Still alive

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sunny
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Still alive

Post by sunny »

Woooooow, over almost a lot a lot of years I stumbled across the board and still see some of you guys active.
How you doing? :D :D :D
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delinquent
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Re: Still alive

Post by delinquent »

We're still here!

We've moved the IRC over to Discord, and that's where most of the casual conversation takes place now. We also have pickups too. Ladle is still going strong, and Sylla is doing commentary on them, and the game is now on Steam!

Anyway, wb, here's the discord invite: https://discord.gg/dcpaauj
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sinewav
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Re: Still alive

Post by sinewav »

I'm doing great, thanks for asking. Join the Discord server, there is a lot of activity there!
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kyle
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Re: Still alive

Post by kyle »

Sunny, how have you been?

I've been busy and just checking this every few weeks, one day I'll be back on grid. with CT servers back up, still not sure when that'll be.
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Re: Still alive

Post by magnus »

Cool beans
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Re: Still alive

Post by Monkey »

Sunnneeey!
Playing since December 2006
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Re: Still alive

Post by Word »

Hijacked, just wanted to say my appendix ruptured/exploded two weeks ago, getting better again.

Full story:
Was really careful about it before it happened, thought I had a stomach bug and just nausea at first. When it didn't go away, I went to the clinic at 11 AM, told everyone I'm pretty sure it's the appendix and please just cut me open and take it out (my father had the same issue at my current age and it just hurt in that same region, seemed obvious), got some blood/urine testing done, ultrasound etc., then waited in a room until 4 PM when I felt the explosion. Turned blind on one eye and deaf on one ear for a few minutes, and couldn't walk upright anymore.

The hospital staff wasn't really concerned since they had a lot of traffic-related emergencies. I was shouting and complaining that I'm about to die (not something I usually do), they put me on a stretcher in some lone corner of the hospital, and after some more shouting, at least managed to find me some paracetamol to deal with the pain. Didn't help that much though.

It took until 11 PM for them to do a ct scan, then surgeons came and told me they'll try to be minimally invasive, but that didn't work as planned, haha. Well, from midnight until 1 AM, they saved my life and my bellybutton too, somewhat, so good job.

Now I'm certified sick for 8 weeks and can't carry heavy stuff for some time, but it's mostly ok again. My "family doctor" (Hausarzt, the one I go to for the more harmless stuff) said, this appendix stuff seems trivial but it's still one of the top reasons for hospital doctors to get sued for malpractice/wrongful death. Lucky to be alive, actually.

Bottom line, if you or someone you know get this or think it's possible you have it, then act and don't just wait for help to come on its own, it doesn't. I went really early, by foot, because I live 10 minutes away from the hospital, and I was quite sure I can handle it. I should have instantly called an ambulance in retrospect, just so it is taken seriously from the start.
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Re: Still alive

Post by sinewav »

Word wrote: Fri Apr 14, 2023 7:14 pmI should have instantly called an ambulance in retrospect, just so it is taken seriously from the start.
Hospital triage is such a weird thing, partially because of how people outwardly express pain. I've been told by a friend that I downplay my problems a lot and she's probably right because I usually don't speak up until things are out of control. Years ago I had blockage in my gall bladder and didn't go to the emergency room until two days later because the pain became uncontrollable (then again, I have a low tolerance for pain). I should have gone the first night. I feel like it's true that people with great qualities like patience, kindness, and modesty tend to suffer a bit needlessly because they don't want to trouble anyone with their problems.

Glad you are alive. A friend of mine had a medical scare several weeks ago due to intestinal blockage, he nearly died right there in the hospital in front of another friend of mine. You never know when one day you'll wake up, feel a little sick in the morning, and be dead by evening (something that happened to an acquaintance with un-diagnosed leukemia).

:P Now that you have a few weeks off you should play Armagetron!
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Re: Still alive

Post by Word »

sinewav wrote: Sat Apr 15, 2023 6:53 pmHospital triage is such a weird thing, partially because of how people outwardly express pain. I've been told by a friend that I downplay my problems a lot and she's probably right because I usually don't speak up until things are out of control. Years ago I had blockage in my gall bladder and didn't go to the emergency room until two days later because the pain became uncontrollable (then again, I have a low tolerance for pain). I should have gone the first night. I feel like it's true that people with great qualities like patience, kindness, and modesty tend to suffer a bit needlessly because they don't want to trouble anyone with their problems.
That's true. The guy I shared the room with after surgery had cancer, but he didn't want to bother anyone too much even when he suffered through quite a lot. He took everything in a very dignified, admirable manner, but you could sense (well, he also told me) that he had to bottle up quite a lot, like doctors also not taking him seriously, going to a different hospital so they'd actually look at his liver and find that the cancer had spread there (the doctors from the previous one just wanted to let him wait a year and die, I guess?), getting surgery and chemotherapy for one half of the liver, then being told to leave, then being notified that they reconnected one of his arteries in the wrong place so he had to come back for a minor adjustment, and then another chemo and surgery procedure for the other half. That was quite brutal but he took it with grace. The gall bladder stuff sounds somewhat familiar, some of my friends have that issue, as well as my grandmother, who still needs convincing to go see a doctor to deal with it (her thinking is she's too old for surgery, which isn't a bad point).

sinewav wrote: Sat Apr 15, 2023 6:53 pmGlad you are alive. A friend of mine had a medical scare several weeks ago due to intestinal blockage, he nearly died right there in the hospital in front of another friend of mine. You never know when one day you'll wake up, feel a little sick in the morning, and be dead by evening (something that happened to an acquaintance with un-diagnosed leukemia).
When my cousin's father died, we'd sit at my grandma's table and he (the cousin) just said something like "So my dad woke up dead yesterday..." and it was the saddest funny thing I ever heard someone say in that particular situation. Leukemia is horrible, it runs in some more distant parts of our family.

The worst thing I ever witnessed was some 30-year-old girl getting an aneurysm. She sat next to me and we joked a little, then we had to stand up and get on a stage, and she collapsed behind me and made loud, painful noises that I don't forget. One week later I got an email that she died after her parents had to decide that life support is to be turned off, as her brain was essentially soup at that point (it was put more politely).
sinewav wrote: Sat Apr 15, 2023 6:53 pm:P Now that you have a few weeks off you should play Armagetron!
I knew you'd say that! :P I just bought a new laptop (ROG Strix G713) and I'm busy installing all my stuff here, but I'll drop by when I find the time! I should really sleep a lot more.
Last edited by Word on Sun Apr 16, 2023 2:16 pm, edited 8 times in total.
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Z-Man
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Re: Still alive

Post by Z-Man »

What a horror trip, glad you're alive! Rest and get well soon.
Word wrote: Fri Apr 14, 2023 7:14 pm I went really early, by foot, because I live 10 minutes away from the hospital, and I was quite sure I can handle it.
That is how mine started, too, except that I went by bike. And it went a lot better. While they initially dismissed me ("If it truly were a 'worm', you would not be walking in here") they were not allowed to turn me away and did an ultrasonic anyway... apparently it was so bad that a couple of hours later, I was down one appendix.
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Re: Still alive

Post by Word »

Z-Man wrote: Sun Apr 16, 2023 10:35 am What a horror trip, glad you're alive! Rest and get well soon.
Word wrote: Fri Apr 14, 2023 7:14 pm I went really early, by foot, because I live 10 minutes away from the hospital, and I was quite sure I can handle it.
That is how mine started, too, except that I went by bike. And it went a lot better. While they initially dismissed me ("If it truly were a 'worm', you would not be walking in here") they were not allowed to turn me away and did an ultrasonic anyway... apparently it was so bad that a couple of hours later, I was down one appendix.
Thanks Z-Man, and sorry that you had to go through/glad you survived that crap as well! They told me virtually the same, I was already shouting that I won't survive another hour and some male nurse just said "Well, then you won't, haha."

Really angered me but I didn't have the energy to reply and obviously wasn't the only one there so I understood him, somewhat.

The next day, some doctor told me he goes by the rule that if people aren't bleeding, they're probably fine, and they have so many patients making much ado about nothing that they easily miss the ones with actual health problems. And by then, one of those ct machines, the thing I had to wait 12 hours to get to, was broken. The people working there kept saying how ****** up our health system is, but I do wonder if they can't just get 4 or 5 more of these machines and a person to operate them, or something like an airport body scanner (but doing a ct) at the entrance of the emergency department, so you can get an instant diagnosis that is mostly accurate.
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Re: Still alive

Post by Z-Man »

Word wrote: Sun Apr 16, 2023 2:04 pm Thanks Z-Man, and sorry that you had to go through/glad you survived that crap as well!
Nah, it was mostly fine, apart from the inevitable suckiness of knowing that without antibiotics, I would probably have been a goner. Minimally invasive surgery worked in my case.
Word wrote:they have so many patients making much ado about nothing
Erm, I might have been one of those the previous Christmas... Woke up in the middle of the night with intense chest pain and breathing difficulties, called an ambulance, had my heart checked out. They found nothing wrong, but could not tell me where the pain came from. Turned out, it was just my shoulder :) I must have overstretched it the day before when I reached for carrots on the far side of the vegetable aisle in the supermarket, with delayed effect. Anyway, i did not make a ruckus in the hospital, and it did not look overcrowded, but did end up wasting resources.
Word wrote:I do wonder if they can't just get 4 or 5 more of these machines and a person to operate them, or something like an airport body scanner (but doing a ct) at the entrance of the emergency department, so you can get an instant diagnosis that is mostly accurate.
Those proper CT or MRT machines are really expensive :) There is not enough money and personel, that is the crisis. Did you notice that last year, hospital workers went on strike? Not for more money, but for better working conditions. The hostpitals are understaffed, that means people have to do double shifts and often have to skip taking breaks.
I do wonder why one was used in your case. The ancient PC/Mac game "Life and Death" taught me that a simple ultrasound imaging is the final confirmation step. Maybe your belly was too messed up for that at that point already.
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Re: Still alive

Post by Word »

Z-Man wrote: Thu Apr 20, 2023 9:24 pm
Word wrote:they have so many patients making much ado about nothing
Erm, I might have been one of those the previous Christmas... Woke up in the middle of the night with intense chest pain and breathing difficulties, called an ambulance, had my heart checked out. They found nothing wrong, but could not tell me where the pain came from. Turned out, it was just my shoulder :) I must have overstretched it the day before when I reached for carrots on the far side of the vegetable aisle in the supermarket, with delayed effect. Anyway, i did not make a ruckus in the hospital, and it did not look overcrowded, but did end up wasting resources.
Well, I would've checked that out too, just common-sense. But I won't go there for Mosquito bites or an average headache...
I actually went there once because of sleeplessness, years ago when I wrote my thesis (didn't sleep for four days in a row and was really on the edge), and they just gave me a single sleeping pill without checking me out, and that was just what I needed. :D
Z-Man wrote: Thu Apr 20, 2023 9:24 pmThose proper CT or MRT machines are really expensive :) There is not enough money and personel, that is the crisis. Did you notice that last year, hospital workers went on strike? Not for more money, but for better working conditions. The hostpitals are understaffed, that means people have to do double shifts and often have to skip taking breaks.
I do wonder why one was used in your case. The ancient PC/Mac game "Life and Death" taught me that a simple ultrasound imaging is the final confirmation step. Maybe your belly was too messed up for that at that point already.
Yes, I know about the strike (walked past them when I was actually there for something else at that time, got an antibody-infusion for the colitis, no emergency thing) and the crisis, but I do imagine that if they'd just prioritize things differently, they'd improve the conditions quite a lot even without hiring additional staff (not to say they aren't understaffed, they are). My thinking is, I could have spent one night there instead of 6 so all these nurses that cared for me (and other patients who were there for a longer time than necessary because of such priority complications) could have cared for someone else instead during that time.

And you guessed right, the ultrasound image just didn't work, but the doctors told me it's because my digestive tract was blocking the view. I read some studies later and found that between 20% and 30% (don't remember the exact number) of the population have an anatomy like that, so it's not that special, but it now seems obvious to me that in practice, this equals something close to a death sentence for that percentage if you have to wait forever until the other technical means are available to you. And even without that, the ultrasound is about 70% to 80% effective in cases of appendicitis*. I should watch a walkthrough of "Life and Death" now.

*Not perfect, but still better than being born in 17th century or being in a situation like Leonid Rogozov if you ask me!
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Re: Still alive

Post by Lucifer »

There's something to be said for being a regular at the hospital. Because of all the times I sat with my daughter for mental stuff, when I went to the ER for my gall bladder, they already knew me. So when they saw that I was calm and relaxed, while describing inconceivable pain, they rushed me in to the ultrasound and I was in surgery pretty quickly.

Turns out I have a very high threshold of pain. I had an inch and a half gallstone (3-3.5cm) and it had only given me problems twice, a week apart. I thought it was a stomach bug the first time, and after I puked, the pain went away consistent with a stomach bug. The second time, I puked, and the pain didn't go away, so I went to the hospital.

In other news, I'm divorced again, and am back up to 4.25 months sober. So there's my health getting better every day. :)
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Re: Still alive

Post by Word »

Hey Lucifer, sorry about the health/wife issues but glad you're doing fine now and keep soldiering on!
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