Yeah, a ton. Like every hospital I've stepped foot in except maybe the veeeerrrry new hospital in the city.

I was just thinking that if I was going to move to Martinez, I would probably take a look at Walnut Creek and Pleasanton, too.

Oh, I totally misunderstood! Yes, the city is a pit. I'm more surprised when my windows are intact when I get back to my car. It's better in lots. I like small private lots with valet when we go to SF. We really don't go in that often, though.

Feel free to PM me!

Martinez is a cute town. Our friends live there and it seems very family oriented. I didn’t notice a significant homeless population. The whole bay has been impacted by homelessness. Car break-ins are a separate issue, as those are generally not done by the homeless but by groups of people that drive around. My evaluation of the severity of the homelessness is do they reach into residential areas or are they concentrated to one general area, usually near services? AFAIK, there is not a pervasive homeless issue in Martinez (or SR for that matter). That’s my 2 cents!

I’m intrigued by these adaptogen/mushroom coffee alternatives. Anyone drink these? What brands to you enjoy and have you appreciated a benefit?

Alice, can you speak to this, because my understanding was that in men under 40, the risk was actually higher in the vaccine. "The detailed analysis of nearly 43 million people was published Monday in the American Heart Association journal Circulation: Among men under 40, there were an estimated four extra cases of myocarditis associated with the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine and 14 extra cases with the first dose of the Moderna vaccine for every 1 million men vaccinated. That risk rose with the second dose for all three vaccines studied and was highest for Moderna's, which had an additional 97 myocarditis cases per 1 million. For unvaccinated men under 40 with COVID-19, there were 16 additional myocarditis cases per million." https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.122.059970

I have and love the slides but have tried the sneakers, many styles, and none of them work for me. I use the slides like house shoes. They feel great on my feet after work.

We want one badly, but need to wait until we move. It may be a few years. My mom had one, moved, and is in the market for another. She suggests shopping county fairs and other events where you can work out a bigger discount.

I say something like, “I’m still getting used to it. How do you feel about it?” Though, my kids don’t generally ask my opinion when they do something extreme. The only time I get asked my opinion is when they really hate something and are looking for reassurance. If they like it, they don’t care what I think, lol.

By itself, I don’t think it means anything. The thing about white blood cell differentials is they are in constant flux. They could check tomorrow and you could be back in normal range. They give a snapshot but are really only useful in conjunction with other lab values. My joint pain disappears when I stay away from inflammatory foods. Especially gluten and nightshades.

It’s a hassle but I wouldn’t call it huge. A friend did this due to an abusive ex and it has thus far worked (7ish years in). I would say a small hassle is well worth not re-traumatizing your son. Especially if you move- that’s the perfect window and you’ll probably only get one shot at it.

There's no hard and fast rule for the bell. At our hospital, we usually offer a bell ringing after the last planned admission. Some people do it then, even though they may still have outpatient treatment planned. Others wait until they're completely done with all treatment. It's not always a straightforward thing. Some patients are there for relapse- they tend to shy away from bell ringing because they may never be cancer-free. It's a very personal decision. Bell-ringings are like baptisms, I cry every time.

This video shows exactly that. Almost no visibility and embers raining down, along with very rough waters Warning, graphic: https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cv0R2XEAHLy/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

This is major. IMO, the middle school years are when hs parents need to press hard into shoring up a community for their kids. That can look a lot of different ways. For us, co-op was the cornerstone of our community, but I totally get that it doesn't work that way for everyone. For my kids, extracurriculars and sports were not big community makers. They made a connection here and there, but those were not core friendships. Co-op and church were our main community (with not a ton of overlap between the 2). And ds did find his best friend in our neighborhood. So whatever it takes to build deep community for your homeschoolers, that's what should be done. If that's putting big effort into being the fun house that invites the local friends over and organizes the things- do that. If that's driving for a co-op, do that. But definitely prioritize community at this age.

Just recently used a company for the first time and it was well worth it. They took away a variety of items- batteries and light bulbs that needed to be recycled, box spring and bed frame, water pump that was broken, other various junk. It was easy and quick. Not really that pricey, either.

I'm an oncology nurse. We admit patients with all variety of transmissible illness because our immune suppressed population catches EVERYTHING. And they hold onto it for months and months. It's exceedingly common. We just put them in an isolation room and wear our PPE. End of story. In addition, Covid is, and has been for a long time, a fairly easy illness to get patients through. RSV, metapneumo, paraflu? Awful. Covid? Lingers, but not really severe at all. We will often hold starting the next round of chemo when patients have the other severe respiratory illnesses but with covid we rarely delay. I am so tired of covid being treated like a special situation. It's not anymore.

That's ridiculous. We transfer and treat people with covid all the freaking time. I'm very frustrated for you.

Sometimes perfect is the enemy of good enough. How life or death are these meds? Can they be spaced an hour apart instead of 2? Sometimes what is written on the packaging is just not going to be reality and the loss of efficacy isn’t the end of the world. Shortening her amount of sleep may be doing more damage to her health than taking the meds off schedule.

It’s not hard. I’m sure the people of Oregon can figure it out. Funny because every time we go up there, our Californian selves are so thrown by having to wait on the one 18yo running the pumps.

Factor are ready-made meals- quite tasty! My only caution is that they are pretty high in sodium, if that’s a concern. Marley Spoon is a meal kit company that also sells ready made meals. I can’t remember how many offerings they have available each week.

Pay attention to your email. I know several people who got offers to purchase tickets after the initial sale. We scored nosebleed for the first leg and it was WORTH IT. It is not silly to travel for this show.

Burbank is a dream to fly into, too

If you're not renting a car, I would just put out for the uber.

Steroids can be vital, if you need them you need them. But yes, for sure with high dose steroids, they should be following your glucose levels closely because steroid-induced diabetes is a real risk. Melissa, I hope you are able to get a firm diagnosis soon. This whole process has been torturously slow. I can only imagine how weary you're feeling.