u/drumallday

I have lived in a unit in a 4 plex for about 12 years. I love my apartment and I'm paying well below market rate because of small rent increases over the years. The building recently sold and the new owners moved into one of the vacant units. At first I thought this was going to be great because the wife has been making improvements since she lives here too. But her husband is a terrible neighbor. He set up an old couch outside of the garden shed and smokes weed and plays music loudly and leaves trash everywhere. Right now, it's after midnight and he is in a lawn chair in our driveway listening to music which is keeping me awake. The wife seems like a reasonable person, but if she's not around, her husband acts like an unsupervised child. Though I don't think she has too much influence because earlier today she was doing repairs and he was berating her as she was working and not doing work himself. I don't want to have to move, but the husband owner is an awful human who is ruining the peace we used to have. I don't know what to do.

I graduated in the late 90s and my Ditch Day stack was an end-of-the-world, multiple adversaries theme. Watching Stuart Fails to Save the Universe on HBO is like watching an idealized version of my Ditch Day stack played out. The first episode end with Shiny Happy People. But my stack music included

-It's the End of the World (as we know it)

-Fight for Your Right (to party)

-1999

So far, no actual Caltech footages, just references

My partner (50M) had been nauseous every morning since mid May. By June it progressed to extreme stomach pain. The pain was so bad, he couldn't work and had to quit his new job. He has no appetite and can barely keep food down. He throws up bile or sometimes food that he's eaten hours earlier (delayed gastric emptying). If he does manage to eat and keep down small amounts of food, he becomes painfully constipated (low colon motility). By July he had lost 50 pounds, been to the ER twice, had 2 CT scans and an upper endoscopy. The endoscopy showed no sign of ulcers or other reasons to explain the nausea and pain. The scans showed no blockages, but it did show inflammation around his GI vascular system.

On July 21st, he finally got in to see a gastroenterologist who looked at all the tests and his symptom list and asked if hot showers relieved the pain at all. They did. He has been obsessively taking hot baths. The gastroenterologist suggested it could be CHS and when we did research, all of his symptoms aligned with this theory. There is no definitive test, though - just abstain and wait. But, because of his vascular inflammation and the fact that vasculitis can be serious, he has a follow up with a rheumatologist to rule this out. He is being treated with Prednisone to manage the vascular inflammation, but because it doesn't seem to bring any relief from the pain, this seems like a less likely diagnosis.

When we got home from the gastroenterologist, I boxed up all his weed - flower, vapes, joints, edibles, pipes, etc. He said he had no problem stopping the weed. He was so motivated by the pain he was willing to stop. He has had to stop for weeks at a time in the past to pass work drug tests, so I had full confidence he would abstain.

This morning, August 3rd, 14 days later, I found a pipe out. He first denied smoking but then when I pointed out the fresh water in the water pipe, he confessed that he decided to start smoking again this weekend. He had bad nausea and wretching Saturday night and since he felt that a week without weed hadn't helped, it must not be CHS. Because his family would be judgemental if he told them about CHS, he has just been telling them about the tests for vasculitis. I think he has convinced himself he has vasculitis and not CHS.

I am so angry at him. He didn't even make it 2 weeks. He hasn't had enough time for the cannabis to clear his system. He has been absolutely miserable and absolutely miserable to be around.

Please convince me that no change in his condition after 10 days of abstaining from cannabis means it's likely not CHS or convice him that he needs more than 10 days and what he can expect the new timeline to be after resetting the clock this weekend.

The comment about Seth, Akiva and Jorm competing for 4th place in favorites got me thinking. I went into this pod a big Samburg fan but not knowing much about Akiva or Jorm. But now I prefer the pod when Andy isn't present. At first his disdain for podcasts was a joke. But he so clearly doesn't want to be there and does not make scheduling a priority. His is so negative when he's present and the pod gets delayed when they wait for him and he doesn't show. Letting the fans down is annoying. But letting down his fellow hosts is disrespectful. I do not care how Andy does on the spelling bee. I do not need the updates. I wish they would just do the pod without him and get on to covering the remaining shorts with Seth, Jorm and Akiva and a guest who was also in the short if they're available or can send in a voice note. Seth has to be there because he always keeps the conversation flowing and the discussion on track.

At one point the guys were discussing what they'd talk about when they covered all the shorts. But with everyone's erratic schedules and Andy's lack of commitment to the pod, I don't think they'll ever make it through all the shorts if they keep delaying because they're hoping Andy might call in for an hour that week.

I'm going to miss the impression, but not source of the parody.

I have been on Medicare for a disability for a few years now after stopping working. Last year I started receiving SSDI payments. I am planning on going back to work (fully remote role). The new job has medical benefits, but it's an HMO and I have some concerns about coverage related to my disability and my doctors who will be out of network. I'd like to finalize some appointments over the next few months under my Medicare coverage. Any advice or pitfalls I should be aware of?