🌟 A Cry For Help: My Family’s Struggle To Survive In Gaza 🌟

Things People Don’t Mention About Top Surgery or Mastectomies

There is reluctance to do the surgery if you live alone, even if you have a good support system. One of the most stressful things was the hospital constantly asking about who would be looking after me, picking me up, etc. I really felt the bias towards people who are married and against people who are single. I don’t think it was intentional but it was definitely there. (Please read more about this situation here) That being said you will definitely need a robust support system of some kind to get through everything in the first 4 -8 weeks or more after surgery. 

All your pill bottles will have safety caps and you won’t have the strength to open them on your own without a lot of struggling.

There are soooo many medications. Take them as prescribed and when they say take the level of pain meds you need to manage your pain, do it. I got opiods and ibuprofen. If the pain is bad 5-7+ on the 1-10 scale take the stronger meds. Pain can slow healing by causing stress on the body.

Drains are a pain in the ass. Every hour pushing the hoses so they don’t clog. Major drag but they are very important and if they get clogged it can cause issues

Sleeping sitting up, prepare for this. Lots of pillows or recliner or something. Practice for a week or more before surgery to get used to it. 

Sleep as much as you need. Don’t feel like you should stay awake or whatever because you are supposed to or it is day time or whatever. Listen to your body.

Drink lots and lots of fluids. You may think you are drinking enough but you probably aren’t. The fluid in the drains and the medicines and peeing all the time and sweating from the tight wrap. You need to replace all of this fluid. I think I have been up around 80+ oz the past few days.

The month before and a month after surgery eat a high protein and higher calorie diet. It will help with surgery and recovery. You need the energy and the protein to recover. 

Cut out added salt, caffiene, alcohol, and nicotine before surgery and during recovery. All of these can increase fluid retention, slow healing, or be dangerous with the meds.

Your chest will feel very strange. At first you can’t feel anything and then the skin feels tight everywhere and still strange. The recovery process feels real weird. Your whole torso feels kind of bizarre and new.

Ask all the questions. No question is stupid. It’s trauma to your body ask all the questions. YES all of them.

The tube (intubation) from surgery irritates the throat. Coughing from this sucks so damned much because of the binder and the chest tightness and what not. Find lozenges (Both cough drops and just candy) that you like. I say candy because too many cough drops can upset the stomach and you don’t need that after anesthesia and with all the meds. Also get popsicles.

Take everything out of packages you can before surgery. They are damned hard to open. Those paper cartons holding the apple sauce and snapping apart pudding cups and pulling apart pill blister packs.. ugh I should have taken them apart before the surgery.

Scissors are your friend and every package is an enemy. Seriously, get a good pair of scissors for packaging.

Also, skip 2 liters of pop, gallon of milk, etc. They will be too heavy to pick up after surgery. You can be more independent if  you get smaller size things.

Timers are your friend. All the phone timers forever. Also, handwritten or some other chart type to keep track of drain cleaning and taking meds. You will be sleepy and forgetful the first few days. Use other things to help you keep track.

Take stock of how your lights go on and off. Can you reach them while pretending you are a T-Rex. If not, especially ceiling fans and that, put long strings on the pulls so that you can operate them while you can’t raise your arms.

Also check your doors to make sure they don’t stick. You won’t be able to tug hard on doors or drawers or whatever.

Get yourself some treats. Food related or clothing or whatever. Treats will help.

Before surgery plan out and prepare at least a week of meals. Be sure to include some that are easy on the stomach like crackers, rice and chicken, etc. Just in case you have stomach upset from the anesthesia or meds. Gentle foods include starches and chicken/tofu that is low fat and low spice so that it is gentle.

Soft fuzz free and easy to get on clothing is essential. I went out and got a couple of those shorts and button down shirt pajama sets. Life savers. Also, get a size or two bigger than usual to accommodate drains and padded bandages and things. 

Strange pains, you will probably have them. 

Be sure to do the arm exercises as directed by your surgeon and watch your shoulders hunching. The shoulder hunching is from the chest tightness but you don’t want your back to start hurting. Try to sit up as straight as you can.

Pump action soap dispensers will be too hard to use the first few days.

Weeks before surgery, start teaching yourself how to do things without your arms; like standing up, getting into and out of bed, squatting, getting up from chairs, etc. Practice doing things with your elbows next to your chest like a t-rex; getting food and drinking, brushing teeth, taking meds, etc This will be very important

I am sure there are more but I thought some of you might benefit from the things I have learned so far from going through surgery.

🚨 We Need Your Kindness to Survive 🚨

Hello, My name is Mosab, and I live in Gaza with my family. Life here has become harder than I ever imagined, and I’m writing this with hope in my heart that you might hear our story.

The ongoing war has devastated my family. We’ve lost 25 family members—each one a beloved part of our lives, taken too soon. I miss them deeply—their laughter, their presence, their love. Every day is a reminder of this unimaginable loss.

We are now facing daily challenges to survive—things that most people take for granted, like food, clean water, and a safe place to sleep. The harsh realities of life here have replaced our dreams with the constant fight for survival.

Our Current Situation:

💔 Lost Stability: The war has left us without work or a stable source of income.

📚 Dreams on Hold: Like so many here, my family’s dreams have been replaced by the need to simply survive.

😢 Unimaginable Loss: Losing 25 loved ones has left a void that can never be filled.

How You Can Help:

I’m sharing our story with the hope that someone out there might care. Even $10 can make a big difference for us, and if you’re unable to donate, just reblogging this post can help spread the word.

Your kindness, no matter how small, is something we’ll never forget.

What This Means to Us:

Your support is not about changing our entire situation—it’s about giving us a little relief, a little hope, and a way to keep going. We are not asking for much, and we understand if you can’t donate. Sharing our story is just as valuable to us as a donation.

Thank you for reading this far. It means the world to us to know that someone is listening. Your kindness gives us strength and helps us believe in a better tomorrow.

With all our gratitude,

Mosab and Family ❤️

Chuffed

Donate to Help Mosab saving who's left of his family

My name is Mosab Elderawi, and I am a survivor of the war in Gaza. Life as I knew it has been completely destroyed. I have lost my home, my

important alignment chart

hey all. i come bearing bad news about my top surgery

so, i originally said i was having top surgery in november. as of a few months ago, this was no longer the case as i was coerced by my mother to delay my surgery till april-june next year, with the promise that she would pay for the inevitable difference with the change in cost.

yesterday, it was revealed that she had lied to me for months and had no intention of helping me pay for my surgery; she only said she would just to get me to not have it.

now, i no longer have the financial support of my mother for this surgery and will likely not be able to afford the new cost of surgery without going into the money saved for my flight, bnb, food, and recovery. this means i may even need to wait much longer, perhaps till august or 2023 if i'm lucky, for my surgery.

this has done numbers to my mental health, and i continue to worry for my mental health during the much longer wait i have to endure for my life-saving surgery.

therefore, i ask of you to please share my gofundme, paypal and cashapp, and donate if you can.

i cannot begin to explain how important this surgery is to me and idk what i'll do without it. i would appreciate any sort of help i can get. i'm so sorry to be pleading to you like this.

the link to my gofundme is here

my paypal is:

paypal.me/b0gman

my cashapp is:

£b0gman

Please Help My BF

Hi, I usually wouldn’t post non horny stuff here, but me and my bf really need help. He’s in a really rough situation, his family wont buy him food, his water is contaminated, he’s disabled and cant work, and on top of it all, his family is hostile and shitty towards him most of the time. He’s barely getting one meal a day, I’m trying my absolute best to get him some food but I dont make near enough money to be able to get him enough to live on. Anything is appreciated, we have a grocery wishlist on Amazon and he has a gofundme. If you cant donate or buy something, please reblog it, anything helps. I’m doing the best that I can to provide for him but it’s not enough. Please donate to help him or reblog this to get this post to someone who can. Thank you so so much

https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fhz%2Fwishlist%2Fls%2F1YNGM44EF54KM%3Fref_%3Dwl_share&t=MzU2ZTYzZDg4NTVlNjk4MDgxNDIzODdkODE1YjAyMmRhNDIwNjMxNywyYmViMjgwOGZjMzE4ZjhiMWRkMTc0NDQxNzAyMDRjYTM0NWUxMjM5&ts=1669792218

https://href.li/?https://gofund.me/0c515f71

Limbus battle for Dummies

In the following, I will try to explain the Limbus battle system as good as I can. As you might've seen, this is a turn-based game, but before y'all leave: this isn't turn-based in the way you might think. You 'share' your turn with the enemy. Both you and the enemy will act at the same time. Sort of.

This will digest regular combat. I will probably make a post about Abno combat later. This is also written with an audience in mind that has not played the previous game, so no knowledge about that game's battle system is needed.

Before the battle

Before you actually go into the fight, you will be able to choose the members of your team on the field. The amount of members allowed in depends on the level. Those not on the team will contribute with their passives that can activate alongside those of your fielded ones.

Battle command

In combat against anything but Abnormalities, you command your Sinners by forming a chain from the left orb to the right orb you see. This is what I call, 'Skill Linking'. When you reach the end, you can start the battle and see the results of your Skill Linking. The fight will go from left to right, so those leftmost on the board will act first, etc. The order is determined by their speed values (which you can see above their portraits and above their sprites). This really is just a number that determines the order, don't think too much about this. By default, they will attack the foremost enemy first.

The Skills are not colored for no reason. Should you manage to connect multiple Skills of the same color, then you will activate Resonance. This increases the damage you deal - even more so when you connect 3 of the same color in a row, in which case it's named Absolute Resonance. Start out by just thinking of it as increased damage, the exact percentages I don't really have up-to-date info on. Resonance can also activate passive abilities.

When Skills are used, they are turned into a resource that matches their color. You keep track of this resource at the right side of the screen. This resource is important in the activation of E.G.O.

After Skills are used, new Skills will fill their column to fill the void. Skills are randomly selected from their own kit. You can't use a Skill again until you've used the others first. When you have used their entire kit, they empty the bag and put them in (again, randomly chosen).

As battle continues, a new column will be added for a random Sinner. This allows them to act twice. In the image above, note the column next to Yi Sang.

When enemy and ally meet - or not... (Or: On Clashes and Attacks)

Every attack is either Blunt, Slash or Pierce. Enemies and allies have different resistances to them. This should be easy. An enemy can be weak to Slash, but be normal to Pierce attacks. This can be utilized to both attack the enemy's weak point, and to prevent an attack to a Sinner's weak point.

Now to the meat of the theory.

Coin flipping and Clashing

Gear up, because if you don't pay attention, this will seem gibberish.

Every time anyone attacks, a coin is flipped to determine its result. You will also be able to hear the result. There are two types of bonuses: Positive (+) and Negative (-) ones.

If the coin lands heads, the Skill will get power added if it's a Positive bonus. If it's not, then power is subtracted. You get nothing extra if you land tails. The outcome of a coin landing influences the following ones (if there are any left).

Each Skill has its base damage, which will be your base number.

When anyone attacks someone without the target having an attack set in that slot, it'll be one-sided. When ally and enemy target eachother, the two will engage in a Clash. I said before that the default targeting is for the enemy nearest to them; so naturally, they will end up meeting now and then.

When you clash, you roll all of your coins into one big number. All your bonuses you may or may not get (depending on the coin flip) gets added into that number. Naturally, the one with the higher number wins. The loser gets 1 coin removed from them. In the image above, you can see the enemy losing 1 coin.

For example: you start out with 3 as your base power, with 3 coins, and a +3 bonus if you roll heads. You do so, so now you're on 6. Then you roll tails. You have 6 again. You roll heads again. You're now on 9. All these numbers are added: 6+6+9 = 21, which is your final number.

Should both you and the enemy still have coins to flip, you go through the motions again. This clashing ballet, however, is not eternal as the dancing will stop when either you or the enemy runs out of coins or either of them gets their attack canceled (more on the latter below). The side that can still move will continue to attack and also gains an additional bonus based on clashes won. You really, really want to win here, but this should go without saying.

AoE Skills

AoE Skills damage multiple enemies. (I put that in for the people who didn't see that coming.) One will be the main target, others will be the sub-target. Said main target will (in normal combat) be determined by the 'range' of the skill itself. Think of it as in how in Magia Record, the Magia have different ranges.

Each AoE skill has a max amount of enemy 'attacks' it can target. Certain 'attacks' it targets though, will take up more 'space' in that amount.

Fail an AoE in a clash, and you fail all clashes against those targets. Be careful.

Doing anything but attacking?

But what if you DON'T want to attack?

Listen, I know it's very enticing to keep attacking. But sometimes you just gotta...not do that.

Defense is purely a reaction. It doesn't have any set target, so they can't cause clashes. They protect against incoming attacks (according to their times of usage).

To defend, you can either Guard, Evade, or Counter.

From left to right: Defend, Evade, Counter.

Defend is simple. It's a shield (based on an amount of HP) that protects against incoming attacks. It reminds me of a certain skill in a certain other game I can't name here, but it works like that. The amount of shielding HP is set and not influenced by anything like passives or any status effects they might have.

Evade is trying to avoid to be attacked entirely. This is also fairly easy to understand. If you roll a higher evade number, then congratulations, because you've succesfully evaded that attack. The upside of this is, I think, that if the enemy has nasty shit that activates 'on hit' (no matter whether it deals damage), you will be able to avoid those effects. The other upside of this is that, if you win, your evade is 'stored' so you could possibly dodge multiple attacks. If you're lucky.

Counter happens after you're attacked. Out of the three Defense types, only Counter has a color like the Skills do and can generate resources (and engage in possible Resonance). From what I see, it's exactly what it sounds like - a counter-attack, a retaliation.

Sitting ducks are tasty!

Did you notice the yellow lines in the health bars? Those are Stagger tresholds. If anyone takes damage past the yellow line, they will be rendered Staggered. I can best describe it as, being rendered a sitting duck. Your damage resistance is all set to Fatal (x2.0, I assume) and you can't attack. If you get Staggered in the middle of a Clash, then yeah, you lose either way from that moment on as you will stop doing anything but taking damage.

Stagger lasts until the end of the turn. Breaching multiple tresholds can further increase damage, but not the duration. Even so, Staggering the enemy is a perfect way to really get to pop off any battle.

Remaining Sane

Unlike what it seems like, your Sinners do have a certain amount of Sanity. It's a number that ranges from 45 to -45, and can be seen in the blue orbs on their portraits. You enter each battle tabula rasa, at Sanity 0 (Sanity amounts is carried over in Story and Mirror Dungeons, the only occasion where it is).

Sanity fluctuates depending on the course of battle. Should a Clash be won or enemy be killed, then Sanity goes up. Should allies die, then Sanity goes down. Think of it as becoming more hopeful and positive, or progressively crazier and desperate.

Positive Sanity increases the chance of coins landing on heads, and the inverse is also true: Negative Sanity causes more coins to land on tails. As certain Sinners gain a negative bonus on Heads, you may take this into consideration.

Enemies, except Abnormalities, have this Sanity, too. When they're at low Sanity, they will Panic. It's not explained what this is, but it will make fighting against them easier.

The Master of this emotion...

Now on to my favorite parts of the battle system, which are...

E.G.O Skills! These are your Magia/Ultimate Skill/etc. They cost an amount of resources (the one that you gain by using Skills, remember? You will be able to check which you need) and take a toll on the user's Sanity. They, however, are very powerful and they can be viewed as equipment. Yes, you read that right - in contrast to most 'Ultimates', they come with their own set of Resistances and can make weaker Resistances strong. This is advantageous, especially in prolonged battles.

These skills can, should you have the resources, be used anytime, anywhere. They can be used when Sinners are at low Sanity. Should you do that...

E.G.O can go wrong and Corrode. This will result in a different, usually stronger attack. The closer the Sinner is to negative values, the larger the chance is that this happens. You might be wanting to keep Sanity levels low to get more damage out of E.G.O. - if their Sanity isn't the lowest of the low, then they will continue as normal, after all... The bad thing is, that when Sanity is absolutely in the gutter, then the Sinner themselves will remain stuck in their Corroded state, and paint the City red with anything that moves, regardless whether it's ally or enemy. It's Doppel on steroids, essentially (as well as sorta kinda how it should work there, lore-wise).

With all of this, this has become quite the long post. I hope it's still readable enough (also because English isn't my mother tongue) to be digestable. And, finally...

in pain from omori hours

guys look at my contribution to the fandom

The way polls are being used reminds me of finally unlocking a new skill in a video game, but instead of using it as intended to beat the boss you fuck around and try climbing the walls with it.

Homura and Madoka's Wishes (the Concept of Selfishness)

TW: Mentions of suicide/suicidal ideation.

I) Beginning

In a lot of PMMM "discourse", even pre-Rebellion, there existed the idea that Homura's wish was fundamentally selfish, while Madoka's was fundamentally selfless.

This idea is often based off of the wording of Homura's wish. After all, Homura could have altered hers to simply make Madoka come back to life! Why couldn't she just have said, "I want Madoka Kaname to come back as a human girl"?

However, this "argument" of Homura's wish being "selfish" due to Homura wanting to basically protect Madoka instead of of "just" saving her hands-off is flawed from the start. Namely, because Madoka's wish has a similar catch:

Both of these wishes have a catch that can be considered selfish, but only Homura's is seemingly ever argued to be "bad". However, the same arguments that people use to call Homura selfish can be used with Madoka's wish here. After all, she could have just wished to erase any and all witches. But, instead, she wishes to do it with her own hands. Similar to how Homura didn't just want to protect Madoka, she wanted to be the one doing the protecting.

II) Homura's Wish is Never "Granted"

I'd like to bring up here that Homura is the only magical girl that, pre-Rebellion, is shown to not actually get her wish fully granted.

Everyone else gets their wish, even if it's twisted/not as they intended. But with Homura, the whole second part is cut out. She never becomes strong enough to protect Madoka, pre-Rebellion. Ever.

She loses the fight against Walpurgis. It's not even a close fight. Even in the anime timeline, when she's shown shooting it with guns/bombs/grenades/a train(?), the witch is nearly entirely undamaged. It is literally impossible for Homura to win. Not winning = Madoka not protected. Madoka not protected = the "I want to become strong enough to protect her" part of Homura's wish is not granted. Not in the slightest.

And this isn't like Homura just needs to keep trying, and she'll eventually be strong enough. The creator said by the anime, Homura has looped nearly a hundred times. One hundred attempts to protect Madoka, and she isn't able to do it even once.

And then, when Madoka becomes a God, she literally ceases to exist and cannot physically be protected at all, meaning Homura's wish then becomes literally impossible to fulfill.

III) Homura remembering Madoka

Madoka (and Kyubey) tell Homura that Madoka's wish essentially erases her from existance. Any physical memory or evidence of her ever being a person is entirely wiped out. But Homura remembers her — how?

I'd like to argue that it's entirely possible that Madoka wanted Homura to remember her. After all, she gives Homura her ribbons, with a vague "But maybe you'll still be able to remember me."

The only people shown to remember her in any capacity are Homura herself, Madoka's toddler brother who is implied to only remember due to his age (and that he might forget when older), and her mother — who only says the name is nostalgic and comments on Madoka's/Homura's ribbons. Kyoko doesn't remember her. Mami doesn't remember her. Her father isn't shown to remember her. Mami/Kyoko show blatant confusion when Homura cries over Madoka, because they can't even recognize her name.

But how is Madoka wanting to be remembered possibly a bad thing?

It's not bad. But it does, again, touch on the idea that Homura = Selfish, Madoka = Selfless.

IV) Rebellion

See, a main issue a lot of people have with Rebellion is that Homura's new world is bad because it is unstable.

Madoka is constantly seemingly on the cusp of remembering being the Law of Cycles (LoC). Sayaka seems to remember her as well before her memories are altered. This re-written universe she's made isn't stable. And, thus, people think it's "bad".

But Madoka's wasn't stable, either.

Madoka let Homura remember her existence. And, yes, I am saying "let her". Madoka gave Homura the ribbons as a token of rememberance. She has everyone forget her existance, all except for Homura.

She could have also altered/wiped Homura's memories. But she didn't.

Madoka letting Homura remember literally led to the events of Rebellion.

Homura remembers Madoka -> Homura tells Kyubey about Madoka/the previous universe -> Kyubey plots to trap Madoka/the LoC -> Homura begins to turn into a witch -> Homura feels the need to seperate the LoC from Madoka both to prevent Kyubey from harming/trapping her, and to follow what she believes to be Madoka's true desires (to not be the LoC) -> Homura creates a new universe that's, arguably, just as unstable as Madoka's.

Yet, despite this error, Madoka is still never called selfish for essentially causing a chain reaction.

V) Madoka's Wish Isn't Selfish, but Neither is Homura's

You might see this post and go, "Oh, samble is trying to call Madoka selfish and evil!", but that's not it.

A major, major thing anyone who has issues with Homura (or any of the cast) forgets is that the characters are little girls. 13-15 year old middle schoolers. They are not grown adults. They are not mature people who make 100% rational, level-headed decisions (nobody does all the time, anyways). They are all deeply traumatized children manipulated by a force beyond their control.

Madoka is not a selfish character. She has low self worth, low self confidence, and can even be argued to be depressed. Her wish to defeat all witches "with her own hands"...

Is likely a side effect of this, in a way — in that she wants to do good. She wants to be "useful" and help people. She wants to have a purpose.

Homura in Timeline One has more similar characterization. Remember, Homura then wasn't this mysterious, edgy girl. She was physically disabled. Very shy and socially stunted. Behind on her education, bullied, etc. She also had self worth issues, and in canon was suicidal, or, at least, depressed enough to be influenced by a witch into becoming suicidal.

So why does she wish to protect Madoka instead of just wishing her back to life? Because Homura is Selfish and Evil™ and wants some sort of spotlight on her? No.

Homura is like Madoka, at this point. She doesn't feel like she can do anything worthwhile. She thinks she has no use, that she's unable to do anything right or good or helpful. But what she can try to do is save Madoka. Like what Madoka does is try to defeat all witches. Because it gives purpose. Because it let's them feel like, look, I feel worthless, but by doing this I must be doing something good. It's not because a traumatized thirteen year old is selfish. It's because she's canonically shown to feel like she's worthless.

Not even touching on the fact that Madoka's wish "erasing her from existance" when she canonically has these issues can read an awful lot like a cosmic suicide, and that Homura is canonically suicidal and self-hating in every movie she is in.