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pcttrailsidereader · 8 months

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He broke a hiking record on the PCT . . . This was the extreme physical toll

Nick Fowler set a record for the fastest self-supported thru-hike on the Pacific Crest Trail. Here he took a selfie at mile marker 300 in the Southern California desert. Nick Fowler

SF Chronicle writer Gregory Thomas continues his interest in fast hiking of the PCT as he talks to Nick Fowler, new record holder for the fastest unsupported hike of the PCT. [See also the last post about Karel Sabbe's fastest support hike of the PCT.] Unsupported means that Fowler did not have a team to meet him on the trail with food or water or shelter. Fowler would have had to send himself his resupply or travel into trail towns to purchase food. It is an amazing achievement but not without consequences . . . including significant health issues. Interestingly, Fowler walked his hike SOBO.

An Oklahoma hiker traveling alone shattered the speed record for a self-supported thru-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail. That means he trekked the 2,650-mile trail solo, without the backing of a crew to help him make camp, cook or care for his body along the arduous journey.

Starting in Washington state in July and heading south, Nick Fowler covered an average of about 51 miles per day for 52 days, 9 hours and 18 minutes. He arrived in Campo (San Diego County), near the Mexico border, on Sept. 6, having beaten the previous self-supported record by more than three days.

On Monday morning, Fowler said his body is paying the price for the effort: His toes and forefeet are still numb.

“I’m exhausted,” he told the Chronicle. “I’ve been doing nothing but eating and sleeping since I got home.”

Speed records on the Pacific Crest Trail — and for that matter the Appalachian Trail, too — have been falling the past several years as extreme endurance athletes have taken interest in one-upping each other to establish fastest known times, or FKTs, on America’s wilderness trails. Several of the players belong to the burgeoning global community of ultrarunners — niche performers who participate in 100-mile-plus foot races in the mountains — including Karel Sabbe, who last month smashed the record for a supported thru-hike of the PCT, completing the trail in 46 days.

Nick Fowler sits at the southern terminus of the Pacific Crest Trail near the U.S.-Mexico border in early September.Nick Fowler

Fowler, by contrast, is a 35-year-old entrepreneur from Tulsa who says he hadn’t hiked much at all until four years ago. “I’m a nobody,” he told the Chronicle. “I’m brand new to this.”

In 2019, Fowler and his wife lit out in a van to visit all 63 national parks across the country. Along the way, he discovered a love for the outdoors and became fixated on pushing his body to the max.

Two years ago, he set the self-supported FKT on the 1,248-mile Pacific Northwest Trail, which crosses mountain ranges in Montana, Idaho and Washington. Last year he claimed the same record on the Ozark Trail in Missouri. His high mark for a single day of hiking is 78 miles, he said.

But each trek took a toll, and Fowler came away with ligament damage in his ankles and a stress fracture in one foot. Last winter, he prepared for the PCT while on crutches, healing from a foot injury.

The past several PCT record-setters have attacked the trail from south to north, in part to avoid the worst of late-summer heat in the Southern California desert. But Fowler thought heading in the reverse direction would give him an edge: He’d start in Washington’s Cascade Range, where last winter’s snowfall was relatively low, then hit the High Sierra later in summer, when its historic snowpack would be at its thinnest and the landscape would be most easily passable.

The first half of his hike was relatively fast and smooth. He went ultralight, carrying a kit with a base weight of just 7½ pounds, and covered 55 miles per day. Every few days he’d detour into a town to buy food or pick up resupply boxes of clothes and shoes he’d mailed himself along the route.

Then he hit the High Sierra, roughly halfway through, “and it all kind of hit the fan,” Fowler said.

Exhaustion, dizzy spells, a pulled quadriceps, and “the nastiest blister I ever had in my life” chipped away at Fowler’s well-being. Then his urine turned blood red, the result of a condition called rhabdomyolysis, when muscles break down and release their contents into the blood.

The 10,000 calories per day Fowler had budgeted wasn’t enough to sustain him, so his starving body started pulling proteins and electrolytes from his damaged muscles. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines rhabdomyolysis, which can be triggered by intense exertion, as “a serious medical condition that can be fatal or result in permanent disability.”

“I kept going even though everyone was telling me to stop,” Fowler said.

Attempting such an extreme objective forces a person to confront physical and mental limits, said Heather “Anish” Anderson, an author and respected endurance adventurer who set the self-supported FKT in 2013. During her trek, she felt her body “really breaking down,” she said.

Near Mount Shasta, Fowler crossed paths with Sabbe, the ultrarunner working on his supported FKT, and the two snapped a selfie together. Sabbe was being paced by two crew members, one of whom Fowler saw shuttling cans of soda for Sabbe — standard procedure for supported thru-hikers but an impossibility for those going self-supported.

“I was so jealous,” Fowler said. “I would have done anything for a cold pop in certain places.”

While traversing the High Sierra, Fowler encountered a ranger who was warning hikers off the trail: A hurricane of historic proportions was bearing down on Southern California and was forecast to bring deadly conditions to the mountains there.

“I thought, ‘I’ve already gone through so much, I’m not turning back now,’ ” Fowler said.

When Hurricane Hilary reached the southern Sierra, Fowler had to spend nearly two days hunkered down in a cave in the mountains.Nick Fowler

“I came out of the Sierra thinking, ‘Thank God I don’t have to deal with water anymore,’ ” he said.

The final stretch in the desert was so hot, and Fowler was so physically depleted, that the rhabdomyolysis returned and the hiker’s hands locked up on him, making it difficult for him to buckle his backpack straps.

By the time he arrived at the trail’s southern terminus to meet his wife, Fowler had been out of food and water for hours and hadn’t seen another hiker in days. “I felt like crap,” he said. “It was a real rough finish.”

FastestKnownTime.com, the record keeper for mountain treks, is reviewing Fowler’s record claim, which includes his GPS track, photos and trail notes.

Several days after finishing, Fowler said he’s still “in a fog” mentally and physically but had no regrets.

“It’s the funnest thing I’ve ever done in my life,” he said. “It’s just fascinating what the human body is capable of.”

#NOBO #FKT #Unsupported hike #Anish #Karel Sabbe #Nick Fowler #rhabdomyolysis

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professor-dumbledope · 2 years

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Weather-Related Illnesses

** Pictured above (from left to right) are examples of frostbite, trench foot, and heat rash. **

Cold-related illnesses

Chilblains

Caused by repeated exposure of the skin to temperatures just above freezing to as high as 60 Fahrenheit. The cold exposure damages the capillary beds (groups of small blood vessels) in the skin. The damage is permanent and the redness/itching typically occurs on cheeks, ears, fingers, and toes, and will return with additional exposure.

Symptoms: redness, itching, possible blistering, inflammation, possible ulceration in severe cases.

First aid: Avoid scratching; slowly warm the skin; use corticosteroid creams to relieve itching and swelling; keep blisters & ulcers clean & covered.

Frostbite

An injury to the body caused by freezing. It causes loss of feeling and color in the affected areas. Most often affects the nose, ears, cheeks, chin, fingers or toes. It can permanently damage tissues, and severe cases can lead to amputation. In extremely cold temperatures, the risk of frostbite is increased in people with reduced blood circulation and who are not dressed properly.

Symptoms: reduced blood flow to hands & feet (fingers & toes can freeze), numbness, tingling or stinging, aching, bluish or pale waxy skin.

First aid: Get into a warm room as soon as possible; do not walk on frostbitten feet or toes unless absolutely necessary (as this worsens the damage); immerse the affected area in warm -- NOT HOT -- water (temp should be comfortable to the touch by unaffected areas); warm the affected area using body heat (such as warming frostbitten fingers in your armpits); don't rub or massage the frostbitten areas since this can worsen the damage; don't use heating pads, heat lamps or stoves, fireplaces or radiators for warming since numbness of affected areas can lead to burns.

Hypothermia

Abnormally low body temperature caused by prolonged exposure to cold temperatures. Body temperatures that are too low can affect the brain, affecting the victim's ability to think and/or move well. This can make hypothermia dangerous as the victim may not realize it's happening and will not be able to do anything about it before it's too late.

Symptoms: Early symptoms are shivering, fatigue, loss of coordination, and confusion/disorientation. Late symptoms are no shivering, blue skin, dilated pupils, slowed pulse & breathing, loss of consciousness.

First aid: Move the victim into a warm room or shelter; remove wet clothing; warm the center of the body first (chest, neck, head & groin) using an electric blanket (if available), or you can use skin-to-skin contact under loose, dry layers of blankets, clothing, towels, or sheets; warm beverages can help increase body temperature (but avoid alcoholic beverages, and do not try to give beverages to an unconscious person); after body temp has increased, keep the victim dry and wrapped in a warm blanket, including the head and neck; if the victim has no pulse, begin CPR compressions.

Trench Foot

Also known as "immersion foot," this injury of the feet results from prolonged exposure to wet and cold conditions. It can occur at temperatures as high as 60 Fahrenheit if the feet are constantly wet. Injury occurs because wet feet lose heat 25 times faster than dry feet -- to combat the heat loss, the body constricts blood vessels to shut down circulation in the feet. Skin tissue then begins to die because of lack of oxygen and nutrients and the buildup of toxins.

Symptoms: reddening of the skin, numbness, leg cramps, swelling, tingling pain, blisters/ulcers, bleeding under the skin, gangrene (foot may turn dark purple, blue or gray).

First aid: Remove shoes/boots and wet socks; dry the feet; avoid walking on feet, as this can cause further damage.

Heat-related illnesses

Heat cramps

Heat cramps can occur when one sweats too much during strenuous activity, which depletes the body's salt & moisture levels. Low salt levels in muscles can cause cramping, though cramps can also be a symptom of heat exhaustion.

Symptoms: muscle cramps, pain, or spasms in abdomen, arms and/or legs.

First aid: drink water and have a snack that replaces carbohydrates and electrolytes (such as sports drinks) every 15 to 20 minutes; avoid salt tablets; get medical help if the victim has heart problems, is on a low-sodium diet, and/or has cramps that don't subside within 1 hour.

Heat exhaustion

Heat exhaustion is the body's response to an excessive loss of water and salt, usually through sweating. It's most likely to affect the elderly, people with high blood pressure, and those working in hot environments.

Symptoms: headache, nausea, dizziness, weakness, irritability, thirst, heavy sweating, elevated body temperature, decreased urine output.

First aid: Remove victim from the hot area and give liquids to drink; remove unnecessary clothing (including shoes and socks); cool the victim with cold compresses or have them wash their head, face, and neck with cold water; encourage them to take frequent sips of cool water.

Heat rash

Heat rash is an ailment caused by excessive sweating in hot, humid weather.

Symptoms: red clusters or pimples or small blisters usually appearing on the neck, upper chest, groin, under the breasts, and in elbow creases.

First aid: keep the rash area dry; apply powder to increase comfort; don't use ointments and creams.

Heat stroke

This is the most serious of the heat-related illnesses and occurs when the body can no longer control its temperature -- the body temperature rises rapidly, the sweating mechanism fails, and the body is unable to cool down. When heat stroke occurs, body temps can reach 106 Fahrenheit or more in just 10 to 15 minutes. It can cause permanent disability or death if emergency treatment isn't received.

Symptoms: confusion or altered mental status and/or slurred speech, loss of consciousness (coma), hot/dry skin or profuse sweating, seizures, very high body temperature, fatal if treatment delayed.

First aid: move the victim to a shaded, cool area and remove outer clothing; circulate the air around the victim to facilitate cooling; place cold, wet cloths or ice on the head, neck, armpits, or groin, or soak the clothing with cool water; cool the victim quickly using any of the following methods:

with a cold water or ice bath (if possible);

wet the skin;

place cold, wet cloths on the skin;

soak clothing with cool water.

Heat syncope

Heat syncope is fainting and/or dizziness that usually occurs when standing for too long or suddenly standing up after sitting or lying. Factors that may contribute to heat syncope include dehydration and lack of acclimization.

Symptoms: fainting (short duration), dizziness, light-headedness from standing too long or suddenly rising from a sitting or lying position.

First aid: sit or lie down in a cool place; slowly drink water, clear juice, or a sports drink.

Rhabdomyolysis

This illness is associated with prolonged physical exertion and heat stress. It causes the rapid breakdown, rupture, and death of muscle. When muscle tissue dies, electrolytes and large proteins are released into the bloodstream, which can cause irregular heart rhythms, seizures, and damage to the kidneys.

Symptoms: muscle cramps/pain, abnormally dark (tea or cola-colored) urine, weakness, exercise intolerance, asymptomatic.

First aid: stop activity immediately; drink more liquids (preferably water); seek immediate care at the nearest medical facility, if possible, and ask to be tested for rhabdomyolysis (a blood sample analyzed for creatine kinase).

Source: www.cdc.gov

#h&fa #h&kc #outdrs #first aid #heat stroke #heat exhaustion #rhabdomyolysis #heat syncope #heat rash #heat cramps #chilblains #frostbite #hypothermia #trench foot #medical emergency

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tiny-peridot · 5 months

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How to Prevent Rhabdomyolysis

#How #Prevent #Rhabdomyolysis

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i-am-thornqueen · 1 year

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Happy Birthday to Me!!

*goes to work*

*drug that should not be fucked with is being fucked with at work*

...i don't want it to be my birthday anymore. O_o

#pharmacy stuff #when i say don't fuck with that drug #do NOT fuck with the drug #i'm not kidding!#holy shit #i literally just had to deal with myocarditis with myocardial infarct #PLUS rhabdomyolysis #the patient's fine #but that drug is one with which you do not fuck

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woso-fan13 · 9 months

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Sicktember 2023: 15 (USWNT)

Sick in an Inconvenient Place

Your career was at an all time high. You would say it was peaking, but it seemed to get better everyday. You had millions of followers on social media, you were a brand ambassador for countless companies, you were constantly starting for the national team, you were on a freaking Wheaties box. To top all of that off, you weren’t old enough to legally drink or rent a car.

Your days were stressful, to say the least, but that was to be expected. You would wake up before the sun rose to have time to run and get a few hours of unofficial practice before you had to go to the stadium for actual practice. You would then train with the team, recover, and then do assorted media/brand commitments in the late afternoon. After that, it was time for a quick dinner before a final run for the night. Then a shower, pajamas on, and into bed where you would update social media and respond to any messages. A few hours of sleep and you were up the next morning to do it again.

It was exhausting, but it was necessary. If you wanted to be the best, it was necessary. At this place in your career, there’s no time to take a break.

So you continued. Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months, and your sacrifices became worth it as you could see your career growing. You were unstoppable.

—-

You were not unstoppable, you soon found out. You didn’t wake up at your usual time, you must have been exhausted the night before and forgot to set an alarm. Despite the extra hours of sleep, you felt a bone-deep tiredness unlike anything you had felt before.

Every muscle in your body hurts. As you moved to grab your phone off your nightstand, you were barely able to lift it. Your arm was shaking with the effort it took.

You tried to power through these changes, forcing yourself out of bed and into the bathroom. You ignored the fact that your pee could have easily passed as tea, but the feeling in your chest made you stop. It felt like your heart was fluttering.

You knew not to take any problems with your heart lightly, so you called your doctor’s office to try and schedule an appointment for that day. The very lovely nurse on the phone had informed you that there were no appointments available until the week after next before she asked you what your current symptoms were. As you listed them off, you heard the line go quiet for a few moments.

Then, she was telling you to get to the emergency room.

—-

As soon as you mentioned the problem with your heart, you were immediately seen. Once they ruled out a heart attack, they calmed down, but continued to leave you hooked up to a monitor as they completed various tests. You allowed your eyes to close as you waited for results.

You awoke to someone standing in front of your face with a packet of papers and a pen. You listened as she rushed through an explanation of your condition- rhabdomyolysis, something you would have to research later. You weren’t fully paying attention until you saw her pass over a stack of consent forms.

She walked through them with you, explaining everything. With each new form, you could feel panic rising. The first form was for admission to the hospital- not ideal, but okay. The second form was for admission to the intensive care unit. At this, your eyes shot up.

You listened to an explanation on how your electrolyte levels were so unstable that you were at extremely high risk for cardiac irregularities and cardiac arrest, so you needed to be closely monitored. You were so focused on this that you didn’t notice as she continued talking about liver and kidney damage.

The next few hours passed in a blur as you were transported to a private room in the ICU. Seemingly, your career successes caused you to get labeled as a vip, meaning you bypassed some of the rules. Normally, you would protest any special treatment, but you felt like you deserved nicer blankets if you would be staying in the hospital.

You called your parents, sure that they would be made aware of it soon enough. They were concerned, but you reassured them that you were okay. You made it a point not to tell any of your teammates, knowing that they would freak out.

By the time the sun went down, you were so exhausted that you fell asleep. You slept through the night, unaware of the constant medication adjustments and lab tests.

—-

You woke up the next morning to the entire united states’s women’s national team crowded into the room. Several people were crammed into couches, asleep. Others had pulled chairs up around your bed, some of whom remained awake. They noticed your eyes opening.

It was silent as you woke up, a competition to see who would speak first. Eventually, you broke, speaking a quiet,

“Sorry.”

You were quickly stopped from apologizing and reassured that nobody was mad at you. What followed was an hour-long lecture about setting limits and not pushing yourself too far.

Thankfully, the lecture was stopped when the door opened. A familiar head peaks in, a look of relief crossing their face. She pushes fully into the room, walking over to wrap you in a hug.

“Oh, Y/N/N, I’m so glad you’re okay.”

“Me too, Mally. Are you doing alright?”

“Me?” she responds, sounding shocked, “you’re in an intensive care unit of a hospital. And you’re asking about me?”

You just shrug, a small smile on your face, “I really missed you.”

She leans down to pull you into another hug, squeezing tightly. You returned the hug similarly.

She pulls back, looking around the room. As you do the same, you realize that there are no empty chairs left. Painfully, you scoot to one half of the bed, motioning for her to join you.

“I don’t think that’s allowed,” she says, shaking her head.

“It’s fine, what are they going to do?” you respond, “they’re not going to kick me out to die on the street.”

Mal rolls her eyes before climbing in next to you. She wraps her arm around you, pulling you to rest against her. Your body relaxes, slumping against her.

It’s silent in the room for a few minutes before Mal leans over to grab the bag she left on the side table. She rummages through it for just a second before pulling out a worn book. Looking at it, you recognize it as the one she had read last camp and had been begging you to read.

She allows you to settle again, as you had been slightly displaced by her movement. Once both of you are comfortable, she opens to the first chapter. She begins reading- loud enough for the people in the room to hear, but quiet enough to be soothing.

You allow yourself to be transported out of the hospital bed and into the fictional world, joining the characters as Mal describes them.

#womens soccer #uswnt woso #uswnt x reader #uswnt players #woso imagines #reader insert #woso x reader #uswnt imagine #woso imagine #woso #uswnt fanfic #uswnt imagines #uswntsoccer #uswnt reader

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deathmetalunicorn1 · 1 month

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i read one of the old requests about teenage reader and ror characters with rhabdomyolysis -i hope i wrote that right-, and then i thought about reader getting comfortable again in her body yk, after months of avoiding exhausting physical activities and doing the bare minimum to avoid risks, a complete 180 from her active lifestyle that kept her in excellent shape, now body changes can be easily seen for the worse in her eyes and maybe reader is not liking the way her body is changing in the context of the feeling weak or scawny, so the family is there to reassure her about it:P

-It felt like you were trapped, trapped in a body that was not your own. You were an active person, always outside, running around, playing various sports, and now you were looking out into the backyard, confined to your bed.

-It wasn’t forever, that’s what your family and your doctors all told you. You had just gone too hard for too long, and your body had been at risk of shutting down, nearly killing yourself.

-You had to wonder while watching people running past your house, would it have been worth it, if you would have continued doing what you loved, even with the risk?

-Your family knew you were struggling, basically being grounded, unable to do anything, no working out, no exercise, you had to sit there and rest.

-Your whole life had done a 180, and it was hard for you to adjust.

-They tried doing what they could to help, bringing you books, puzzles, video games, things that would help you stay put and relax, they would sit with you, telling you stories, talking with you, anything to keep your mind off going out.

-You were allowed to go outside after the first week, getting cabin fever, but you couldn’t do anything except sit on the swinging bench chair on the covered porch.

-It was like dying but without dying, that’s how you felt, even if the more logical side of your brain was calling you overdramatic.

-Your family was supportive, knowing you were going through a rough patch at the moment, as they had one of your doctors provide them with some insight on how you were feeling.

-Kojiro and Lu Bu felt it when they compared your loss of exercise if they were to just stop training and fighting, being unable to do so. Loki couldn’t do any pranks, Jack couldn’t have any tea, everyone had their own thing that made up such a big part of their life, they just didn’t realize it until faced with the prospect of not being able to do it.

-At your one month follow up, you were elated when your doctor said you could go on one walk day, it wasn’t much, but you were finally allowed to go out, with supervision of course, just so you didn’t overdo it.

-You weren’t allowed to run around, you just had to walk, which was nice, and after not doing anything for a while, your muscles were hurting from just a walk around the park.

-Adam had nearly panicked when he saw you being carried on Leonidas’ back, piggy-back style, as your muscles had started spasming, but that was normal, after a panicked call to your doctor, as your muscles had to slowly get back to normal.

-You were happy that you weren’t stuck at home anymore, but it was going to be a long process.

-Your family was going to be right there for you, through this whole process, and you felt like you couldn’t appreciate them more for all this.

#record of ragnarok #ror x reader

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beefromanoff · 8 months

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Project Mockingbird Ch. 1

summary: Natasha identifies a girl who needs their help and makes a case to the rest of the team. the problem? the girl who needs the help was genetically engineered to oppose their friend.

pairing: Bucky Barnes x OC

chapter list

________________________________________

Three Months Earlier

The team filed into the conference room at The Avengers’ Compound in their usual order: Steve and Vision (fifteen minutes early), Peter, Bruce, Wanda, and Sam right on time, and Tony striding in five minutes late.

“I have to admit, when I heard you wanted to see me, I was hoping for more of a one-on-one situation.” Sam joked as he plopped down in his chair.

“Keep dreaming, Wilson.” She shot him a side-eyed glance, a shadow of a smile on her face.

The room held a strange energy, remaining unusually quiet as everyone waited for Natasha to explain the reason for calling the meeting. Steve and Tony had historically been the only ones to call official team briefings.

“I found a girl.” Natasha slid a stack of folders across the table.

“Hey, love is love. As long as I can watch.” Tony grinned.

“Shut up.” She ignored him and clicked a button on her computer, bringing a set video footage to life on the screen behind her. “Her name is Charlotte Julianna Rossi. She’s 21 years old, according to her Drivers’ License. According to her birth certificate, she’s closer to 100.”

The room fell quiet, Steve and Natasha exchanging a sobering gaze. The screen on the wall showed several clips at once, all featuring a pretty young girl. Her hair was different colors across all of the clips, some showing her with long, blonde locks and some showing a cropped dark haircut with severe bangs, others showing varying shades of red.

“She’s hardly been on the radar until the past two years. In that time period, she’s been hospitalized seventeen times for injuries consistent with overuse and extreme fatigue. Rhabdomyolysis, kidney damage, severe muscle strain, dehydration, the list goes on. Every single time, she’s admitted in a critical state but checks herself out against medical advice less than 24 hours later.”

As the team shuffled through the documents in front of them, putting pieces together, Natasha continued.

“I found her because she made headlines earlier this year after getting kicked out of Team USA Olympic trials for women’s gymnastics. They tried to cover it up, didn’t want to get any questions they didn’t have an answer for. From what I was able to gather, she came out of nowhere, competed at the last National Championship meet as an unaffiliated gymnast, and won every event with a perfect score. The entire gymnastics community was up in arms about it. They tried to figure out where she came from, where she trained, but there was nothing. No record. Of course, Team USA begged her to come to the tryout, she blew them away. Somehow, one of the families of the gymnasts at risk of losing their spot got her kicked off for use of performance enhancing drugs. The thing is, there’s no record of her ever even being tested.”

“No offense, Nat, but we aren’t exactly looking to start a Cirque Du Soleil Troupe here.”

“Tony, shut the fuck up and let me finish.” She gave him an austere look as he put his hands up defensively.

“Since then, she’s won a dozen amateur MMA matches, three boxing matches, and won fifteen straight games of poker before being banned from the majority of Vegas casinos. She’s making her money drifting, picking up random things and kicking everyone’s ass at them. Clearly, it’s not without a toll, if you look at her hospital records.”

She clicked a button and the screen shifted, sending a chill down everyone’s spine. A grainy document had been scanned in, the HYDRA symbol emblazoned on the top of the letterhead.

“Project Mockingbird. It was pioneered two years after the Winter Soldier project. Specifically, it was initiated only ten days after a record seventeen HYDRA agents were critically injured trying to contain their primary test subject during an attempted escape.”

Wanda spoke slowly. “You mean…”

“Bucky.” Steve breathed out.

“Right.” Natasha was solemn. “I didn’t want to leave him out of this, but I didn’t know how he’d handle it. I figured it was better to tell him once we have more information.”

Steve nodded, brow knit together in concern.

“Okay, so I think I’m tracking all of this, but if you could - just so I’m clear, what exactly does all of this mean?” Peter leaned forward nervously.

Taking a deep breath, Natasha answered. “This is just a hypothesis, but I don’t see much wiggle room. It appears that when HYDRA was working on the Winter Soldier project, on Bucky…they had difficulties containing him. Controlling him. When it became apparent that ordinary agents couldn’t do it, they took to experimenting on others. Orphans, mainly. People no one would miss. Trying to create something…someone to be able to stand against him.”

She pulled out a chair and sat for the first time, regarding all of them seriously. “They had dozens of test subjects. The majority of them didn’t survive the initial round of experimentation. A few others suffered complications in cryo. She’s the only one left.”

“Forgive me for being so forward,” Vision spoke up. “But, if I’m understanding correctly, we have reason to believe that Ms. Ross, she was created to oppose Sergeant Barnes.”

“Yes.” Natasha avoided Steve’s eyes like her life depended on it. “I believe that Charlotte Julianna Rossi was enhanced by HYDRA as a sentient weapon with the primary purpose being containment and control of The Winter Soldier.”

Present Day

“Thank you.” Natasha gave a polite smile to the driver as he opened the car door for her to step out. They’d arrived at the Wynn, one of - if not the nicest hotels on the Las Vegas strip.

She’d wasted no time after the mission was approved, spending the majority of the flight putting on full glam and finishing it off with the perfect red lip. Black cocktail dress, gold heels that caught and reflected all the Vegas lights, studded clutch purse with cash, lipstick, and a pistol. Tony had offered to book her a hotel room through his connections, but she’d waved him off.

They’d be back in New York by sunrise.

It didn’t take long for her to locate Charlotte. Though 8pm was early by Vegas accounts, the casino was lively. Natasha dodged several attempted pick-up attempts by drunken gamblers as she wove through the tables to her end destination: the high stakes room. A sultry smile paired with her low cut dress made quick work of gaining entry. It wasn’t unusual for beautiful women to be welcomed into the high stakes room. The only thing rich men loved more than blowing money was doing it in front of a pretty audience. Nat slipped into the intimate room, the air full of cigar smoke and jazz music.

Seated at a small table was a pretty brunette, eyes dark with smudged shadow and lips glossy. A martini sat in front of her, completely untouched, judging by the lack of a gloss print on the rim. Charlotte tapped the table in front of her, signaling for the dealer to give her another card. She already showed a nineteen, meaning standard play said she shouldn’t hit. The crowd murmured, exchanging glances. In the betting circle was a stack of $1,000 chips that Natasha estimated to be around $20,000.

To the shock of everyone but Natasha and Charlotte, the dealer flipped a third card to reveal a two of diamonds. Blackjack.

Charlotte grinned, leaning back and relishing in the applause as the dealer paled and began counting out chips to pay her. Nat cracked a smile but immediately felt a jolt in her stomach. The dealer had given a nod to the guard at the front, who was now touching his earpiece and speaking softly. She couldn’t hear him over the music, but his lips read clear as day: She must be counting.

Acting quickly, Nat stepped to the table, making herself wobbly and heavy lidded.

“Ohmygod, THERE you are,” she put a hand on Charlotte’s shoulder, who immediately tensed. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere, c’mon, the girls are waiting with the Uber,”

She squeezed Charlotte’s shoulder and briefly broke character to give an urgent look, hoping she’d pick up on the fact that the drunk persona was intentional.

“Oh, look at the time,” She said in mock surprise. “It’s been fun, don’t have too much fun without me!” Her manicured hands slid stacks of chips into her purse, a few falling to the floor with wide-eyed spectators locked onto them.

“Get yourself something nice, Gary.” She flicked a purple $1,000 chip to the dealer who fumbled to catch it. Out of the corner of her eye, Natasha saw two men approaching them from across the casino floor. She elbowed Charlotte, who tracked her gaze and clocked them immediately.

Waving her arm, Natasha knocked the still-full martini glass onto the felt of the Blackjack table. The gin spewed across the cards and glass splintered on contact. “Oh, jeez, I’m so sorry, I really shouldn’t have taken that last shot,” She called the apology over her shoulder into the chaos that descended over the mess, linking her arm through Charlotte’s as she fumbled to close her small bag around the massive amount of chips.

They slid out the door under the cover of the bachelorette party walking past, slipping right into the middle of the drunken parade.

“What’s going on?” The brunette hissed through a fake smile, keeping the facade up.

“You were about to get busted. I thought I’d help a girl out.” Nat said through her own plastered smile, eyes darting around the room in search of their next problem.

“I know what I’m doing.”

“I know. That’s why I’m here in the first place.”

Charlotte side-eyed her as they walked through the casino, still covered by the herd of pink boas and giggles.

“Stark sent you.”

“No.”

“I’m not stupid, I-”

“He’s the stupid one. I wanted to come in the first place, it was him who thought the testosterone brigade was the way to go. We can get into that later, but right now we’ve gotta move. There’s two coming up -”

“Yeah, six o’clock. Two more probably waiting around the corner up ahead. If we cut through the floor, we can make it to the cashier before they get to us.”

Natasha raised an eyebrow, impressed at how they jumped to the same wavelength. “You still want to cash out?”

Charlotte grinned, a wild gleam in her eye. “Duh.”

A few minutes later, they’d steered the group of girls to the cashier and fanned them out so that each of the six windows had two girls standing in front of it. Each of them with roughly $4,000 worth of chips in their hands. They got through the exchanges in record time, leaving the bachelorettes in a flurry of drunken “iloveyou’s” with a stack of bills to show their appreciation for the help.

“That should cover the rest of their weekend.” Nat smirked as they strode quickly to the lobby, positioning her body slightly in front of Charlotte so as not to draw attention to the thick wads of cash she was zipping into her bag.

“I don’t know, I can blow three grand pretty quickly on my own, let alone with ten of my closest friends.”

“I don’t think I want ten friends.”

Charlotte matched her pace, the bag finally zipped. “I don’t even know ten people, I just thought it sounded good.”

They reached the front doors, nodding at the valet who held the door open for them.

“I have a driver, this way.” Natasha cocked her head to the front of the valet line, full of sports cars and sleek SUVs. Glancing over her shoulder at the casino, the men seemed to have lost them in the crowd. Charlotte weighed her options quickly, deciding that taking a getaway car with the Avenger was preferable to whatever awaited her if she stayed.

They slid into the backseat of the black sedan, breathing quickly from adrenaline.

“You’re back so soon, Ms. Romanoff.” The driver called from the front seat.

“It was getting stale, figured I could find something more fun.”

The driver’s eyes crinkled in a knowing smile in the rearview mirror. Charlotte had a feeling he knew much more than he should, choosing to live in ignorance.

“You hungry?” the redhead asked nonchalantly.

“Starving.”

_________________

The duo sat in a secluded corner booth of a dark bar. The remnants of two burgers sat strewn across the plates, a few leftover fries getting cold. Natasha signaled to the bartender for another round of martinis, extra dirty.

“Who knew the best burgers in Vegas would come from a strip club?” Charlotte downed the remnants of her drink to make room for the new one.

“Hey, I’m no stranger to Vegas.”

“So I can tell.” She shifted to sit up straighter. “Do you wanna get into your sales pitch now, or should we wait for the drinks?”

Natasha remained casual, leaning against the pristine leather of the booth. “There’s no sales pitch. Just an offer. Take it or leave it.”

“And the offer is…?”

“Come with me. Back to New York. Live at the compound. Be around people like you.”

Charlotte shook her head. “There are no people like me.”

“Spare me the pity party bullshit.” Nat leaned in. “I don’t know the specifics of your story, but I know enough to tell you that we are like you.”

Taken aback by her forcefulness, the brunette narrowed her eyes.

“Enhanced individual? Pretty much all of us. Dark, twisty past? We’ve got ‘em. Done things we aren’t proud of? Goes without saying. No friends, no family? We have a very dysfunctional Thanksgiving of our own.” She gave a small smile. “Experimented on, dehumanized, controlled, stripped of autonomy? Specifically by one particular Nazi rogue science division?” Natasha changed her tone, speaking gently. “One of my very best friends knows a little something about that, too.”

Charlotte tensed, eyes glazed as she stared into the dark room in front of them. “James Barnes.” It wasn’t a question.

“We call him Bucky.”

Chewing her lower lip, Charlotte seemed lost in her thoughts. A cocktail waitress interrupted with two fresh drinks, setting them down with a smile. Eyes still defocused, she reached out to sip the drink slowly.

“I don’t think it’s smart.”

“Why?” Natasha took a sip of her own. “There’s nowhere safer for you. The Compound is literally the most secure place on Earth, except maybe Wakanda, and before you say you’re worried about hurting someone there - don’t. We live with Dr. Banner, who you probably know as the Hulk. I’m sure you’re a force to be reckoned with, but I can assure you that even on your worst day you wouldn’t be putting us at risk.”

She spun the wooden stick adorned with olives between her fingers, thinking. “I don’t want to be an Avengers. I’m not a hero. I don’t want to fight.”

“Then don’t.” Natasha shrugged. “I’m not a military recruiter. I just remember what it was like to be alone, scared. Unsure where to go or who to trust. I’m offering you a home and a group of people you can count on. Anything else is up to you.”

Charlotte smirked. “You’re much better at this than the last three.”

“Story of my life.” She rolled her eyes.

“So, what would happen if I said yes? Hypothetically.”

“Well, hypothetically, I have a jet waiting at the private airfield. We’d go to whichever hotel you’re renting the penthouse out of, get your stuff, and fly back tonight.”

“Why do you assume I’m renting out a penthouse?”

Natasha grinned, biting an olive off the stick. “It’s what I would do.”

Narrowing her eyes, Charlotte cocked her jaw. “I’m at the Cosmo.”

“Great choice.” She held her martini up, signaling for a toast. “How about this, we go out tonight. Do Vegas right. Do it big. If you have fun, you come back with me and try living with us. If you don’t have a good time, I’ll accept that I’m no better than the guys and go back on my own. We won’t bug you anymore, but the offer will always stand.”

“You know, a bet predicated on having fun in Las Vegas seems like a very unfair advantage.” She raised her own glass.

“I’ve never been much of a gambler.”

“That makes one of us.” Charlotte grinned. “You’re on.”

_________________

It was just after 4:00am when their dutiful driver opened the door on the tarmac. Heels in hand, two sets of bare feet walked up the steps into the sleek jet, Stark Industries emblazoned on the side.

“I still can’t believe they kicked us out.” Charlotte rubbed her temples as she sunk into the white leather seat.

“Well they don’t really encourage doing backflips off of the craps table.” Natasha sat down across from her.

“Here I thought Vegas was the one place where anything goes.” She dropped her purse on the table in front of them, the thud echoing in the empty cabin. “At least we made out alright.”

“I expect a cut for saving your ass.”

“I’ll consider it.”

“You like pancakes?” Natasha punched a few buttons on a screen embedded in the wall.

“Um, who doesn’t?”

Grinning, the redhead slid her feet onto the seat, getting comfortable. “They’ll be ready in fifteen. Probably best if we get something in our stomachs besides tequila.”

“If I knew you were offering private jets and pancakes at four in the morning, I might have been an easier sell.”

“What are you talking about? You hardly put up a fight.” She winked.

“Whatever, you won fair and square. I’m just holding up my end of the deal.” Charlotte tucked her knees under her, relaxing into the chair as the plane ascended.

“We’ve got a couple hours back to New York. Eat, rest, and we’ll be there before you know it. If you aren’t up for meeting people when we land, I’ll sneak you to your room. You can socialize when you’re not coming off of an all-night bender.”

“What, you don’t think I’d make a good first impression right now?” She joked, fully aware of her smeared eye makeup and tousled hair.

“Au contraire, I think you’d make too good of an impression. I’m just trying to give the guys a fighting chance here.”

Giggles subsiding, Charlotte looked out the window at the pinpricks of light shrinking beneath them. The smell of pancakes and overly sweet syrup filled the air as a stewardess wheeled the food out towards them.

“Natasha?”

“Hm?”

“I’m glad you came.”

She smiled, warmth extending to her eyes.

“Me too.”

#bucky barnes #james bucky barnes #bucky barnes x oc #bucky fanfic #bucky fluff #avengers #winter soldier #winter soldier fluff #sebastian stan #avenger!reader #avengers fanfiction #the avengers

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thebonesofhoudini · 4 months

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I recovered from rhabdomyolysis. I was in the hospital two weeks ago. And now, I'm healed. TBH, I was worried because I thought I was going to lose my leg. It made an already weird and depressing January even moreso. Thank goodness that's over.

This can happen to people who work out or play sports. Doesn't seem like it's real until your muscles are swollen to the point you feel nothing but pain. It breaks down muscle, tissue, and has the propensity to cause permanent tissue death and kidney damage if not treated immediately.

I don't know what else to say but if you're experiencing symptoms please call 911 go to the hospital immediately. Doing that saved my life.

#rhabdomyolysis #recovery #muscle injury #inflammation #fitness #working out

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macgyvermedical · 5 months

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Hi there!

I just came across your post about the pharma led guidelines (I am a family nurse practitioner) and I was wondering if I could get your sources for the statin info. I’ve been trying to convince my father to stop taking his as I don’t believe it has any benefit to him and as you were saying pharma is enforcing medical guidelines that put more people on medications unnecessarily. But he is a science/evidence guy and I am trying to build up some sources before bringing it up again. Your help would be so appreciated!

Take care and have a merry Christmas!

The info in the post is from a book called Sickening, by John Abramson, MD MSc. He is a statistician and did the math himself, though he does not mention which specific studies he took the data from.

I would direct you to a website site called thennt.com that does a very good job at breaking down the math and studies surrounding statins however, and they do cite sources.

Statins for Primary Prevention for People at Low Risk: https://thennt.com/nnt/statins-persons-low-risk-cardiovascular-disease/

Statins for Primary Prevention for People at Higher Risk Without Prior Heart Disease: https://thennt.com/nnt/statins-for-heart-disease-prevention-without-prior-heart-disease-2/

Statins for Secondary Prevention in People With Heart Disease: https://thennt.com/nnt/statins-for-heart-disease-prevention-with-known-heart-disease/

From these breakdowns, if your father is taking a statin because he already had a heart attack or stroke, the evidence suggests that the drug is worth continuing to take, however, if he has not had a heart attack or stroke, no matter his risk level, the risks of statin therapy (diabetes, myopathy, rhabdomyolysis) outweigh the benefits.

#hospital life #writing reference #statins

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whumpdoyoumean · 8 months

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Whumptober #8

I'll admit this one isn't exactly what I had pictured or what I wanted it to be, but I'm trying to put less pressure on myself and just enjoy the challenge of posting every day, even if it's something small and a little unpolished (:

xxx i’ve got soul but i’m not a soldier

Jason probably shouldn’t be driving his bike so fast, especially with the new rainfall making the road slick. He doesn’t care, though. Dick is in trouble. Babs hadn’t said much, doesn’t actually know much by the sounds of it, but it’s obviously bad. Bad enough that Roy had called the only for emergencies number. Bad enough that Bruce himself had gone to get him.

He focuses all of his attention on the road in front of him, knowing that if he starts to let his mind wander even a little then his thoughts will spiral into worst-case-scenarios. The last thing he or Dick or anyone needs right now is for him to spiral.

He gets to the Batcave in record time, barely comes to a full stop before he’s off his bike and running to the infirmary, his footfall echoing through the cavernous space. Roy is there, standing near the entrance, chewing on his thumbnail. Bruce and Alfred are crowded around the hospital bed and though he can only see his legs, Jason knows that it’s Dick lying there.

“Jason,” Roy says as he approaches, lowering his arm and moving into Jason’s path.

“What happened?” Jason tries to see around Roy, but Roy moves to block his view. Jason glares at him. “Will you get out of my way?”

“Jason,” Roy says again, and Jason gives him a shove, stepping around him, and his stomach twists.

“What the hell are you doing?” He starts forward again, and again Roy steps in front of him, this time putting a firm hand against his chest.

“You have to let them work,” he says quietly.

Jason turns to him, his anger building, and part of him wants to fight. “They’re putting a tube down his throat. He should be in a hospital!” He shouts the last part, loud enough that Bruce glances up at him, but only for a moment before turning his attention back to Dick.

“There wasn’t time,” Roy says. “J, there wasn’t time. Alfred knows what he’s doing.”

Jason lets his tense body relax a little, taking a small step back, and forces himself to turn his attention to Roy. “What happened, Roy? What the hell happened?”

“I found him in an alley with an arrow in his shoulder. I was gonna take him back to Olly’s place to get some help but he just…” He takes a deep breath. “He collapsed. Started spasming, I had to call--”

“Wait, he was having a seizure and you brought him here?”

“It wasn’t a seizure.”

Jason looks up at the sound of Bruce’s voice. The man looks a little run down, the worry lines on his forehead and the corners of his eyes more pronounced than usual.

“The arrow that hit Dick was poisoned. Strychnine. It causes muscle contractions. If they go on long enough, it can lead to hyperthermia, rhabdomyolysis, respiratory failure...Roy did the right thing by bringing him here. We were able to act quickly. We gave him a paralytic to keep his muscles from contracting, fluids to--”

“Is he going to be okay?” Jason interrupts, making no effort to keep the heat from his voice. Bruce takes a deep breath.

“He’s going to need to be kept under strict observation until the poison is out of his system. And we need to get the arrow out of his shoulder. He’ll have a long recovery ahead of him for an injury like that. But yes, Jason. He’s going to be okay.”

Jason nods. “Good.”

Now that the adrenaline and the initial panic have worn off, it makes room for other emotions. Namely, his discomfort at being back in this place that holds so many complicated memories. He turns to Roy.

“Thanks for having his back out there. I should get going.”

He’s barely made it two steps before Bruce says, “You don’t have to go, Jason.”

The temptation to ignore him, to just march out of there and leave the Batcave and everyone in it, is strong. He and Bruce have made a lot of progress. But there still exists a bitter, cold-hearted boy inside of him that hates Bats and hates this place, that wants to ride away from here and not look back now that he knows Dick isn’t going to die.

Just this once, Jason thinks to that angry, hurt part of himself. We’re not doing it for Bruce. We’re doing it for Dick.

So he stays.

xxx

“Hey, J Bird.”

Jason jerks awake. He hadn’t meant to fall asleep, but it’s been a long three days. It turns out waiting around for someone you care about to recover from a near-death experience is as physically exhausting as it is emotional.

“How do you feel?” Jason asks, sitting up.

Dick closes his eyes, making a thoughtful face. “Tired,” he says finally, opening his eyes. “And my shoulder hurts.”

“Yeah, that’s what happens when you get your dumb ass shot by a poison arrow.”

“How long have you been here?”

Jason shrugs.

“How long?” Dick asks.

“Few days.”

Dick studies his face for a long moment, not saying anything. He looks serious. Jason waits for him to say something, but he doesn’t, so it’s Jason who finally breaks the silence.

“What?”

“I know that can’t have been easy, that’s all,” Dick says, still staring at Jason with that unwavering, piercing look.

Jason feels suddenly embarrassed, almost naked under Dick’s gaze, and he scrubs at the back of his neck with one hand. “Oh, come on. It was nothing.”

“It wasn’t nothing. Thanks.”

Jason lifts one corner of his mouth. “Sure, Dickie. You’re welcome.”

xxx end

#whumptober2023 #no.8 #lyrics #song #dc comics #nightwing #fic #poisoned #recovery #care #jason todd #dick grayson #red hood #whumptober #my writing #my fic #whump #whump fic #angst #emotional whump

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