Our shoulder surgery is tomorrow (Oct 7th). It'll be our seventh surgery this year, and at least twelfth total. Unlike the others this year, I'm not looking forward to this one. Yes, it's important and necessary, but I've been led to believe the recovery will be harsher than the wrists and elbows. Even though we have a ways to go, our wrists and arms are currently doing a lot better than 1-2 months ago - and this surgery will set us back immediately, since we'll be in a cast again. I just learned our arrival time will be 5:30 AM, which is actually perfect, because our sleep is nocturnal right now. I also want to share what's been going on medically for the past month, because it's been a wild ride. OT OT went pretty okay, same as usual. There was a few highs and lows. I learned our grip strength has measurably improved since we started coming! That gave me some hope, even though our neck procedure left our arms and wrists in worse shape than before for a while. I was slowly but surely

(CW: Injury, body horror, mentions of surgery, self-injury) 2003 A little kid gets on his tricycle. He's riding around outside. His mom is watching nearby. It seems like a normal day. That is, until the trike hits a snag in the concrete, sending the boy tumbling off the side. His nose smashes clean into the pavement. He's just lying there looking up. The mom rushes over and helps, taking him inside and getting him cleaned up. It hurt a lot, but surely it would be fine. Over the next few weeks, he starts to have trouble breathing through his nose. It hurts more and more every day. At one point he curiously pries open a nostril with two fingers in front of the mirror. There's some kind of gross, fleshy something inside. With no idea what to do, he tells his mom and tries to show her, but it's ultimately fruitless. 2009 The boy's more sapient now, and attending primary school. He hasn't thought about that accident in years. But it's brought back to the front of his mind when other kids ar