u/Interesting-Elk1300

My partner and I are low income. We're both freelancers, and I have chronic illnesses. We pay live in a tiny studio, and it's not enough space, but we can't afford to move - rent is up to 60% of our income some months as it is.

But it's nicely spaced between my partner's work, our family who we rely on for a lot of help, and my doctors, who I see a LOT of. So we're here.

Anyway. Our parents keep telling us to apply for section 8 housing.

But I looked it up, and apparently here, the waiting list has been closed 25 years and hasn't taken any new applications, and ~1000 people from the original application period are still on the waiting list. Which is crazy to me.

So I googled alternatives to section 8, and got the "affordable housing" website, but it too shows that there is nothing currently or soon-to-be open.

So... is that it? Do you have to apply for "affordable housing" through one of these two avenues, and they're both unavailable? Or are there low income programs that I'm unaware of?

Wondering if anyone happened to attend the American Syringomyelia and Chiari Alliance Project 2026 virtual conference that happened on Tuesday and Wednesday!

(Recordings of all presentations are going to be uploaded on their YouTube channel at some point - I don't know exactly when, but their presentation recordings from last year's conference went in September through November.)

If you did attend, I would love to hear what presentations you found interesting, what you learned, or just what's new in the clinical world!

Hi there. I have numerous rare and complex conditions that my doctors want to do surgery for.

However, they've been a little cagey when I asked and I am starting to fear that none of them have actually treated anyone with my rare conditions before.

I called the member services number on my health plan ID card to ask if I could see a hospital in the same county that has a whole research department dedicated to my rare conditions for a second opinion.

However, they are not in the same medical group as my primary care doctor, so I was told that I would not be able to get a second opinion.

If I wanted to see someone at this second hospital, they said, I would have to change my primary care and start all over again.

Is this true? Am I totally effed?

Hey, folks - I was very lucky to have been diagnosed (with syringomyelia [lower cervical', basilar invagination, klippel feil syndrome, platybasia, and congenital scoliosis [lower cervical]) very young, before the age of five, and to have not required medical intervention up until now.

I am twenty eight, and have been experiencing slow neurological decline, mostly of upper motor neuron function, for the past ten years. On Tuesday, my neurosurgery team recommended we do surgery this year. I don't know when. I still haven't called them back to tell them I want to go through with it. I don't "want" to, but I know that I need to - I will need it eventually, and recovery will only get more difficult as I age.

Preliminary statement from neuro is looking at a suboccipital decompression and occipitocervical fusion of c1 and c2, to relieve pressure on my brainstem and spinal cord and, hopefully, stop my deterioration.

I am a little nervous. It's going to be at a normal city hospital, because I am on Medicaid, and asking to be seen at a hospital with more specialty in my conditions could extend our timeline several months at least.

I'm also nervous because I am diagnosed with hypermobility (I am not diagnosed with a connective tissue disorder, and I have not had genetic testing, but a great number of people in my family have them) and I know that that can cause risks of craniocervical instability and surgical failure.

But again, I haven't even called the team back yet to let them know I want to do the surgery. We are that early in discussions. I'm just frozen in anxiety already.

I guess I am posting to ask for reassurance and practical advice on how to move forward with this process. I have never had any surgeries whatsoever, so this neurosurgery will be my first one, and I'm feeling very much like a rowboat stranded in the ocean.

Thanks muchness, and appreciation for all.

Hi there I am new to reading contemporary and fantasy romance - I'm just kinda trying to absorb everything, no real preferences yet - and was wondering if you all had any recommendations for books with short male love interests! As a 5'0" woman, it is sometimes kind of difficult for me to really get into books where the guy is really tall, and I feel like a lot of the popular book recommendations on Instagram and TikTok reeeeally make a point to emphasize tall guys. I even tried searching with various keywords on those apps but couldn't find anything!

I have only lived in Los Angeles County for a couple years and I'm still not used to the cost of things here. How much are y'all spending on groceries every month?

We are a household of two adults, no kids, no pets, and we're spending like $500 a month on average. It makes me feel a little bit insane.

Tangentially, our grocery spending has increased noticeably every month this year, even though we're buying all the same items. Anyone else experiencing that?