So while I was stuck in the hospital bed for two weeks, I wrote and rewrote this post in my head several times. Don't remember any of it now, so here's the newest version.

THE NEVER-ENDING STORY...

The Missing Chapter: when I was discharged from the hospital back in January, I was sent home with a Foley catheter, which was more of an annoyance and handicap for my home rehab at the time. Managed to get an appointment with the VA  urologist two weeks later. He thought I should never have been sent home with it, but it was time to get it removed. Took a week of scheduling shuffles but finally went home without it on the following Thursday.

That Friday night when getting ready for bed, I lost my balance while setting something on the floor and fell over on my back onto the concrete floor. My housemate helped me get up and everything seemed fine once I was back out in the recliner. Nope. Come Saturday, I was in excruciating pain across all the muscles in my chest and back. Doan's, Aleve, Tylenol didn't help at all. Monday added a heating pad... better. Wednesday, switched to BenGay... better, but still couldn't sleep, so Thursday went back to the VA for some stronger pain meds.

That doctor saw the previous records and thought I might be having a pulmonary embolism and immediately did an ambulance transfer to the ER. 6 hours later the ER doctor decided that wasn't the case and sent me home with vicadin. Didn't do anything but pharmacy was closed so had to wait till the next day to get more.

After that, everything was fine for a few hours. Mid-afternoon, I suddenly couldn't move my legs!

EMT/PD shortly had me back in the ER. MRI of head and neck revealed a tumor in my C2 vertebra. Had spinal surgery next morning! Being the weekend, it took 4 days to get the pathology back which identified it as prostate cancer. Caught it early and getting chemo, and now in rehab to walk again.

Other than that, I'm in great health (for my age)! Probably 4-6 weeks in rehab before I go home.

Geeze! What a roller coaster... I've had some work with military docs(usually I prefer their directness) but sometimes they just can't get to something timely.

Wow! Glad you’re alive. Sorry it’s been so nuts lately.

Well damn. Sounds like an episode out of House, M.D. Glad they caught it early and you're recovering.

Yup, looking at the positives losing your balance is what had them catch it in time to do something about it. On to rehab (again) then!

Just how much of the first teens mission is public knowledge? I'm not sure if my character should have the information from reading through the other mission's threads...

In terms of Bounty Hunters, it's reasonably common knowledge that there's a bounty on the crew and ship of the mutineers. How tapped into that Tombs is is up to you.

Apologies for no update but really didn't think there was one.

Still paraplegic trying to recover mobility at a poor rehab facility with bad nursing and half-horrible food until...

Developed a sore on my butt from laying in bed 24/7 that didn't get treated properly and turned gangrene, so now I'm back in the hospital with surgery scheduled for Tuesday.

Recovery to go home was still about a month away. Don't yet know how this new problem will affect that.

Low energy levels at rehab have left me with a one-track mind--just have trouble shifting gears between game systems right now.

My OCD stubbornness is still keeping me from pulling the plug on my games. I really have fun running games and it really bums me out that I can't keep them going right now for all of you. For those of you who are still sticking around waiting for the game to restart, I sincerely apologize for the delay. For those of you who have moved on, no hard feelings here--I completely understand.

Anyway, Happy Easter to everyone!

I may not have the ability to call the dead into my service quite like my character does... But I have been around for a few games seeming to come back to life.

My wife got diagnosed with (as yet unspecified) lymphoma, and after her first round of chemo she got a blood clot in the arm where they fed the PICC line through to her heart. It has been scary and I have not gotten an abundance of sleep in the past several weeks. I will be around as much as my (wife's) schedule allows.

Be including you in my list of people that I hope recovers well soon.

I'm really sorry you're suffering through all this, SM. No apologies needed for the delay and I look forward to your being able to enjoy the game again once you make it out of this.

Hoping for some good luck coming both SM and Tombs' way, we'll be here.

StarMaster, my best wishes for you fast recovery.

Can't sleep, can't focus to post... turn. More of the same. Turn. Repeat.

STAGE MINUS ONE--SPINAL SURGERY: Hell, I don't even remember half of it. This would have been the spinal surgery to remove the tumor and put me on my back for two weeks. DONE. SUCCESS!

STAGE ZERO--REHAB ERROR: Weeks at rehab facility where inadequate and improper nursing care turned an ordinary bedsore into a far more serious gangrene wound... one that now needed surgery to fix. DONE? WAS THAT A SUCCESS OR FAILURE?

STAGE ONE--BACKSIDE SURGERY: Operation on my tailbone went off without a hitch apparently. Just left with a major wound on my tailbone. Couldn't/can't put pressure on the wound while it heals, thus laying on my side and having to get turned to the other side every two hours, necessitating having to learn to type on my laptop upside down and sideways with one finger. Remember, this is at the BETTER recovery/rehab facility rather than at home, so options are still limited. Did I mention the I-V dangling from my arm that also gets in the way? DONE. SUCCESS.

STAGE TWO--STAPLES/SUTURES REMOVAL: Staples and stitches still need to come out. Don't have a timeline for that yet but presumably soon.
___STAGE 2.1: First half of the staples were taken out Tuesday. On schedule, standard routine. DONE. SUCCESS.
___STAGE 2.2: Second half of staples were removed Friday. Again, right on schedule with no complications. DONE. SUCCESS.
___STAGE 2.3: Sutures are currently supposed to come out on Monday, though that probably depends on how the final healing has progressed, since not everyone will heal the same way. PENDING.

STAGE THREE--WOUND REHAB: sitting protocols start as soon as sutures come out (?). Start getting used to sitting up  again... in 15-minute intervals. No details yet on frequency or duration. Will kind of depend on how well I do, but further complicated by not  having any control of my leg muscles. Requires moving to a normal bed rather than this deluxe air bubbling mattress that's meant to stimulate skin/muscle do I don't get more bedsores.

STAGE FOUR--HOME REHAB: As soon as I can stand up on my own two legs, I should be able to go home for final rehab. Regain mobility. At this point, there's no telling how well the wound rehab and the paralysis rehab will work together. The therapist seemed to think they could make them work together in synergy, but I didn't get a whole lot of enthusiasm from him. I suppose it could be uncharted territory for him.


ON THE BRIGHT SIDE: I now qualify for Frequent Surgery Miles. I've had four surgeries so the fifth one is free! Oddly, I started with the Big One (double bypass heart surgery 15 years ago) and that went easier than these.

Still not sure if there's a light at  the end of the tunnel yet--if there is, hope it's the Battery Low indicator and not the Westbound #9 train!

We need a minotaur cleric because... Holy cow! At least now there are only a few dozen things that could complicate issues!

My wife has cancer on the spine so I'm loosely familiar with the joys of back issues. I wish you didn't have to go through it. I hope you recover well and keep getting good care going forward.

Oh, wow. Hope your wife is beating it and getting better. Makes my problem pale in comparison.

It is a good prognosis. 80% remission by August is the math docs give and we don't have to pay for treatments. She doesn't even have to take pain pills most nights. We have benefited from significant providence. We hope the same for others.

Indeed, that's quite good. Not in the least not having to pay for treatments, there are some horror stories from the States that occasionally float over to our end of the pond.

80% is fairly fast, there aren't any problems with it shrinking too fast for her body to fill up the resulting gaps and have the cancer cells 'pull' on the tissue as it recedes? With how much of the nervous system's located in the spine i reckon they'd want to keep an eye on that.

There are a lot of exams that take hours each. They say that it may take some time in physical therapy and she would do well to step up protein, and take prenatal vitamins to help her body strengthen and recover the affected areas. It oddly doesn't seem particularly attached to important stuff... Just interference with her leg nerves from pressure. We caught it pretty early.

Today is an imaging day so I'll know more later.

___STAGE 2.3: Sutures came out on Monday right on schedule, but the final healing is still in progress for several weeks/months. DONE. SUCCESS.

STAGE THREE--WOUND REHAB: sitting up for continued wound rehab protocols start as soon as sutures came out, about a week ago now. Start getting used to sitting up  again... in 15-minute intervals twice a day. Moved to a standard air mattress bed. Frequency and duration will kind of depend on how well I do, but further complicated by not having any control over my leg muscles and not enough feeling below the waist. Communication/responsibility issue has only produced one session--should have been six by now! PENDING???

___STAGE 3.5--RESUME PREVIOUS REHAB: In a week or two or three depending on how quickly I improve here, I get transferred to yet another Rehab facility for continued wound recovery... takes a long time... as well as mobility rehab.

___Stage 3.7--TRANSFER TO NEW REHAB: So the Wound Recovery has done well enough that I'm getting transferred to a different rehab facility for the Sitting/Mobility rehab. Don't know why there's a difference other than where I'm at is more medical than therapeutic so they need to make room for a new patient.

THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL: Different tunnel, different light. I suppose it's a step in the right direction, but we'll have to see how it goes.

Hello everyone! I am the new guy in town, playing a half-valkyrie named Quellus Valkyr. His classes are Swashbuckler and Vorpal Knight (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/class...shing/vorpal-knight/). I plan to build him as a heavy hitter melee-type character who adapts his abilities after vanquishing foes.


Has anyone requested the "something interesting" option? How does that option work? Do I still buy other magic items normally?

Am I correct in my assumption that we are not using Traits in this game? I do not see them mentioned anywhere.

They weren't mentioned, but i added them and it was fine afaik?

Also, welcome to the game! :)

Thanks!

So, aside from Traits, do you have a solid idea of the kind of character you want to play?

This is what I mentioned in my RtJ:

Basically he is a strength-based swashbuckler and he uses his Vorpal Knight class to gain bonuses from defeated foes. Which boons he gains depends on the type of enemy he defeats. To start with, it will just be a handful of animals' souls from animals I purchase at character creation. I am focusing on dealing lots of HP damage with a high critical chance for starters.