u/Ploughmanslunch1

I'm about to go through another surgery (knee), and spending time on the reddit boards over there made me realize that it's always useful to see a post with a completely successful outcome when you're stressing out, so I thought I would post here.

Ten years ago, I had a large middle cerebral artery (MCA) aneurysm clipped. It was asymptomatic and found incidentally by a stroke of very good luck. Despite everything being absolutely terrifying, the clipping and recovery went perfectly. I was in the hospital for five days, home in my third-floor walk up apartment and on anti-seizure meds for six weeks, and then back to normal. The worst part was the anti-seizure medication--slowing down my thoughts for six weeks.

I had clear scans at 1- 2- 5- 7- and now 10-years, and I'm now on a 5-year scan schedule, and the least interesting thing my surgeon experiences every few years. So. This is just me here, telling you a very boring story about a very ordinary and successful outcome, in the hope that it can give you a little comfort if you're feeling nervous.

Hi! Hoping someone can recommend a setup for me post meniscus repair — I will be NWB and in a brace for 6 weeks, but work for myself and can’t take time off the whole time — can anyone give me a sense of what might help me work with a laptop for the time? I probably can’t sit at my desk, right? Any recs for pillows and other tools that can help me work from bed or chair?

Also, lots of people talking about pillows to elevate — what kinds of pillows worked for you, and where did you place them? Behind your entire leg? Behind the knee? Any suggestions would be very helpful!

There have been so many incredibly helpful posts in this group over the last year that I wanted to make sure to add mine to the mix.

I am a US citizen who applied for UK Citizenship by descent in 2025. My mom is still living, English, and a UK Citizen. I hired an attorney, Laura Devine Immigration, because I was concerned about the changes in laws, and wanted to make sure I did everything correctly. The team at the firm was great -- very helpful and made things very seamless. I would absolutely recommend them to anyone who has a complicated case or wants to turn the process over to someone else.

That said, I did not have a complex file at all, and I probably could have done the whole process myself, though there were one or two little mix ups. I had hoped that it would somehow help with speeding up the process, but it really seemed that I drew the short straw on timing at every leg of the process. The law firm could not do anything to speed things up.

My timeline:

April 2025: Began process of filing documents, securing referees (UK citizen friend, US attorney friend)

1 May 2025: Forms submitted to the Home Office

14 May 2025: Biometrics Appointment, NYC

9 October 2025: Application Approved

2 February 2026: Attorneys contacted Home Office, as we were past the 16-week timeline for scheduling the citizen ceremony in the US.

2 March 2026: Citizenship ceremony scheduled in NYC **Note, the attorney did advise I not change the date of the ceremony, as it's apparently not the easiest thing to reschedule these ceremonies.

8 April 2026: Ceremony

** At this point, the work with the solicitors was complete. I did the passport application process myself.

9 April 2026: Passport application documents updated, identity details confirmed (by a US citizen & professor)

14 April 2026: Mailed requested documents to HMPO (photocopy of US passport, not original)

23 April 2026: Documents received by HMPO

5 May 2026: Application approved & printed

8 May 2026: Passport shipped via DHL with tracking info, set for delivery 11 May.

I hope this helps anyone in the US looking to complete this process. I hadn't realized until I sat down to type all this out that it took a full year!

I am a little concerned that I've made a mistake submitting my documents for my first passport. I am a US citizen who had my UK citizenship ceremony in NYC in early April and sent my naturalization papers and a color photocopy of each page of my valid US passport to the UK for my first UK passport. I did not send my actual US passport. My documents were received on April 23, but I haven't heard anything since.

Has anyone else from the US received a UK passport without submitting their actual original US passport? I have a feeling the holdup on my file is related to this, which is a bit worrying, because I'm not sure what the next step will be!

UPDATED: I posted literally hours too soon--the passport was approved today!

Thanks for your help!