The Bluestocking, where Maud reigns supreme...

[ifIwerenotanandroid]

... & Magpie regularly drains the hot chocolate bowser.

If you understand that, or you're just cool with it, come on in & bagsie a chair by the fire.

Previous thread: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5410054-the-bluestocking-the-one-where-the-nights-start-to-draw-in?page=1

Sending love to Myrtle. I'm sure they fit hospital beds with a warning system that tells the nurses when a patient falls asleep, so they can go & wake her up. No way to treat a lioness, indeed.

In wish she was realy a lion it would defo improve her patient care

Oh my world @MyrtleLion you have 3 more days of this? And surely the NHS has evolved enough by now to offer lactose free alternatives? The hospital cafe would even have some, surely? Maybe my expectations are too high….

Hope you get a decent night’s sleep to night!

Meanwhile walking today in our local country park, run by the county council, I was pleased to find the newly refurbished loo block now has 4 doors: women's (standard cubicles+sink area); men’s; disabled (with radar lock); and a ‘family’ one (logo of man, woman and child), I assume the baby change is in there too. It’s been a bugbear of mine for years that places frequented by parents and kids don't routinely have these; DH used to take DD out a lot when she was at an age when she was too old for him to want to take her in the gents yet still too young to go in the ladies alone. So it’s nice to see a place much used by families getting appropriate provision. Not rocket science but good.

I can’t be doing with people being nasty to each other so I tend to hang out on a couple of chatty threads and some FWR threads I’m interested in. AIBU has become quite mean lately.

I knock about in Christian Mumsnetters, but even there there's been some differences of opinion. Slightly better than the flaming Christians are getting in AIBU. Twas ever thus...no other belief system gets this unpleasantness and level of insults.

I admit to like reading a good CF or parking thread!

I’m glad they made the Christian MNers board, hope people in general are respecting the boundary. It occurs to me maybe feminists could almost do with something like that - one board for all comers debates, challenges etc and then another ‘feminist support’ board for those who have a protected belief who want to talk among themselves. To some extent the Bluestocking serves this purpose but it’s just one thread and idk how many women are shy of posting here if they need support. There are good reasons not to have another board, this is more of a thought experiment … I wonder if there’s any need for general support type threads which aren’t a surreal pub? I guess there have been eg for transwidows; from recent threads maybe survivors of sexual and other abuse by men could do with a specific ‘safe space’ ? Idk, just pondering.

I’d like that. Because when I’ve spoken of my rape and sexual assault I’ve been accused of using it was an excuse to be transphobic.

@Taztoy , I was torn between ignoring that poster the other day and stomping in and stirring further, since anything anyone said was being twisted. I could see that you were getting support so left it, but was still furious on your behalf.

I wouldn't be comfortable speaking about my abuse in a public internet space ( so I don't!) but I appreciate that's just me. I think anything and anywhere that gives good support to survivors is massively important.

That thread has been like an intensive crash course on handling social media threads on all things feminist/GI-related (with a bit of autism thrown in). Going fwd will not engage with one particular PP, but seeing the almost manic, incoherent thought process has been informative as has been reading the logical, clear replies of others. I can be a bit to emotion-first and need to learn to get a G&T or a piece of chocolate and take a breath before replying, so it’s been instructive.

A further health update. Despite lying in a hospital bed doing nothing, it gets busy with observations, drugs, rounds etc. Things have changed from Tuesday and I'm also managing my overwhelm. I will try and post updates, but I'm three episodes behind in MAFS, Celebrity Traitors started last night and my plan to read all <checks pdf> 88 pages of the Supreme Court Judgment while I'm here have gone to pot.

It's probably easier to let you know what is now happening rather than all the bits that happened in between so do ask if you have questions.

Saw the wound specialist yesterday. 32 years old and lovely! Yes I'm old enough to be her mother and I'm so delighted that the younger generation are proving to be talented and compassionate.

They are going to give me a CT scan today and then tomorrow they will operate. They will take swabs and grow the cultures on the agar equivalent of steak and Château Neuf du Pape for seven days to see what the infection is made of. During this seven days I will be on strong IV antibiotics in hospital.

Once they have determined which particular bacteria is having a party in my ankle, they may adjust the antibiotics which may involve a longer stay. I may also need to have more operations to clean the wound, which will also mean longer in hospital.

The best case scenario is that I respond well and it's straightforward and I can go home in about 10 days. I will continue to need antibiotics for weeks afterwards.

The worst case scenario is that the infection is from a stronger/more resistant bacteria and will need operations and antibiotics for some weeks. This depends on recovery and how well my body manages the healing. I didn't appreciate being told that my "job" is to focus on my wound (harder magic thinking cures it???) and to forget about applying for a real job till I'm better.

While I appreciate I might have a very long and difficult road ahead of me, I'm not a child and surely having something to aim for is worthwhile.

In other news the original fusion has gone well and I'm walking without a crutch or boot. The pain has reduced significantly and is now focused on the pain of the infection which is well managed, and the pain of the blister caused by a severe allergic reaction to the dressing, which is not well managed.

I have yarn and needles and a project but I'm not starting anything new at the moment.

Thanks so much for the update, Myrtle. I was worried when you said they weren't going to give you antibiotics, so am glad to hear that has been reversed and you are getting them, even though it means a longer stay in hospital. Wishing you all the best for the op tomorrow and very much hoping the infection proves easily manageable.

Myrtle, I'm glad they are paying attention to your needs now, but think they should have started earlier.

grrrrrrr

on the magical thinking front I'll keep your intentions in mind and also tell my guardian angel to have a word with your guardian angel and ask for intensified protective action.

Goodness, you’re gonna need more yarn! That’s a long stay and you are being so humorous and pragmatic about it. Really hope you have a love team of nurses around to tae care of you. Fingers crossed the IV antibiotics at least tae the edge off until they know what they’re dealing with.

Myrtle I'm glad you liked the wound specialist, it makes such a difference when you like and trust the people caring for you. I hope she lives up to that!
You have a hard road ahead, poor you. If intensive magical thinking is any use, you have lots of it going on in the Bluestocking, wishing you well💙

Fingers crossed Myrtle!

It's not quite Halloween, but if anyone needed a wholesome yet vaguely seasonal image, here's one from 1986 of Vincent Price (an accomplished cook when not starring in horror movies) teaching Drew Barrymore how to make cookies.

Oh, poor stoic Myrtle! We've sent some extra supplies from the Bluestocking store cupboards.

(The AI simply refuses to get rid of the mane or give each gerbil her own knitting needles.)

I am so, so sorry that happened to you on the other thread, @Taztoy. It is sickening that there are people who have so little empathy.

It was a huge shock some years ago, when women spoke on social media about their trauma to explain why they needed SSS, expecting to be met with sympathy & win the argument, only to be met with derision & insults. I'd never seen anything like it. It was appalling.

I've tracked down the thread (I think) & read the last page. I also avoid that OP, as engaging seems pointless - but well done Taz for her calm & measured posts on page 40, & FlirtsWithRhinos for her simply magnificent post which explains the basics so eloquently.

Maybe the gerbils can knit on their claws?

Continuing sympathies to @MyrtleLion and best wishes for rapid healing.

Vincent Price manages to make holding a cookie sinister in that photo.

He's using his left hand.

Glad they've got you on the anti-b.s @MyrtleLion

I'm a huge fan of Vincent Price. Theatre of Blood is one of my all time favourite fillums. Vincent always wanted to play Shakespeare, and you can tell he's having way too much fun.

I admire how in everything he did, he kept his strange idiosyncratic transatlantic accent, so he sounded no more like a bloke from St Louis than Cary Grant sounded like a bloke from Bristol.

He also did some fun collaborations with Vince Furnier alias Alice Cooper, but I can come back to that. We're approaching the season for Alice trivia.