Rapunzel

Good points. A friend of mine wanted to lose some weight (about 50 lbs or so) as she had a very active family and she wanted to feel healthier so she could be more involved with them. Her doctor referred her to a dietician and a few other specialists to help determine the best plan for her. She was a runner until it took a big toll on her knees. The dietician came up with a meal plan for her and the doctors told her that, at least initially, adjusting your diet helps kick start the weight loss process. She stuck to the diet but eventually plateaued, which is common, as her body had adjusted to the lower calorie intake. The specialists then told her to start incorporating moderate exercising in order to get over the plateau. It worked and she was able to meet her goal. Seeing a dietician and other specialists in the field is important even if surgery isn’t necessary or wanted as they can help customize a plan and diet that works best for your body, your goals and your lifestyle.

I have a home in the Bay Area and there is no way disability would cover much of the rent at all. Even if he were also eligible for rental assistance, it still wouldn’t be enough. If you wanted to rent a one room garden shed in the Bay it would cost a small fortune. They are putting up apartment complexes left and right but they won’t even consider renting to you unless your monthly income is at least 3 times higher than the rent. Agree that maybe his mom/other family members are possibly helping him out.

When he was maneuvering from his walker into his scooter or wheelchair, the aids were always pulling his shirt down or his shorts up in the back. You could see the pads on his back sticking out of his shorts as they tried to arrange his clothes before he sat down.

As my screen name may give away, I have extremely long hair and it has been so my whole life. While I don’t think I would opt out of life saving treatment if it meant they had to cut my hair, I would have the surgery, despite having several before (I had at least 4 surgeries go awry). I have a rare neurological condition and my job has me traveling non-stop and relocating overseas, etc. This is exactly what I wanted when I started my career (and still do). Unfortunately my conditions don’t have any cure but are manageable and it also isn’t something you can’t see just by looking at me. I have extensive nerve damage due to trauma as well as the neuro condition, vertigo, etc. I’ve dealt with multiple neurosurgeons in the 15+ years I’ve had this rare condition. All the neurosurgeons everywhere in the world I’ve seen in my life have an awful bedside manner with the exception of 2. I had one neurosurgeon call me a “stupid little bitch” for trying to tell him which things seem to work previously best as I have a lot of allergies to meds and the nerve damage. Many surgeons of any type do not tend to have the best bedside manner but the most time they spend with a patient is when the patient is knocked out by anesthesia. Honestly, you almost want them to be far more focused on your surgery than they are about what’s going on in your life and what not (unless relevant to the case). Visits are usually pretty short with surgeons - they want to be in the OR and try to get as many OR hours and cases as they can. They are also competing for top spots and surgeons need OR cases to do that - the more challenging and/or rare cases, the better chance they get noticed (assuming it goes well). You typically have one brief pre-procedure appt with the surgeon, discuss the plan, get your pre-op labs done, etc.. Many don’t see their surgeon when they enter the OR itself as, depending on the anesthesiologist, they may have knocked you out a little early. The anesthesiologist, techs, nurses, etc. will all likely be in the OR when they wheel you in. You wake up in recovery with a dedicated nurse at your bedside giving meds for pain or anything else needed, including any home meds you need. Most surgeons come see you after you’re in post-op (and hopefully more awake) and let you know how things went. However, you likely won’t remember it or maybe just pieces of it, depending on how soon the surgeon comes to see you after your surgery. As I mentioned, most neurosurgeons I’ve seen are a-holes. Most of them aren’t great with conscious patients. You want the best surgeon you can get and they can often be rude, arrogant, insufferable, etc. and those things can leave many patients thinking and hesitant to trust them in the OR. This why you sign a release right before they wheel you to the OR and make sure it only specifies what they’ve told you pre-op. If they need to do more than what was expected because it is necessary to save your life, they are supposed to do that unless you specifically tell them not to and fill out a DNR form. In my case, I’ve had over 12 surgeries and many more procedures with sedation. The docs can be difficult, and they have been brutal to me. They absolutely cannot stand when a patient who knows more about a rare condition, complicated by other rare conditions, than they do. I tell them what needs to be done as a patient with rare conditions for decades who was diagnosed at the Mayo Clinic and, at that time, had my surgery done by the actual number one ranked neurosurgeon not just in the US, but pretty much anywhere in the World, particularly with my rare conditions. I would have loved to have someone like Dr. Abrams. He didn’t yell at the teenager, he was very direct with her as she requested him to be, and he actually seemed a tiny bit amused by it - neurosurgeons aren’t used to getting push back on anything they say from anyone - including the hospital board.

Thanks for passing that along! It just seems so silly looking back now at the long courtship, the wedding, her career in Poplar that she loved and could earn more in England which is why she left Jamaica to begin with, etc. Now she’s come full circle and is right back where she started - except now she has an estranged husband. I wonder if they will write Cyril out and have him go live in Jamaica and reunite with Lucile even though that isn’t his home and he’s made a pretty good life for him in Poplar. They could keep him on if he divorces Lucile. His role isn’t huge within the show, but he brings a bit of a different perspective to certain topics. It’s also interesting how one of the new nurses seems to be so much like Lucile in her mannerisms, and in how she deals with patients and fits in with the rest of the Nonnatus House.

I think it was a combination of things. She was already a bit home sick before getting pregnant, then had a miscarriage which is difficult for anyone to cope with, so that likely increased her homesickness as she probably just really wanted to be with her parents and/or her other family to help process things. Add those things to also feeling increased racial tension and she just couldn’t deal with it all and needed a break. Cyril is one of the sweetest guys and he puts her happiness before his. She should have stayed in Jamaica for maybe a month or two and should write Cyril more often and call once a week (though I know long distance probably wasn’t cheap then). She would be fool to give up Cyril - he has a lot of potential, a lot of drive and will do nearly anything he can for any other person. Notice the racial issues disappeared (well, not mentioned or featured in many episodes) when Lucille left. Does anyone know if the actress is definitely leaving the show? I like them as a couple and Cyril doesn’t’ deserve a wife that only puts her needs first. She left Jamaica due to lack of jobs and a lower standard of living. Now she goes back after miscarrying and hearing some racist a-holes. I wish they would have just given them time to mourn the baby then have Lucille return and be more confident in her job, knows she has a right to live in Great Britain despite what the creeps say or do. Interestingly Cyril wasn’t nearly as affected by those racists. He’s more of a “water off a duck’s back” person. They were saving for a house and had that cute apartment in the meantime. They have a great deal of support there with the church members, the nuns and other midwives and a lot of the community members. However I think what someone posted about them getting a divorce and then have Cyril get more involved with the woman we saw more of in this episode. Two seemingly healthy relationships (as it doesn’t seem Trixie’s husband is following in Lucille’s footsteps and may not be likely to pop up again) gone by the wayside so quickly. No wonder so many think Daisy’s new guy might be shady.

They are repeating the exact same story all over again, just shuffling around the cast roles a bit. I’m glad that at least this season didn’t focus mostly on John B and Sarah. It seems John B in particular got far less screen time than he used to. First, it was Pope who discovered he came from secret wealth and they find the gold hidden by his ancestors and they uncover the big gold, jeweled cross that once belonged to Pope’s ancestors that Rafe stole from them. Only this time around it’s JJ who, surprise! - actually comes from money as well. They also sail through a huge storm to get away from baddies just like Sarah and John B did when they ran from her murdering family to the Bahamas. So now they head to Morocco, while being chased and threatened by JJ’s bio dad rather than Ward. They also end up losing the crown like they lost the cross and most of the gold in the last ‘adventure.’ Clearly the show has run out of ideas. They should have quit at the end of last season. I have a feeling that part of the reason they offed JJ (possibly in addition to the rumors that a lot of the cast doesn’t really get along in real life) is to give Rafe a bigger role. His teary eyes when Sarah hugged him and comments he made throughout this season makes it seem like he is missing his family and is maybe starting to mature a bit - but since it’s Rafe, you can’t be completely sure how he’ll behave, especially when it comes to money (he’s just like Ward that way). So will they chase after the crown in the last season or will they try to get the money that Ward stole back from Sarah and Rafe’s stepmom as well as Wheezy, their little sister? Getting the younger sister back would be tough as she is with her bio mom, who, in the eyes of the law, has a far better shot at keeping her, especially if they called in character witnesses against the ‘kids.’ Unless Wheezy’s mom gets in trouble for helping Ward, to some extent, stealing everything and covering up his crimes while living off the proceeds from those crimes, gets found guilty herself or if she dies, I don’t see them getting custody of Wheezy and a courtroom custody battle would be fairly boring to watch.

Daemon often offers no direct reply. He wants to see what people will do and how he can use it to his advantage. He knew that Rhaenyra wanted Aemond brought to her so she could look him in the eyes, use him as leverage, and decide what to do with him. If Daemon really wanted him dead, he would have done it himself or sent people he knew to be more capable. I don’t think it would have bothered him one way or another if they had brought Aemond to him dead or alive. Further, Aegon was also a son and held the iron throne. I think he would have seen Aegon taken out before Jaehaerys as Aegon was more of a threat.

It was a fight that got out of hand and Aemond definitely had a hand in it especially since the girls had just lost their mother and future sibling and they expected Vhagar would be ridden by one of them. Aemond came in, puffed up from taking Vhagar, and rubbed their noses in it, which resulted in a slight push by one of the girls which did no damage to Aemond. Aemond’s response and taunts contributed to the fight escalating. Aemond got his rock and was about to bash someone’s head in with it and Luke, being on the smaller side and wanting to protect the others, took out his knife in case it would be needed. He never intentionally took Aemonds eye. The way they were fighting led to that. He did show remorse for having done it after whereas Aemond showed none, further reminding everyone that he was now the rider of Vhagar and that it was worth the eye.

I never said the houses (Tully, Baratheon, Arryn or Stark) had declared a side. What I said was that the Baratheons were relatives. Mentioning “allies” simply meant that they had been before Viserys died and the Greens usurped the throne. Before Luke left, Rhaenyra told him that he has Baratheon blood from his grandmother, Rhaenys. This is not just the case of an oath being sworn. In any case, oaths are never to be broken, regardless of how long they have stood, or the penalty could be death and/or war. Rhaenyra also told Luke that he would receive a warm welcome at Storm’s End and that Borros, being an extremely proud man, would be honored to host a prince of the realm and his dragon.

It’s less about what age they are perceived to be and more about the fact that a royal, with a future ahead of him who’s mother was heir to the Iron Throne, was killed, unprovoked, by Aemond. The rightful queen lost a son. The family Luke visited was supposedly an ally/relative of Rhaenyra. Aemond assumed they would send someone there to see which side they were on. Given his hatred of Luke, he was likely glad it was him. When Luke was leaving and Aemond started to go after him, they told him to stay put. He gets on his dragon anyway and kills Luke. There were witnesses to this as letters were sent out by raven to Jace at the wall and to Rhaenyra and who knows who else. The letters named Aemond since, as soon as she read it, she ordered for Aemond to be brought to her. Rhaenyra also knew where Luke went down and she was able to recover some of his items on the beach. I don’t think anyone perceived this as “just a fight” when Luke was clearly unprepared and was trying to get away. As to the fight when they were younger, Aemond came back all puffed up since he got to ride Vhagar. He was right in there with the insults and thought he was invincible. At no point did he try to back down. He attacked the others in the group, including Daemon’s daughters with the Sea Snake’s daughter, and Aemond had picked up a rock and was getting ready to brain someone with it when Luke grabbed his knife to stop him. He wasn’t intending to take his eye, he was trying to stay alive and keep his brother and cousins alive as well. Aemond is not innocent and he instigated the violence. He told his mother he didn’t even care that he lost an eye because they had gained Vhagar. Rhaenyra had no plans to kill Jaehaerys, not even after she knew Luke was dead. She wanted Aemond brought to her. It’s not known whether or not she would have killed him or just used him as a way to re-claim the Iron Throne. Daemon took action into his own hands and hired two incompetent would-be assassins to bring Aemond in, who, rather than leave empty handed and forfeit the money promised, took whomever they could get their hands on. When he said “a son for a son,” I don’t believe he was implying that anyone other than Aemond be brought to him, with the exception of Aegon, who makes far more sense than as he is a bigger threat. The rat catching assassins chose to interpret it that way to get the remainder of their money. When the gold cloak was questioned, he even said that Daemon sent them for Aemond. However, Aemond was out somewhere and Aegon was surrounded by friends so they took the child to serve their monetary interests. The rat catcher even questions the gold cloak when they are about to kill the child and the gold cloak said “a son for a son.” Killing Jaehaerys was not their remit since, if Rhaenyra and Daemon had known they would kill the boy, they knew it would look very bad for them. They had a reason to go after Aemond. Rhaenyra lost a son first. The whole realm must have known that Luke and his dragon were killed by Aemond given the fact that ravens were sent out to Jace at the Wall and to Rhaenyra and who knows who else. I think Rhaenyra would be entitled to some kind of vengeance, but I don’t think Jaehaerys was ever her plan. When she learned of Luke’s death, she said “Bring me Aemond.” She may have killed him, but I think she may have used him as leverage to get Alicent and her usurper family away from the seat of power and take her seat as the heir Viserys named and had never wavered from in 20+ years or however much time passed in their world. Viserys had a lot of time, even the night he died, to name Aegon his heir. The fact that people believe he did with no witnesses about except for Alicent who had a lot to gain if Aegon were king is a bit strange. The houses that pledged their allegiance to Rhaenyra years ago should never have switched sides as, other than Alicents word, they had no proof that Viserys changed his mind in the last second when he had never once wavered from Rhaenyra as his heir. Viserys hated Aegon as he saw his lazy, entitled, violent, sadistic and odd behavior and knew he should never sit on the thrown. The fact that the houses who had sworn to follow Rhaenyra when she was made heir had to play along while locked in the Iron Throne room or face death is yet another sign that Aegon nor his mother or her meddling Hand of a father should have had any right to deny Rhaenyra her legacy and they were only able to get the other houses to agree to Aegon under threat of death. Then, as one of Aegon’s first acts as king, he had all the rat catchers killed and publicly hung for all to see. This should cast even further doubt on whether Aegon was ever chosen to lead as it appears he is temperamental and impulsive and has no thought as to what his actions may cause.

I think it was more than just a fight between the two. Luke was just trying to get home, said nothing to insult Aemond, took no physical action against him. A member of the royal family killing another with his own hands (or dragon) should have turned several of the other key families and groups against the Greens. Luke was young, he was betrothed, he stood to inherit Driftmark, etc. The fact that Aemond did what he did shows that he has a nasty streak in him and it was well known he hated Luke and he showed absolutely no remorse whatsoever after his death. He saw an opportunity to “get even” and took it. Add what Aegon did to the rat catchers and the Greens starting their usurped rule of the Iron Throne has them appearing extremely violent, full of vengeance, and incapable of ruling without fear and bloodshed. Luke never showed any malice towards Jaehaerys, had no part in killing him (he was, of course, already dead when the young prince met his horrible end) and he didn’t kill Aemond when he had the chance. I don’t believe that Luke would have agreed with Jaehaerys being killed. When they were younger, Luke and Aemond had a fight, started primarily by Aemond, and Luke didn’t intend to take his eye. He did show some remorse for the incident, but apparently Aemond holds a grudge and has definite revenge and anger management issues. Aemond was not ordered to hurt or kill Luke - his actions were his own showing his true nature. Jaehaerys’ death was actually not ordered by Rhaenyra, nor was it directly ordered by Daemon. He asked the assassins to get him Aemond. They couldn’t find him alone, so rather than forfeit the coin they were going to get, they wrongly thought Jaehaerys would suffice. Daemon should have hired more competent assassins. If/when war breaks out, he played a role in it as well. Jaehaerys and Luke were essentially innocents and neither deserved the death they got due to their respective families being incompetent and power hungry. The Greens are acting purely out of vengeance and their desperate desire to cling to the iron thrown even though it was wrongly taken by a usurper who is cold blooded, violent, unpredictable and uncontrollable. Given that Otto is no longer Hand anymore, I wonder what advice Ser Cristin will give Aegon. Will he continue to be Alicent’s boy toy?

I assume the public knows that Rhaenyra also lost her son, Luke. Perhaps it was covered up to protect Aemond, but this war is at least partly his fault. The rest lies with Alicent and her father. Alicent clearly couldn’t tell that her dying husband doped up on “milk of the poppy” thought he was talking to his daughter. She must realize that, after that dinner where he declared his daughter to be his heir multiple times, that that was his true intention. He was coherent long enough to say if he wanted the crown to go to either Alicent or Aegon instead of to Rhaenyra. It’s getting difficult to find any real likable characters, especially since Viserys died. I think the Sea Snake, his wife and their granddaughters are fairly decent so far, but we’ll see how long that, and their allegiance to Rhaenyra lasts. I know right? Especially since he swore an oath. He got so pissy when Rhaenyra was done with him. He acted like a 14 year old. Now Alicent is just using him for her own needs yet he is still extremely loyal to her and would burn himself to death by dragon if she asked him to. Alicent, along with her father, were quickly becoming some of my least favorite characters. I wonder what the ex-Hand is going to do now that Aegon ousted him. Ser Cristin probably doesn’t even know how to put on the “Hand” pin. I have a feeling all of his “advice” is going to be about killing Rhaenyra, conveniently forgetting she lost a son in this as well and didn’t start the war and was trying to avoid it.

I think someone spiked his drink at the bar. Contrary to how TV and movies often portray crushing a pill or dropping some liquid into someone’s drink as having an instant effect, this is not the case. Medications given orally have to be metabolized and processed through your body before they get into your bloodstream. Many opioids, for example, start to work in about half a hour but don’t hit their full effect until an hour after ingesting them. They typically wear off, or lose most of their potency, after about 4 hours. It’s the same if the drug is given IM (intramuscular). When people on TV instantly pass out after a jab in the arm or leg, this isn’t realistic either. IM injections still have to break down enough before they enter the bloodstream and still need half hour or so to start to work and longer to reach their full effect. If a drug is given IV, however, then it works pretty much instantly as it is going directly into the bloodstream. However, drugs given this way do not last as long because your body metabolizes them faster. There are many drugs, like propofol, which is only available in IV form, that basically stops working pretty quickly after it is put into an IV. Propofol is typically one of a combination of meds they will give you for general anesthesia or conscious sedation procedures. I think when Voight was looking around the room in the bar and all the people were frozen that this may have been when he felt the first effects of the drug and I think one of the guys there was the serial killer (I remember him seeing a dark haired guy with a beard). If the killer was at the bar and spiked Voight’s drink he may have started to feel it at the bar or on his way home and then it may have reached it’s full effectiveness when he got home.

The new Dr. Rule Breaker wasn’t in this episode at all and I didn’t notice Maggie either (probably because helicopter man didn’t have a patient to drop off). ‘Looks Ike next week is a Dr. Rule Breaker episode though. I am not looking forward to it unless she finally gets fired during it.