Podcasts about IV

In this episode, we take calls about: an APB meetcute gone wrong, a unique breakup story that keeps on happening, a Christmas miracle turned into tragedy, an update on the diaper wearing cheater, someone who had their bi awakening during our show, and in a new segment we do some speed round advice to end the show! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Judgies Merch is Available HERE!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Want fun, cool stickers and MORE? ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.aurorascreaturecorner.store⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Palestine Children's Relief Fund⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Donation Link Our Patreon is officially open, if you want to see extra content go check it out!  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/JudgiesPod ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Send us mail! (Addressed However You'd Like)  P.O. Box 58 Ottawa, IL 61350  Leave a Review!  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-judgies/id1519741238⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  Follow us on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/judgiespod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow us on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://instagram.com/judgiespod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  Intro Music by: Iván  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://open.spotify.com/artist/5gB2VvyqfnOlNv37PHKRNJ?si=f6TIYrLITkG2NZXGLm_Y-Q&dl_branch=1⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  Time Stamps: 0:00 Intro 6:28 APB Meet Cute Gone Wrong 12:36 Unique Breakup Story 21:20 Christmas Miracle Turned Tragedy 33:23 Diaper Cheater Update 41:22 Bi Awakening During the Judgies 45:49 Speed Round 52:51 Outro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I walk through exactly how I am preparing for breast implant removal and how I will decide on a breast lift. You will hear my eight week prehab checklist, the IV and nutrition plan I am using with surgeon approval, and a week by week recovery map.   Hosted by Leanne Vogel.   20% off supplements: https://us.fullscript.com/welcome/lvogel1610380742   Coaching and other supports available at: https://shop.healthfulpursuit.com/    Podcast Sponsors, links and offers available at: https://www.healthfulpursuit.com/podcast/  Bioactive Peptides: https://www.healthfulpursuit.com/make

In this episode of the World Extreme Medicine Podcast, we explore one of the most talked-about studies in pre-hospital trauma care: “Beyond IO and IV - Trauma Lines in Pre-Hospital Haemorrhagic Shock.”Host Eoin Walker is joined by Paolo Pallavicini, final-year medical student and research fellow with London's Air Ambulance and the Centre for Trauma Sciences, to unpack a groundbreaking study analysing over 8,000 trauma patients.They discuss:Why standard IV and IO access can be inadequate in exsanguinating traumaHow trauma lines can double pre-hospital blood delivery ratesSuccess, complication, and survival outcomes from the studyThe future of central venous access in pre-hospital carePaolo also offers key insights into the realities of working in a chaotic roadside environment, the importance of governance and training, and how clinical risk-benefit decisions are made when every second counts.Read the paper here.Find out more about London Air Ambulance Service.

In this episode, we talk about: a cautionary Judgemas tale about Pissy Pissmas and his bad boy dreams, a listener who potentially had a chance meeting with the couch at Southern Illinois University, a flat takeover by a roommate's boyfriend, a boyfriend who wants his girlfriend to stop reading fiction, and we take a quick dive back in to Chicken_of_the_Year's reddit profile. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Judgies Merch is Available HERE!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Want fun, cool stickers and MORE? ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.aurorascreaturecorner.store⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Palestine Children's Relief Fund⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Donation Link Edited by: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@currentlyblinking⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/currentlyblink⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://tiktok.com/@currently.blinking⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Our Patreon is officially open, if you want to see extra content go check it out!  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/JudgiesPod ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Send us mail! (Addressed However You'd Like)  P.O. Box 58 Ottawa, IL 61350  Leave a Review!  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-judgies/id1519741238⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  Follow us on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/judgiespod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow us on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://instagram.com/judgiespod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  Intro Music by: Iván  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://open.spotify.com/artist/5gB2VvyqfnOlNv37PHKRNJ?si=f6TIYrLITkG2NZXGLm_Y-Q&dl_branch=1⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  Time Stamps: 0:00 Intro 2:36 A Bad Boy Judgemas 36:35 Break 37:30 CJ: Peg Nog 49:55 LS Sound 54:43 LS Story 58:55 Flat Take Over 1:06:27 BF Says To Stop Reading Fiction 1:19:05 Chicken_Of_The_Year Continued 1:32:01 Outro Story Links: My flatmate's boyfriend turned our home into his personal crash pad, brought another woman over while she's on holiday, and I'm stuck in the middle of this circus. My boyfriend (31M) is suddenly demanding that I (27F) stop consuming fictional media at all, what do I even do? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Matthew Sutherlin didn't just struggle with addiction — he was trapped in a darkness he couldn't escape. Raised in the shadow of generational crime, prostitution, and addiction, Matthew's life spiraled into IV meth use, sexual addiction, and deep New Age deception. Searching for freedom, he tried everything — yoga, manifestation, altered states, and radical sexual liberation — but the deeper he went, the more he realized something unsettling. This wasn't just psychological.Something was controlling him.In this raw and honest conversation, Matthew shares how addiction became a doorway into spiritual oppression, how “losing inhibitions” only tightened the grip of darkness, and what it felt like to reach a place where he truly couldn't stop. What followed wasn't religion — it was a personal encounter that changed everything.In this episode, you'll hear:⇨ How generational darkness affected his life in ways he didn't understand at first⇨ Why New Age spirituality and self-mastery failed to bring freedom⇨ The moment God broke through and began restoring what was lost⇨ What real intimacy with Jesus looks like beyond church and belief⇨ And how his wife was later healed from stage-4 cancer after doctors said there was no hopeThis isn't a polished testimony. It's the story of a man who lost everything — and found the One who could actually set him free.If you've ever wondered whether darkness is real…If you've questioned whether addiction is more than habit…Or if you're searching for a God who doesn't just forgive, but delivers — this conversation matters.-------------------------✟ Donate to A Stronger Faith here ⇨ https://www.astrongerfaith.org/give--------------------------✟ Recommend a guest for us here ⇨ https://www.astrongerfaith.org/contact--------------------------✟ CONNECT WITH US! ⇨ Website: https://www.astrongerfaith.org/ ⇨ YouTube: https://bit.ly/asfmyoutube ⇨ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/astrongerfaith/ ⇨ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@astrongerfaith ⇨ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/astrongerfaith------------------------------------✟ If you need prayer or deliverance, or if you would like to join us as a prayer partner, please visit our prayer resources page at https://www.astrongerfaith.org/prayer.✟ If you are looking for a good faith-building book, visit our recommended books page at https://www.astrongerfaith.org/books.

We've heard this story so many times that it doesn't surprise us like it ought to. And what boy hasn't dressed like a shepherd for a Christmas play? But what was an ordinary workplace for these blue-collar sheep farmers became holy ground on this particular night. They were in for five surprises that would stay with them forever. Let's try to put ourselves in their sandals.I. The Audience (v. 8)II. The Angels (v. 9)III. The Announcement (vv. 10-12)IV. The Anthem (vv. 13-14)V. The Accuracy (vv. 15-20)Talk with God: Ask the Lord for opportunities to turn your workplace into holy ground this week.Talk with others: Invite a friend or family member to join you for a Christmas Eve service.Talk with kids: What does it mean to worship Jesus as King?

Meditación en el IV domingo (A) de Adviento, predicada durante un día de retiro mensual en un Centro del Opus Dei. El Evangelio nos presenta el misterio de la Encarnación visto desde el lado de San José, un hombre justo. Destaca su sensibilidad para escuchar a Dios en sueños, su disponibilidad para cambiar sus planes, su prontitud para seguir la Voluntad de Dios con alegría.

St. Louis Cardinals President of Baseball Operations Chaim Bloom joins Tom Ackerman to discuss the acquisition of Dustin May, including his injury history, recovery, and upside on a one year deal with a mutual option. Bloom explains the appeal of targeting younger free agents and why adding pitching depth to both the rotation and bullpen remains a top offseason priority. Bloom also provides injury and updates on Brendan Donovan, Masyn Winn, Lars Nootbaar, and Iván Herrera, shares thoughts on roster versatility, trade timing, and the growing confidence in international scouting and player projection.

#Bàigiảng của linh mục #GiuseHoàngNgọcDũng trong thánh lễ Chúa nhật IV mùa Vọng năm A, cử hành lúc 17:30 ngày 21-12-2025 tại Nhà nguyện Trung tâm Mục vụ #TGPSG

Elf on a Shelf: Part 1 Her stalker wasn't who she thought he was; Based on a post by LingeringAfterthought, in 3 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories. Honey smiled at the long line of children waiting to see Santa, flipping her phone from Google Translate back to see the information of the next little girl in line, who was looking up at her somberly with large liquid brown eyes. In her small face was a familiar mixture of fear and hope. Wonder; it was wonder in her eyes, Honey thought. Unlike the tired and jaded adults, dutifully shifting their weight from foot to foot, holding overstuffed shopping bags and all the coats of their kids as they distracted themselves on their phones, the children got more and more excited as they drew near the man in the furry red suit with white trim. Honey loved working with the children; because like them, she sometimes could still see the magic. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Norman shift uncomfortably in the painted plywood throne made for him to sit with the children and discuss their good behavior and of the wishes that they hoped would come true. Even at age 62, Norman still saw the magic with his merry bright blue eyes, but it faded when his prostate pained him. When the photographer got the shot the parent wanted, Honey walked to where most of the long line could see her as Norman flashed her a look of worshipful gratitude. The adults' faces immediately fell, knowing what was coming. "I'm afraid Santa needs to take a quick break because apparently the reindeer have begun arguing again!" Norman put his gloved hands up to his real beard, pulled a comically dismayed face, jumped up from his throne, and ran off toward the restrooms. Honey shook her head mournfully and continued, "The reindeer were all practicing their Christmas carols when Comet and Cupid couldn't decide how many times Santa checks his list in Santa Claus is Coming to Town! Does anyone here remember how it goes?" she asked, scanning the line for people game enough to help. Honey scampered back and forth along the line trying to choose among the eager volunteers, her white-trimmed, pink fur skirt flaring out around her thighs, her long legs clad in sparkly curly-toed ruby slippers and candy cane swirl stockings catching the eyes of several fathers. Suddenly, she gasped listening carefully to her headset, "Nina?" she called out. "Comet and Cupid say they will only stop arguing if 'Nina' gives the answer. Is there a 'Nina' here today? Nina?" Honey looked around at the crowd carefully until the little girl with the big brown eyes, who had been quietly waiting 57 minutes in line, gathered the courage to raise her hand. "Oh! Are you Nina?" she asked, running over and crouching down near the girl. "We just adopted her; she only speaks Portuguese," the weary woman holding her hand said quietly. Honey gasped and smiled widely, "Voc fala portugu s Nina? Maravilhosa!" she said, watching the little girl's eyes brighten excitedly. "Voc pode me dizer quantas vezes o Papai Noel verifica sua lista?" she asked, holding her microphone out to the little girl. "Duas vezes!" Nina said confidently into the mic. Honey listened carefully to her headset, concentrating, "'Duas vezes' it is! They've stopped arguing!" she announced. "But now, they want us all to sing the song in Portuguese! Nina, voc vai me ajudar a ensin -los a m sica?" she asked. Nina nodded and slowly she and Honey taught the familiar song to the crowd in a new language. As always, a hush came on the crowd when Honey began to sing. Heads raised up from forgotten phones. Vague smiles drifted onto the turning heads of passers-by in the mall as they paused in their frenetic search for gifts. It wasn't so much that Honey's voice was beautiful, though it certainly was. It was more that when Honey sang, it seemed to make the things that didn't really matter melt away. To those that believed in such things, Honey's voice was magic. When she sang, people held their breath and didn't even miss the air. Honey closed her eyes as she sang next to Nina. It was a newly acquired habit. Though she had been taught to let her eyes slowly drift over the audience, letting them make a connection with each person as she sang, she didn't do that anymore. She knew he was out there. She felt his presence frequently as she worked, but it was only when she sang that he came out into the open. She couldn't hold her voice steady when she saw him watching her, so she closed her eyes and let the magic continue for the crowd. When the song ended, Honey opened her eyes as the crowd cheered, finding his powerful form immediately as if she had been commanded to look at him. Zach. He had changed a lot in the year since he brought his sister's children through the long Santa line, drawing her almost too-large dark blue eyes to him then, as easily as he did now. After bringing his nieces and nephews through the line, he'd gone home and brought all his neighbors' kids to see Santa in five more trips, watching her the entire time. He looked at her as if he'd never seen anything like her in the world, like he couldn't believe she was real. She had loved feeling his eyes on her then, hearing his voice. She had wanted to climb up in his lap, feel his large arms curled around her, whisper to him about how good she had been that year, and of how much she hoped he would make her wishes come true. Of course, all that was before he'd told her he wanted to kill her. Zach's face looked leaner now, though his body seemed even larger, if such a thing was possible. His brooding, deep-set eyes were not merry, as they had been when children climbed his tree-like body in her line last year. They weren't nervously soft and adoring of every part of her, as they had been at their candle-lit dinner. His eyes weren't rageful or insane as you might expect from someone visiting their object of murderous hate, but rather; they were tortured, trapped. Pain and quiet desperation had taken up restless residence in the windows to his soul. Honey knew she shouldn't look at him so much, but she just wished she could understand what she had done wrong. Once the line of children and parents had cleared, it was long past the official closing time. Honey cleaned up the display and prepared it for the next day while Norman took one last lingering trip to the restroom. Her phone showed numerous messages from work friends from her other job asking where she was. The firm had planned a Christmas party at Gatsby's, a gorgeous club worthy of F. Scott Fitzgerald's glamorous hero. It was also the place where Zach had taken her on their first and last date. The Gatsby's waiter had looked stunned and confused when she shakily ordered herself an "angel shot," the code-phrase used to quietly ask bartenders or wait staff for help when you felt threatened, but after his initial shock, the waiter immediately escorted her secretly to a taxi waiting outside before Zach returned to the table. Gatsby's had saved her life; but she didn't want to go back there. After avoiding call after call from Zach, she finally answered and politely asked him never to call her again. To her surprise, he didn't. He never spoke to her again. Unless she sang, she never even saw him, but she felt his presence almost everywhere. It felt like she was haunted by him; haunted by something wonderful and magical that, inexplicably, went horribly wrong. Her phone buzzed again, the display showing that the firm's senior partner wanted to FaceTime her. Steeling herself, she answered. "Honey Lane where in the hell; oh my god lookit you!" Aaron Timberman held the phone high above his head with his long ex-basketball-player arms and Honey saw a crowd of her co-workers crowd into the picture behind him. "Um, hi sir. Sorry I'm late to;" "You're an elf!" "Um, yeah. It's a volunteer thing;" "Wait, wait, wait; you have the shoes? You know, with the; toes?" he slurred, motioning his finger in a spiral motion. Honey bit her lips and tilted the camera down her body, showing her entire costume, tilting her foot to show off the curled toe. "I'm sorry it got late tonight, but I'll be there as soon as I can get home and get changed;" Timberman looked around at the crowd surrounding him, "Guys, do we wanna see Honey Lane here at the party in some boring old Anne Klein shit, or do we want the elf?" he yelled, pointing at the screen. Behind him, almost a dozen of her co-workers began chanting "Elf, Elf, Elf, Elf!" "Get yer ass over here, Elf," Timberman ordered, poking at his screen several times before effectively ending the call. A few minutes later, Norman finally came back from the restroom and gave Honey a ride over to Gatsby's in his red SUV bedecked with a bumper sticker that read, "My other car's a SLEIGH!" Honey hopped out after getting bits of advice from Norman that would have been appropriate several decades ago. With flaming cheeks, she brushed the furry white pompom from her hat out of her face and told the smirking ma tre d which party she wanted, sighing when he grinned widely and escorted her through the middle of the main dining area, much to her horror. When the doors to the party room opened and she was greeted by another round of "Elf, Elf, Elf, Elf," she didn't feel much better. She was starving, so she headed over to the buffet and began loading up a plate with delicious-looking things on ice in shot glasses, impaled on sticks, or immersed in flames. She just spied a quiet table in a dark corner and was winding her way toward it to it to scarf down her only food since breakfast before she could be drawn into a drunken debate. That was the plan, anyway. "Hunnybaby! Lookit you! C'mon we gotta dance!" Lee James slurred to her fur-trimmed tits. With a sigh, she smiled and laid her plate down on a nearby table, promising to herself that she would eat right after enduring a dance with the favored junior partner. Unfortunately, after Lee angled her awkwardly around the dance floor, they'd drawn so much attention that everyone wanted to get pics of themselves toasting and dancing with the Christmas elf. At some point, she found herself in Timberman's arms with a glass of champagne in her hand. "Um; what?" she said, almost asking herself how she had gotten there. "I said you look lovely, tonight, Honey. Much better than in a shawl and sheath dress," he said, quickly twirling her around as they reached the edge of the dance floor. "Twirling makes my skirt go up; I'm dizzy," she murmured. A familiar dark figure flashed in the background and disappeared as Timberman turned her again. She looked around, trying to find the figure again, but she couldn't see him anywhere. Why was he there? Had she been singing again? "Well, I'll make sure nobody twirls you, my dear," he said, twirling her and smiling as her skirt flew up her long candy-cane striped legs. "The wives wouldn't like it." "I like your wife's dress Mr. Timberman; looks warm. It covers her ass when she sits, too," she slurred, frowning in confusion at the dark red drink in her hand now. Zach was frowning, and then he just looked blurry again as she swirled around. Maybe swirling made it harder for him to kill her. Why did he want to kill her? It just wasn't fair. Timberman leaned down and dipped her, "I'll make sure to give her your compliments. You know, if you like what wives wear, you should consider getting married. Lee is quite taken with you, you know," he said, stroking his hand against the soft pink velvet of her dress. Honey found herself drifting away and wandering inside her head again, thinking about Lee; he was handsome in an overly-polished way, said funny things, but they always sounded a little mean, like he wanted to be the only one laughing; and he also took her away from the food plate that just floated by on a table. It was still full. She should have eaten that food. What time was it? "He likes my boobs; and he doesn't want to kill me," she agreed eventually, surprised to find that Timberman was gone and she was dancing with Lee James again. "Well, I can't blame him for that; they're fucking perfect; just like everything else. I'm gonna come on them after you suck me off; he murmured, pulling her closer against him. "Let me take you home, Honey; penthouse view of the city; "Umm; no, that's not home; I live in the; railroad place; with the trains?" Honey explained, pointing in what she thought was the direction of the Lowertown Commons. Why did every guy think she lived with them tonight? "Sounds charming, Eliza Doolittle; you should trade up. You don't know how much I'd love twist your arms back and fuck this ass wide open over my balcony tonight," he said, reaching his hand under her skirt and greedily squeezing her bottom. "You'd like that, wouldn't you Honey? I can tell; Lee whispered, his cologne invading her head and making her queasy. "I feel sick; Honey whimpered and staggered away, trying to find the quiet table where the food was that would make her less drunk. The dance floor was confusing, though, always turning around and thumping and flashing. She leaned against a pillar until she got a better sense of where she was. She liked the pillar. It was big and strong; and it stroked her hair. "Honey; wake up, Honey. Open your mouth. You need to take these," the vaguely familiar voice said, cutting through the sleep that had been blocking out some of the pain she felt everywhere. She obediently opened her mouth and the hand put two caplets on her tongue. A water bottle squirted a little cool liquid into her mouth until she moaned and sucked harder, desperate for more. "Not too much. Wait until you can hold that down. I'll give you more in a bit. You don't want that IV back, do you?" "Nuh" Honey groaned. She hated needles. Sure, just about every part of her body hurt more than a needle did, right now, but somehow needle pain felt personal. Like with Zach. He didn't seem like someone who went around wanting to choke everybody; just her. She was nobody special; just a simple girl who kept lawyers organized and tried to be nice. Then, someone wonderful like Zach thought she needed to die. That hurt. Something about her made him go from being tender and intensely loving to someone who; it just didn't make sense. What did she do? Mercifully, sleep faded the pain and clouded her thoughts. Voices below her intruded into a wonderful dream where she was bouncing on clouds. Though not in the same room, the voices seemed strangely clear. "I can't; Terry, she cries when I do that," the pills voice said, making her eyes fly open. She knew that voice. She hadn't heard it for a year, but she would never forget it. Her body reacted with a confused mix of emotions, her cheeks flushing and adrenaline searing a path all through her at the same time. "That's because it hurts her. You know what hurts more? Bedsores. Man up. Use the pillows to prop her weight against the parts that aren't hurt on whichever side. It's either this, or she goes back to the hospital, and I have it on good authority you won't be allowed to visit after what happened." "She was screaming; Zach gritted. "Yeah, well they were putting her shoulder back in. People scream. That still doesn't excuse what you did. Since when did you become such a pussy about pain?" Terry asked. "since her." "oh my god." "Shut up," Zach grunted. "Oh my god; "Yeah, that's not shutting up." "The great Z-dog has been taken down;" "Shut up, maggot, it's not like that. I'm just taking care of h;" "By a little bitty pink Christmas elf; Terry laughed. There was a scuffling sound and then a loud whoomp and a forceful exhalation of air. "So, I turn her every few hours until she can do it for herself?" Zach asked, casually. "Yes, sir," Terry choked. "Anything else?" "Clear liquids until she can hold stuff down. Talk to her. Ask her questions. If she seems disoriented or part of her face goes slack, she goes back to the hospital. Don't fuck around." "Got it. Are you squared away, or do we need to discuss this further?" "Squared away, sir," Terry choked, then gasped in relief, panting faintly. "Jesus Christ, you haven't lost your touch. We on for the hump tomorrow at 0 500?" "No. I'm gonna stick close here until she's;" "Got it. Hey, maybe they have those Baby Bjorn things in elf-size. Then, you could just strap her onto your ba; ow! ow! ow, ow, ow!" "You weren't particularly attached to the rest of that sentence, were you, maggot?" Zach growled. "Sir, no sir; Terry squeaked. "I didn't think so. You'll be back here Wednesday," Zach stated, more as an order than a question. "Yeah, if you want me to. Honestly, right now she just needs rest and TLC more than a medic. That stands for 'tender loving care' by the way, not;" "You were just going," Zach said, as the voices moved to another end of the room below her. "Hey, you wanna know what makes an elf's toes curl up like tha;" Terry asked, his question cut off by the slamming of the door. Honey listened, trembling and terrified as Zach paced the floor below her. Though his voice hadn't changed, he sounded nothing like the man that had wooed her so tenderly a year ago. He sounded dangerous, brutal even. He definitely sounded like the kind of person that went around wanting to choke everyone, she thought, strangely relieved that her heartbreak felt a little less personal. How could she have been so wrong in her impression of him? She looked around the room, understanding now how the voices had reached her so easily. She was in an open industrial loft bedroom that opened onto the main floor below. Looking around, she realized she must be in Zach's huge bed, though if the crisply made side next to her was any indication, he hadn't been sleeping in it with her. Looking down her body, she gasped quietly. Her left arm was in a sling strapped to her chest, her legs were covered in bruises, and the right leg that was being stabbed with an invisible knife right now, was wrapped up in an air cast boot. What had happened to her? The last thing she remembered was feeling sick as she tried to get away from Lee's groping hands on the dance floor. After that; nothing. How did she get here? A beeping noise sounded below and Zach walked across the room to what sounded like a kitchen. The sound of water being poured into a cup, the ringing of a spoon stirring it, a pill bottle being opened. Honey shivered, realizing he was probably coming up to her, soon. She closed her eyes and tried to slow her breathing, feigning sleep. Steps ascending to the loft bedroom. Ankle stabbing, stab, stab, stab, stab with every panicked heartbeat. A tray went down on the nightstand next to her. A chair across the room was lifted and set down by the bed. Honey told herself to breathe slowly, willing the tears welling behind her lids not to leak out of her eyes. He would leave her alone if she was sleeping, wouldn't he? "You're not sleeping," Zach's voice stated, quietly, and her stomach clenched in fear. "You've been waking up for these pills every four hours like a junkie. I know you don't want to talk to me, Honey, but until you're squared away, you're gonna have to. So, cut the crap, open your eyes, and let's get this done." Honey opened her eyes to see his grim face looking down at her. With one blink, large tears rolled down her pale cheeks, and Zach's jaw set angrily. Sitting down in the chair, he put his elbows on his knees and leaned his massive shoulders forward, looking at her. His hands looked like they could crush rocks as he gripped them together. "Let's get some things straight. I don't know what you think you know about me, but acting like I'm some kind of psycho is pretty shitty. You want nothing of me, that's fine, but you're hurt because you screamed and flung yourself down some stairs rather than let me help you to an Uber. You're staying here until you're well, because some shithead at that party gave you enough roofies to be in a coma for almost 3 days and I'm not dragging my ass to that rat trap of yours in the Commons every day to make sure they don't come back while you're weak. Are we clear?" he asked. Honey swallowed and nodded, wincing at the pain in her neck and head. That just seemed to make Zach angrier. "While you are here, you will do as you're told. You will eat what you get, and you will not complain. You see these, here?" he said, holding up the magic caplets that made everything better. "These are the last ones you're getting. I'm switching you to ibuprofen and Tylenol because, unchecked, this Sackler shit will fuck you up for good and that's not happening on my watch. Do you understand?" he asked. "Yes," Honey whispered. At the sound of her voice, Zach's mouth twitched, but at least he didn't look as angry as when she'd nodded and winced. "You will follow your doctor's orders to the last goddamn word. You will rest. You will do your therapy. You will let me help you and you will ask me for what you need because I am not a fucking mind reader. And so help me, if you do anything stupid like get out of that bed without me here to help you, or push yourself away from me like you did at Gatsby's, or any other drama shit that hurts even one hair on that head again, I will personally make you regret you were ever born." "Yes, Zach," Honey breathed, confused. Two more tears rolled down her cheeks. Without thinking, she leaned over to wipe them off on her shoulder and cried out in pain. Zach squeezed his clenched hands together and several of his knuckles cracked. "You don't use my name. You don't get to use my name. You're not getting under my skin again, you hear me?" Zach growled, using his rough knuckle to wipe her tears. "Orders a fucking angel shot in my own fucking club; fuck you. I don't have a name, you don't have a name. You're nothing to me. Understand?" "Yes, sir," she whispered. Honey leaned forward and took the last spoonful of broth into her mouth and swallowed, looking longingly at the noodles at the bottom of the cup. Zach caught a drop of broth at the bottom of her lower lip with the spoon and returned it to her mouth. "No," he said, seeing where her eyes lingered. "I can do it," she pleaded. "Please; I haven't had anything solid since; how long has it been?" "I said, no. You throw up on another pair of my skivvies and I'll be doing laundry twice a week," Zach said, dabbing her mouth with a paper towel. "Why do I have to wear your boxer briefs anyway? They feel weird. They have this hole-flap thing; and there are some places that aren't supposed to feel a breeze," Honey said, lifting the blanket to look down at his underwear loosely covering her hips. "Are you complaining?" he asked quietly. Honey's eyes darted quickly to his face, "No sir," she murmured, looking down at her lap. "I just thought if I had some of my things here, you wouldn't have to do the laundry so much." "I'll worry about what I have to do, Honey," he said, unthinkingly using her name. Startled, she looked up to see his eyes wandering over her, his massive t-shirt sleeves going down past her elbows. She felt ridiculous and disheveled, but something about the way he looked at her made her hold her breath. Then, without another word, he slurped the noodles out of the cup and took the tray downstairs. After that, the two settled into a quiet routine of him feeding her, giving her medicine, and watching her sleep most of the day. She would sometimes awaken to the soft repetitive sounds of him running on a treadmill, or the clinking of him lifting weights downstairs where she couldn't see him. Then, he would go to the bathroom and shower. After his shower, he came upstairs again in his towel and took some clothes from his dresser before going back downstairs to change. Honey found herself looking forward to those few seconds each day, watching his droplet-covered torso twist as he leaned over his dresser. He frowned as he flipped through his carefully folded underwear. "You wearing the grey ones?" he asked, not looking at her. Honey peeked under the covers, "Um, yes sir," she replied. "I'm supposed to wear the grey ones today," he grumbled to himself. Honey didn't say anything. Zach was the one who picked out which underwear she wore today. He was the one who looked away while he painstakingly slipped the old ones off her hips and pulled the new ones over her boot and up her legs until her bottom was covered again. There was nothing about her life that wasn't chosen and executed by him. If he wasn't happy about the color of his underwear, that was his fault. Still, Zach kept rummaging around in his underwear drawer as if another crisply folded grey pair would somehow magically appear. Finally, rather than offend him by laughing, Honey spoke, "Um; you know, if they're clean, I could wear the pair I had on when I went to the hospital and you could have these. It would get you back on schedule; Zach lifted his head from the drawer and glared at her, as if he thought she was making fun of him. Honey held carefully still and shrugged her uninjured limb. She wasn't making fun, she just wanted to help. The movement caused the huge neckline to gape over to the side, revealing her bare shoulder. She waited as Zach stared impassively at her, the vein at his neck throbbing. After a long moment, he walked over and stood next to her, the tuck of his towel right next to her face. With every breath, she inhaled the scent of his wet body and the bar soap he used. A rivulet of water painstakingly slid from his chest and down his abdomen, until finally disappearing into the tightly twisted white cotton. Honey glanced up to see that he had been reading her face as she watched the droplet's progress. With a shaking breath, she blushed and pulled the covers higher with her good arm. With a twist of his mouth, Zach pulled the neckline back over her shoulder again and quickly left the room. That night, after leaving her with a video baby monitor watching her on the nightstand, Zach returned with a bag of her underwear and some of her nightgowns. After watching her excitedly sort through them, Zach pushed them aside and sat on the edge of the bed. "There were a bunch of boxes with tags on them in your living room. What's that about?" he asked. Honey's eyes dropped, "Oh; that's the charity gift thing for kids. You sign up and get them something they wished for and wrap it up so they can have something under the tree, when they wouldn't have something otherwise. It's nice, you know? I signed up for a bunch and I was supposed to wrap them and get them back to the law firm, but I guess; sorry kids," she trailed off. Looking furious, yet carefully impassive at the same time, Zach cursed under his breath and left again, returning with the packages and a huge stack of unused Styrofoam clamshells from Gatsby's, and dumped them on the bed next to her. For the next few hours, they "wrapped" the presents, Zach carefully fitting items into an appropriate-sized takeout box, and Honey trying to make them pretty with ribbons. As she watched him work, occasionally cursing under his breath, she found herself smiling at his frowning face when he was strategizing how to fit a basketball into three disassembled clamshells. "What are you laughing at?" he said, glaring when he caught her at it. "I wasn't laughing. I was smiling." "Why were you smiling, then?" he asked. "I guess; I just like you; sir," she said, glancing over at him. Honey saw a hopeful softness steal into Zach's eyes until he forcibly wrestled it down and a look of hooded sarcasm shaded them. "Yeah, well; fool me once," he sneered. Angry, Honey closed her eyes, blocking him out the only way she could. "You know, that's; that's not fair. Not after what you said; you scared me!" she said, frustrated that, once again, tears were rolling down her cheeks. Zach choked out a mirthless laugh, "I scared you? What did I say, Honey? What did I fucking say? God! I was on eggshells all night trying not to fuck it up with you and then you just; why? Those creeps you were dancing with at that party, those fucking 'nice guys' that drugged you, they were saying shit that made my skin crawl! I didn't even kiss you! I couldn't! I could barely breathe just for looking at you on our date; you looked just like a fucking angel. What did I say, Honey? What did I say?" Honey reached over and grabbed her phone, flipping through her photo album to a screenshot taken shortly before she blocked his number. "You didn't say it; you texted it. I remember watching you leave for the restroom thinking I'd met the love of my life and then you sent me this; she said, handing her phone to him. Zach took the phone, his face going from an angry red to pale horror in a matter of seconds. "This; this; he gasped, "I didn't; send this; to you; he said, shaking his head. "Whoever had your phone did, sir!" she said, emphasizing the last word, making him wince. "I spent the last year thinking you wanted to do that to me; to kill me. Every time I felt you watching me, every crowd I saw you show up in, every dark room I had to go into, that's what I thought about. I thought that a man I was head over heels about; that I could be so wrong about him. So, excuse me for thinking I liked you, sir. I promise it won't ever happen again!" Honey cried herself to sleep that night, refusing to speak to, or even look at Zach again. When she awoke, the bedroom was empty, and a glass of water and a pain pill were waiting on the nightstand. After swallowing the pill, she stared at the ceiling, furious. She didn't want to be there anymore, to be helpless and dependent on him, to obey all his stupid rules. He didn't deserve to take care of her. So, she tightened the straps on her boot and increased the air pressure to hold her broken ankle tightly enough to walk without her crutches. Then, she took off Zach's t-shirt, pulled on her elf dress, and called herself an Uber. It was when she saw the anticipated arrival time of 8 minutes that she realized her mistake. There was no way for her to get down from the loft and out of the apartment quietly in that amount of time. If she used the crutches, she would be able to descend the stairs quickly enough, but they made such a distinctive clicking racket that they would surely wake up her gorilla-like guard. If she hopped down the stairs on her good foot, it might have worked, but her good arm was on the opposite side and she kept losing her balance. Eventually she decided on the most painful course, of going down on her good and bad legs, using her good arm for support. Her boot thunked horribly the first few times, until she got the hang of it and could place it more quietly on the next step and then hop her good foot down to support it before the scream inside her could escape her lips. By the time she reached the bottom, though, she was shaking with pain and exhausted. Curiosity forced her to look around the rest of the apartment as she caught her breath, sitting on the bottom step. It was clean and unmistakably masculine. Exercise equipment took up a lot of the space not already claimed by a leather couch and TV arrangement. Zach lay on the couch, made up with sheets to act as a bed, his feet sticking out over the arm, his hand tucked under the back of his head, his chest rising and falling under the rumpled sheet. If she wasn't so angry, she'd find him handsome; or maybe he still was handsome, she thought grudgingly, closing her eyes miserably and looking away. Why couldn't he be ugly? Life wasn't fair. Uber. Right. Screwing up her courage for what was ahead, she stood and slowly hobbled across the hardwood floor, agonizing over every painful thump and noisy squeak until she finally reached the door. She unlocked the five locks on his large door, each of them being well-oiled and working perfectly. She expected no less of her anal-retentive, grey-skivvies-on-Tuesdays captor. Finally, she tugged open the heavy door to find endless flights of icy steel-mesh stairs leading all the way down to the street where her Uber was waiting. "Oh, you gotta be kidding me; she cried, breaking down into tears. A strong arm slid down around her waist and mercifully shifted her weight off her throbbing foot, "I know. It sucks. You should try it with a rucksack full of bricks," Zach said, leaning his head down and breathing into her hair. "I want to go home," she whispered. "Let me take care of you; please," Zach murmured into the top of her head, "I; it was my fault this happened to you. I scared you, I know that now; but, please believe me that I would never want to hurt or frighten you like that." "It wasn't just that text," she said, pulling her head away and looking up at him angrily. "All year, I never had a moment's peace. Even when I couldn't see you, I could feel you waiting in the quiet or dark places. Even if you weren't there;" "I was there," he confessed. "I was always there. I didn't understand what had gone wrong. You didn't want to talk to me, and the world just didn't make sense to me unless I knew where you were, what you were doing; unless I knew you were safe." "Maybe you knew I was safe, but I didn't! I thought I'd done something; that somehow I deserved to have this beautiful, scary monster hunting me. I couldn't stop thinking about what I'd done to destroy something that was so; wonderful." "You didn't do anything, Honey. Nothing at all. You were perfect. You were so perfect that I couldn't keep; you didn't do anything wrong. I never meant to send you that message; please, please believe me." "Why did you send it?" she asked, finally looking up into his eyes. The dark blue liquid pools of her eyes turned violet in the moonlight, and Zach felt a tightening in his chest. "I; I can't tell you that; but it was never meant for you." "You mean, you meant to send that message to someone else? To hurt them like that?" "Honey, I; Zach said, looking around, unable to meet her eyes, "Please, I can't; you wouldn't understand; my life isn't like that anymore." "I want to go home, Zach; please," she whispered. Zach closed his eyes for a long moment before he swallowed and nodded, looking like he was in more pain than she was. "I'll take you home tomorrow, okay? Or Terry will, if you don't want me to. He'll check the place out, make sure you're set up and safe there. You're tired, you're hurting, and your Uber's gone, now. Let me take you back upstairs and you can go in the morning. Please." At that moment, a throb of pain shot through her entire leg, and as angry as Honey was, she knew she couldn't face her empty apartment without a few more hours of rest. "Okay," she whispered. To be continued in part 2, Based on a post by Lingering Afterthought, in 3 parts, for Literotica.

Jak wejść w posiadanie tego, co Bóg dla nas przygotował i co może ukrywać się za życiowymi trudnościami? - Razem z o. Alvaro Grammatica przyjrzyjmy się postaci św. Józefa, którą opisuje fragment Ewangelii czytany w IV niedzielę Adwentu. Komentarz o. Alvaro przetłumaczyła i odczytała Elżbieta Wróbel. Posłuchajcie! Napisz do nas! Wesprzyj nas! Wszystkie odcinki z podziałem na cykle tematyczne znajdziesz na www.koinoniagb.pl/podcast Obserwuj kanał Podcast Koinonii Jan Chrzciciel w WhatsAppieRead transcript

Elf on a Shelf: Part 1 Her stalker wasn't who she thought he was; Based on a post by LingeringAfterthought, in 3 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories. Honey smiled at the long line of children waiting to see Santa, flipping her phone from Google Translate back to see the information of the next little girl in line, who was looking up at her somberly with large liquid brown eyes. In her small face was a familiar mixture of fear and hope. Wonder; it was wonder in her eyes, Honey thought. Unlike the tired and jaded adults, dutifully shifting their weight from foot to foot, holding overstuffed shopping bags and all the coats of their kids as they distracted themselves on their phones, the children got more and more excited as they drew near the man in the furry red suit with white trim. Honey loved working with the children; because like them, she sometimes could still see the magic. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Norman shift uncomfortably in the painted plywood throne made for him to sit with the children and discuss their good behavior and of the wishes that they hoped would come true. Even at age 62, Norman still saw the magic with his merry bright blue eyes, but it faded when his prostate pained him. When the photographer got the shot the parent wanted, Honey walked to where most of the long line could see her as Norman flashed her a look of worshipful gratitude. The adults' faces immediately fell, knowing what was coming. "I'm afraid Santa needs to take a quick break because apparently the reindeer have begun arguing again!" Norman put his gloved hands up to his real beard, pulled a comically dismayed face, jumped up from his throne, and ran off toward the restrooms. Honey shook her head mournfully and continued, "The reindeer were all practicing their Christmas carols when Comet and Cupid couldn't decide how many times Santa checks his list in Santa Claus is Coming to Town! Does anyone here remember how it goes?" she asked, scanning the line for people game enough to help. Honey scampered back and forth along the line trying to choose among the eager volunteers, her white-trimmed, pink fur skirt flaring out around her thighs, her long legs clad in sparkly curly-toed ruby slippers and candy cane swirl stockings catching the eyes of several fathers. Suddenly, she gasped listening carefully to her headset, "Nina?" she called out. "Comet and Cupid say they will only stop arguing if 'Nina' gives the answer. Is there a 'Nina' here today? Nina?" Honey looked around at the crowd carefully until the little girl with the big brown eyes, who had been quietly waiting 57 minutes in line, gathered the courage to raise her hand. "Oh! Are you Nina?" she asked, running over and crouching down near the girl. "We just adopted her; she only speaks Portuguese," the weary woman holding her hand said quietly. Honey gasped and smiled widely, "Voc fala portugu s Nina? Maravilhosa!" she said, watching the little girl's eyes brighten excitedly. "Voc pode me dizer quantas vezes o Papai Noel verifica sua lista?" she asked, holding her microphone out to the little girl. "Duas vezes!" Nina said confidently into the mic. Honey listened carefully to her headset, concentrating, "'Duas vezes' it is! They've stopped arguing!" she announced. "But now, they want us all to sing the song in Portuguese! Nina, voc vai me ajudar a ensin -los a m sica?" she asked. Nina nodded and slowly she and Honey taught the familiar song to the crowd in a new language. As always, a hush came on the crowd when Honey began to sing. Heads raised up from forgotten phones. Vague smiles drifted onto the turning heads of passers-by in the mall as they paused in their frenetic search for gifts. It wasn't so much that Honey's voice was beautiful, though it certainly was. It was more that when Honey sang, it seemed to make the things that didn't really matter melt away. To those that believed in such things, Honey's voice was magic. When she sang, people held their breath and didn't even miss the air. Honey closed her eyes as she sang next to Nina. It was a newly acquired habit. Though she had been taught to let her eyes slowly drift over the audience, letting them make a connection with each person as she sang, she didn't do that anymore. She knew he was out there. She felt his presence frequently as she worked, but it was only when she sang that he came out into the open. She couldn't hold her voice steady when she saw him watching her, so she closed her eyes and let the magic continue for the crowd. When the song ended, Honey opened her eyes as the crowd cheered, finding his powerful form immediately as if she had been commanded to look at him. Zach. He had changed a lot in the year since he brought his sister's children through the long Santa line, drawing her almost too-large dark blue eyes to him then, as easily as he did now. After bringing his nieces and nephews through the line, he'd gone home and brought all his neighbors' kids to see Santa in five more trips, watching her the entire time. He looked at her as if he'd never seen anything like her in the world, like he couldn't believe she was real. She had loved feeling his eyes on her then, hearing his voice. She had wanted to climb up in his lap, feel his large arms curled around her, whisper to him about how good she had been that year, and of how much she hoped he would make her wishes come true. Of course, all that was before he'd told her he wanted to kill her. Zach's face looked leaner now, though his body seemed even larger, if such a thing was possible. His brooding, deep-set eyes were not merry, as they had been when children climbed his tree-like body in her line last year. They weren't nervously soft and adoring of every part of her, as they had been at their candle-lit dinner. His eyes weren't rageful or insane as you might expect from someone visiting their object of murderous hate, but rather; they were tortured, trapped. Pain and quiet desperation had taken up restless residence in the windows to his soul. Honey knew she shouldn't look at him so much, but she just wished she could understand what she had done wrong. Once the line of children and parents had cleared, it was long past the official closing time. Honey cleaned up the display and prepared it for the next day while Norman took one last lingering trip to the restroom. Her phone showed numerous messages from work friends from her other job asking where she was. The firm had planned a Christmas party at Gatsby's, a gorgeous club worthy of F. Scott Fitzgerald's glamorous hero. It was also the place where Zach had taken her on their first and last date. The Gatsby's waiter had looked stunned and confused when she shakily ordered herself an "angel shot," the code-phrase used to quietly ask bartenders or wait staff for help when you felt threatened, but after his initial shock, the waiter immediately escorted her secretly to a taxi waiting outside before Zach returned to the table. Gatsby's had saved her life; but she didn't want to go back there. After avoiding call after call from Zach, she finally answered and politely asked him never to call her again. To her surprise, he didn't. He never spoke to her again. Unless she sang, she never even saw him, but she felt his presence almost everywhere. It felt like she was haunted by him; haunted by something wonderful and magical that, inexplicably, went horribly wrong. Her phone buzzed again, the display showing that the firm's senior partner wanted to FaceTime her. Steeling herself, she answered. "Honey Lane where in the hell; oh my god lookit you!" Aaron Timberman held the phone high above his head with his long ex-basketball-player arms and Honey saw a crowd of her co-workers crowd into the picture behind him. "Um, hi sir. Sorry I'm late to;" "You're an elf!" "Um, yeah. It's a volunteer thing;" "Wait, wait, wait; you have the shoes? You know, with the; toes?" he slurred, motioning his finger in a spiral motion. Honey bit her lips and tilted the camera down her body, showing her entire costume, tilting her foot to show off the curled toe. "I'm sorry it got late tonight, but I'll be there as soon as I can get home and get changed;" Timberman looked around at the crowd surrounding him, "Guys, do we wanna see Honey Lane here at the party in some boring old Anne Klein shit, or do we want the elf?" he yelled, pointing at the screen. Behind him, almost a dozen of her co-workers began chanting "Elf, Elf, Elf, Elf!" "Get yer ass over here, Elf," Timberman ordered, poking at his screen several times before effectively ending the call. A few minutes later, Norman finally came back from the restroom and gave Honey a ride over to Gatsby's in his red SUV bedecked with a bumper sticker that read, "My other car's a SLEIGH!" Honey hopped out after getting bits of advice from Norman that would have been appropriate several decades ago. With flaming cheeks, she brushed the furry white pompom from her hat out of her face and told the smirking ma tre d which party she wanted, sighing when he grinned widely and escorted her through the middle of the main dining area, much to her horror. When the doors to the party room opened and she was greeted by another round of "Elf, Elf, Elf, Elf," she didn't feel much better. She was starving, so she headed over to the buffet and began loading up a plate with delicious-looking things on ice in shot glasses, impaled on sticks, or immersed in flames. She just spied a quiet table in a dark corner and was winding her way toward it to it to scarf down her only food since breakfast before she could be drawn into a drunken debate. That was the plan, anyway. "Hunnybaby! Lookit you! C'mon we gotta dance!" Lee James slurred to her fur-trimmed tits. With a sigh, she smiled and laid her plate down on a nearby table, promising to herself that she would eat right after enduring a dance with the favored junior partner. Unfortunately, after Lee angled her awkwardly around the dance floor, they'd drawn so much attention that everyone wanted to get pics of themselves toasting and dancing with the Christmas elf. At some point, she found herself in Timberman's arms with a glass of champagne in her hand. "Um; what?" she said, almost asking herself how she had gotten there. "I said you look lovely, tonight, Honey. Much better than in a shawl and sheath dress," he said, quickly twirling her around as they reached the edge of the dance floor. "Twirling makes my skirt go up; I'm dizzy," she murmured. A familiar dark figure flashed in the background and disappeared as Timberman turned her again. She looked around, trying to find the figure again, but she couldn't see him anywhere. Why was he there? Had she been singing again? "Well, I'll make sure nobody twirls you, my dear," he said, twirling her and smiling as her skirt flew up her long candy-cane striped legs. "The wives wouldn't like it." "I like your wife's dress Mr. Timberman; looks warm. It covers her ass when she sits, too," she slurred, frowning in confusion at the dark red drink in her hand now. Zach was frowning, and then he just looked blurry again as she swirled around. Maybe swirling made it harder for him to kill her. Why did he want to kill her? It just wasn't fair. Timberman leaned down and dipped her, "I'll make sure to give her your compliments. You know, if you like what wives wear, you should consider getting married. Lee is quite taken with you, you know," he said, stroking his hand against the soft pink velvet of her dress. Honey found herself drifting away and wandering inside her head again, thinking about Lee; he was handsome in an overly-polished way, said funny things, but they always sounded a little mean, like he wanted to be the only one laughing; and he also took her away from the food plate that just floated by on a table. It was still full. She should have eaten that food. What time was it? "He likes my boobs; and he doesn't want to kill me," she agreed eventually, surprised to find that Timberman was gone and she was dancing with Lee James again. "Well, I can't blame him for that; they're fucking perfect; just like everything else. I'm gonna come on them after you suck me off; he murmured, pulling her closer against him. "Let me take you home, Honey; penthouse view of the city; "Umm; no, that's not home; I live in the; railroad place; with the trains?" Honey explained, pointing in what she thought was the direction of the Lowertown Commons. Why did every guy think she lived with them tonight? "Sounds charming, Eliza Doolittle; you should trade up. You don't know how much I'd love twist your arms back and fuck this ass wide open over my balcony tonight," he said, reaching his hand under her skirt and greedily squeezing her bottom. "You'd like that, wouldn't you Honey? I can tell; Lee whispered, his cologne invading her head and making her queasy. "I feel sick; Honey whimpered and staggered away, trying to find the quiet table where the food was that would make her less drunk. The dance floor was confusing, though, always turning around and thumping and flashing. She leaned against a pillar until she got a better sense of where she was. She liked the pillar. It was big and strong; and it stroked her hair. "Honey; wake up, Honey. Open your mouth. You need to take these," the vaguely familiar voice said, cutting through the sleep that had been blocking out some of the pain she felt everywhere. She obediently opened her mouth and the hand put two caplets on her tongue. A water bottle squirted a little cool liquid into her mouth until she moaned and sucked harder, desperate for more. "Not too much. Wait until you can hold that down. I'll give you more in a bit. You don't want that IV back, do you?" "Nuh" Honey groaned. She hated needles. Sure, just about every part of her body hurt more than a needle did, right now, but somehow needle pain felt personal. Like with Zach. He didn't seem like someone who went around wanting to choke everybody; just her. She was nobody special; just a simple girl who kept lawyers organized and tried to be nice. Then, someone wonderful like Zach thought she needed to die. That hurt. Something about her made him go from being tender and intensely loving to someone who; it just didn't make sense. What did she do? Mercifully, sleep faded the pain and clouded her thoughts. Voices below her intruded into a wonderful dream where she was bouncing on clouds. Though not in the same room, the voices seemed strangely clear. "I can't; Terry, she cries when I do that," the pills voice said, making her eyes fly open. She knew that voice. She hadn't heard it for a year, but she would never forget it. Her body reacted with a confused mix of emotions, her cheeks flushing and adrenaline searing a path all through her at the same time. "That's because it hurts her. You know what hurts more? Bedsores. Man up. Use the pillows to prop her weight against the parts that aren't hurt on whichever side. It's either this, or she goes back to the hospital, and I have it on good authority you won't be allowed to visit after what happened." "She was screaming; Zach gritted. "Yeah, well they were putting her shoulder back in. People scream. That still doesn't excuse what you did. Since when did you become such a pussy about pain?" Terry asked. "since her." "oh my god." "Shut up," Zach grunted. "Oh my god; "Yeah, that's not shutting up." "The great Z-dog has been taken down;" "Shut up, maggot, it's not like that. I'm just taking care of h;" "By a little bitty pink Christmas elf; Terry laughed. There was a scuffling sound and then a loud whoomp and a forceful exhalation of air. "So, I turn her every few hours until she can do it for herself?" Zach asked, casually. "Yes, sir," Terry choked. "Anything else?" "Clear liquids until she can hold stuff down. Talk to her. Ask her questions. If she seems disoriented or part of her face goes slack, she goes back to the hospital. Don't fuck around." "Got it. Are you squared away, or do we need to discuss this further?" "Squared away, sir," Terry choked, then gasped in relief, panting faintly. "Jesus Christ, you haven't lost your touch. We on for the hump tomorrow at 0 500?" "No. I'm gonna stick close here until she's;" "Got it. Hey, maybe they have those Baby Bjorn things in elf-size. Then, you could just strap her onto your ba; ow! ow! ow, ow, ow!" "You weren't particularly attached to the rest of that sentence, were you, maggot?" Zach growled. "Sir, no sir; Terry squeaked. "I didn't think so. You'll be back here Wednesday," Zach stated, more as an order than a question. "Yeah, if you want me to. Honestly, right now she just needs rest and TLC more than a medic. That stands for 'tender loving care' by the way, not;" "You were just going," Zach said, as the voices moved to another end of the room below her. "Hey, you wanna know what makes an elf's toes curl up like tha;" Terry asked, his question cut off by the slamming of the door. Honey listened, trembling and terrified as Zach paced the floor below her. Though his voice hadn't changed, he sounded nothing like the man that had wooed her so tenderly a year ago. He sounded dangerous, brutal even. He definitely sounded like the kind of person that went around wanting to choke everyone, she thought, strangely relieved that her heartbreak felt a little less personal. How could she have been so wrong in her impression of him? She looked around the room, understanding now how the voices had reached her so easily. She was in an open industrial loft bedroom that opened onto the main floor below. Looking around, she realized she must be in Zach's huge bed, though if the crisply made side next to her was any indication, he hadn't been sleeping in it with her. Looking down her body, she gasped quietly. Her left arm was in a sling strapped to her chest, her legs were covered in bruises, and the right leg that was being stabbed with an invisible knife right now, was wrapped up in an air cast boot. What had happened to her? The last thing she remembered was feeling sick as she tried to get away from Lee's groping hands on the dance floor. After that; nothing. How did she get here? A beeping noise sounded below and Zach walked across the room to what sounded like a kitchen. The sound of water being poured into a cup, the ringing of a spoon stirring it, a pill bottle being opened. Honey shivered, realizing he was probably coming up to her, soon. She closed her eyes and tried to slow her breathing, feigning sleep. Steps ascending to the loft bedroom. Ankle stabbing, stab, stab, stab, stab with every panicked heartbeat. A tray went down on the nightstand next to her. A chair across the room was lifted and set down by the bed. Honey told herself to breathe slowly, willing the tears welling behind her lids not to leak out of her eyes. He would leave her alone if she was sleeping, wouldn't he? "You're not sleeping," Zach's voice stated, quietly, and her stomach clenched in fear. "You've been waking up for these pills every four hours like a junkie. I know you don't want to talk to me, Honey, but until you're squared away, you're gonna have to. So, cut the crap, open your eyes, and let's get this done." Honey opened her eyes to see his grim face looking down at her. With one blink, large tears rolled down her pale cheeks, and Zach's jaw set angrily. Sitting down in the chair, he put his elbows on his knees and leaned his massive shoulders forward, looking at her. His hands looked like they could crush rocks as he gripped them together. "Let's get some things straight. I don't know what you think you know about me, but acting like I'm some kind of psycho is pretty shitty. You want nothing of me, that's fine, but you're hurt because you screamed and flung yourself down some stairs rather than let me help you to an Uber. You're staying here until you're well, because some shithead at that party gave you enough roofies to be in a coma for almost 3 days and I'm not dragging my ass to that rat trap of yours in the Commons every day to make sure they don't come back while you're weak. Are we clear?" he asked. Honey swallowed and nodded, wincing at the pain in her neck and head. That just seemed to make Zach angrier. "While you are here, you will do as you're told. You will eat what you get, and you will not complain. You see these, here?" he said, holding up the magic caplets that made everything better. "These are the last ones you're getting. I'm switching you to ibuprofen and Tylenol because, unchecked, this Sackler shit will fuck you up for good and that's not happening on my watch. Do you understand?" he asked. "Yes," Honey whispered. At the sound of her voice, Zach's mouth twitched, but at least he didn't look as angry as when she'd nodded and winced. "You will follow your doctor's orders to the last goddamn word. You will rest. You will do your therapy. You will let me help you and you will ask me for what you need because I am not a fucking mind reader. And so help me, if you do anything stupid like get out of that bed without me here to help you, or push yourself away from me like you did at Gatsby's, or any other drama shit that hurts even one hair on that head again, I will personally make you regret you were ever born." "Yes, Zach," Honey breathed, confused. Two more tears rolled down her cheeks. Without thinking, she leaned over to wipe them off on her shoulder and cried out in pain. Zach squeezed his clenched hands together and several of his knuckles cracked. "You don't use my name. You don't get to use my name. You're not getting under my skin again, you hear me?" Zach growled, using his rough knuckle to wipe her tears. "Orders a fucking angel shot in my own fucking club; fuck you. I don't have a name, you don't have a name. You're nothing to me. Understand?" "Yes, sir," she whispered. Honey leaned forward and took the last spoonful of broth into her mouth and swallowed, looking longingly at the noodles at the bottom of the cup. Zach caught a drop of broth at the bottom of her lower lip with the spoon and returned it to her mouth. "No," he said, seeing where her eyes lingered. "I can do it," she pleaded. "Please; I haven't had anything solid since; how long has it been?" "I said, no. You throw up on another pair of my skivvies and I'll be doing laundry twice a week," Zach said, dabbing her mouth with a paper towel. "Why do I have to wear your boxer briefs anyway? They feel weird. They have this hole-flap thing; and there are some places that aren't supposed to feel a breeze," Honey said, lifting the blanket to look down at his underwear loosely covering her hips. "Are you complaining?" he asked quietly. Honey's eyes darted quickly to his face, "No sir," she murmured, looking down at her lap. "I just thought if I had some of my things here, you wouldn't have to do the laundry so much." "I'll worry about what I have to do, Honey," he said, unthinkingly using her name. Startled, she looked up to see his eyes wandering over her, his massive t-shirt sleeves going down past her elbows. She felt ridiculous and disheveled, but something about the way he looked at her made her hold her breath. Then, without another word, he slurped the noodles out of the cup and took the tray downstairs. After that, the two settled into a quiet routine of him feeding her, giving her medicine, and watching her sleep most of the day. She would sometimes awaken to the soft repetitive sounds of him running on a treadmill, or the clinking of him lifting weights downstairs where she couldn't see him. Then, he would go to the bathroom and shower. After his shower, he came upstairs again in his towel and took some clothes from his dresser before going back downstairs to change. Honey found herself looking forward to those few seconds each day, watching his droplet-covered torso twist as he leaned over his dresser. He frowned as he flipped through his carefully folded underwear. "You wearing the grey ones?" he asked, not looking at her. Honey peeked under the covers, "Um, yes sir," she replied. "I'm supposed to wear the grey ones today," he grumbled to himself. Honey didn't say anything. Zach was the one who picked out which underwear she wore today. He was the one who looked away while he painstakingly slipped the old ones off her hips and pulled the new ones over her boot and up her legs until her bottom was covered again. There was nothing about her life that wasn't chosen and executed by him. If he wasn't happy about the color of his underwear, that was his fault. Still, Zach kept rummaging around in his underwear drawer as if another crisply folded grey pair would somehow magically appear. Finally, rather than offend him by laughing, Honey spoke, "Um; you know, if they're clean, I could wear the pair I had on when I went to the hospital and you could have these. It would get you back on schedule; Zach lifted his head from the drawer and glared at her, as if he thought she was making fun of him. Honey held carefully still and shrugged her uninjured limb. She wasn't making fun, she just wanted to help. The movement caused the huge neckline to gape over to the side, revealing her bare shoulder. She waited as Zach stared impassively at her, the vein at his neck throbbing. After a long moment, he walked over and stood next to her, the tuck of his towel right next to her face. With every breath, she inhaled the scent of his wet body and the bar soap he used. A rivulet of water painstakingly slid from his chest and down his abdomen, until finally disappearing into the tightly twisted white cotton. Honey glanced up to see that he had been reading her face as she watched the droplet's progress. With a shaking breath, she blushed and pulled the covers higher with her good arm. With a twist of his mouth, Zach pulled the neckline back over her shoulder again and quickly left the room. That night, after leaving her with a video baby monitor watching her on the nightstand, Zach returned with a bag of her underwear and some of her nightgowns. After watching her excitedly sort through them, Zach pushed them aside and sat on the edge of the bed. "There were a bunch of boxes with tags on them in your living room. What's that about?" he asked. Honey's eyes dropped, "Oh; that's the charity gift thing for kids. You sign up and get them something they wished for and wrap it up so they can have something under the tree, when they wouldn't have something otherwise. It's nice, you know? I signed up for a bunch and I was supposed to wrap them and get them back to the law firm, but I guess; sorry kids," she trailed off. Looking furious, yet carefully impassive at the same time, Zach cursed under his breath and left again, returning with the packages and a huge stack of unused Styrofoam clamshells from Gatsby's, and dumped them on the bed next to her. For the next few hours, they "wrapped" the presents, Zach carefully fitting items into an appropriate-sized takeout box, and Honey trying to make them pretty with ribbons. As she watched him work, occasionally cursing under his breath, she found herself smiling at his frowning face when he was strategizing how to fit a basketball into three disassembled clamshells. "What are you laughing at?" he said, glaring when he caught her at it. "I wasn't laughing. I was smiling." "Why were you smiling, then?" he asked. "I guess; I just like you; sir," she said, glancing over at him. Honey saw a hopeful softness steal into Zach's eyes until he forcibly wrestled it down and a look of hooded sarcasm shaded them. "Yeah, well; fool me once," he sneered. Angry, Honey closed her eyes, blocking him out the only way she could. "You know, that's; that's not fair. Not after what you said; you scared me!" she said, frustrated that, once again, tears were rolling down her cheeks. Zach choked out a mirthless laugh, "I scared you? What did I say, Honey? What did I fucking say? God! I was on eggshells all night trying not to fuck it up with you and then you just; why? Those creeps you were dancing with at that party, those fucking 'nice guys' that drugged you, they were saying shit that made my skin crawl! I didn't even kiss you! I couldn't! I could barely breathe just for looking at you on our date; you looked just like a fucking angel. What did I say, Honey? What did I say?" Honey reached over and grabbed her phone, flipping through her photo album to a screenshot taken shortly before she blocked his number. "You didn't say it; you texted it. I remember watching you leave for the restroom thinking I'd met the love of my life and then you sent me this; she said, handing her phone to him. Zach took the phone, his face going from an angry red to pale horror in a matter of seconds. "This; this; he gasped, "I didn't; send this; to you; he said, shaking his head. "Whoever had your phone did, sir!" she said, emphasizing the last word, making him wince. "I spent the last year thinking you wanted to do that to me; to kill me. Every time I felt you watching me, every crowd I saw you show up in, every dark room I had to go into, that's what I thought about. I thought that a man I was head over heels about; that I could be so wrong about him. So, excuse me for thinking I liked you, sir. I promise it won't ever happen again!" Honey cried herself to sleep that night, refusing to speak to, or even look at Zach again. When she awoke, the bedroom was empty, and a glass of water and a pain pill were waiting on the nightstand. After swallowing the pill, she stared at the ceiling, furious. She didn't want to be there anymore, to be helpless and dependent on him, to obey all his stupid rules. He didn't deserve to take care of her. So, she tightened the straps on her boot and increased the air pressure to hold her broken ankle tightly enough to walk without her crutches. Then, she took off Zach's t-shirt, pulled on her elf dress, and called herself an Uber. It was when she saw the anticipated arrival time of 8 minutes that she realized her mistake. There was no way for her to get down from the loft and out of the apartment quietly in that amount of time. If she used the crutches, she would be able to descend the stairs quickly enough, but they made such a distinctive clicking racket that they would surely wake up her gorilla-like guard. If she hopped down the stairs on her good foot, it might have worked, but her good arm was on the opposite side and she kept losing her balance. Eventually she decided on the most painful course, of going down on her good and bad legs, using her good arm for support. Her boot thunked horribly the first few times, until she got the hang of it and could place it more quietly on the next step and then hop her good foot down to support it before the scream inside her could escape her lips. By the time she reached the bottom, though, she was shaking with pain and exhausted. Curiosity forced her to look around the rest of the apartment as she caught her breath, sitting on the bottom step. It was clean and unmistakably masculine. Exercise equipment took up a lot of the space not already claimed by a leather couch and TV arrangement. Zach lay on the couch, made up with sheets to act as a bed, his feet sticking out over the arm, his hand tucked under the back of his head, his chest rising and falling under the rumpled sheet. If she wasn't so angry, she'd find him handsome; or maybe he still was handsome, she thought grudgingly, closing her eyes miserably and looking away. Why couldn't he be ugly? Life wasn't fair. Uber. Right. Screwing up her courage for what was ahead, she stood and slowly hobbled across the hardwood floor, agonizing over every painful thump and noisy squeak until she finally reached the door. She unlocked the five locks on his large door, each of them being well-oiled and working perfectly. She expected no less of her anal-retentive, grey-skivvies-on-Tuesdays captor. Finally, she tugged open the heavy door to find endless flights of icy steel-mesh stairs leading all the way down to the street where her Uber was waiting. "Oh, you gotta be kidding me; she cried, breaking down into tears. A strong arm slid down around her waist and mercifully shifted her weight off her throbbing foot, "I know. It sucks. You should try it with a rucksack full of bricks," Zach said, leaning his head down and breathing into her hair. "I want to go home," she whispered. "Let me take care of you; please," Zach murmured into the top of her head, "I; it was my fault this happened to you. I scared you, I know that now; but, please believe me that I would never want to hurt or frighten you like that." "It wasn't just that text," she said, pulling her head away and looking up at him angrily. "All year, I never had a moment's peace. Even when I couldn't see you, I could feel you waiting in the quiet or dark places. Even if you weren't there;" "I was there," he confessed. "I was always there. I didn't understand what had gone wrong. You didn't want to talk to me, and the world just didn't make sense to me unless I knew where you were, what you were doing; unless I knew you were safe." "Maybe you knew I was safe, but I didn't! I thought I'd done something; that somehow I deserved to have this beautiful, scary monster hunting me. I couldn't stop thinking about what I'd done to destroy something that was so; wonderful." "You didn't do anything, Honey. Nothing at all. You were perfect. You were so perfect that I couldn't keep; you didn't do anything wrong. I never meant to send you that message; please, please believe me." "Why did you send it?" she asked, finally looking up into his eyes. The dark blue liquid pools of her eyes turned violet in the moonlight, and Zach felt a tightening in his chest. "I; I can't tell you that; but it was never meant for you." "You mean, you meant to send that message to someone else? To hurt them like that?" "Honey, I; Zach said, looking around, unable to meet her eyes, "Please, I can't; you wouldn't understand; my life isn't like that anymore." "I want to go home, Zach; please," she whispered. Zach closed his eyes for a long moment before he swallowed and nodded, looking like he was in more pain than she was. "I'll take you home tomorrow, okay? Or Terry will, if you don't want me to. He'll check the place out, make sure you're set up and safe there. You're tired, you're hurting, and your Uber's gone, now. Let me take you back upstairs and you can go in the morning. Please." At that moment, a throb of pain shot through her entire leg, and as angry as Honey was, she knew she couldn't face her empty apartment without a few more hours of rest. "Okay," she whispered. To be continued in part 2, Based on a post by Lingering Afterthought, in 3 parts, for Literotica.

Broadcast from KSQD, Santa Cruz on 12-18-2025: Dr. Dawn opens by examining how market competition is actually working in the weight loss drug sector. Novo Nordisk's Ozempic and Wegovy compete against Eli Lilly's Monjaro and ZepBound, with prices dropping nearly 50% as companies launch direct-to-consumer websites. The main barriers remain needles and refrigeration, driving development of oral versions. Novo's Wegovy pill awaits FDA approval for early 2026 launch at $150 monthly. Next-generation drugs show remarkable results: Eli's retatrutide causes 24% weight loss in 48 weeks, while Novo's Cagrisema combines semaglutide with amylin to reduce muscle loss. Pfizer paid $10 billion for Metsera's once-monthly drug despite significant side effects. A quick fiber tip suggests adding plain psyllium to morning coffee for cardiovascular and microbiome benefits. Start with half a teaspoon and work up to two teaspoons (10 grams) over several weeks to avoid gas. The prebiotic fiber improves glucose tolerance and may reduce cancer risk. UC San Diego scientists discovered why cancers mutate so rapidly despite being eukaryotic cells with protected chromosomes. The answer is chromothripsis, a catastrophic event where the enzyme N4BP2 literally explodes chromosomes into fragments. These reassemble incorrectly, generating dozens to hundreds of mutations simultaneously and creating circular DNA fragments carrying cancer-promoting genes. One in four cancers show evidence of this mechanism, with all osteosarcomas and many brain cancers displaying it. This explains why the most aggressive cancers resist treatment. Research from 2013 shows any glucocorticoid use significantly increases venous thromboembolism risk, with threefold increases during the first month of use. The risk applies to new and recurrent clots, affecting both oral and inhaled steroids, though IV poses highest risk and topical the lowest. Joint injections fall somewhere between inhaled and oral. Anyone with prior blood clots should avoid steroids except for life-threatening situations like severe asthma attacks requiring ventilation. A meta-analysis of 20 randomized controlled trials shows creatine supplementation helps older adults (48-84) maintain muscle mass when combined with weight training two to three times weekly. The supplement provides no benefit without exercise. Recommended dosing starts at 2 grams and works up to 5 grams daily. Vegans benefit most since they consume little meat or fish. Important caveat: creatine throws off standard kidney function tests (creatinine), so users should request cystatin C testing instead for accurate renal health assessment. A new JAMA study suggesting risk-based mammogram screening is fatally flawed. First, researchers offered chemopreventative drugs like tamoxifen only to the high-risk group, contaminating the study design. Second, the demographics skewed heavily toward white college-educated women, missing the reality that Black women face twice the risk of aggressive breast cancer with 40% higher mortality. Third, wild-type humans failed to follow instructions—low-risk women continued getting annual mammograms anyway while high-risk women skipped recommended extra screenings. The conclusion of "non-inferior" outcomes is meaningless given poor adherence. Stick with annual mammograms, and consider alternating with MRIs for high-risk women. The EAT-Lancet report condemns red meat based purely on observational data showing correlations with heart disease, cancer, and mortality. But people who eat lots of red meat differ dramatically from low consumers: they weigh more, smoke more, exercise less, and eat less fiber. Studies can't control for sleep quality, depression, or screen time. Notably, heavy meat eaters also die more in accidents, suggesting a risk-taking lifestyle phenotype. The inflammatory marker TMAO is higher in meat eaters, but starch is also pro-inflammatory. Eating red meat instead of instant ramen might improve health. A balanced diet with limited amounts beats epidemiology-based blanket statements. Dr. Dawn grades Dr. Oz's performance as CMS administrator. Starting at minus one for zero relevant experience, he earns plus two for promoting diet, exercise, and gut health on his show. He studied intensively after nomination, calling all four previous CMS directors repeatedly and surrounding himself with experienced staff (plus one). He finalized Medicare rules favoring prevention over surgery and earned bipartisan praise as "a real scientist, not radical" (plus one). He divested healthcare holdings but kept some blind trust interests (minus 0.5). He's developing a CMS app and partnering with Google on a digital health ecosystem (plus one), but supports ending ACA subsidies that will raise premiums for millions (minus one). He correctly promoted COVID vaccines and contradicted Trump's Tylenol-autism claims (plus one). Final score: 3.5 out of 5 possible points, the only positive score for any Trump health administrator.

P. Cristián ( Chile ) Estamos a un paso de la Navidad. En este IV domingo de Adviento la Liturgia de la Palabra nos habla de confianza en el plan de Dios. Así lo vivieron Santa María y San José cada uno a su modo. Dios no abandona a los que creen en Él, aunque deban pasar por incomprensiones y oscuridades. Nuestra alegría es amar y cumplir la Voluntad de Dios. [Ver Meditación Escrita] https://www.hablarconjesus.com/meditacion_escrita/adviento-confianza-de-dios-en-navidad/  

LA TEORÍA DE LA MENTE - Episodio: Lo Que Pasa Dentro de Una Sesión: Miedo, Progreso y Mapas Mentales ¿Te has preguntado qué sucede realmente dentro de una sesión terapéutica cuando se trabaja con ansiedad? En este episodio íntimo y revelador de La Teoría de la Mente, te abrimos una ventana al proceso real de cambio emocional, a través de una experiencia viva, humana y profundamente transformadora. Exploramos una sesión reciente, donde se abordaron temas cruciales como el progreso personal, la manera de tratarse a uno mismo, los mecanismos internos de la ansiedad y el arte de manejar la incertidumbre sin ser devorado por ella. ¿Qué escucharás en este episodio? I. Progreso Real y Cambio de Narrativa • ¿Cómo pasas del autocastigo a la autocompasión? • La fuerza de una frase: "tranquila, déjate querer, no pasa nada". • El impacto de los pequeños grandes logros: un concierto, una ventana, un “no” necesario. • Por qué el miedo no aprende, pero tú sí. • El verdadero objetivo no es "curarse", sino aprender a convivir con la ansiedad sin que bloquee tu vida. II. Mapas Mentales y Rutas de la Ansiedad • ¿Cómo se forma un mapa del proceso ansioso? • Las 3 rutas que nos hacen tropezar: 1️⃣ Anticipación 2️⃣ Comprobación constante 3️⃣ Evitación • Las claves: el foco de atención y el simple acto de seguir caminando. • ¿Qué son las "alcamonías"? Descubre cómo personas muy distintas repiten patrones casi idénticos. III. Las Emociones Que Están Detrás del Miedo • La ansiedad no es solo miedo: también es vergüenza, culpa, enfado e impotencia. • Cómo desbloquear otras "partes del juego emocional" que la ansiedad intenta tapar. IV. Género, Cultura y Ansiedad • ¿Por qué las mujeres padecen más ansiedad y los hombres la muestran menos? • La importancia de nombrar emociones con precisión: frustrada no es lo mismo que harta. • Cómo la falta de expresión emocional puede llevar al abuso de sustancias o al aislamiento. • La soledad emocional masculina: el pico de suicidios entre los 50-55 años. V. Metas que Parecen Imposibles (pero no lo son) • Viajar sola, salir del país, confiar en ti misma... • Cómo prepararte para lo incierto con recursos internos reales. • La importancia de aceptar que siempre habrá incertidumbre, pero no tiene que paralizarte. ✨ Este episodio es una guía profunda para entender que el progreso no siempre es visible desde fuera, pero está ocurriendo. Es una invitación a mirar con compasión tu proceso, a dejar de medirte con una vara ajena, y a crear tu propio mapa de salida. Enlaces útiles y recursos: Nuestra escuela de ansiedad → www.escuelaansiedad.com Nuestro nuevo libro → www.elmapadelaansiedad.com Visita nuestra web oficial → www.amadag.com Facebook → facebook.com/Asociacion.Agorafobia Instagram → instagram.com/amadag.psico YouTube - AMADAG TV → YouTube Amadag TV Palabras clave SEO: ansiedad,terapia ansiedad,proceso terapéutico,mapa de la ansiedad,progreso emocional,autocompasión,autocuidado y ansiedad,superar el miedo,terapia emocional,ansiedad generalizada,anticipación ansiedad,comprobación obsesiva,evitación fóbica,ansiedad y culpa,sesión de psicoterapia,relaciones y ansiedad,salud mental femenina,salud mental masculina,psicología emocional,autoexigencia ansiedad,emociones y cerebro,psicología del cambio,la teoría de la mente,podcast ansiedad

Escucha el podcast del programa Basketball con Iván Mieses a través de CDN Radio, en Santo Domingo, República Dominicana correspondiente al sábado 20-diciembre-2025.

Hablamos en Estados Unidos con Francisco Monaldi de Rice University y con Francisco Rodríguez del Center for Economic and Policy Research; en Bolivia con César del Castillo, editor de "El Deber", y en Madrid con Iván Ruiz, corresponsal de "La Nación"

This week, Kate Molleson explores the life and music of Sergey Prokofiev – a composer whose imagination shaped some of the most vivid music of the 20th century. From childhood stories in rural Ukraine to bold experiments at the St Petersburg Conservatory, from revolutionary Russia to the bright lights of New York, and finally to his dramatic homecoming, Prokofiev's journey is full of ambition, upheaval and colour. We hear music that tells tales – fairytales, fantasies and fragments of real life – revealing a composer who never stopped dreaming.Troika (from Lieutenant Kijé Suite, Op. 60) Cinderella Suite, Op. 87 The Winter Bonfire, Op. 122: IV–VIII Music for Children, Op. 65: Nos. 1–9 Peter and the Wolf, Op. 67 Four Études, Op. 2 Autumnal Sketch Piano Concerto No. 1 in D flat major, Op. 10 The Ugly Duckling, Op. 18 Cinderella Suite No. 1, Op. 107: IV. Fairy Godmother and Winter Fairy Symphony No. 1 in D major, Op. 25 'Classical' Seven, They Are Seven, Op. 30 Scythian Suite, Op. 20: I–II Old Grandmother's Tales, Op. 31: Nos. 1–4 Overture on Hebrew Themes The Love of Three Oranges: Suite Five Songs Without Words Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 63: II. Andante assai Le Pas d'acier Suite, Op 41a: I, II The Prodigal Son, Op. 46, Scene 1: IV–VIII Romeo and Juliet: Dance of the KnightsPresented by Kate Molleson Produced by Ellie Ajao for BBC Audio Wales & WestFor full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Sergey Prokofiev (1891-1953) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002n9nvAnd you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we've featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Sobre los estilos de instalación como electo Presidente de Gabriel Boric y de José Antonio Kast; además del reciente hito histórico de conservación privada en la Patagonia chilena, Iván Valenzuela conversó con las editoras Paula Comandari y Paloma Ávila en una nueva edición del Rat Pack de Mesa Central.

En Columnistas de Mesa Central, Iván Valenzuela conversa con Daniel Mansuy y Patricio Fernández sobre la carta publicada por el ex ministro Giorgio Jackson y la autocrítica del Frente Amplio tras perder la elección presidencial.

This week, Aebhric O'Kelly, Bill Vasios, and Rhod Jordan will host an open discussion on managing austere burn patients, covering airway management, fluid resuscitation, infection control, and pain management. The speakers emphasise the complexity of burn cases and the importance of accurate assessment and treatment protocols. They also highlight the need for effective communication and patient involvement in care, as well as the use of innovative techniques like topical morphine for pain management.TakeawaysBurns are incredibly complicated, but they're complex patients.Managing an individual patient's airway has to be factored in.You want to protect and secure the airway and avoid obstructions.The goal is to achieve maximal accuracy in fluid resuscitation.You can infuse that fluid rectally if you don't have IV fluids.Prophylactic antibiotics are not indicated in burn patients.Topical morphine works really, really well for pain management.Involving the patient in their care has a positive effect.Infection control is the means of preventing infection.Burn management is more art than science.Chapters00:00 Introduction to Burns Management03:08 Airway Management in Burn Patients05:52 Assessing Burn Size and Fluid Resuscitation09:00 Fluid Administration Techniques11:38 Oral vs IV Resuscitation14:53 Monitoring and Adjusting Treatment17:36 Dynamic Management of Burn Patients25:18 Vital Signs Monitoring in Critical Care28:01 Continuous Assessment and Patient Management32:07 Patient Involvement in Vital Signs Monitoring35:10 Urine Output and Fluid Resuscitation41:33 Infection Control in Burn Management48:20 Pain Management Strategies in Burns

In this episode, we take calls about: a pair of listeners who were involved in an intra-relationship twicing, Lou Sassole returns to tell us about their dating woes involving mummification, and a caller tells us about friends who aren't prioritizing her and it SUCKS. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Judgies Merch is Available HERE!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Want fun, cool stickers and MORE? ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.aurorascreaturecorner.store⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Palestine Children's Relief Fund⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Donation Link Our Patreon is officially open, if you want to see extra content go check it out!  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/JudgiesPod ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Send us mail! (Addressed However You'd Like)  P.O. Box 58 Ottawa, IL 61350  Leave a Review!  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-judgies/id1519741238⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  Follow us on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/judgiespod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow us on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://instagram.com/judgiespod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  Intro Music by: Iván  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://open.spotify.com/artist/5gB2VvyqfnOlNv37PHKRNJ?si=f6TIYrLITkG2NZXGLm_Y-Q&dl_branch=1⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  Time Stamps: 0:00 Intro 6:15 Twiced My Partner 12:41 Twiced By My Partner 19:49 Cut Off My Ex's Hands 34:12 Friends Aren't Prioritizing Me 50:10 Outro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After a rare stage IV cancer diagnosis, Jon stays in high spirits, anticipating his new baby. Thanks to Treasure Island Resort & Casino and Holiday Station Stores. DONATE to Christmas Wish: www.kdwb.com/wish.

After a rare stage IV cancer diagnosis, Jon stays in high spirits, anticipating his new baby. Thanks to Treasure Island Resort & Casino and Holiday Station Stores. DONATE to Christmas Wish: www.kdwb.com/wish.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On today's episode, Dr. Mark Costes welcomes back Dr. Brandon Chapek for a deeper dive into the mindset, discipline, and values that have shaped his journey from Division I football player to high-level dental surgeon. In this conversation, Brandon shares how his athletic background influenced his time management, work ethic, and leadership style—and how those lessons now serve his growing dental practice and young family.   They also discuss clinical pearls for general dentists getting into wisdom tooth surgery, post-op complications, case selection strategies, and the benefits of IV sedation. Brandon opens up about his reasons for not pursuing a surgical specialty and how his surgical fellowship prepared him to scale his practice profitably and sustainably. This one's all about growth, grit, and intentional living. Be sure to check out the full episode from the Dentalpreneur Podcast! EPISODE RESOURCES Brandonchapek@gmail.com https://www.truedentalsuccess.com Dental Success Network Subscribe to The Dentalpreneur Podcast

December 17, 2025 ALLEN S. NELSON, IV,a pastor @ Providence BaptistChurch of Perryville, Arkansas,who will address:“The GOSPEL ACCORDING toCHRISTMAS: CELEBRATING theINCARNATION WITHOUT LOSINGthe PLOT” Subscribe: iTunes TuneIn Android RSS Feed Listen:

Sobre el futuro de la exmandataria a la Secretaría General de la ONU y los desafíos diplomáticos que enfrenta; además del acuerdo cripto del mandatario estadounidense (y los probables conflictos de interés), Iván Valenzuela conversó con las editoras Paula Escobar Chavaría y Paula Escobar en un nuevo Rat Pack de Mesa Central.

En Columnistas de Mesa Central, Iván Valenzuela y Kike Mujica conversan con Ximena Jara y Hernán Larraín sobre el rol de las derechas en el gobierno de José Antonio Kast.

After a rare stage IV cancer diagnosis, Jon stays in high spirits, anticipating his new baby. Thanks to Treasure Island Resort & Casino and Holiday Station Stores. DONATE to Christmas Wish: www.kdwb.com/wish.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, Hanny Al-Samkari, MD, gives his thoughts on 5 key presentations from ASH 2025, and provides perspectives on the clinical implications of these data for patients with nonmalignant hematologic disorders such as ITP and vWD, including: LBA-2: Primary results from VAYHIT2, a randomized, double-blind, phase III trial of ianalumab plus eltrombopag vs placebo plus eltrombopag in patients with primary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) who failed first-line corticosteroid treatmentAbstract 844: Secondary analysis results from VAYHIT3, a phase II study of ianalumab in patients with primary immune thrombocytopenia previously treated with at least 2 lines of therapyAbstract 5: Deciphering the dilemma: intravenous (IV) iron use in iron deficiency anemia during acute infectionsAbstract 308: Subcutaneous, every-4-week maintenance dosing of a novel protein S antibody is well tolerated and substantially reduces bleeding rates: results from a phase I/II multidose study of VGA039 in patients with von Willebrand diseaseAbstract 841: Immune thrombocytopenia in patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitorsPresenter:Hanny Al-Samkari, MDThe Peggy S. Blitz Endowed Chair in Hematology/OncologyCo-Director, Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia Center of ExcellenceMassachusetts General HospitalAssociate Professor of MedicineHarvard Medical SchoolBoston, MassachusettsContent based on an online CME program supported by educational grants from AstraZeneca, BeOne Medicines, Genentech, Geron Corporation, Incyte, Johnson & Johnson, Lilly, and Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation.Link to full program:https://bit.ly/48Ye45N Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

En una nueva edición de Página 13, Iván Valenzuela y Kike Mujica conversaron con los columnistas Carlos Gajardo y Juan Francisco Galli sobre la “Operación Apocalipsis” y la reforma a Gendarmería. Además, comentaron el acuerdo de EFE con la comunidad diaguita que frena la extensión de tren a La Calera.

In 1987, Phantasy Star arrived on the Sega Master System and proved that Sega could compete in a genre dominated by Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy. This week, we explore how a small internal team led by Kotaro Hayashida, Yuji Naka, and artist Rieko Kodama set out to build an RPG that broke from medieval tradition. We trace how the game blended science fiction and fantasy, introduced one of the earliest female protagonists in Alis, and pushed the Master System far beyond expectations with full screen 3D dungeons, animated battles, and a massive 4 megabit cartridge. Our conversation follows the series evolution through Phantasy Star II, III, and IV, its reinvention with Phantasy Star Online, and the expanded universe that grew from it. Join us as we chart the stars and revisit Phantasy Star on today's trip down Memory Card Lane.Read transcript

Conspiracy Theories Unveiled: Shooting Cover-ups, Trump's Stock Failures, and TikTok Ban DiscussionsIn this explosive episode of the Matt Kim podcast, Matt and co-host Peter dive into controversial topics. They start with a discussion on recent shootings at Bondi Beach and Brown University, questioning official narratives and statistical anomalies, hinting at AI and crisis actor involvement. They explore the implications of anti-Semitism and media influence with figures like Erica Kirk and Barry Weiss. The hosts assess Trump-associated stock performance, revealing significant declines, and debate the competence of deals around TikTok's fate as a fifth deadline approaches. Join them for an in-depth and provocative examination of current events and their broader implications.04:55 Debating Antisemitism and Media Narratives22:39 Candace Owens and Media Influence32:07 Debating Drug Smuggling Submarines32:53 Challenger Conspiracy Theories33:42 Moon Landing Hoax Discussion35:57 Palantir's Military Advertising38:45 Barry Weiss and Media Control50:15 Epstein Files and Government Corruption53:24 Trump's Failing Business Ventures01:01:25 TikTok Ban and Geopolitical Implications====================================Support the show~Join the Free Thinker Army!https://www.patreon.com/c/freemattkim====================================The ONLY VPN that can't spy on you.https://vp.net/mattHang out here~!soj.ooO https://soj.ooo/Join this channel to get access to perks:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4rC0QxBD1eRPKMHIIpL0vA/joinDonate!https://www.mattkimpodcast.com/support/FREE THINKER ARMY DISCORD:https://discord.gg/2juHnR6DPzTELEGRAM EDIT ZONE:https://t.me/+IV-skn-OXyw1MTcxFollow Matt!Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mattattack009/Twitter: https://twitter.com/FreeMattKimRumble: https://rumble.com/c/FreeMattKimTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@freemattkimFollow Peter on X:Twitter: https://x.com/AgilePeterBusiness Inquiries Please Email mattkimpodcast@protonmail.com

Ryan Sternagel—co-founder of The Stern Method, Going Integrative Plus (GIP+), and Our Health Naturally—joins Dr. Karlfeldt to share the real story behind his family's mission: in 2014, Ryan and his wife Teddy learned their son Ryder had stage four neuroblastoma just eleven days before his first birthday. What followed was a crash course in advocacy, research, and resilience—plus a decades-worth of integrative insights earned the hard way. If you've ever felt overwhelmed by a diagnosis, pressured into one path, or unsure how to “do everything” without losing your mind, this conversation is for you.In this episode, Ryan walks through the moment they knew something was wrong, the medical runaround that nearly delayed answers, and how they learned to push for imaging, ask better questions, and make decisions strategically—especially when facing institutional pressure. They discuss the chess match many families experience in pediatric oncology, including navigating treatment expectations, scan decisions, and the importance of building a supportive plan that addresses nutrition, environment, and mindset alongside medical care. Ryan also shares the evolution from documenting their journey online to creating a searchable library of expert integrative oncology guidance through GIP+—so families can learn directly from top holistic cancer doctors and “test-drive” approaches that resonate.You'll also hear Ryan's perspective on “cake vs. frosting”: why foundational daily practices (circadian rhythm, nature time, reducing toxic load, nervous system regulation, and belief/mindset work) often matter more than any shiny new therapy—yet how select advanced tools may fit into a larger integrative strategy. This is a grounded, motivating listen for patients, caregivers, and practitioners who want a more empowered, organized way forward.Key Topics CoveredRyder's stage 4 neuroblastoma diagnosis and the early warning signs that were missedSelf-advocacy in pediatrics: pushing for ultrasound/MRI and trusting intuitionNavigating hospital systems, treatment escalation, and the realities of compliance pressureBuilding an “integrative support stack”: nutrition, juicing, supplements, IV vitamin C, and lifestyleThe importance of organization and implementation: turning information into a workable scheduleNon-toxic living and environmental control (EMFs, chemicals, lighting, plastics, circadian rhythm)Mindset as medicine: trauma work, belief systems, meditation/breathwork, and daily centering practices“Cake vs. frosting”: foundational habits vs. advanced/experimental therapiesRyan's “talent scout” approach: finding top integrative cancer doctors and filtering conflicting infoGIP+ as a model for weekly expert access, Q&A, and a searchable archive of integrative guidanceTo learn more about Ryan and Teddy's work, explore The Stern Method, their step-by-step framework for implementing integrative cancer support in real life, at https://thesternmethod.com/ Listeners can also check out OUR 7, their comprehensive epigenetic nutrient blend from Our Health Naturally, available at https://ourhealthnaturally.com/ use the discount code KARLFELDT20 to receive 20% off from December 16–31, 2025, and KARLFELDT for 10% off ongoing orders after that.For those seeking direct access to top integrative cancer doctors, weekly guidance, and a searchable archive of expert insights, join Going Integrative Plus (GIP+) at https://goingintegrativeplus.com/and use the code KARLFELDT50 for 50% off your first month subscription. -----------------------------------------------A Better Way to Treat Cancer: A Comprehensive Guide to Understanding, Preventing and Most Effectively Treating Our Biggest Health ThreatGrab my book here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CM1KKD9X?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860 Unleashing 10X Power: A Revolutionary Approach to Conquering CancerGet it here: https://store.thekarlfeldtcenter.com/products/unleashing-10x-powerPrice: $24.99100% Off Discount Code: CANCERPODCAST1 Healing Within: Unraveling the Emotional Roots of CancerGet it here: https://store.thekarlfeldtcenter.com/products/healing-withinPrice: $24.99100% Off Discount Code: CANCERPODCAST2-----------------------------------------------Integrative Cancer Solutions was created to instill hope and empowerment. Other people have been where you are right now and have already done the research for you. Listen to their stories and journeys and apply what they learned to achieve similar outcomes as they have, cancer remission and an even more fullness of life than before the diagnosis. Guests will discuss what therapies, supplements, and practitioners they relied on to beat cancer. Once diagnosed, time is of the essence. This podcast will dramatically reduce your learning curve as you search for your own solution to cancer. To learn more about the cutting-edge integrative cancer therapies Dr. Karlfeldt offer at his center, please visit www.TheKarlfeldtCenter.com

En esta emisión analizamos la declaratoria de Donald Trump al clasificar al fentanilo como “arma de destrucción masiva”, una decisión con posibles implicaciones jurídicas, militares y de intervención en América Latina, tema que abordamos con el consultor en seguridad David Saucedo, mientras la presidenta Claudia Sheinbaum reconoce que su gobierno ya evalúa los alcances del anuncio; además, visibilizamos el aumento del acoso contra mujeres y niñas durante el periodo Guadalupe-Reyes, una problemática recurrente y normalizada, con el análisis de la Dra. María Elena Esparza Guevara, fundadora de Ola Violeta, sobre omisiones institucionales y focos rojos; también conversamos con Iván Escalante, titular de PROFECO, sobre el operativo decembrino, recomendaciones para compras navideñas, prevención de fraudes y la plataforma oficial de reventa de boletos del Mundial; en espectáculos, revisamos la portada de la semana de TVNotas con Verónica Garay, coordinadora editorial, y cerramos con un respiro en Trapos Trendo, donde Gustavo Prado, director de Trendo MX, presenta la tendencia Shanghái, una de las corrientes clave de la moda rumbo a 2026, inspirada en elementos asiáticos y el misticismo oriental. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Send us a textWhat does great IBD care look like when the system won't make it easy? We sit down with Dr. Adam Ehrlich, Section Chief of Gastroenterology at Temple Health and GI fellowship program director, to explore how he builds patient-centered care in an underserved setting—where insurance denials, missing records, and real-life logistics collide with complex disease.We talk about health literacy, trust, and the conversations that actually change outcomes. Adam explains how he frames risks and benefits with clarity, why the “risks of doing nothing” deserve equal airtime, and how he balances mode of therapy—IV, subcutaneous, or oral—against lifestyle, trauma history, pregnancy plans, and coverage rules. We dig into prison medicine's constraints, from medication access to policy barriers around scheduling, and the creative problem-solving required to keep patients safe and informed. He shares why being honest about uncertainty builds credibility, and how an early investment in patient education pays off with better monitoring and shared targets for remission.The episode also gets practical about personalization. We discuss drug levels with infliximab when severe colitis “loses” medication into the stool, when it's wise to de-escalate dosing, and how habits from flare days can persist after inflammation settles. Adam offers tools to retrain routines, navigate IBS overlap, and align care with quality of life goals like driving, work travel, and showing up at a kid's soccer game without anxiety. As a fellowship director, he reveals how he equips new gastroenterologists to handle today's broader therapy menu, think beyond flowcharts, and advocate through insurance barriers with persistence and purpose.If this conversation resonates, tap follow, share it with someone who needs it, and leave a quick review. Your support helps more people find practical, human-centered IBD care.Links and organizations to follow! Color of Gastrointestinal Illness (COGI)- mission to improve quality of life for BIPOC who are affected by IBD and other GI issues. The Stephanie A. Wynn Foundation - mission to eliminate health disparities and improve outcomes for individuals and communities affected by Inflammatory Bowel Diseases through comprehensive support services, with priority given to underserved populations facing the greatest barriers to healthcare.Strategic Alliance for Intercultural Advocacy in GI (SAIA)- mission to create culturally sensitive resources, research, and education for patients, caregivers and healthcare providers managing chronic GI conditions in order to minimize delays, dispel stigma, promote early diagnosis, and improve access to treatment for all.Let's get social!!Follow us on Instagram!Follow us on Facebook!Follow us on Twitter!

Sobre la visita del Presidente electo José Antonio Kast a Buenos Aires, sus reuniones con Javier Milei, Hernán Caputto y José Luis Daza; además de la trágica muerte del cineasta ―ícono demócrata― estadounidense Rob Reiner, Iván Valenzuela conversó con las editoras Angélica Bulnes y Andrea Vial en el Rat Pack de Mesa Central.

En Columnistas de Mesa Central, Iván Valenzuela y Kike Mujica conversan con Allan Álvarez y Juan Luis Ossa sobre el viaje del Presidente electo José Antonio Kast a Argentina y sus primeros pasos en política exterior.

En esta emisión analizamos la declaratoria de Donald Trump al clasificar al fentanilo como “arma de destrucción masiva”, una decisión con posibles implicaciones jurídicas, militares y de intervención en América Latina, tema que abordamos con el consultor en seguridad David Saucedo, mientras la presidenta Claudia Sheinbaum reconoce que su gobierno ya evalúa los alcances del anuncio; además, visibilizamos el aumento del acoso contra mujeres y niñas durante el periodo Guadalupe-Reyes, una problemática recurrente y normalizada, con el análisis de la Dra. María Elena Esparza Guevara, fundadora de Ola Violeta, sobre omisiones institucionales y focos rojos; también conversamos con Iván Escalante, titular de PROFECO, sobre el operativo decembrino, recomendaciones para compras navideñas, prevención de fraudes y la plataforma oficial de reventa de boletos del Mundial; en espectáculos, revisamos la portada de la semana de TVNotas con Verónica Garay, coordinadora editorial, y cerramos con un respiro en Trapos Trendo, donde Gustavo Prado, director de Trendo MX, presenta la tendencia Shanghái, una de las corrientes clave de la moda rumbo a 2026, inspirada en elementos asiáticos y el misticismo oriental. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

ADHD isn't about deficits; it's about difference. Dr. Becky talks with Kim and Penn Holderness about emotional intensity, Deeply Feeling Kids, and why connection matters more than correction. They explore reframing ADHD through strengths, supporting kids' regulation, and finding environments where they thrive.Get the Good Inside App by Dr. Becky: https://bit.ly/4fSxbzkYour Good Inside membership might be eligible for HSA/FSA reimbursement! To learn more about how to get your membership reimbursed, check out the link here: https://www.goodinside.com/fsa-hsa-eligibility/Follow Dr. Becky on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drbeckyatgoodinsideSign up for our weekly email, Good Insider: https://www.goodinside.com/newsletterFor a full transcript of the episode, go to goodinside.com/podcast.Thank you to our sponsor Zelle. When it counts, send money with Zelle.Headed out for the holidays? Netflix has free, educational games your kids will love—like PAW Patrol Academy, Barbie Color Creations, and LEGO DUPLO World—all fully unlocked with your membership and perfect for travel days, no WiFi required. Find more at netflixfamily.com/traveltipsThank you to our sponsor Skylight. Head to Skylight.com/BECKY for $30 off their 15-inch calendars. This offer expires December 31st of this year.This season, Good Inside is partnering with Welcome Baby, a nonprofit that provides essential supplies to new parents in need. From December 18th–22nd, 10% of every new membership will help fund Welcome Baby packages—giving parents the support they need during those first, beautiful, overwhelming weeks. Learn more at GoodInside.com.Thank you to our sponsor Sony. Get $700 off the Sony Alpha 7 IV camera at electronics.sony.com. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Lex Rofeberg is joined again by Lexi Kohanski, and Liana Wertman (our friends at The Torah Studio) for the 3nd conversation in our 2025 edition of ApocryFest: Hanukkah Unbound and Un-Canonized. In this episode, they explore a text called 4 Ezra. You can sign up for ApocryFest 2025 by heading to www.JudaismUnbound.com/apocryfest. Do so, and we'll send you all sorts of cool Apocryphal stuff, during Hanukkah, to help enrich your experience of this holiday! And you can register for The Hanukkah Apocrypha Extravaganza on December 21st, via this link!For all of our episodes from past years' ApocryFests, click here.Head to JudaismUnbound.com/classes to check out our up upcoming 3-week mini-courses in the UnYeshiva! This time around we are offering The Torah of Kink, Hasidism and Neo-Hasidism, Queering Kedusha (Holiness), and Brit Milah Unbound: Exploring Circumcision!

If you're a physician with at least 5 years of experience looking for a flexible, non-clinical, part-time medical-legal consulting role… ...Dr. Armin Feldman's Medical Legal Coaching program will guarantee to add $100K in additional income within 12 months without doing any expert witness work. Any doctor in any specialty can do this work. And if you don't reach that number, he'll work with you for free until you do, guaranteed. How can he make such a bold claim? It's simple, he gets results…  Dr. David exceeded his clinical income without sacrificing time in his full-time position. Dr. Anke retired from her practice while generating the same monthly consulting income.  And Dr. Elliott added meaningful consulting work without lowering his clinical income or job satisfaction. So, if you're a physician with 5+ years of experience and you want to find out exactly how to add $100K in additional consulting income in just 12 months, go to arminfeldman.com.                                                          =============== Get the FREE GUIDE to 10 Nonclinical Careers at nonclinicalphysicians.com/freeguide. Get a list of 70 nontraditional jobs at nonclinicalphysicians.com/70jobs.                                                                                                 =============== Family physician Dr. Jennifer Allen came to medicine through nursing and nurse practitioner roles before ultimately opening her own direct primary care (DPC) clinic outside the insurance system. After discovering how misaligned pricing and productivity demands were with the kind of care she wanted to deliver, she chose a membership-based model that let her work directly for patients instead of payors. Dr. Jennifer explains how she navigated contracts and non-compete concerns, designed her DPC practice around access and affordability, and later added an IV infusion lounge as a separate business to create a second, values-aligned income stream. Listeners hear what to consider if they're thinking about DPC or cash-pay services themselves—from keeping overhead lean to choosing services, partners, and protocols that fit both their ethics and their lifestyle. You'll find links mentioned in the episode at nonclinicalphysicians.com/unexpected-income-opportunities/

Osteomyelitis in children is common enough to miss and serious enough to matter. In this episode of PEM Currents, we review a practical, evidence-based approach to pediatric acute hematogenous osteomyelitis, focusing on diagnostic strategy, imaging decisions including FAST MRI, and modern antibiotic management. Topics include age-based microbiology, empiric and pathogen-directed antibiotic selection with dosing, criteria for early transition to oral therapy, and indications for orthopedic and infectious diseases consultation. Special considerations such as MRSA, Kingella kingae, daycare clustering, and shortened treatment durations are discussed with an emphasis on safe, high-value care. Learning Objectives After listening to this episode, learners will be able to: Identify the key clinical, laboratory, and imaging findings that support the diagnosis of acute hematogenous osteomyelitis in children, including indications for FAST MRI and contrast-enhanced MRI. Select and dose appropriate empiric and pathogen-directed antibiotic regimens for pediatric osteomyelitis based on patient age, illness severity, and local MRSA prevalence, and determine when early transition to oral therapy is appropriate. Determine when consultation with orthopedics and infectious diseases is indicated, and recognize clinical features that warrant prolonged therapy or more conservative management. References Woods CR, Bradley JS, Chatterjee A, et al. Clinical practice guideline by the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society and the Infectious Diseases Society of America: 2021 guideline on diagnosis and management of acute hematogenous osteomyelitis in pediatrics. J Pediatric Infect Dis Soc. 2021;10(8):801-844. doi:10.1093/jpids/piab027 Woods CR, Bradley JS, Chatterjee A, et al. Clinical practice guideline by the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society and the Infectious Diseases Society of America: 2023 guideline on diagnosis and management of acute bacterial arthritis in pediatrics. J Pediatric Infect Dis Soc. 2024;13(1):1-59. doi:10.1093/jpids/piad089 Stephan AM, Platt S, Levine DA, et al. A novel risk score to guide the evaluation of acute hematogenous osteomyelitis in children. Pediatrics. 2024;153(1):e2023063153. doi:10.1542/peds.2023-063153 Alhinai Z, Elahi M, Park S, et al. Prediction of adverse outcomes in pediatric acute hematogenous osteomyelitis. Clin Infect Dis. 2020;71(9):e454-e464. doi:10.1093/cid/ciaa211 Burns JD, Upasani VV, Bastrom TP, et al. Age and C-reactive protein associated with improved tissue pathogen identification in children with blood culture-negative osteomyelitis: results from the CORTICES multicenter database. J Pediatr Orthop. 2023;43(8):e603-e607. doi:10.1097/BPO.0000000000002448 Peltola H, Pääkkönen M. Acute osteomyelitis in children. N Engl J Med. 2014;370(4):352-360. doi:10.1056/NEJMra1213956 Transcript This transcript was provided via use of the Descript AI application Welcome to PEM Currents, the Pediatric Emergency Medicine Podcast. As always, I'm your host, Brad Sobolewski, and today we're covering osteomyelitis in children. We're going to talk about diagnosis and imaging, and then spend most of our time where practice variation still exists: antibiotic selection, dosing, duration, and the evidence supporting early transition to oral therapy. We'll also talk about when to involve orthopedics, infectious diseases, and whether daycare outbreaks of osteomyelitis are actually a thing. So what do I mean by pediatric osteomyelitis? In children, osteomyelitis is most commonly acute hematogenous osteomyelitis. That means bacteria seed the bone via the bloodstream. The metaphysis of long bones is particularly vulnerable due to vascular anatomy that favors bacterial deposition. Age matters. In neonates, transphyseal vessels allow infection to cross into joints, increasing the risk of concomitant septic arthritis. In older children, those vessels involute, and infection tends to remain metaphyseal and confined to bone rather than spreading into the joint. For children three months of age and older, empiric therapy must primarily cover Staphylococcus aureus, which remains the dominant pathogen. Other common organisms include group A streptococcus and Streptococcus pneumoniae. In children six to 36 months of age, especially those in daycare, Kingella kingae is an important and often underrecognized pathogen. Kingella infections are typically milder, may present with lower inflammatory markers, and frequently yield negative routine cultures. Kingella is usually susceptible to beta-lactams like cefazolin, but is consistently resistant to vancomycin and often resistant to clindamycin and antistaphylococcal penicillins. This has direct implications for empiric antibiotic selection. Common clinical features of osteomyelitis include fever, localized bone pain, refusal to bear weight, and pain with movement of an adjacent joint. Fever may be absent early, particularly with less virulent organisms like Kingella. A normal white blood cell count does not exclude osteomyelitis. Only about one-third of children present with leukocytosis. CRP and ESR are generally more useful, particularly CRP for monitoring response to therapy. No single CRP cutoff reliably diagnoses or excludes osteomyelitis in children. While CRP is elevated in most cases of acute hematogenous osteomyelitis, the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society and the Infectious Diseases Society of America note that high-quality data defining diagnostic thresholds are limited. A CRP above 20 milligrams per liter is commonly used to support clinical suspicion, with pooled sensitivity estimates around 80 to 85 percent, but no definitive value mandates the diagnosis. Lower values do not exclude disease, particularly in young children, as CRP is normal in up to 40 percent of Kingella kingae infections. CRP values tend to be higher in Staphylococcus aureus infections, especially MRSA, and higher levels are associated with complications such as abscess, bacteremia, and thrombosis, though specific cutoffs are not absolute. In summary, CRP is most useful for monitoring treatment response. It typically peaks two to four days after therapy initiation and declines rapidly with effective treatment, with a 50 percent reduction within four days seen in the majority of uncomplicated cases. Blood cultures should be obtained in all children with suspected osteomyelitis, ideally before starting antibiotics when feasible. In children, blood cultures alone can sometimes identify the pathogen. Plain radiographs are still recommended early, not because they're sensitive for acute osteomyelitis, but because they help exclude fracture, malignancy, or foreign body and establish a baseline. MRI with and without contrast is the preferred advanced imaging modality. MRI confirms the diagnosis, defines the extent of disease, and identifies complications such as subperiosteal abscess, physeal involvement, and concomitant septic arthritis. MRI findings can also guide the need for surgical consultation. Many pediatric centers now use FAST MRI protocols for suspected osteomyelitis, particularly from the emergency department. FAST MRI uses a limited sequence set, typically fluid-sensitive sequences like STIR or T2 with fat suppression, without contrast. These studies significantly reduce scan time, often avoid the need for sedation, and retain high sensitivity for bone marrow edema and soft tissue inflammation. FAST MRI is particularly useful when the clinical question is binary: is there osteomyelitis or not? It's most appropriate in stable children without high concern for abscess, multifocal disease, or surgical complications. If FAST MRI is positive, a full contrast-enhanced MRI may still be needed to delineate abscesses, growth plate involvement, or adjacent septic arthritis. If FAST MRI is negative but clinical suspicion remains high, further imaging may still be necessary. The Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society and the Infectious Diseases Society of America recommend empiric antibiotic selection based on regional MRSA prevalence, patient age, and illness severity, with definitive therapy guided by culture results and susceptibilities. Empiric therapy should never be delayed in an ill-appearing or septic child. In well-appearing, stable children, antibiotics may be briefly delayed to obtain imaging or tissue sampling, but this requires close inpatient observation. For children three months and older with non–life-threatening disease, empiric therapy hinges on local MRSA rates. In regions with low community-acquired MRSA prevalence, generally under 10 percent, reasonable empiric options include cefazolin, oxacillin, or nafcillin. When MRSA prevalence exceeds 10 to 20 percent, empiric therapy should include an MRSA-active agent. Clindamycin is appropriate when local resistance rates are low, while vancomycin is preferred when clindamycin resistance is common or the child has had significant healthcare exposure. For children with severe disease or sepsis, vancomycin is generally preferred regardless of local MRSA prevalence. Some experts recommend combining vancomycin with oxacillin or nafcillin to ensure optimal coverage for MSSA, group A streptococcus, and MRSA. In toxin-mediated or high-inoculum infections, the addition of clindamycin may be beneficial due to protein synthesis inhibition. Typical IV dosing includes cefazolin 100 to 150 milligrams per kilogram per day divided every eight hours; oxacillin or nafcillin 150 to 200 milligrams per kilogram per day divided every six hours; clindamycin 30 to 40 milligrams per kilogram per day divided every six to eight hours; and vancomycin 15 milligrams per kilogram every six hours for serious infections, with appropriate monitoring. Ceftaroline or daptomycin may be considered in select MRSA cases when first-line agents are unsuitable. For methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus, first-generation cephalosporins or antistaphylococcal penicillins remain the preferred parenteral agents. For oral therapy, high-dose cephalexin, 75 to 100 milligrams per kilogram per day divided every six hours, is preferred. Clindamycin is an alternative when beta-lactams cannot be used. For clindamycin-susceptible MRSA, clindamycin is the preferred IV and oral agent due to excellent bioavailability and bone penetration, and it avoids the renal toxicity associated with vancomycin. For clindamycin-resistant MRSA, vancomycin or ceftaroline are preferred IV agents. Oral options are limited, and linezolid is generally the preferred oral agent when transition is possible. Daptomycin may be used parenterally in children older than one year without pulmonary involvement, typically with infectious diseases and pharmacy input. Beta-lactams remain the drugs of choice for Kingella kingae, Streptococcus pyogenes, and Streptococcus pneumoniae. Vancomycin has no activity against Kingella, and clindamycin is often ineffective. For Salmonella osteomyelitis, typically seen in children with sickle cell disease, third-generation cephalosporins or fluoroquinolones are used. In underimmunized children under four years, consider Haemophilus influenzae type b, with therapy guided by beta-lactamase production. Doxycycline has not been prospectively studied in pediatric acute hematogenous osteomyelitis. There are theoretical concerns about reduced activity in infected bone and risks related to prolonged therapy. While short courses are safe for certain infections, the longer durations required for osteomyelitis increase the risk of adverse effects. Doxycycline should be considered only when no other active oral option is available, typically in older children, and with infectious diseases consultation. It is not appropriate for routine treatment. Many hospitals automatically consult orthopedics when children are admitted with osteomyelitis, and this is appropriate. Early orthopedic consultation should be viewed as team-based care, not failure of medical management. Consult orthopedics when MRI shows abscess or extensive disease, there is concern for septic arthritis, the child fails to improve within 48 to 72 hours, imaging suggests devitalized bone or growth plate involvement, there is a pathologic fracture, the patient is a neonate, or diagnostic bone sampling or operative drainage is being considered. Routine surgical debridement is not required for uncomplicated cases. Infectious diseases consultation is also often automatic and supported by guidelines. ID is particularly valuable for antibiotic selection, dosing, IV-to-oral transition, duration decisions, bacteremia management, adverse reactions, and salvage regimens. Even in straightforward cases, ID involvement often facilitates shorter IV courses and earlier oral transition. Osteomyelitis is generally not contagious, and clustering is uncommon for Staphylococcus aureus. Kingella kingae is the key exception. It colonizes the oropharynx of young children and spreads via close contact. Clusters of invasive Kingelladisease have been documented in daycare settings. Suspicion should be higher in children six to 36 months from the same daycare, with recent viral illness, mild systemic symptoms, refusal to bear weight, modest CRP elevation, and negative routine cultures unless PCR testing is used. Public health intervention is not typically required, but awareness is critical. There is no minimum required duration of IV therapy for uncomplicated acute hematogenous osteomyelitis. Transition to oral therapy should be based on clinical improvement plus CRP decline. Many children meet criteria within two to six days. Oral antibiotics must be dosed higher than standard outpatient regimens to ensure adequate bone penetration. Common regimens include high-dose cephalexin, clindamycin, or linezolid in select cases. The oral agent should mirror the IV agent that produced clinical improvement. Total duration is typically three to four weeks, and in many cases 15 to 20 days is sufficient. MRSA infections or complicated cases usually require four to six weeks. Early oral transition yields outcomes comparable to prolonged IV therapy with fewer complications. Most treatment-related complications occur during parenteral therapy, largely due to catheter-related issues. Take-home points: osteomyelitis in children is a clinical diagnosis supported by labs and MRI. Empiric antibiotics should be guided by age, illness severity, and local MRSA prevalence. Early transition to high-dose oral therapy is safe and effective when clinical response and CRP support it. Orthopedics and infectious diseases consultation improve care and reduce variation. FAST MRI is changing how we diagnose osteomyelitis. Daycare clustering is uncommon except with Kingella kingae. That's all for this episode. If there are other topics you'd like us to cover, let me know. If you have the time, leave a review on your favorite podcast platform. It helps more people find the show and learn from it. For PEM Currents, this has been Brad Sobolewski. See you next time.    

As the IV team prepares for the first in-person Cultural Humility training of the new year, we're sharing some of the way we currently use cultural humility in our everyday lives moving through the compex systems of the US and Canada. See you next month in Calgary! Registration is open, visit our site to learn more.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Treaty 7/Calgary Cultural Humility 2026⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Virtual Cultural Humility February 2026⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Dream Tipi 2026⁠⁠ Support our work by donating here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Indigenous Vision this ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Native American Heritage Month⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Donate:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.indigenousvision.org/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to our⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Youtube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ channel!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠#MMIWarriors Self Defense⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ information.Learn more about⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Indigenous Vision⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.Follow us on⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The IVPodcast is hosted by Indigenous Vision Executive Director, Souta Calling Last (Blackfoot Nation) and is produced by co-host, Melissa Spence (Anishinaabe Nation)

Sobre la idea de una "coalición de emergencia" durante la futura Administración Kast; y el precio del cobre en la denominada "amistad tóxica" para el gobierno del Presidente electo, Iván Valenzuela conversó con las editoras Paula Valenzuela y Marily Lüders en una nueva edición del Rat Pack de Mesa Central.

Title: Cartloads of Music (Music for a foot tapping king) Track: John Jenkins: Fantasia-Suite in A Minor, VdGS group IV, No. 1, Courante Artist: Rachel Podger & Brecon Baroque. Publisher: ℗ 2024 Channel Classics Records / Outhere Music France & Kerkenstein Productions

In this episode, we talk about: a satanic wedding that the parents do not approve of, a Craig's List missed connection by a stalker weirdo, someone who is upset that their friend asked them out, a guy who cried so hard he threw up, a listener running into some issues at an animal shelter, and Google AI summarizes our podcast's CORRECT history. Erika also let's us know about the Taco Bell 50k that will be happening next year in Colorado! This Episode is sponsored by: Chewy! Send your pet's wish to Chewy.com/ChewyClaus and it might become a reality. Plus, your wish means Chewy will donate 5 meals to pets in need! Rocket Money! Go to RocketMoney.com/Judgies to reach your financial goals faster! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Judgies Merch is Available HERE!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Want fun, cool stickers and MORE? ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.aurorascreaturecorner.store⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Palestine Children's Relief Fund⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Donation Link Edited by: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@currentlyblinking⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/currentlyblink⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://tiktok.com/@currently.blinking⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Our Patreon is officially open, if you want to see extra content go check it out!  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/JudgiesPod ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Send us mail! (Addressed However You'd Like)  P.O. Box 58 Ottawa, IL 61350  Leave a Review!  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-judgies/id1519741238⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  Follow us on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/judgiespod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow us on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://instagram.com/judgiespod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  Intro Music by: Iván  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://open.spotify.com/artist/5gB2VvyqfnOlNv37PHKRNJ?si=f6TIYrLITkG2NZXGLm_Y-Q&dl_branch=1⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  Time Stamps: 0:00 Intro 5:25 Satanic Wedding 13:12 Craigslist Date 16:47 Poly =/= Available 22:14 Screaming, Crying, Throwing Up 42:17 Break 43:43 CJ: Taco Bell 50k 1:02:04 LS Sound 1:07:131 LS Story 1:17:33 When Did The Judgies Start 1:22:05 Outro Story Links: AITA for having a satanic wedding? Just because I'm poly doesn't mean I'm availableMy (21F) boyfriend (22M) gets so jealous over his brother's (26M) girlfriend (28F) that he cries until he vomits Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Nurses Uncorked, Nurse Erica welcomes back Dr. Matthew Garvey DNP, MBA, RN to discuss several recent legal cases of nurses in the news. The conversation includes the impact of COVID-19 on nursing education and the alarming rise in patient safety incidents. Three recent cases of sexual assaults by healthcare professionals highlight systemic failures.  An alarming case of a nurse crushing oral medications and administering IV is broken down. They discuss trust in the nursing profession declining due to negative media coverage. The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted nursing education and the quality of training. Nursing education must adapt to ensure competency and safety in practice.   Thank you to Nurses Uncorked Enema Award Sponsor, Happy Bum Co. Please visit https://happybumco.com/ and use promo code NURSESUNCORKED for 15% off your first bundle. Interested in Sponsoring the Show? Email with the subject NURSES UNCORKED SPONSOR to:  nursesuncorked@gmail.com Support the Show: Help keep Nurses Uncorked going and become an official Patron! Gain early access to episodes, exclusive bonus content, giveaways, Zoom parties, shout-outs, and much more. Become a Wine Cork, Wine Bottle, Decanter, Grand Preserve, or even a Vineyard Member: https://patron.podbean.com/nursesuncorkedpodcast     Dr. Matthew Garvey DNP, MBA, RN: www.garveyces.com www.tiktok.com/@scrubstosuitsrn www.instagram.com/matthewpaulgarvey   ETSY Shop: www.etsy.com/TheNurseErica   Chapters: 00:00 Introduction 04:17 Legal Insights and Updates on Nursing Case 10:20 Sexual Assault Case: UNC Rex Hospital Nurse Arrested 17:08 Sexual Assault Case: Ascension St. Thomas Nurse Charged 18:25 Sexual Assault Case: Cardinal Hill Rehabilitation Hospital CNA 21:58 Public Perception of Nursing and Trust Issues 30:00 A Case Study: Medication Error and Consequences 42:58 The Impact of COVID-19 on Nursing Education and Competence 58:51 Nurse Erica AI Overview 1:03:07 Enema of the Week Award   UNC Rex Hospital Victim Hotline: (919) 784-1800   Help the podcast grow by giving episodes a like, download, follow and a 5 ⭐️ star rating! Please follow Nurses Uncorked at: tiktok.com/nurses-uncorked https://youtube.com/@NursesUncorkedL You can listen to the podcast at: podcasts.apple/nursesuncorked spotify.com/nursesuncorked podbean.com/nursesuncorked iheart.com/nurses-uncorked DISCLAIMER: This Podcast and all related content published or distributed by or on behalf of Nurse Erica or Nurses Uncorked Podcast is for informational, educational and entertainment purposes only and may include information that is general in nature and that is not specific to you. Any information or opinions expressed or contained herein are not intended to serve as legal advice, or replace medical advice, nor to diagnose, prescribe or treat any disease, condition, illness or injury, and you should consult the health care professional of your choice regarding all matters concerning your health, including before beginning any exercise, weight loss, or health care program. If you have, or suspect you may have, a health-care emergency, please contact a qualified health care professional for treatment. The views and opinions expressed on Nurses Uncorked do not reflect the views of our employers, professional organizations or affiliates. Any information or opinions provided by guest experts or hosts featured within website or on Nurses Uncorked Podcast are their own; not those of Nurse Erica or Nurses Uncorked LLC. Accordingly, Nurse Erica and Nurses Uncorked cannot be responsible for any results or consequences or actions you may take based on such information or opinions. All content is the sole property of Nurses Uncorked, LLC. All copyrights are reserved and the exclusive property of Nurses Uncorked, LLC.

Una invitación a descubrir por qué un joven del siglo IV llamado Atanasio sigue moldeando la manera en que entendemos la Navidad y al Cristo encarnado. En este primer episodio de la serie Sobre la encarnación del Verbo, exploramos la vida, obra e influencia de Atanasio, respondemos una pregunta bíblica sobre Daniel 8 y abrimos la puerta a una semana que promete profundizar tu adoración en esta temporada.  

In this second message of our Holy Ground series, we come to an unnamed city in the hill country of Judah, where Mary's cousin lived. But I hope you realize that the real emphasis shouldn't be on holy places where God once moved, but holy people in whom God now dwells. Mary was one of them. She is our sister in Christ and a great example to us. Let's notice five attributes.I. She Was Hopeful (vv. 39-45)II. She Was Worshipful (vv. 46-55)III. She Was Scriptural (vv. 46-49)IV. She Was Needful (v. 47)V. She Was Helpful (v. 56)Talk with God: Ask the Lord to give you His heart for those around you this Christmas and throughout the coming year.Talk with others: Encourage your friends or Connect Group to stay grounded in the Word through the holiday season.Talk with kids: Why is it important to understand that Jesus is not just a baby born two thousand years ago?