Anybody else doing this alone??

I have been lurking since my procedure was scheduled just over a month ago, and currently combing through alllllll the 500+ comments on the preop prep thread so am in 'gathering' mode but, if I'm being honest, I think I'm just trying to keep my mind occupied, because the fear and dread I have when I think that in just over 48hrs I'll be in full on menopause is just so.goddam.overwhelming!!?!

I'm doing meal prep today, boarding the pup, taking an uber to the hospital, and medical transport after. Is any of this even at all realistic??

For funsies-

I got in a last minute impromptu campout which was cool. Then I had a final check in with my pcp yesterday, she says hey what's that on your leg?!...

I said, oh I think I got into some poisen ivy or something... turns out, I had been bitten by a brown recluse!!!

I just wanted to share as I couldn't be more thankful for the timing of that checkin because I so totally would not have gone and got those bites checked otherwise! I was just over here lathering calamine lotion and Aveeno cream on them... all the while it was painful af, just swelling up and I was already taking an antihistamine for allergies so didn't have the often telling symptoms 🫣😱🤯

Fortunately, she started me on a very aggressive antibiotic and said infection usually starts if the venom isn't released, then mrsa can develop and all in a matter of days!!

Im so.fukn.lucky because there's no way I would've made it to Monday without an inevitable infection and it would've risked my procedure overall!!

I have been so cautious and determined that nothing would stand between me and this hysto... but this, this wasn't even anything I had on my radar at all!!

STAY VIGILANT OUT THERE!

🤯🤯🤯

ETA: there's always at least one lone redditor out there just has to shit on the lived experiences of others and, while not a doctor in real life, they clearly do play one on Reddit so, despite having actually received qualified medical care, diagnosis and treatment, I guess I just wasn't bitten after all and my doctor must be a quack... assuredly so, because a Reddit troll enthusiast said so 🤣🤣🤣

Fuhk people, really, trolling a hysto sub!??? Get a life yo 🙏

T-minus two days until this cursed uterus gets plucked, was reading surgery prep threads in r/hysterectomy and just cannot afford most of what's being recommended for recovery so thought I'd ask here...

ETA: just realized my heating pad is in another state atm, if anyone happens to have one to spare?!

TIA 🙏🙏🙏

Say, like... you're not at all a social butterfly but it's perhaps your last weekend with a uterus ...or maybe never even been to Portland pride but will be in town this weekend and maybe have some lingering fomo -what's your must not miss pride event, or go-to spot??

Im a real 'cart before the horse' type, so I purchased this pudgy little tin can before I could even pull it!

... had been in the market for a 4Runner for far too long, was just about to pull the trigger on one with well over 100k miles... then Pearl showed up!! (It's Pearl white lol)

Wasn't at all what I wanted, but absolutely everything I needed! Some things I didn't even know I needed, such as the backup cam (ftw!) and the keyless entry that allows me to leave the AC running while I run into the gas station with the dog in the car (it currently 97 here!) annnd, that nearly 20 gal gas tank (coming from ...12g!! 🤣)

I'm more than happy with my choice -at the moment!

...However, as mentioned, my biggest check box next to price was 'tow capacity' ... I drove Pearl off the lot on Saturday, hitch install on Sunday with maiden voyage to follow (we're 500+ miles in now...), arrived to pick up the camper today and already wondering [worrying...?] about a few things, Ascenders- please help me out here:

I'm a previous grand Cherokee and compass owner so jeep-jaded and CVT-adverse, and have never ever in my insanely long life ever towed a thing at all until until about 2.5 minutes before this photo was snapped! I'm scared sh!tless, so there's no mess 🤣 ... nonetheless, I have already got the tires and bearings services, a freeway run, a round at a gas station, and to an off-the-beaten path camping spot before making the nearly 400 miles trip back.

The tin can is a Forester (Kayot)
It is 16ft long (3ft tongue), 7ft wide and 8ft high
weighs 1700 empty (estimating about 2500 full/max)
current tongue weight is 250
... it does have an electronic break system but has never been used and absolutely every person I've asked (including the tire shop) says it's not necessary.

My questions are:

Pearl has been around the block less than 60k, how effed are we in the CVT lottery??

How much of the known CVT failures do you think have to do with the eyesight and other collision safety features?

Do you use these features or have you disabled them?

Do you disable these/any features while towing?

When towing, do you use manual or automatic?

This is both wild and random but, I met this cool rad dude rock hounding out near the Owyhee River /Snively some time ago and I'm trying to reach him so thought maybe someone in this community might know who I'm looking for...

I cannot for the life of me remember his name, but- he drove an older beige pickup, was maybe early 40s, in recovery, had a teenage daughter, grew up around graveyard point, enthusiastic rock hound (possibly a jewelry maker) and he shared specimens of obsidian from glass buttes when we met

... please DM if this sound s like anyone you know in the Homedale area??

Much thanks!!! 🙏

Hey all!

[[First, to the five or so that liked the original post before I deleted it- let's go!!]]

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...hiking, or rockhounding, or birding, or... do pretty much anything outdoors with a queer, female, GenXr and her pup!??

ETA: heat dome permitting, of course! 😝

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So, yeah... I love, love, love to go fishing and looking for others that do to, so just wanted to expound a little about myself, after receiving that modprompt lol...

How I got here:

I moved here about ten years ago to attend grad school then moved away, now back-and-forth for the summer as I address some healthcare needs here locally -GenXr's, you feel me?!! lol 😝

Unfortunately, just as I had a decade ago- I find myself scrolling all the happenings across town to no avail of action. It's all very intimidating to me so I just scroll... and scroll... and scroll... and then I found this [...]!!

If you're not into fishing- I am also considering going to the GenX women's meetup in North Bend (south coast) this Saturday (which is also my birthday!) to meet other unsuspecting strangers of Reddit, if anyone else might be interested in that as well?!...

The Fated Mechanics:

I am an absolute cancer (astrological sign) through and through! A total introverted hermit overall, but with a sometimes-morbid sense of humor, that still craves community and to laugh sincerely and have [authentic] human connection ...and WATER! I just like to be near the water. (Hence the fishing/coast!!?)

However, am queer (she/her) AND neurodivergent AND perimenopausal AND (for the MBTI nerds...) an ISTP so, lol, really not made for much more than platonic connections to begin with, never mind finding friends at this stage in life!!?! Yet, I find myself alone, sobbing to old cheeky episodes of 'somebody somewhere' (for which I refuse to watch just the last finale episode of because I don't want to accept that it's over!!), totally envious of the connection Sam and Joel share with one another -and- singing that new Van song by bleachers. Err, not singing so much as ... anthemic screaming?!

Things I Heart:

I do truly eat my emotions! Guilty af. So I love to cook/bake. Except, I cook like Paula Dean; the Paula Dean from before when Michael got heart probs 🤣. I also enjoy gardening (studied botany/horticulture!) am fairly new to rockhounding, love finding natural hot springs, off-the-beaten-path fishing holes, am a total vagabond and wander the states between here and my hometown.

Last year, I put over 40k miles on my vehicle and, on Christmas week, camped out at both the Colorado national monument and arches national parks (thank you, global warming!)... I meet the coolest people everywhere! My favorite places [so far!] are: the pacific coast, of course... the gorge /mt hood region... Stanley Idaho... Lake Tahoe... newly discovered: central Oregon and the owyhee canyon lands ... oh my.

Bleachers is new to me, but I enjoy most any and all kinds of music in the right mood, though do prefer most anything with a chill vibe, older than me or folk-y (a total sucker for a good story).

I feel like everything has a soundtrack and that we, humans, could quite possibly communicate in lyrics and lyrics alone, and find ourselves in a much better universe but, meh... who am I kidding?!! 🤣🤣

What I'm reading:

Id like to preface this by saying that I hold degrees in anthropology, sociology, criminal justice, etc. so am more of a student with a perpetuating philosophical hankering, than any avid reader, really. So this part makes me nervous to share, but- books in my bag atm include:

When things fall apart (Pema Chöndrön)
Pragmatism (William James)
Pedagogy of Hope (Freire)
The courage to be disliked (Adlerian psychology)
Madness & Civilization (Foucault)

So yeah, DM if any of that didn't lose ya?!...

I like the slower-paced parts of this life, just looking for opportunities to connect with likeminded folk, a sense of community, perhaps 'find my tribe' as they say ... open to all walks of life that might relate to any of this on some level, have a love for nature/the outdoors [fishing, more specifically !!] and/or an obscure ability to laugh, in most any circumstance. Like, I mean really belly laugh!!...

Wherever you land, in the words of Mama Cass:

🎶 🎵 Make your own kind of music 🎵 🎶

...hiking, or rockhounding, or birding, or... do pretty much anything outdoors with a queer, female, GenXr and her pup!??

ETA: heat dome permitting, of course! 😝