Aches and Pains

I have a skin condition called hidradenitis suppurativa (note: explicit medical photo at link) that causes abscesses to form on certain parts of my body. I have one that recurs fairly regularly on my waist, a little toward the back. I'm very careful about what kind of clothing I can wear because friction can aggravate things. Too-tight waistbands, belts, etc. can really do a number on me. However, it also flares up on its own regardless of what I do or don't do which is one of the big frustrations of this disease.

Sometimes I get absolutely searing pain in my back not too far from that area, and then a few days later I develop a very large abscess that sometimes needs to be treated with very powerful antibiotics. Other times I self-manage it with antimicrobial soap and topical ointments, heavily bandaged. The inflammation from the abscess often causes pain through my body, especially my joints, and leaves me feeling drained.

I'm afraid that this back pain means I'm about to sprout a truly awful abscess. I'm going to try and make an appointment with my dermatologist on Wednesday for an evaluation and discussion about antibiotics and also going back on Humira. I also need to schedule a skin check.

But it's also possible I just... pulled a back muscle while tucking in my shirt, just as I once tore my meniscus while putting on a pair of pants.

Human bodies just suck.

Just some links

How Modern Life is Transforming the Human Skeleton
We have this idea that bones are just kind of there, unchanging, following the DNA that shapes the rest of our body. They grow the way bones grow unless there's some genetic issue. But no! Bones are alive and are malleable! They adapt and change due to different forces. This article goes in to it a bit.

Jessica Logan was convicted of murdering her child because of 911 call "forensic evidence"
The above article contains information about child death. It's about a woman who called 911 when she came upon her baby's dead body at 3:00 am, and how that call was weaponized against her. More and more "forensic evidence," like bite mark analysis and established arson forensics, doesn't hold up at all to scrutiny. It's just pattern recognition that's codified into part of the legal system, damning evidence against people who can't afford a good lawyer.

How Librarians Can Fight QAnon
Little article about the rise in active conspiracy thought and "fake news" and how librarians can help guide people toward not just "doing research" (information literacy) but understanding how information systems work. This is a subject I need to read up on myself to discuss with my kid.

The Dark is Rising
"When the dark comes rising/six shall turn it back..." I read Tolkien before I came across this book, and yet it's this book whose poetry I memorized first. There's a BBC audio production coming out, which I'm greatly looking forward to.