppression. We have seen the surge in cases of Mucormycosis during this COVID pandemic.  We have also published such an initial series of patients (http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/issn.2454-5929.ijohns20211583). There have been several reasons proposed for this sudden surge in the deadly fungus.

These include:

Uncontrolled diabetes

Prolonged use of steroids and other immunosuppressives

Inborn errors of immunity

COVID19 could affect the pancreas which in turn can disturb the glycemic balance leading to prolonged periods of increased sugar levels in these patients. Thus, Mucormycosis can also be seen among COVID affected patients who were not treated with steroids or other immune-suppressing drugs.

Mucormycosis is caused by Rhizopus oryzae, the most common fungus responsible for the disease which causes about 70% of the cases. Despite advanced treatment and aggressive therapy, the mortality rate of the black fungus disease is over 50%. Further, the mortality rate in disseminated disease or with persistent neutropenia is even higher. The condition requires urgent and aggressive medical intervention; else it may result in debilitating or fatal consequences.

Who is Affected?

People with the following conditions/procedures are at increased risk for developing black fungus disease:

Compromised immunity

Uncontrolled diabetes mellitus in ketoacidosis

Organ or bone marrow transplantation

Malignant hematologic disorders

Other forms of metabolic acidosis

HIV/AIDS

Surgery

Treatment with corticosteroids

Trauma and burns

Neutropenia

Deferoxamine therapy in patients receiving hemodialysis

How Can They Get It?

The cause of black fungus is due to exposure to mucormycetes mold. The fungus is present in the soil, rotting wood, a pile of compost, and leaves.

You may contract black fungus infection through the skin. If you have any cut or scratch on the skin and comes in contact with the fungus, you may get black fungus disease.

Another way of developing this condition is through pulmonary exposure via inhaling the mould spores. Through inhalation, you may have an infection in your lungs and sinuses that may progress to the brain, eyes, and face.

However, not all people exposed to these moulds develop this disease. People with low immunity are at high risk for developing black fungus disease.

Does It Spread Through The Air?

Black fungus is not a contagious disease and does not spread from animals to the human. The fungal spores are present in the environment, including air. In most cases, when the person inhales these spores, they are attacked and destroyed by the immune system. However, in immunocompromised patients, the moulds survive and cause infection.

What Are The Black Fungus Infection Symptoms?

Some of the black fungal symptoms are:

Sinus and respiratory:  Sinus, oral cavity and nasal involvement with extension to the eye is the commonest type of presentation.

Skin Infections: Due to cut, scratches or burnt skin, there is an exposure of the inner tissue to the black fungus. It may result in symptoms, such as ulcers, redness, swelling, tenderness, blisters, and blackened skin tissue.

Brain Infection: Disseminated black fungus infection in the brain may result in coma or altered mental status.

Ocular infection: Infection of black fungus in the eyes may result in eye pain, redness, swelling, blurred vision, and blindness. In some cases, there is a need to remove the eyes to prevent the progression of infection.

Gastrointestinal Infection: Black fungus infection in the gastrointestinal tract may result in Nausea and vomiting, abdominal pain, and gastrointestinal bleeding.

How The Doctor Diagnoses Black Fungus Disease?

There are various methods to diagnose black fungal disease. Some of them are:

Clinical diagnosis: Headache is the most common presenting feature. Tissue necrosis is the evident clinical sign and looking out for eschar (black scab) in the oral or nasal cavity helps in diagnosing the same. Redness and protrusion of the eye with swelling along with the loss of vision, severe facial pain and focal numbness should raise the suspicion of the disease

Imaging Techniques: CT Scan of paranasal sinuses and brain helps in picking up the rhino- orbital disease. CT lungs can help in looking for pulmonary nodule and effusion helps in diagnosing pulmonary disease.

Histopathological and microbiological examination: Identifying the fungus on the microscopic examination of the tissue and looking for uptake of special attains to identify the fungus is the most important step in diagnoses

Molecular assays: Molecular assays, such as restriction fragment length polymorphism analyses (RFLP), conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR), melt curve analysis of PCR products, and DNA sequencing of defined gene regions, helps in determining the presence of Mucorales (pathogen responsible for black fungus disease). These tests are not commonly carried out as usually microscopic examination suffices

What Are The Treatment Options?

Management of black fungus disease requires a comprehensive approach. It includes managing the underlying predisposing factors, removing the necrotic tissues, initiating antifungal treatment, and adjunctive therapy. Following are the methods to manage black fungus disease.

Antifungal medications: The doctor may prescribe various antifungal medications. Some of them are liposomal amphotericin B, isavuconazole, and posaconazole.

Surgical debridement: Several infection specialists believe that surgical debridement of the infected part is required to save the patient's life. It helps in preventing the progression of the disease. After the successful outcome of treatment, the patient may undergo plastic surgery.

Problems

This disease usually has prolonged treatment duration and the drugs used are toxic, expensive and requires a long-term hospital stay. Apart from this, procurement of these lifesaving drugs has become problematic due to a sudden spike in the demand.

It can lead to severe comorbidities such as vision loss, focal deficits and even death at times particularly when the disease is not adequately treated at the early stages.

How to Prevent Mucormycosis Infection?

Having a high index of suspicion helps!!

If diagnosed early it can be treated better with improved outcomes.

Taking care of diabetes and having well-controlled sugars are the most important factor to prevent the invasion. Staying in touch with your endocrinologist and the ID physician post-COVID is also critical.

Following hygienic measures and frequent hand wash with minimizing the exposure of the fungal spores to the mucosal surface is also important.

You must take good care of yourself if you have compromised immunity. You should bandage all your wounds and use a mask while working in the yard. One must understand that steroid can be a lifesaving drug while managing COVID and shouldn’t shy away from its optimal use.

Roman, what is it? And Logan, you okay(ish)?

Logan pinches the bridge of his nose. “Out of the two of us, Ethan has it far worse off. So, relatively speaking, I’m fine.”

“And objectively?“ Roman prompts.

“A few minutes is not nearly enough to warrant this level of concern for my well-being.”

“That was still too much.” Ethan mutters, wishing for the umpteenth time that he could at least look Logan in the eyes as he spoke. “I wouldn’t wish a few minutes of that on my worst enemy.”

“Yes, but you had them for seven months, and the consequences you currently experience are obviously much more severe than mine. It’s clear who our priority should be. Speaking of which, we need to take care of you and leave before I mess anything e–” He narrows his eyes and hums with annoyance. “Before anything else happens.”

Ethan knows the meaning of the last sentence like the back of his hand, and it unnerves him all the more. If Logan’s still affected by a few minutes, how long will it take to recover from over half a year? 

How selfish. He should be more concerned about how Logan feels than the implications for himself.

Before Ethan has time to respond, Logan turns to Roman. “Ask your question, and make it quick.”

Roman reluctantly lets the subject drop in favor of a more urgent one. “What’s the best way to take care of his hands?”

“Thank god, we’re actually addressing the important things. The best way, of course, would be to transfer the mental energy needed to regenerate it. However, we would have to make up for his severe deficit first, and we don’t enough excess energy of our own to directly do so. Hence the importance of getting him fed. You know this.”

“That’s not what I–” He cuts himself off, sighing. “What’s the second best way?”

“Treat it like one would a human injury. Ensure that the wound is clean, dry, and free of debris; apply antibiotic ointment; and put a bandage on it. Typically, one would apply pressure until it stops bleeding, but we’ve taken so lo–”

Roman waves his hand without another word, and Ethan’s are immediately cleaned, disinfected, and bandaged. He winces when Ethan jerks back a bit, startled by the sudden sensation. “Sorry about that. I probably should’ve warned you.”

Ethan takes a deep breath. “Its… fine. Not the worst scare I’ve had in the past hour or so.”

Start Again

A/N: Okayyyyy so I was talked into posting this, and yes I am aware it is the most trashy fanfiction trope I have ever written, and I was mildly disgusted when I found this in my drafts. 2014 me was a dumbass. This was also evidently supposed to have more chapters that were never completed. I’m actually not sorry about abandoning this one, though... 

I’m sorry this exists?

It took too long. Everything just took too long. It took an ambulance too long to navigate traffic, too much time to get her out of the wrecked car. Too much time to clean up her battered face before anyone even recognized her, too long before she got a bed in the ER. Too long before one of the doctors finally realized what was really going on, shoving a couple residents out of the way with a burr hole kit.

By the time they got the pressure down in her brain, and sent her up to surgery, she’d already had one seizure from the bleeding inside her skull, and she’d crashed in the elevator, arriving to the surgical suite with a nurse still riding on the gurney doing CPR.

By the time anyone found her emergency contacts, she’d been in surgery for two hours, without any word. By the time they got to the lobby, the driver of the car that hit her had been pronounced dead.

Simon hadn’t even known she’d set his information as an emergency contact. And apparently, it wasn’t just him she hadn’t told. Like every other detail of that horrible day, he would never forget facing Dianna and Eddie in the waiting room and spreading his hands helplessly, letting them shout at him while the only thing he had to offer was that he didn’t even know. And they were wasting time splitting hairs, couldn’t they see that? It didn’t matter anymore who Demi had been spending her time with or if he was too much older or her boss or anything else, not when they didn’t know if she was going to wake up. They didn’t have time to argue in the lobby of the emergency department, he just wanted to be able to see her.

A nurse had been anxiously watching the face off, clearly trying to remain professional even though this was probably the most gossip-worthy day of her career. “Mr. Cowell, sir, uh, Miss Lovato does have an advance directive in place and--”

“She made it after she got out of treatment,” Dianna cut in tearfully. “She said it was just in case,”

The nurse gave her a polite nod to acknowledge her, and then turned back to Simon. “We need to speak with you--”

“No!” Dianna protested, squeezing her husband’s hand. “That’s my daughter, he doesn’t get a say, I’m her mother, you can say whatever you have to say in front of me.”

The nurse--her nametag read ‘Angelica’--looked at Simon, waiting. “Sir?”

“It’s fine,” he said heavily, hardly believing that any of this was real. “And it’s just Simon, please.”

Angelica nodded, glanced down briefly at the chart in her hands. “Miss Lovato named you as her medical proxy, which means that you have the power--”

“I know what a medical proxy is.” Simon interrupted, feeling shock numb his body while his heart rate increased. Demi, baby, what did you do? “It shouldn’t be me. Give it to her parents, I can’t--”

“We don’t have that power.” Angelica said apologetically. “It’s a legal document that Miss Lovato signed willingly. We can take you back to wait, she should be out of surgery soon.”

“I’m coming,” Dianna insisted. Angelica just nodded at her; she was immediate family too, they wouldn’t refuse her.

A tense elevator ride later had them sitting in hard plastic chairs in a waiting area outside of neurosurgery, the sign itself almost giving Simon a heart attack. Brain surgery, because someone crossed the median while she was driving. And she’d gone to the trouble, sometime so long ago, to put her fate into his hands.

If what Dianna had said was true, that she’d written these things just after getting out of treatment, then it would have been before they were ever together. It would have been while the extent of their relationship was annoying one another at the judges’ desk, back at the very beginning. When the most he’d ever done was hug her and pinch her nose and call her a brat, she’d looked at him and imagined a day like this and signed her life into his hands.

“It shouldn’t be me.” he mumbled again, staring at his hands in his lap. “I don’t know what she was thinking.”

“You’re right, it shouldn’t! I don’t know what you ever thought you were doing with my daughter, she’s my baby and you can’t just take advantage--”

“Dianna,” Eddie murmured, squeezing her hand. His eyes were angry too, he looked ready to strangle Simon, but they were making too much noise in the waiting room.

Demi’s surgery took six endless hours. And when the surgeon finally came out, Simon already knew. The set of his jaw and the look in his eyes wasn’t good news, he could only hope it wasn’t a death sentence.

“Is she alive?” he spat out in a low voice, fists clenched and not sure if he was ready for the answer.

The surgeon nodded shortly, sending a rush of relief through Simon that was quickly tempered by the rest of his words. “She’s still unconscious, and not anywhere close to out of danger. We’re keeping her heavily sedated for now, and you can see her, but I want to warn you, she does have a lot of tubes right now, she won’t...look like you expect.”

“I don’t care.”

“Her vitals are good, but she did sustain severe trauma to her brain. I trust I don’t need to tell you how serious that is, Mr. Cowell. She’s alive and stable, but I can’t make any promises about her recovery until she wakes up.”

“What are you saying?”

“She may have cognitive deficits. We just have to wait and see. I know that’s not what you want to hear, but I can take you to see her now.”

“What does that mean?” Eddie asked quietly, holding tightly to his wife’s hand. “What...what can we expect?”

The doctor shot him an apologetic look. “We have no way of knowing, right now. Injuries like Demi’s have had a variety of outcomes, from full cognitive function to brain death. Obviously, given that her responses to stimuli are intact, she’s in as good a place as we can hope for right now. If we were to see any negative effects when she wakes up, it would likely be fairly mild.”

Eddie seemed to relax just infinitesimally at those words, and he was first into the room after the doctor, Dianna on his heels. Simon, exhausted in every possible way, didn’t bother fighting them and followed slowly, trying to brace himself before laying eyes on her.

Nothing could have prepared him, really. She looked peacefully asleep, if not for the washed-out paleness of her skin and the unceremoniously shaved side of her head, a line of stitches crossing her scalp.

Her lips were cracked and parted around a tube in her throat, cuts and bruises and butterfly bandages littering every visible inch of her skin as she lay there, looking tiny and helpless in that hospital bed.

Dianna sobbed and lurched forward, reaching for her daughter’s hand. Demi had a grey plastic clip on one finger, and an IV running into the back of her hand, and hers stayed limp while Dianna held on.

Eddie moved to stand beside her bed as well, one gentle hand tracing her hairline and sweeping the long side of her unplanned undercut off of her forehead.

Simon just swallowed hard, temporarily frozen. Demi belonged on the stage, larger than life with her incredible voice, she belonged laughing and stumbling in high heels and bodily attacking him with the promise of getting him sick. She belonged barefoot in the kitchen with her nose wrinkled up in concentration as she tried to cook, on the floor playing with his dogs, on the couch in a heated debate about Netflix. She belonged with fire in her eyes and love and laughter on her lips, she was not meant to lie here, so fragile and broken.

He found himself moving to the other side of her bed, ignoring the glares of her parents, and tracing the word on her wrist as he reached to grab her hand. “She’s strong,”

The doctor awkwardly returned just then, telling them that Demi was technically only allowed one visitor at a time, and Dianna stayed at her bedside while Simon and Eddie went back out to the hard plastic chairs.

***

It marked the beginning of the worst week of Simon’s life. He cleared his schedule and spent it almost entirely in the hospital, as did Demi’s parents. And if she’d been awake, she’d have scolded all three of them and set the record straight. Without her, and unwilling to alienate her family while she lay unconscious, Simon just endured their anger, pushing back only when they tried to keep him away from her. But he still couldn’t really blame them.

He’d had to give his permission for them to pull her off sedation and remove her machines after the third day. Tonight would be the eighth since the accident, and Demi still hadn’t woken. Her doctors were at a loss, explaining only that sometimes the body needed more time. That she wasn’t quite in a coma, yet. Simon knew what they weren’t saying, though. Her chances of recovery went down with every day she remained in an unconscious state.

For the moment, it was his turn at her bedside, while Eddie had finally convinced Dianna to let him take her home and take a breather. Simon was sitting on the edge of her bed and looking down at her face, which only looked more sleep-like and tranquil as her bruises began to fade. He rubbed his thumb across the back of her hand, swallowing hard. “Come on, Dem,” he murmured. “If you can hear me, baby, I need you to wake up. Please,” he added in a whisper, fear threatening to choke him.

He’d lived over half his life without her, and she’d come in and rearranged everything so completely in such a short time. And now he was facing down the possibility of her leaving as suddenly as she’d come, permanently, and leaving him to live the rest of it without her. It was a bleak existence he didn’t particularly want to contemplate. One that might require some tattoos of his own to get through it. But it wasn’t going to be like that. She was going to make it through this.

Simon leaned down to press a kiss to her forehead gently, wishing he could hold her properly. She was cold and still so fragile and she smelled like the hospital and faintly like the burning metal of her accident, and he wanted nothing more than to take her home and deposit her in a warm bath, wrap her up between his sheets and hold her and never let her leave again.

But for that, she’d have to wake up.

“You’re such a brat,” he whispered, trying for humor. “Making us sit here waiting on you.”

Demi did nothing but breathe, her heart monitor beeping rhythmically in the silent room. Simon sighed, and squeezed her hand again. “Come on, Demi. You can do this. I love you, brat, just open your eyes.”

He collapsed back into the chair at her bedside, still without letting go of her hand, and bent his head over their laced fingers like he was at prayer. And he hadn’t given himself permission to cry--he didn’t cry--but there were tears falling onto her cold fingertips anyway, and when Eddie roused him later with a firm hand on his shoulder, it was with a bleak expression and red eyes.

Her father said nothing, and Simon just sighed and stood, feeling his back pop in retaliation for sleeping in that damn chair. And he was just about to let go of her hand when he felt the clip on her finger shift. It was a fool’s hope, he’d probably just bumped it with his own hand, but it was enough to glance back at her one final time.

And it was weak and uncoordinated, but her fingers moved, tightening around his hand as best they could, in a gesture no one could mistake. Simon’s heart jumped in his chest, and he turned to Eddie without ever letting go of her. “She squeezed my hand,”

And then Eddie was smiling over his shoulder with tears in his eyes, and Simon glanced down again to find her brown eyes looking up at him with such a quintessentially Demi bemused expression that he almost broke down crying again in relief.

“Hey, love,” he said softly. “You scared the hell out of me.”

Demi coughed, making a face, and looked straight past him. “Dad?”

“I’m right here, Demi.” Eddie assured her.

“Dad, my head hurts.” Demi whimpered, scrunching up her face. Simon reached over to press the call button at her bedside, earning a tentatively grateful nod from her father for it.

Demi dropped his hand quite suddenly, reaching toward Eddie, and Simon tried not to feel hurt. She was here, she was alive, she was awake. She was talking and aware, her brain wasn’t damaged, she was here. He’d take what he could get.

“I don’t understand,” she was saying weakly, looking between Eddie and Simon as quickly as she could without moving her head. “What--I…”

Her doctor and a nurse interrupted her, Dianna hot on their heels. “Baby!”

Demi’s face initially brightened, but then crumpled again in confusion. “Not you,” she was murmuring, almost to herself. She’d let go of Eddie’s hand now, too, and stared down at her own fingers, turning them over in examination almost as if she wasn’t quite sure she was real.

“How are you feeling, Demi?” the nurse was asking, an expression on his face that said he was entirely over the number of people crowding his patient.

“I’m...did I overdose?” Demi asked in a small voice, still not looking at anyone.

“No,” Simon rushed to reassure her, wishing he could be closer than where he’d ended up, almost in the doorway. “It was a car accident, darling.”

Instead of relief, Demi’s face only registered further alarm. “A car accident? Why...why was I driving? I’m sorry, Mama!” she burst out, panic in her eyes. “I didn’t mean to, I don’t know what I did, I--”

“It wasn’t your fault,” Dianna reassured her. “You’re okay, baby. The other driver was on the wrong side of the road. Not you.”

“I wasn’t supposed to leave,” Demi whispered, sounding terribly ashamed.

“Baby, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Dianna was almost crying again. “You’re okay, Demi. It’s okay!”

“Demi, is it okay if I ask you some questions now?” her doctor cut in, smiling politely. Demi nodded weakly, and Dianna reluctantly took a step back.

“Okay, can you go ahead and tell me your full name, hun?”

“Demetria Devonne Lovato,” Demi returned, still looking down at her hands like she didn’t quite know what to do with them.

“How are you feeling right now, Demi?”

Demi shrugged. “My head hurts. Everything...kind of hurts.” she tried to play it off, but Simon could see the pain in her eyes. “I guess it makes sense if I was in an accident,” she mumbled.

The doctor nodded swiftly. “We can start you on some painkillers. Something non addictive, don’t worry. Do you remember your accident at all?”

Demi shook her head, looking agitated again.

“Okay, what’s the last thing you do remember?”

She hesitated. “Um, therapy. My session in the morning. I’m guessing it’s not today anymore, though?”

“Demi,” Simon started, ignoring all of the looks suddenly shot his way. “You didn’t have therapy that morning, darling.”

Demi made a familiar irritated face, starting to wave him off in her usual fashion, before she paused, her eyes flicking over his form rapidly. “Wait a second.” she said slowly. “I know you.”

Simon’s entire body went numb at her words. “Demi?” he said hoarsely.

She snapped her fingers impatiently. “You’re...I sang for you, you didn’t stand up. American Idol. You’re the judge guy, the rude one...Sa--Si--Simon. Simon Cowell.” She looked momentarily pleased with herself, and then made a face that would have been comical in any other situation. “Why the hell are you here?”

Why first aid is important:

In this post, I want to talk (or rather write) about the quite serious topic of first aid. It might be especially important to me, for being basically a part of my every-day-business (as a trainee paramedic), but providing first aid in an emergency can not only turn out crucial for surviving, it can actually save a life! Nevertheless, I keep arriving in situations where nobody has helped :( The reasons that I appear to see are mostly, that a lot of people do not know what to do, how to help, or that they are afraid of doing something wrong. Good thing, that I’m here to explain ;)

However, we are dealing with a quite complex topic here, so today’s going to be about the more basic, general stuff and I’ll come to the more specific aspects in due course in some of my following postings. (By the way, in Germany we usually don’t learn anything about first-aid in school! But we have to take part in courses to get our driver's licenses…)

So! First off, the most important thing to know about first-aid: You cannot do anything wrong! (Except not helping…) Keep that in mind.

But now, to somehow provide you a definition of what this all is about: First aid is the immediate assistance given to a person suffering from either minor or severe illness or injury. Its basic target is to preserve life and prevent the condition from worsening, maybe even to promote recovery. Mainly, it is the initial intervention in serious conditions prior to the availability of professional medical help. Overall, there are lots of different kinds of situations that might require first-aid (like accidents, bleedings or injuries, poisoning, serious diseases such as strokes, heart-attacks, allergic reactions, and so on). What you need to understand, is that at some point all of these conditions at some point cause a disturbance of either the consciousness, breathing, or circulation of your „patient“. These disturbances can sooner or later lead to a deficit of oxygen in their body, which is not exactly very good… Once you’ve recognized a person in an emergency, stay calm, and take your time to decide. Evaluate possible dangers (which a mostly caused by the surroundings, e.g. other vehicles, chemicals, fire, buildings, ice, etc.) for the person that you are about to help, just as much as for yourself. Protecting yourself always comes first! (you can’t help anyone getting yourself hurt…) Once you are sure the situation is safe, you can begin to act. For better understanding, imagine yourself as a link in a chain. Your measures as well as your emergency call represent the very first ones. These are followed by professional medical aid provided mostly by the rescue services and later the hospital. That might already sound like a lot to consider and think about, right? But once again, be aware, that you cannot actually do anything wrong, as long as you at least try to help. The probably most important and most basic measure that everyone can and should do is setting the emergency call! This is your access to professional medical help. Here a quick overview over a few international emergency numbers:

112: With this number, you can call an ambulance in most European countries.

911: This is the emergency number on most of the American continent.

000: the Australian number for an emergency call.

In some cases, you might also end up at the police, but don't worry they can forward your call, and you’ll get help eventually.

Additionally, lots of countries have their own, different number. Therefore, when you are traveling, make sure to be informed.

Once you've set the call, you have actually already helped a lot!

What you can do next, are immediate and further measures. Immediate measures are those measures that need to be done as soon as possible, to some extent already before your call. These include things like the rescue out of the danger-zone (without endangering yourself!), stopping bleeding, bringing your „patients“ in the right position, or perform CPR if necessary. After that, continue and perform further measures until help arrives. What is important here is calming your „patient“, positioning them comfortably, applying bandages, stay with them, talk to them so that they know you are there and help is coming. Do not forget to constantly reevaluate their condition. So in conclusion, first aid can save lives! Be it in traffic, at your job, your free time, or wherever. And I can’t emphasize it enough: The most important thing is not to do nothing. Stay calm and try to help the best you can! Make sure to have an overview and not to endanger yourself. The easiest thing to do is setting up an emergency call. However, often valuable minutes pass before a rescue team arrives. In that case, it depends on each individual to prevent worse!

Okay. That’s it for now. As you might have assumed, this topic is quite important to me, and I’m sure, more posts will follow, to go a still a little deeper into the matter ;)

I hope you had a good start in 2021 and still enjoy our blog!

Stay Safe!

Cheers, Ju!

WASHINGTON (AP) —

President Donald Trump on Sunday declared he was healthy enough to return to the campaign trail, a day after the White House doctor said he was no longer at risk of transmitting the coronavirus but did not say explicitly whether Trump had tested negative for it.

Trump, who was poised Monday to host his first rally after his COVID-19 diagnosis, declared he was now “immune” from the virus, a claim that was impossible to prove and comes amid a series of outstanding questions about the president’s health.

“I’m immune,” Trump said in an interview on Fox News. “The president is in very good shape to fight the battles.”

In a memo released Saturday night by the White House, Navy Cmdr. Dr. Sean Conley said Trump met the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria for safely discontinuing isolation and that by “currently recognized standards” he was no longer considered a transmission risk. The memo did not declare Trump had tested negative for the virus.

But sensitive lab tests — like the PCR test cited in the doctor’s statements — detect virus in swab samples taken from the nose and throat. Some medical experts had been skeptical that Trump could be declared free of the risk of transmitting the virus so early in the course of his illness. Just 10 days since an initial diagnosis of infection, there was no way to know for certain that someone was no longer contagious, they said.

The memo followed Trump’s first public appearance since returning to the White House after being treated for the coronavirus at a military hospital. Hundreds of people gathered Saturday afternoon on the South Lawn for a Trump address on his support for law enforcement from a White House balcony.

Trump took off a mask moments after he emerged on the balcony to address the crowd on the lawn below, his first step back onto the public stage with just more than three weeks to go until Election Day. He flouted, once more, the safety recommendations of his own government days after acknowledging that he was on the brink of “bad things” from the virus and claiming that his bout with the illness brought him a better understanding of it.

His return was a brief one. With bandages visible on his hands, likely from an intravenous injection, Trump spoke for 18 minutes, far less than his normal hour-plus rallies. He appeared healthy, if perhaps a little hoarse, as he delivered what was, for all intents and purposes, a short version of his campaign speech despite the executive mansion setting.

“I’m feeling great,” Trump told the crowd, adding that he was thankful for their good wishes and prayers as he recovered. He then declared that the pandemic, which has killed more than 210,000 Americans, was “disappearing” even though he is still recovering from the virus.

In either an act of defiance or simply tempting fate, officials organized the event just steps from the Rose Garden, where exactly two weeks ago the president held another large gathering to formally announce his nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. That gathering is now being eyed as a possible COVID-19 superspreader as more than two dozen people in attendance have contracted the virus.

His return to full-fledged rallies will be in Florida on Monday, a comeback that comes with the president facing stubborn deficits in the polls. The Trump campaign and White House has not indicated that any additional safety measures will be taken to prevent the transmission of the virus among those traveling on Air Force One or at the rally site.

As Trump returned to the public stage, Dr. Albert Ko, an infectious disease specialist and department chairman at the Yale School of Public Health, said that the White House appeared to be following CDC guidelines for when it is appropriate to end isolation after mild to moderate cases of COVID-19.

But Ko cautioned that those who have had severe cases of the diseases should isolate for 20 days. He noted that Trump was treated with the steroid dexamethasone, which is normally reserved for patients with severe COVID. Ko added that White House had issued “convoluted” statements about Trump’s health that left many questions unanswered, including whether the president ever had pneumonia.

The memo stated that Trump had reached day 10 from the onset of symptoms, had been free of fever for well over 24 hours, and that all symptoms had improved. People who have had COVID-19 can continue to test positive for weeks or longer after they are no longer infectious.

Saskia Popescu, an infectious disease epidemiologist at George Mason University, said the tight time frame laid out by the White House made it appear that “they’re really just pushing to get him out of isolation” and back to campaigning.

Trump will follow the Florida rally with trips to Pennsylvania and Iowa on subsequent days. The White House has steadfastly refused to say when his last negative test was before his October 2 diagnosis, raising questions as to how frequently the president was tested and if he potentially was carrying the virus for days before it was detected, potentially including his first debate two days earlier with Democrat Joe Biden.

Biden’s campaign said the nominee again tested negative on Saturday for COVID-19. Biden was potentially exposed to the coronavirus during his Sept. 29 debate with Trump, who announced his positive diagnosis barely 48 hours after the debate.

The president had not been seen in public — other than in White House-produced videos — since his return last Monday from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where he received experimental treatments for the coronavirus.

District of Columbia virus restrictions prohibit outdoor gatherings larger than 50 people, although that rule has not been strictly enforced. Masks are mandatory outdoors for most people, but the regulations don’t apply on federal land, and the Trump White House has openly flouted them for months.

When I was 15, I started to struggle with school. I had devolved a a form of dyslexia on top of an increasingly complicated learning disability and generalized anxiety disorder. Writing, reading, drawing, and socializing became harder and harder as I started high school. Between those and several mild chronic health problems, I reached a boiling point.So, in an attempt to relieve frustration, I started doing yoga. It worked perfectly, but as my anxiety worsened, it wasn’t enough. I started jogging, Pilates, weight training, and dance. I steadily became fixated on not just exercise, but health overall. I couldn’t control my life, but I would take back control of my body if it was the last thing I did. Which came too close to being true. I thought graduation would be a turning point, but I was wrong. I couldn’t get a job and lost the few friends I had, while my anxiety and learning disability terrified me to the point of putting off enrolling in college. My depression and anxiety only got worse and I eventually stopped all forms of exercise but walking. Even after I got a job at Starbucks, I was still entirely fixated on reaching a daily activity deficit that I kept track of with a fitness watch. I was convinced I could still turn my life around if I kept pushing. What I thought was resolve with really unhealthy obsession. What I thought was my greatest strength was my greatest weakness. I stopped eating and sleeping, the only social life I had was working the drive-thru 40 hours a week. I was miserable and on edge all the time. I made the people close to me miserable. My mood was sporadic and aggressive 99% of the time. I wasn’t even twenty yet, and I had already spent 5 years of my life exhausted and unstable.

My worst nightmare came true. My foot hurt from jogging in place without shoes on, which wasn’t unusual, so I continued working and over-walking with an ace bandage until it happened. At Pittsburgh Mills mall, I was walking with my mom. I needed a cane but I wouldn’t stop. I still remember when I took that last step. It felt like my foot was glass, and that it had shattered into a million pieces. I was so scared, that was the first time I really cried in front of my mom in several years. The doctor said it was tendinitis, why would it feel this way? I continued using it, regardless, until the next soonest doctors visit I could get. I had fractured it. Right in the dead center. They told me it would heal after about four weeks as long as I didn’t use it. So I took time off from work. But several weeks passed. There was no change. The doctor decided it was most likely dietary, so I started eating healthier and taking several supplements. Another month passed. It was hard to concede, but I soon realized I wouldn’t be returning to work any time soon. I quit. I entered in to one of the darkest periods of my life that I can remember. I won’t go into details, but I’m still, three years later, struggling with the same things I did then. As well as uncovering several other unknown health problems in the process. Only now, I know I must move on, regardless of my body or my disabilities. I’ve only just begun truly accepting the new normal, but with the help of my doctors, both for my body and mind, I’ve been getting better. It is a painfully slow process, but I owe it not just to myself but the people that care about me to fight for myself, for my life. To do better. To get better. I still believe in the same values, but I’m learning to look at them from new perspectives. Life never stops being a learning process. Sometimes, even if it feels wrong, you have to fight your own intuition to change for the better. I’m half your age, but I know what it feels like to base my own self worth on what I’m capable of, and I know that’s know way to live. Please let your loved ones help you, because the likelihood is, we know your true value better than you do.

The truth is in the soil

The United States food industry has wreaked havoc on the land, the environment, the economy, and the health and posterity of the public almost undetectably for years. This truth is obscured from the public through crafty legislation, oppressive corporate manipulation, and exploitation our country’s socioeconomic disparity. Often those in the agriculture business are forced to turn to unsustainable practices in order to turn a profit in the increasingly competitive market. Through harmful farming practices, the soil layer that encompasses the planet and fundamentally supports life on Earth, undergoes constant abuse nearing its irreversible tipping point. The importance of soil must be analyzed to underscore the necessity of agricultural reform. The complicated political interconnectedness then raises further questions into the ethicality of corporate practice in other areas of the food industry. Ignorance may seem like bliss, but exposure to these uncomfortable truths is pertinent to wage an informed usurpation in this specialized market.

  Soil is rarely recognized for the crucial role it plays in supporting the ecosystems of the world. Rarely do humans look down and contemplate the origins of such a vital resource. Soil primarily forms by way of glacial, wind, or water erosion picking up nutrients and mixing the elements to create a paradrill basis for new soil. [1] This new soil often partakes in the cyclical life of plants which provides support for growing specimen then subsequently takes in minerals from the decomposed plant matter after they die. [1] The biodiversity that exists beneath the soil’s surface varies between the broad spectrum of soils types that exist. [1] Depending on the geographical surroundings and age, soil may be characterized in one of many groups including entisol (baby soil), aridsol (desert soil), mollisol, alfisol (forest soil). [1] Evidently, the United States possesses the latter two in greater supply than other parts of the world. [1] However, our ill-fated agricultural practices squander this fortunate advantage we possess. In a broader sense, soil serves as an “Interface between biology and geology”. [1] This remarkable attribute is how soils contribute to the living work in a more profound way than just being dirt beneath out feet. This underground realm is home to a variety of bacteria that facilitate processes such as photosynthesis and chemical breakdown for plants. [1] Not only do these microscopic organisms break down chemicals into a usable form for plants, but they also serve humans through processing chemicals we cannot. [1] For example, life that exists within soil allow for oxidation reduction, mine phosphorus from rocks into the only usable form for humans, and can convert nitrogen into the usable form in the roots of plants. [1] The presence of these microorganisms and their pivotal role in the delicate chemical cycles of our ecosystem prove their invaluable nature. [1] There is not substitute for these indispensable habitants of the soils is we must foster their stable population by protecting the health of the soil in which they exist. Without proper hydration and movement, soils may not breed these necessary living members and the entire system is disrupted.

  The pertinence of soil is more evident in the sense of agriculture and food production. To successfully grow a healthy harvest, your seeds must have a healthy soil to grow from. This is a more short-term presentation of the effects of soil quality and provide more influence due to the economic implications that may be associated. Present practices have taking to growing a less diverse assortment of crop in order to fulfill the demand of high output stable crops like corn and wheat. [1] However, this strips the earth of an important biodiversity and has historically contributed to the rise of soil depleting practices for the sake of efficiency. [1] Implementation of fertilizer has enables companies to depend on spraying their land with chemicals to deter pests that may threaten the crop yield. [1] These nitrogen rich fertilizers were engineered subsequent to the Haber and Bosch reactions in regards to WWII bombs. [1] Fertilizers have come to dominate the agricultural practices of the Unites States and often lead to over saturated nitrogen levels in soil which disrupts the natural carbon dioxide breakdown system. [1] The industrialization of farming techniques, known as the Green revolution, enhanced the use of fossil fuels, water, and mechanization in agriculture. [1] Irrigation methods have drowned soil and exacerbated the issue of erosion which has cost farmers 1/3 of their soil. [1] Plowing soil makes the physical erosion of soil worse and does not replicate the benefits of tilling soil. [1] Most importantly, these modern practices do not adhere to the Law of Return which requires humans to return what they have taken in order to maintain a balanced system. [1] Abandonment of this key principle underscores the detrimental influence of capitalism. Farmers will over harvest and be in a nutrient deficit as they are reluctant to return anything back to the Earth. When you take away crop output, the soil loses all of the energy that has been transformed within those crops and the fast turnaround times demanded by the competitive market do not allow for the soil to naturally replenish these important features. This is highly counterintuitive as for the sake of efficiency, stripping the soil of what it needs to produce hearty crops will hurt the farmer in the long Run. Their soil will continue to weaken and more money will be poured into bandage the issues with more fertilizers, chemicals, and machines rather than reverting to return techniques that will actually restore the soil. Less effective soil produces a lower quality crop and traps the farmer into a catch-up cycle that can only end in economic and environmental failure. I volunteered at farm for three summers and saw these concepts applied in real life. The tiny suburban farm had utilized these harmful practices for decades and were finally facing the negative results. The soil was nearly unusable and the property changed hands several times before someone was willing to take on the task of revitalizing the soil to produce a profitable harvest. The summers I volunteered, shocked me as I would see the farm stand import produce as we could not grow our own. As disheartening as this was, this a necessary lesson to be learned and I warn the agricultural industry to make adjustments while they still can to avoid this costly and long period of regrowth.

  The greater food industry is riddled with similar environmentally negligent practices with repercussions that hurt not only long-term business interests but also the health and safety of the consumer. A handful of corporations possess a monopoly on agriculture and the meat industry. They are able to use this economic dominance to cut corners, buy the silence of their workers and legislative exemptions for the sake of efficiency. This is most prominent in the meat industry, where the cruel customs of these corporations require animals to be brought up in mass quantity like a factory. Corporations manipulate workers into silence by coercing them into an inescapable debt. [2] This unethical habit of holding someone’s livelihood over their head to force cooperation should be banned through legislation, but often legislatures are in the pockets of the CEOs responsible. [2] I find it disgusting how these companies are able to exacerbate the economic class divides within the United States by oppressing their own workers. Additionally, these companies source impoverished immigrants to do the unethical work they prefer to keep under wraps so that they can use documentation status as a coercive device. [2] Manipulation of society does not end within the company but seeps into the mouths of consumers. By enforcing cheap practices that often exploit the use if easily available crop supplies like corn, companies have modified foods to sell to the American public. [2] Unsustainable methods are cheaper in the short term due to their efficiency so the struggling middle and lower classes face little choice but to opt for these cheap and readily available options rather than spend larger percentages of needed income on healthier alternatives.

Word Count:1324 Discussion question: It is clear that the consumer is often manipulated by corporations for the sake of profits. How can this issue if corporate and ultimately governmental corruption be addressed so that great change can be achieved?

Koons, Deborah, director. Symphony of the Soil. Youtube, Distribbor, 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntJouJhLM48.

Food, Inc. [Los Angeles, CA] :Magnolia Home Entertainment, 2009.

Psychopathy & The Myth of Moral Obligation

I’m going to kick this particular post off with an overwrought analogy if I may, because this is a knotty subject and I can’t dive into it just assuming that the neurotypical understanding of antisociality/amorality/sociopathy/psychopathy/whatever term we’re to use for the sake of ease, at least, is as rudimentary as it seems. It’s obviously not, and why should it be? You have no obligation to empathise those who will not empathise with you, but if you’re going to dilly-dally between these apparently mutually exclusive and monochromatic in nature opinions, then it might be worth reading this. Or anything at all that goes some way to explain the experience of antisocial personality disorder et al, straight from the psycho’s mouth. So if there’s a website that has some good-looking stuff on there you might want to buy, maybe it’s heavily discounted designer clothes, for example, and your friends have been hyping it for some time, of course you’re going to check it out and make your own mind up. So you go there, and you browse, and pretty instantly, you’ve added several things to your basket and you’re happy you came here -- it’s almost too good to be true, you wonder if the seller is aware of how high quality these clothes are. Click, beautiful dress. Click, insanely cheap fine leather boots. You’ll look fucking amazing in those. However, it’s not long before some of your friends warn you that the whole site in fact hinges on a phishing scam, and they’ve all been conned out of hundreds of pounds, and you’d be wise to stay away. You have other friends who used the site without a hitch, but they’re kind of unreliable friends. In fact from hereon in, assume that everyone in your life is unreliable as a narrator in some way. Anyway, you are now faced with a decision - do you want to risk it all and input your sensitive information on the off-chance that you’ll get lucky, be spared, even, or do you walk away and know fully that your bank account is safe and protected? You have reason to believe you are about to be left vulnerable, so ultimately, if you choose not to hand over your sort code and account number, are you discriminating? You notice the site is operational from China, you fucking racist, mate? You a fucking racist now? You privileged? Wanna check that privilege? And conversely, if you do disclose your information, are you advocating fraud? Are you going to contact the site’s owners and empathetically tell them they can be saved? Are you going to loudly advertise the site to your friends and, when they say they’ve heard it’s a scam, are you going to say: “You fucking racist, mate? You a fucking racist now? You privileged? Wanna check that privilege?” You’re poor and losing money would fuck things up for you for a long time, but those boots, those amazing boots will make everyone jealous and project an image of a version of you you’d like to be more often. So what do you do? What’s morally right? What dozen things are you doing when you perform the singular act of making a should-I-shouldn’t-I decision? The truth is blindingly and infuriatingly simple, and that is - you’re doing none of those things. If you take the risk, you’re merely taking a risk. If you protect yourself, you are merely protecting yourself. You are aware that “bad” people exist, that exploitation is real, but you don’t have to have any strong opinions on it. The only thing you have to do is decide if you want to be in it or not. And it would be you putting you in it - in this case the threat you would be facing is not violent or unexpected, it’s not that someone will break into your home, locate your safe, shoot at the lock, threaten you with knives. It’s that you willingly left your doors unlocked and advertised to your neighbourhood that this was the case. But who would do that? Who would ever do that? As it turns out, a lot of you would. When you White Knight the psychopath you are protecting your own morality to a degree that will potentially cause you harm, and signalling that your acceptance and altruistic levels of empathy are - to you - far more important than protecting yourself from real — not guaranteed, but potential — danger to yourself and maybe even your loved ones. But it seems we have reached a place in our endless search for good, that we are — okay, you are — putting yourselves at risk. And it’s interesting what that says about you. Think about what that says about you. Because no matter what, the psychopath isn’t suffering. You cannot be sectioned for psychopathy/ASPD alone, same as with narcissism. You are not experiencing pervasive distress and upset because of your disorder. You’re doing just fine. So mercy isn’t wanted, there is an ambivalence in its reception; not being a welcome surprise and not being an outrage, it’s a nothing, and if the psychopath ever does thank you for it, they are being insincere and you have become the mark (probably in a minor way, calm down). Why? Because psychopathy is at the stark end of ASPD, and ASPD is a pervasive and persistent disorder with a dazzling array of rigid symptoms that make no sense to a lot of people; disregard for societal norms (i.e the law), amorality, a marked deficit in/maybe even complete lack of spontaneous empathy, varyingly low levels or remorse/guilt/shame. Hard to understand, yes, but nobody is asking you to. This is the ugly truth: it’s not that psychopaths are running on hot at all times just maintaining this facade because it’s no facade. It's not that psychopaths simply don’t understand morality because they do. It’s not that psychopaths are overcompensating for not being loved because mostly psychopaths can be loved whenever the hell they want. Don’t feel sorry for the psychopath, they don’t feel sorry for you. Do you see where I’m heading with this? 

I feel this lack of understanding breeds a frantic need to know it all. And that makes sense, the truth isn’t palatable or even rational. But it's the truth. Instead of sainting the psychopath, sate your need for closure by learning about what and how the psychopath thinks, without any desire at all to change their systems and constructs, and you may begin to understand why no antisocial (at the very least) on this whole earth is ever going to sincerely express upset if they feel they are being essentialised, or that people are over-cautious around them. When you speak on behalf of psychopaths and demand compassion in place of them, you are assuming that antisocials and psychopaths are not capable of grabbing compassion all on their very own. At best, you are reaching at the tragically tenuous idea that antisocials et al are able to change with specifically your intervention, that love and affection and a warm cup of cocoa will fix them, that the reason we are seemingly so cold and blunted is because we've never known real love, or that some tragic life event has left us broken, we’ve seen some things, man, and you’re the hero who noticed the tears behind the scowl and decided to bandage our wounds and begin the healing. But listen to me: ASPD is no insanity defence. It is no excuse. It is no justification or rationalisation, and we’re not fighting for that (or anything). The empaths are. Because really, antisocials don't need saving, and we’re not interested in giving you retribution via a sincere self-improvement that metaphorically pats you on the back and says, “good job”, I mean if we don’t have to save ourselves then we certainly have no desire to save you, that's for sure, however indirectly (and we do notice when you’re doing that. We see you.). Because at worst, you are making the blind assumption that the traits of the antisocial personality - specifically reduced capacity for empathy, remorse… aren't even real, that you know better than they do, than anybody does. However, it makes sense that people want to understand something that seems a directionless and motiveless threat, something or someone that goes so against the grain of what is good and right that their whole personality is based on not caring about you -- that is a deeply unpalatable thought to mostly everyone else, because people run from the truth, and if they can’t do that then they’ll just go to great lengths to hide it from themselves, and construct quasi-fantastical distractions to participate in, delusions to hide in, because the truth of badness as a concept is too much. For many the delusion is “they have some light in them somewhere”. But it’s not your place to go looking, and to think otherwise, does not make you the bad person. Thinking otherwise does not make you the psychopath, stop worrying, calm down, go home. Walk it off. Take a nap.  This isn’t a call to arms, none of this is a rousing declaration of intent — leave your card details or don’t, you’re your own person. But if you’re reading this and thinking, “but I CAN change them, societal revolution will change them!” or find yourself caught up in any more of this hysterical and labile sense of moral obligation to the broken, baby birds you see in us, twitching on the snowy ground, then please do consider my final three questions, and answer them to yourself before doing anything else at all?  1. If you can change someone’s entire personality can you also change a person’s sexuality? Give that a go and get back to me.  2. What about you is so special that — after leaving yourself open to attack in order to prove some altruistic point — you’ll be spared, even celebrated and revered? And 3. With a messiah complex as audacious and inflexible as yours, have you ever considered you might have a personality disorder? Because I can save you. Don’t tell me what it is. I’ll save you. 

Atlanto-axial Subluxation

Atlas - First Cervical Vertebrae 

Axis - Second Cervical Vertebrae

Atlanto-Axial Joint - The joint between the 1st and 2nd Cervical Vertebrae

This joint is unique compared to other vertebrae joints, in that there is no disc between the atlas and axis. Instead it is supported and stabilised by ligaments. The main purpose of this joint is to enable the patient to move their head from side to side. 

What is a AA subluxation?

AA subluxation is essentially a disruption in the alignment of the Atlas and Axis. This means that the joint becomes unstable and results in excessive movement of the neck.

What problems does this cause?

As a result of this type of subluxation the nerves that form the spinal cord, which runs through the vertebral column can become compressed resulting in neurological deficits and neck pain.

How does it occur?

Trauma to the neck such as forced flexion of the head causing ligament/vertebrae damage can result in this condition. However, it is often congenital and usually arises from an abnormality in the Axis either due to a issue with the supporting ligaments or because the Dens ( a projection of the Axis that fits with the Atlas) is malformed or absent. 

How common is this congenital abnormality?

This type of abnormality is most common in toy breeds such as: Yorkshire Terriers, Chihuahua’s, Pomeranians and Pekingese. It usually occurs within the first year of life.

What are the symptoms?

Neck pain - yelping and crying when lifted or touched in the neck/head region

Ridgity of the neck - A reluctance to flex the neck or move, eat and drink

Paraparesis/Paresis - Resulting in the patient being anything from non-ambulatory or ataxic

How is the condition diagnosed?

Radiographs - Lateral, Ventro-dorsal and Oblique views are recommended.

MRI - This will allow assessment of spinal cord damage. 

CT - This will allow visualisation of bone deformity in regards to the vertebrae. 

What are the treatment options?

Conservative - Often only offered to patients with mild clinical signs. It includes cage rest for 4-6 weeks and often the patients are put in a neck brace for this time to allow fibrous scar tissue to form and stabilise the joint. 

Surgical - The main aims of surgery are to relieve compression of the spinal cord and stabilise the joint permanently. If the dens is malformed or damaged, it may have to be removed. The recommended surgical approach is ventrally, as it allows arthrodesis (fusion) of the atlanto-axial joint. A cancellous bone graft is placed in the joint and pins or screws are placed across the joints. A head brace is then put in place and should remain on for 4-6weeks.

Nursing considerations

Avoid flexion of the neck - this will cause further compression of the spinal cord and may result in severe neurological issues.

Gentle Physiotherapy - Often these patients do not move either due to fear of pain or they are unable to because of the spinal cord compression. Therefore physiotherapy is important to maintain muscle tone and blood flow to the limbs

Feeding Tubes - Dependent of the neurological condition of the patient a feeding tube may be the best course of action to ensure they are maintaining hydration status and meeting their RER.

Supportive Bedding - Patients that have limited movement are prone to bed sores therefore padded supportive bedding is essential. The use of donut bandages around boney joints may be needed.

Prevention of Urine Scalding - Using inco pads to soak up urine and regular baths to get urine off skin will be needed.

Being aware of complications - Further displacement of the dens (as a result of surgical failure or neck flexion) into the spinal canal can lead to diaphram paralysis, respiratory failure and death. Thus monitoring of Res rate and effort is a must.

What is the prognosis? 

The prognosis depends on the degree of spinal cord trauma and neurological deficits present before treatment. Mild clinical signs result in a good prognosis whereas prognosis for dogs with paralysis is guarded, although recovery is possible with successful surgery.

@makeshiftcenser

When Nesdin had first been told that he was beign scripted to spearhead an expedition into mapping out an area known only as The Cove, he had expected a location open and calm- unlike the others that he had the misfortune of visiting. It readily became apparent that this was not the case, that the Cove was just as confined and decrepit- mangled bodies of aquatic creatures littered the corridors, most of the unnatural persuasion. And what it lacked in open bodies of water, it attempted to make up for in an excessive amount of dampness that clung to everything, even the air.

This particular band,a foreign crossbow sharpshooter, a traveling merchant, and a masked bounty hunter, seemed to fair well so far. They had taken his transformation with a surprising deficit of questions ( Was that on purpose? Can you control it? ) before moving on. Time was difficult to keep track of, the lack of sunlight removing any reliance on the natural rhythm their bodies kept, but the arbalest judged the time spent from the amount of torches burnt out and decided they should camp when the eighth piece charred away into a wooden husk.

No one had any disputes.

Which is why he currently finds himself wrapping a bandage around a puncture wound in his side, the crossbow user ( he still had not been able to catch her name ) had done the lion’s share of treating the wound, which left him with the time consuming act of actually covering it up. When he was finishing up, he found her resting, weapon unstrung and lying at her feet. Nesdin turned to try and gauge the state of his companions around the campfire. He wasn’t quite sure if the bounty hunter was awake or not, the mask left much to the imagination and he seemed to have no issue in keeping a level line of sight for long periods of time without making a noise, which left-

The merchant, not a person he expected to find delving into dangerous destination and yet here she was: holding her censer close to her chest- one which had plagued enemies and had a curiously invigorating effect when she had turned it on him several times. She seemed.... agreeable.

 “There’s a sinister air to this place.... But we seem to be faring quite well.” He tried for a wave, a smile. “I don’t think I ever caught your name, Miss-”

Haley’s layup lifts West Virginia over No. 7 Kansas 65-64

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Jermaine Haley hurried up the court and hit a layup with 8.5 seconds left, completing a late rally that lifted West Virginia over No. 7 Kansas 65-64 on Saturday.

West Virginia (9-9, 1-5 Big 12) scored the final seven points to break a five-game losing streak.

Dedric Lawson and Marcus Garrett made layups 29 seconds apart to give the Jayhawks (15-3, 4-2) their largest lead at 64-58 with 2:34 left. But Kansas didn’t score again.

Wes Harris responded with a 3-pointer for West Virginia and Derek Culver’s layup cut the deficit to 64-63 with 1:26 remaining. Culver then grabbed a rebound, but threw the ball straight to Garrett with 54 seconds left.

West Virginia got another chance after Lagerald Vick’s airball. Haley rushed, drove past Quentin Grimes and made the go-ahead layup.

Vick missed a 3-point try from the corner as time ran out, and West Virginia fans stormed the court after the Mountaineers’ fifth win over the Jayhawks in their last six meetings in Morgantown.

Haley, who was playing with a bandage on his injured left wrist, led the Mountaineers with 13 points. James “Beetle” Bolden added 12 points despite playing with an illness and Culver scored 12.

Lawson and Garrett had 15 points apiece for Kansas, which had won three in a row. Vick scored 13.

BIG PICTURE

Kansas: The Jayhawks committed 18 turnovers, including 13 in the first half, and missed several chances to put West Virginia away down the stretch. The Jayhawks got just four points from their bench.

West Virginia: It marked a good start to West Virginia’s toughest stretch of the season with four ranked opponents over six games. The Mountaineers also play at No. 3 Tennessee in the SEC/Big 12 challenge on Jan. 26, host No. 20 Oklahoma on Feb. 2 and play at No. 8 Texas Tech on Feb. 4.

UP NEXT

Kansas hosts Iowa State on Monday night before traveling to Kentucky next Saturday for the SEC/Big 12 Challenge.

West Virginia hosts Baylor on Monday night.

from FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports https://fox4kc.com/2019/01/19/haleys-layup-lifts-west-virginia-over-no-7-kansas-65-64/

from Kansas City Happenings https://kansascityhappenings.wordpress.com/2019/01/19/haleys-layup-lifts-west-virginia-over-no-7-kansas-65-64/

Incredible Transformation Of Cancer Teen Whose Facial Tumor

A teenager whose giant facial tumor caused his mother to disown him has had surgery and has been reunited with his family.

Kambou Sie traveled from his hometown of Bondoukou in the Ivory Coast to Italy for life-changing treatment to tackle a tumor engulfing his whole face.

Stunning before and after pictures show the 18-year-old’s transformation after surgeons reconstructed his face.

The 18-year-old, known as Prosper, was 10 years old when the aggressive mass first started to appear on his cheek.

It was left untreated and over the years it began to completely swamp his facial features, affecting his eyesight and his whole face to droop.

Before and after: Kambou Sie, from the Ivory Coast, is barely recognizable after his life-changing surgery was successfully performed in Italy

Growing up, he was often ignored or avoided by his community because nobody understood his condition and thought he was contagious.

The only person who supported him was his father, as he was even disowned by his own mother.

After arriving at Naples Pascale Hospital in Italy 14 months ago, tests revealed that a tumor was a rare form of cancer called Burkitt lymphoma, which attacks the immune system.

He underwent six months of chemotherapy, radiotherapy and stem cell replacement to reduce a tumor.

Prosper said: ‘When I arrived here, often I was afraid. I think that fear was all I felt. My nose used to block my sight. I had to hold my nose down to be able to see.

‘Three days after I began chemo I realized I didn’t need to hold my nose down anymore to see.

‘I am very happy because when I go out I don’t cry. I am happy to meet people. I go out, I have fun, I play around. I have no problems. I am very happy.’

Now cancer has been eradicated, surgeons are working to reconstruct his face.

Decade struggle: He was 10 years-old when aggressive mass first appeared on his cheek

Afflicted: By the time he was 18 the tumor began to completely swamp his facial features, affecting his eyesight and his whole face to droop

Post-surgical: Prosper having his bandages removed after surgery to reconstruct his face

Extensive treatment: He underwent six months of chemotherapy, radiotherapy and stem cell replacement to reduce the tumor

Specialist Dr. Franc Ionna explained: ‘There’s a flaw in the development of the facial bones. He has an alteration of the facial bone.

‘There’s a dissymmetry the left side is different to the right. One side has too much bone on the other is a deficit.’

It will take several surgeries, as cancer has affected the bone structure of Prosper’s skull.

The right side of Prosper’s face has an underdeveloped cheekbone and eye socket, which will need to be rebuilt.

But Prosper’s bones are still recovering from the impact of radiotherapy, so Dr. Ionna will first work on the lower half of his face.

The surgeon spent three hours removing the cancer-damaged skin and releasing scar tissue hardened by the radiotherapy.

He said: ‘I had an endless series of difficulties due to him having gone through radiotherapy the tissues were very stiff just like a wall.’

But the surgery goes well and Proser’s face is starting to take shape.

Reunited: Kambou Sie reunited with his mother after a long period of estrangement

His only long-standing supporter: Kambou pictured with his father, who never abandoned him

Dramatic difference: Prosper looking in the mirror after surgery to reconstruct his face

Home: Kambou pictured with friends and family his hometown of Bondoukou, Ivory Coast

Three weeks after his surgery, Prosper returned to his home in the Ivory Coast, where his community rejected him. He is welcomed by his father’s open arms and his mother’s quest for reconciliation.

Prosper will return to Italy in the future for more surgeries, but for now he his enjoying being part of the community again.

He said: ‘My face has changed. It’s not finished, but it’s changed. I have also changed. I am not like before.

‘Before leaving, I couldn’t see a thing. It’s my country, but today as I arrive I’m new to it. I now have eyes to see it all. I don’t know what to expect. How the welcome will be. I don’t know if the welcome will be good or not. We’re arriving, it’s here.

‘After the new year, I’ll go to school to study and find out what I want to do in the future.’

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Incredible Transformation Of Cancer Teen Whose Facial Tumor was originally published on Health Spirit Body