u/throwawayacc8642498

TL;DR: I’m not arguing that McKenzie is innocent or guilty. I’m trying to understand the steering wheel incident that occurred prior to the fatal crash, based on the text messages alone. To me, the messages seem more consistent with McKenzie’s claim that Dom interfered with the steering wheel, rather than with Dom’s families claim that McKenzie was the one driving recklessly. Dom never appears to accuse her of dangerous driving, apologises, tries to stop her going to police, and seems eager to forget the incident ever occurred and move on, rather than acting like someone who feared for his life. None of this proves what happened, but I don’t think this earlier incident supports the argument that McKenzie had a history of endangering Dom whilst driving recklessly. I’m also wondering whether this earlier incident was ever properly investigated.
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I am interested to understand others interpretations of the messages between Dom and McKenzie following the prior steering wheel incident a few weeks before the crash. I am unsure if I have misunderstood anything, but I believe these messages are more supportive of McKenzie’s account (that Dom kept grabbing the steering wheel), then they are of Dom’s family’s account (that McKenzie was driving recklessly).

Before I explain my reasoning behind this, I would like to start by saying that I am not saying anyone is innocent or guilty in this case. I’m struggling to form any firm opinion on what happened because I don’t think any explanation can be proven beyond reasonable doubt. I’m simply trying to make sense of the information that is publicly available.

I think that McKenzie and Dom had an extremely toxic relationship, and that they were both a bit shitty to each other. McKenzie is clearly not a very likeable person and has made many mistakes. Dom likely wasn’t perfect either. I think they both did some shitty things, but no one deserved to die, and the whole situation is incredibly sad.

I’m also not saying that McKenzie is innocent. I just don’t personally feel that it has been proven beyond reasonable doubt that she intentionally crashed the car.

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The text messages:
Dom: you good?
McKenzie: I’m going to file a police report
Dom: if you do, I’m telling your mum your a prostitute because you are
McKenzie: ok that doesn’t really bother me, you have blackmailed me enough. Like I literally don’t give a single fuck
Dom: ok let me know when you file that report. I have a whole report about your situation with your feet.
McKenzie: all you are is mentally absuive, physically absuive, and a terrible boyfriend. You don’t do anything good for me. You literally treat me like shit and call me the worst names you can think of. The fact that my boyfriend of 4 years just tried to end my life by steering me off the highway, that’s how I know you’re not in love with me. You never were, somebody who loves me would never do this to me.
Dom: I really didn’t, but ok Kenzie.
McKenzie: somebody who loves me would just apologise because they care and want me to feel loved.
Dom: goodbye. I want my money too.
McKenzie: I should have known this relationship wasn’t real when I told you I love tripping with you and you just said I love tripping.
Dom: civil claims court you heard
McKenzie: ok then I’m going to the police station right now
Dom: okay, I’m telling your mom.
McKenzie: keep trying to blackmail me, you know I can blackmail you 30 times harder.
Dom: yeah, I’m a rapper, I make music.
McKenzie: somebody who loves me would never talk to me or treat me this way.
Dom: you’re the one who keeps taking it further than it is. You could have just left it alone and I’d go home.
McKenzie: the only reason it went this far is because you tried to end my life.
Dom: Kenzie, I didn’t.
McKenzie: you could have just apologised when you did something wrong but I forgot, you’re too immature.
Dom: why would I try to kill myself too?
McKenzie: probably because you’re mentally ill.
Dom: whatever Kenzie.
McKenzie: that’s what I thought. This relationship will never be the same after today. I don’t even know if I can be with you after this. I absolutely cannot believe you just tried to end my life.
Dom: ok then don’t be with me.
McKenzie: you need fucking help.
Dom: Kyle was right about you.
McKenzie: you blackmail the person you love. You try to kill the person you love.
Dom: no, you blackmailed me, you threatened the cops on me first for no reason. So yeah imma say imma tell your mum that. You blackmail me every week, it’s always the cops or something with you. Like Kyle was right for sure.
McKenzie: clearly you wanna be with me but treat me like shit, so end it. And Kyle fucks 16-year-old little girls. Be cool with him, that’s not a flex. Let me know when I can come get my things.
Dom: I’m sorry.
McKenzie: that’s not enough to fix it this time.
Dom: well I am sorry.
McKenzie emphasises her message.
Dom: I just wanted to say sorry, that’s it.
McKenzie: so you wanted to say sorry but you don’t want to fix any of the massive problems you created? Cool.
Dom: yeah. It’s not like anything’s broken. There’s no fixing it.
McKenzie: if that’s how you feel then we are done.
Dom: ok then.
McKenzie: if you can’t see what’s broken and what needs to be fixed then there’s no point in this being a relationship. Yesterday you almost ended my life, or could’ve ended my life, and all your mum cared about was you not going to jail. I’m literally never going to talk to your mum again.
Dom: I didn’t try to do anything.
McKenzie: one more reply that is not trying to fix this and I’m blocking you. Give one more shitty reply that doesn’t reply to anything and see what happens.
Dom: I’m just saying I didn’t try to kill us. I was definitely not trying to do that.

This continues with a lot more back and forth and Dom also says things like:

“I wasn’t trying to kms. I would have died first.”
&
“If I was trying to kill anyone in that situation, I would have died too.”
&
“I know what I did was wrong. I said I was sorry. You don’t want to see me or trust me or think I was trying to kill you then let’s just go our separate ways. Because I can’t be with someone who thinks I was trying to kill them anyway. It doesn’t have to be that bad that we are breaking up either.”

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I’m genuinely curious how other people interpret these messages…

Personally, I find them much more consistent with McKenzie’s version of events than with the version later put forward by Dom’s family. My reasons are as follows:

1. Dom never denies grabbing the steering wheel or interfering with the driving.
The biggest thing that stands out to me is that Dom repeatedly denies trying to hurt or kill McKenzie, but I can’t find anywhere that he directly denies touching or grabbing the steering wheel. If someone falsely accused me of grabbing the steering wheel, my first response would probably be, “What are you talking about? I never touched the wheel.” Instead, his focus is consistently on denying intent to harm, rather than denying the alleged act itself.

2. Dom never accuses McKenzie of reckless driving.
Likewise, if Dom’s family’s version is accurate (that McKenzie was the one driving recklessly), I would expect at least one message where Dom says something like, “You were the one driving dangerously,” or asks her to apologise. Instead, I can’t find a single message where he accuses her of putting his life in danger or driving recklessly.

The conversation is almost entirely McKenzie accusing Dom, demanding an apology, threatening to report him to police, while Dom denies intending to harm anyone, tries to end the conversation, apologises, and attempts to stop her escalating the matter by threatening to expose personal information to her mum.

3. Dom apologises and later says, “I know what I did was wrong.”
Dom apologises several times throughout the conversation and later says, “I know what I did was wrong.”

Obviously that doesn’t tell us exactly what he is apologising for, but it does suggest that he believed he had done something wrong during the incident. Meanwhile, McKenzie never apologises, and Dom never accuses her of doing anything wrong during the driving incident.

None of this proves McKenzie’s account is correct, but it also doesn’t read to me like someone who believed they had been the victim of reckless driving.

4. Dom feared for his life, yet not only took no further police action, but actively avoided it
Another thing that stands out, is his reaction to McKenzie’s threats to escalate to the police. Them messages clearly suggest that he didn’t want her to escalate the matter to the police—he made an active effort to stop her from escalating, such as blackmailing her and threatening to tell her mum stuff if she did. Why was this necessary? because if he genuinely didn’t do anything wrong, then McKenzie wouldn’t have had anything to report in the first place, and he therefore shouldn’t have been worried about the possibility of it being escalated to the police.

In fact logically, if someone had genuinely just driven recklessly and put him in danger as his family claim, wouldn’t he actively want to report this to the police himself given that he would have been the victim? Not only does he make no effort to take the matter further legally, which I would reasonably expect most victims of deliberate reckless driving to do, especially victims who believe someone was literally trying to kill them (I’m pretty sure his mum said that McKenzie was threatening to swerve the car and kill him while they were on the phone to her), but he deliberately goes out of his way to avoid it, as if he is fearful of this being brought to the police, which leads me to believe he did do something wrong and that’s why he doesn’t want it it be taken to the police.

Again, this doesn’t prove anything, but I find it difficult to reconcile with the later claim that he believed McKenzie had deliberately put him in danger.

5. He seems eager to move on rather than treating it as a life-threatening event
In the messages, he seems to act like this was just a really minor event that had no significance. He says “you’re the one who keeps taking it further than it is. You could have just left it alone and I’d go home.” Which suggests that he thinks McKenzie is making too big of a deal of the situation and he wants to forget it even happened and move on.

According to his family’s account, he feared for his life, called his mum for help because McKenzie was threatening to crash the car, and he believed she was intentionally endangering him.

If that had happened to me, I don’t think I’d be trying to move on the next day. I’d be reporting it, ending the relationship immediately, and never getting back into a car with that person again.

Instead, Dom appears to want to continue the relationship, avoid police involvement, and move on as though the incident wasn’t worth revisiting.

6. His family’s actions afterwards also seem difficult to reconcile with their later account.
If my child phoned me saying their partner was threatening to crash the car that they were in, I wouldn’t just help them get home and then carry on as normal.

I’d be encouraging them to report it to police, making sure they never got into a vehicle with that person again, and doing everything I could to stop the relationship continuing.

From what I’ve seen, it appears Dom’s mum arranged for someone to collect him, but afterwards just forgot about the incident and went back to normal as if it never happened.

If I’m remembering correctly, there were even messages between McKenzie and Dom’s mum afterwards where they appeared to be communicating as they normally would.

That makes it difficult for me to understand why this incident only became such a major issue after the fatal crash. If it really was as serious as later described, I’d have expected immediate action at the time, especially given that reckless driving puts many people’s lives at risk, not just the people inside the car. If any of my children reported serious reckless driving incidents to myself, I would feel obligated to alert the police/child’s parents.

⸻
I’m interested to hear how other people interpret these messages because, based on the texts alone, I personally struggle to see how they support Dom’s families claim that McKenzie was the one driving recklessly.

To me, they appear more consistent with Dom accepting that he did something wrong while consistently denying that he intended to harm anyone.

Obviously, none of this proves what happened on the day of the fatal crash. However, understanding what actually happened during this earlier incident could provide important insight into the dynamics of their relationship and what may have happened during the fatal collision.

I’m not sure whether this earlier incident was relied upon as evidence to suggest McKenzie deliberately crashed the car. If it was, I find that really strange because it doesn’t appear to have been fully investigated and there is nothing to suggest McKenzie was recklessly driving that day, other than Dom’s mums word.

I don’t think there is enough information to confidently conclude what actually happened during that prior driving incident, but from the texts alone, I’m more inclined to believe McKenzie’s account. That said, I feel further information is needed and that this prior incident should have been investigated more thoroughly. The messages raise questions that I don’t think have ever been properly answered.

Does anyone know whether there was ever any investigation into this earlier incident? Was any CCTV or traffic camera footage obtained? Were any independent witnesses identified?

If anyone knows any of the following, I’m also interested to know:
- Why wasn’t Dom’s phone and message history fully examined?
-Was Davion’s phone ever seized and analysed?
-Were fingerprints or DNA recovered from the steering wheel or gear stick? If not, why not?

Again, I’m not saying McKenzie is innocent. I don’t know whether the fatal crash was deliberate, accidental, or whether something else happened entirely. I simply don’t think the available evidence proves one explanation beyond reasonable doubt, and I don’t think this earlier steering wheel incident, based on what I’ve seen, strongly supports the claim that McKenzie had a history of deliberately putting Dom’s life in danger while driving.

I thought the final scene in The Testaments, where the girls join together and link pinky fingers, sent a really powerful message.

In THT, Serena stood before the Commanders and asked them to consider allowing women to read. Before doing this, she spoke to the other Wives and asked if they shared her concerns and would stand beside her. They accompanied her to the meeting and, at first, appeared united. But when Serena unexpectedly began reading from the Bible out loud, many of the Wives backed away out of fear.

Serena’s punishment for that act of defiance was the loss of her pinky finger.

To me, that finger became symbolic of female agency, voice, and the willingness of women to stand together against oppression. When it was cut off, it felt symbolic of what happens when fear wins and solidarity collapses.

That’s why the ending of The Testaments hit so hard for me. The girls linking pinkies felt like a direct contrast to Serena standing alone. Almost like a visual representation of women choosing unity instead of abandoning one another when things become dangerous.

The resistance we’ve seen from the girls so far has been subtle rather than overt rebellion, but throughout the series you can already see the anger, fear, frustration, and emotional solidarity building beneath the surface. They’re surviving within an oppressive system while quietly beginning to question it and lean on one another. The final pinky-linking scene felt like the clearest symbol yet that they will eventually resist together rather than suffer alone.

To me, it symbolises the idea that oppressive systems survive when people are isolated, divided, or too afraid to stand beside each other. Serena was punished partly because the women around her weren’t truly willing to stand united when it mattered most. But in the final scene, the younger generation literally connects those same fingers together in solidarity.

There’s also something really poetic about the choice of a pinky finger specifically. A pinky promise is associated with trust, loyalty, and keeping your word. Serena lost hers after the other Wives effectively broke theirs. The girls linking pinkies at the end almost felt like a promise that this generation will do better — that they’ll stand together instead of stepping back when things become dangerous.

I just thought it was an incredibly subtle but powerful full-circle moment.
——
TL;DR: Serena lost her pinky after the other Wives abandoned her out of fear when she challenged Gilead. The girls linking pinkies at the end of The Testaments felt like the opposite of that moment — a symbol of solidarity, trust, and women choosing to stand together against oppression instead of backing away when things become dangerous.

I thought the final scene in The Testaments, where the girls join together and link pinky fingers, sent a really powerful message.

In THT, Serena stood before the Commanders and asked them to consider allowing women to read. Before doing this, she spoke to the other Wives and asked if they shared her concerns and would stand beside her. They accompanied her to the meeting and, at first, appeared united. But when Serena unexpectedly began reading from the Bible out loud, many of the Wives backed away out of fear.

Serena’s punishment for that act of defiance was the loss of her pinky finger.

To me, that finger became symbolic of female agency, voice, and the willingness of women to stand together against oppression. When it was cut off, it felt symbolic of what happens when fear wins and solidarity collapses.

That’s why the ending of The Testaments hit so hard for me. The girls linking pinkies felt like a direct contrast to Serena standing alone. Almost like a visual representation of women choosing unity instead of abandoning one another when things become dangerous.

The resistance we’ve seen from the girls so far has been subtle rather than overt rebellion, but throughout the series you can already see the anger, fear, frustration, and emotional solidarity building beneath the surface. They’re surviving within an oppressive system while quietly beginning to question it and lean on one another. The final pinky-linking scene felt like the clearest symbol yet that they will eventually resist together rather than suffer alone.

To me, it symbolises the idea that oppressive systems survive when people are isolated, divided, or too afraid to stand beside each other. Serena was punished partly because the women around her weren’t truly willing to stand united when it mattered most. But in the final scene, the younger generation literally connects those same fingers together in solidarity.

There’s also something really poetic about the choice of a pinky finger specifically. A pinky promise is associated with trust, loyalty, and keeping your word. Serena lost hers after the other Wives effectively broke theirs. The girls linking pinkies at the end almost felt like a promise that this generation will do better — that they’ll stand together instead of stepping back when things become dangerous.

I just thought it was an incredibly subtle but powerful full-circle moment.
——
TL;DR: Serena lost her pinky after the other Wives abandoned her out of fear when she challenged Gilead. The girls linking pinkies at the end of The Testaments felt like the opposite of that moment — a symbol of solidarity, trust, and women choosing to stand together against oppression instead of backing away when things become dangerous.

Hey everyone, I’m looking to hear from others who’ve experienced something similar because I’m feeling a bit lost and honestly worried that I’m being dramatic.

I’ve been diagnosed with endometriosis and have had two surgeries for it over the years. Around 3 years ago my symptoms started getting rapidly worse, and about 12 months ago I had surgery because things had become unbearable.

Before my last surgery, my periods were extremely painful and very heavy. I struggled a lot with flooding, but interestingly I never really passed many blood clots. If I took a bath while on my period, the water would turn red from the bleeding, but I wouldn’t actually see clots.

Since surgery, some symptoms have improved, but others have worsened, and overall I just feel very different physically.

The biggest change is that my periods are no longer regular at all. For the first couple of months after surgery I had fairly constant light bleeding, which I know can happen post-op. But after that, my cycle became completely unpredictable. Sometimes I skip a month, sometimes I go 6 weeks between periods, and other times it arrives on time. There doesn’t seem to be any pattern anymore, which makes it hard to track or prepare for.

I’ve also noticed that I now pass a lot of clots, especially lots of tiny red clots/clusters during my period. If I have a bath now, I’ll see loads of small red clumps in the water, whereas before surgery I didn’t get that at all. Occasionally I’ll also pass larger clots around the size of a 50p coin, although that’s less common.

I wanted to ask — is it normal to pass lots of small blood clots during periods? Is that something many women experience, even without endometriosis? It just feels strange because it’s such a big change compared to before surgery. I don’t even know if it’s actually a clot—it kind of looks like really thin red tissue paper coming out in small bits. Kind of makes me think it’s what uterine tissue lining would look like and it’s just coming out like that. I would attach a photo but don’t want to gross anyone out.

I’m also really struggling again with pain and symptoms, and part of me feels like it’s “too soon” after surgery to already be struggling this much again. I feel embarrassed going back to my doctor because I’ve repeatedly been told my endometriosis is “only” stage 2 or “mild.” Even though my doctor has generally been kind and supportive, comments like that from other doctors have made me feel like I shouldn’t be struggling as much as I am, or that I’m overreacting somehow.

I’d really appreciate hearing other people’s experiences, especially if anyone else noticed changes to their cycle or clotting after surgery.
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TL;DR: Diagnosed with endometriosis and had surgery 12 months ago. Before surgery my periods were heavy but regular, with very little clotting. Since surgery my cycles have become irregular and unpredictable, and I now pass lots of small blood clots plus occasional larger ones. My pain and symptoms are also worsening again and I feel embarrassed seeking more help because I’ve been told my endo is only “mild”/stage 2. Wondering if others have experienced similar changes after surgery.

Hi everyone, I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who has experience with cauda equina syndrome (CES), especially how symptoms presented and how diagnosis happened.

I’ve had an L4/L5 disc bulge for several years, causing intermittent pain and sciatica. Over the past 18 months it became much worse and more constant, so in January I had spinal injections (into the disc and coccyx).

Initially I didn’t notice much change, but around 3–4 weeks later my pain became the worst it has ever been—so severe I could barely move. Since then it has improved somewhat, but it’s still worse than before the injections.

For about 12 months I’ve also had bowel and urinary issues, which have worsened recently. This started as constipation and reduced sensation to pass stool or gas, which I attributed to IBS/endometriosis. I then began needing to urinate more frequently, often feeling urgency but struggling to start the stream. More recently, I’ve had to really concentrate to begin urinating, with a weak, stop-start stream. Some days it’s mild, but other days I feel like I have to strain significantly.

Last week I developed a numb/heavy feeling in my right foot (not pins and needles, more like a “dead” feeling). It improved when I lay down but has been coming and going since. My back pain is still significant and now radiates into my right hip, buttock, and leg, although it feels different from previous sciatica.

What’s worrying me most is a strange sensation when sitting—an altered/numb feeling in my saddle area (buttocks/tailbone region). I can still feel touch, but it feels “off,” like a dead-arm sensation rather than proper numbness or pins and needles. This has made me concerned about CES, especially after reading that it’s not only loss of control of the bowel and bladder that is worrying but also retention can be warning signs.

Anyway, I had a routine MRI on Friday (requested by my specialist to get up to date images). I haven’t heard anything since, and I want to take that as reassurance since anything urgent like CES would be acted upon quickly, but with it being a bank holiday weekend I’m unsure.

My questions:
1 If this were Cauda Equina, would the person performing the scan recognise this immediately and act upon this? I know in the uk it’s usually the radiographer doing the scan and this is later looked and reported on by the radiologist so I can’t tell if my images could still be in a queue waiting to be reviewed or if this would have been immediately recognised and put in an urgent pile. I’m wondering if I can assume I’m in the clear since I haven’t heard anything about it since?

2 Has anyone here been diagnosed with CES from a routine (non-emergency) scan? If so, how quickly were you contacted?

3 Do these symptoms sound consistent with anything else (e.g. worsening disc issues, nerve irritation, or pelvic floor problems), particularly the altered saddle sensation?

I’m very aware that my anxiety is severe and amplifying my worries here, but at the same time, these symptoms feel very real and hard to ignore, particularly the new sensation in my saddle area. I can’t decide if they are even consistent with CES or something entirely different. It would really help to understand how CES has presented for others and how quickly action was taken after imaging.

Thanks in advance for any insight.

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TL;DR:
Long history of L4/L5 disc bulge, significantly worse after spinal injections in January. Ongoing and worsening bowel/bladder issues (possible retention), plus new intermittent numb/heavy feeling in right foot and an altered “numb/dead” sensation in saddle area when sitting. Had a routine MRI on Friday but haven’t heard back yet which I want to interpret as reassurance, however still left worrying about possible cauda equina—would this have been flagged urgently already, and has anyone been diagnosed from a routine scan rather than emergency presentation?