Skull & Shackles: Sails under a blood red sky.

Game Master DBH

For some reason my post last night about no update didn't go through?

And I'm sorry, but it's again!

I'll get a post up tonight after work. Been more distracted than I'd like this week.

Sorry, no update.

No update tonight. Mondays suck!

No update, I'm flat on my back due to various ailments I'm afraid.

Apologies. Technical problems with my PC had it out of action for most of the day. No update.

I've been invited out for a meal. No update I'm afraid. Free food!

Had a bad migraine, lay down and took a nap. Did I miss anything?

Sadly I'm still down. Tired and aching joints mainly. No energy for anything but drowsing in bed. Hopefully it will clear over the weekend.

Sorry, running late tonight. No update.

No time to update tonight.

No update, I've been at the Doctors and need a rest after a checkup.

Tomorrow is Matariki here in New Zealand, a public holiday so it is likely there will be no update again.

Enjoy your break. :)

No update sorry.

Health not good. No update sorry.

Get some rest! Feel better. No hurry.

Yeah, believe me you're not the only one who has been taken out for a bit due to health.

Hope you both feel better

Sorry, no update again. A change in medication is not going well.

I hate changing medication. At least in my case it almost always goes meh

As some of you may remember I'm on anti-inflammatories due to severe arthritis.

Last year this caused me a lot of trouble when the anti-inflammatories started eating through my stomach lining, causing pain and acid-reflux.

My Doctor changed my medication and after a period of adjustment things seemed to have settled.

Over the last couple of months I had increasing abdominal pain, and worse blood in my stool.

So I'm off anti-inflammatories completely, and on medication to try and restore my internal linings.

Internally things seem to be slowly improving, however with only paracetamol as a pain killer things are much more unpleasant. Currently my main activity is finding a comfortable position to lay in while hoping the painkillers finally do something.

The arthritis is in my shoulders, hips and knees. So moving is awkward and painful. It's a family trait sadly.

Hopefully my internal linings will recover and I can get some form of anti-inflammatory. I've been using them for 15 or so years to be mobile and being off them is crippling for me.

*I am not giving up running my games. I will hopefully be adjusted, or find a working painkiller to be more active soon!

Good luck! Pain management is all the more difficult as we get older. My hips and knees are bad too, and my right shoulder has some sort of rotator damage that won't go away either.

Take your time! Feel better.

I'm not going anywhere.

Take the time you need, proper pain management is very important. I gladly need the time because I'm handing some of my own issues when it comes to my mother in law. Had to take control of her finances Sunday and have been trying to balance things still.

That's always a big one, and pretty delicate as well. Good luck.

Sorry to hear that Esmarelda. I hope things improve for you.

Sorry to report there has been no improvement.

The cold weather down here is really hammering my arthritis. It doesn't matter how warm I keep it inside my home. The temperature drops and my joints ache.

Coming to the end of winter so hopefully things will warm up a little. Wellington is a harbor city, on a strait and close to Antarctica so the wind chill is nasty.

I hope to get things moving again soon.

Understood.

Some good news for a change. It seems that one of my internal problems was caused by having to go through two heavy anti-biotic regimes thanks to the Cellulitis I had this year.

This stripped out my stomachs good bacteria leaving me suffering due to the anti-inflammatories I'm taking.

I've been on a course of pro-biotics which have made a difference. My internal discomfort is mostly gone now.

I still have the arthritis pain, but with one source of discomfort removed the pain-killers are working more effectively.

I will start updating again in a day or two when things are settled a bit more for me.

Thanks for your patience everybody.

Good to know your pain is at least somewhat reduced then.
Any time you are ready, we will be.

What Ash said!

Happy to hear that you seem to be on the mend.

So Thursday I got word that my little sister was diagnosed with a stage two invasive breast cancer. Its essentially the same one that took our grandmother and great aunt. Im seeking a 2nd job to help with upcoming medical bills and will do my best to keep up with my commitments here becuase i'll need something to distract my mind. If i seem distant or vacant feel free to give me a nudge i wont hold it against you.

Ouch. I know its not the same, but my little sister was just diagnosed with Lupus (Finally, after many years of tests...).

Evidently, its pretty hard to 'officially' diagnose.

So not a problem here. You do you.

Sorry to hear that. I hoope things improve for you and your family.

No update tonight.

It is times like these that makes me very upset with America. Having to get more than one job just so a family member doesn't die do to no fault of their own... I know that no where is perfect but, we could be a lot better...

I agree completely. American profit margins are killing the poor and sick. The rich, for the most part, could care less.

I cannot understand the America health system?

My health problems this year have been bad, the costs to me for several Doctors visits and a stay in hospital have been less than $100. The New Zealand govt recently made most prescription medication free.

It was previously $5 per prescription.

Private hospitals & Medical insurance exist but is mainly used by people like my mother who couldn't get her hip replaced in a public hospital due to her age and the number of people ahead of her in the queue.

The wait for treatment for non-critical conditions can be unpleasant, but you're not going bankrupt over it.

The recent pandemic showed that as always Hospitals, Doctor & Nurses are under funded and underpaid. While the politicians of course give themselves private medical insurance. :(

It's really simple: It's about making money for investors. (Poor) health care is merely a side-effect of the process.

Our health care became privatized when health insurance became a wide spread thing. It snowballed out of control, and spread from just making enough to get people paid and keep the lights on to making as much money as possible by squeezing it out from those who have no choice. While it does mean if you can pay for it you get great care, those who can actually pay for it are few and far between.

And you're completely screwed if you don't have health insurance, which is tied to your employment! Which means layoffs, during a pandemic, devastates everything. People like to complain that the younger generations don't want to work but in all honesty, a large amount of our work force is just gone... And on top of that, those of us left behind are just left more aware how broken our system is and are done being used by it. Can't support a family on $7.25 an hour, and because it is the minimum set no one really wants to pay much more than that. So much failure, and the fixes are easy, but they mean someone loses something. And that isn't what those who make the most money want.

Human are strange... some of us cannot see that just because someone else who has so little gets a little more doesn't rob us of the amount we already have.

Coupled with employers going through gymnastics to arrange employee work hours to reach just short of the legal minimum requirement to provide health insurance.

Well I get to cross off another of the spells on the "Always prepare, never end up casting" list!

Yeah, that is one spell as a cleric you are always afraid not to take 'just in case' but rarely use it so you don't waste it prematurely.

Apologies all:

I hate to pile on, but it may be difficult for me to jump on and post for the next few days or so. My father has been at home in hospice care for over 2 years now and things seem to be suddenly accelerating today according to my sister.

Please bot me where/when needed, and I will attempt to stay up to date and post when I can in the near future.

*hugs*

No update tonight sorry.

@Ashlei. Best wishes for you and your family.

Sorry to hear that Ash, wishing you and your family well through this.

Thanks everyone. He's doing a little better now, but the nurses say it won't be long. I'm still here however, so lets kill some cyclopes!

I can’t help myself, but I just got an email from my previous publisher! He just found a really good review of a PF1 book I wrote:

Blood and Broomsticks review…if you dare!..

Its like… my first real review! Im over the moon.

Not feeling too well. So no update sorry.

I can’t help myself, but I just got an email from my previous publisher! He just found a really good review of a PF1 book I wrote:

Blood and Broomsticks review…if you dare!..

Its like… my first real review! Im over the moon.

That's awesome! I did the Melee and Magic, Magus book for that series!

It really is an amazing feeling isn't it! Congratulations!!!

Cool! Ive got to check that out.
=)

Sorry, still not too well.