Herpes ulcer mouth itch

My boy who I think is a Neo Mastiff/Staffordshire mix is about 2 1/2 years old. In march 24 we had him for a year and decided it was okay to let him be outside… the backyard is nothing but dirt…. In April we noticed him drinking water like crazy & it getting bloody +he didn’t want to eat so I took him to the vet. He had ulcers along his lips. Gave him the medication for that & mouth ulcers healed…. He couldn’t eat dog food & lost alot of weight, so I was giving him ground turkey + rice + wet dog food in a spoon. He continued to have ALOT of thick phlegm foamy saliva/mucus that would cover his whole throat….. I gave him some teas that cleared the phlegm. He seemed to be getting better and putting some weight back on when someone left him outside over night 🤦🏽‍♀️ and he just completely gone down hill. Won’t eat at all, only wants to drink water extremely skinny. The vet prescribed him doxycycline & fluconazole. But said to stop the teas bc they aren’t helping him. His phlegm has came back and he’s constantly clearing his throat trying to get it out which results in him spitting out whatever I am able to get in his stomach. I have been blending chicken,rice, peanut butter, with bone or chicken broth. I also give him water with electrolytes. I recently bout him a high calorie paste to add to the blend & I syringe it into his mouth.
SYMPTOMS •mouth ulcers (healed) •no interest in food •phlegm •constant trying to clear throat •was dehydrated •dry nose •breaths hard •extremely skinny •no energy •sunken eyes

“I told you there would be nothing in that military check point,” Barrett said. He cleaned his hands from bloodbug residue. “Only abandoned cars and empty cigarette machines.”
“Okay, I was wrong!” Simon admitted. “Is it my fault that I have hope?”
“No one ever knows out here,” Kevin chimed in.
Simon affectionally grabbed his youngest brother by the shoulder.
“See, Barrett, this is what a supportive brother sounds like.”
Barrett grunted.
The three brothers continued to follow the broken asphalt road. In time, the sky above them disappeared behind the ruins of an interstate highway. Its massive concrete columns towered over the horizon. It had cast a long shadow over their route.
Kevin stopped his brothers.
“Is that an elevator?” He pointed to the yellow cable lift that ran up to the overpass.
“I’m not using that,” Barrett quickly responded. He touched his stomach unconsciously, cognizant of his size and weight.
“Yeah, that might be an adventure for another life time,” Simon said, noting the precariousness of the cables that rose up to the ruins of the highway overpass.
Kevin pursed his lips with a modicum of disappointment. As the youngest and smallest of the three, he possessed more daring than his brothers combined. Perhaps this difference was due to the inexperience of his age or the simple fact that Kevin had a different mother than Barrett and Simon. His courage may have been a genetic inheritance that the others lacked.
“House!” Simon spotted the wooden building before his brothers, who still focused on the elevator and the possibility of ascending it.
“Let me guess, there’s going to be treasure inside of it,” Barrett said sarcastically.
“There could be!” Simon replied.
As the young men approached the building, it became apparent it had been apart of a long abandoned settlement. From their higher-ground perspective, they could see the ruins of several buildings roll down the landscape and into the consuming waters of the Charles River. The houses closest to the river had flooded and slowly rotted in the river’s murky water.
“We got a lot of work to do,” Barrett said. His siblings could hear the smile in his words. They knew that there would be at least one piece of worthwhile loot among these buildings. Barrett, however, wanted more than the natural greed of survival. The big man itched for a real fight.
“Raiders, Ghouls, or Mirelurks,” Kevin asked.
“Five caps on raiders,” Barrett said. His hand dropped to the pipe pistol holstered to his thigh.
“Five for mirelurks,” Simon said.
“I guess, I take ghouls.”
The three men moved closer to the first building. The residence, once a beautiful suburban home, had decayed over the two hundred and twenty years since its owners died in the nuclear fallout. Yet, despite the age of home, its door seemed to have been freshly repaired.
Simon, as per usual, approached the entrance with military tact. Barrett positioned himself behind his older brother. He placed one hand on Simon’s shoulder and the other around his pipe pistol. Kevin checked their flank and readied his pipe rifle.
Simon lifted his hand. He counted silently with his fingers.
One. Two. Three.
He grabbed the door and yanked it open. Barrett entered the building, his pipe pistol scanning the interior of the house.
“Clear!”
Simon followed Barrett. Kevin slowly backed into the building. He closed the door behind him.
“Stairs,” Barrett said to his brothers.
Immediately, the big man took the lead, scanning the floor above him with his pistol at eye-level. Simon followed in the wake of his larger brother, keeping his eyes straight to the top of the landing. Kevin stayed on the first floor. He found a corner, pressed his back into it, and crouched. He kept his eye on the front door.
“Clear!” Barrett’s voice rang through the structure.
“Nothing for nobody,” Kevin said, standing from his position and letting his rifle hang limply in his hands. He thought at least one ghoul would be hiding in the house. Their fraternal bottlecap wager would have to wait another house.
“Cheer up! Better luck in the next building.” Simon said as he walked down the stairs. “Right now, we have some time to loot.”
The brothers began the careful examination of the residential building.
Despite two centuries of rain and snow the building seemed to be in good condition. Clearly, since the bombs fell, a series of squatters had made improvements and adjustments over the years. In fact, the house seemed almost luxurious compared to the standards of the Wasteland. The floors had been redone with new planks of wood. The walls had been scraped of their original wallpaper and painted a light seafoam green. Although the glass from the windows had been long destroyed, curtains hung over the wooden shutters that secured the windows from the exterior world.
“Ooo!” Barrett exclaimed upstairs.
“What’d you find?” Simon called out. He stood at the bottom of the staircase and waited for a sign.
“Caps stash!” Barrett appeared with a grey tin can. He shook it and a number of caps inside of it pleasantly jingled.
“And you thought there wouldn’t be any treasure?” Simon laughed to himself.
“And the fridge is full!” Kevin called.
Barrett rushed down the stairs and joined his brothers at the fridge. Together, they drank a bottle of mostly clean water, each taking sips and passing it to the others. Then, they finished a plate of crispy squirrel bits.
“Almost fresh,” Barrett said, shoving a large handful into his mouth.
Simon continued his perusal of the house as he chewed his last portion of squirrel meat. He went to the living room section of the main floor and rummaged through a chest of drawers.
“Women’s clothing?” He lifted a dress from the chest of drawers and showed his brothers. The light green dress seemed to be in relatively good condition. The clean herbaceous smell of carrot flowers wafted into his nose.
“Someone might still live here,” Barrett said, looking at a bouquet of fresh hubflowers on the table.
Kevin looked from one of the windows. “I think he’s just arrived.”
Before Simon and Kevin could arm themselves, the door opened. An old man entered with two buckets of water. At the very moment he saw these three men, he dropped the buckets on the floor and rushed out of the building. One of the buckets spilled its contents across the floor, slowly dribbling down the front steps. Meanwhile, the old man pressed his back against the exterior wall of the building.
“What are you doing in my house?”
“We didn’t know!” Simon shouted back. “We didn’t mean to trespass!”
“Well, you did. Now, what are you going to do? Kill an old man and take his home?”
“Not if you let us leave unharmed!”
“How do I know that you’re not raiders?”
“You can’t,” Simon shouted back. “You can only make a leap of faith.”
“And why would I that?”
“Well, for one thing, there are more of us than there are of you.”
“Send one man out.”
“No!” Simon responded. “How do I know you’re not just going to shoot him the moment he leaves the building?”
“You can’t,” the old man shouted back. “You can only make a leap of faith.”
Simon felt bested by the old man’s negotiating skills.
“I’ll go,” Kevin said to his brothers.
“No, I will.” Barrett put his hand on his younger brother. He would gladly die in his place.
“There’s less of me to hit,” Kevin bantered.
Barrett grunted, but he could not stop himself from smiling.
Simon thought about dissuading his brothers, telling them that no one was going to leave the house, but this show of trust needed to be made. If things went well, there could be a chance that the three of them could profit from this encounter. Perhaps, they could spend the night sleeping inside a warm house and finally be able to get a proper night’s rest.
“I’m coming out,” Kevin shouted to the old man.
“Unarmed. With your hands up! If I see so much as a big iron on your hip, the deal is off.”
Kevin placed his pipe rifle and his switchblade on top of the chest of drawers.
Simon stepped close to his brother and embraced him.
“If he harms you, I will make sure he suffers until his very last breath,” Simon whispered.
Kevin squeezed his brother tightly and went to the door.
“I am approaching the door now,” Kevin shouted. “My hands are up.”
Kevin stepped over the spilled water bucket and crossed the threshold of the house.
“Keeping going,” the old man commanded.
Once Kevin descended the front stairs and reached the hard ground, he felt the old man sweep behind him and check for weapons.
“Do we trust each other?” Kevin said, letting the old man pat down his sides. “I’m alive, so I know I can trust you, but there are still two men inside of the house.”
“Two, huh? I thought there’d be more of you.” The old man met Kevin gaze. His face was wrinkled, freckled, and scarred. His neck-length beard, once nearly black in colour, had become streaked with grey. His moustache faired slightly better, but it too had begun to pale in his old age. Overall, the old man seemed hardened by his experiences in the wasteland, but, despite this hardness, Kevin noticed a softness behind his eyes. They reflected no bitterness or resentment.
“Now what?” Simon called from inside of the house.
“I’m going to come inside with your friend as collateral.”
The old man drew his 10mm pistol and pressed into Kevin’s lower back. Kevin straightened his posture with a reflexive fear. He climbed up the stairs and back into the house, the pistol never losing contact with his spine.
“Welcome to my home, gentleman,” the old man said. “The name is Duncan. I hope you make yourselves comfortable, although, by the looks of yesterday’s dinner, it seems as though you already have.”
Barrett glanced back at the empty porcelain plate. He wiped his greasy hands on his pant legs.
“Watch it, big guy,” the old man said. “You don’t want to make too many sudden movements.”
Barrett looked into his brother’s face. Kevin seemed calm on the surface, but Barrett could see the fear beneath his composure.
“My name is Simon. This is Barrett, and the man you currently threatening is our brother Kevin.”
“Pleasure, gentlemen.”
“We’re travellers. We’ve no particular destination. We’re just trying to survive.”
“Yes, that always seems to be the story. Why aren’t you getting comfortable in Diamond City or Goodneighbor?”
“We’re new to the Commonwealth,” Simon replied.
“Just arrived,” Barrett added.
“Boys, I’m happy to be your first experience in these here parts, but you’re going to have to leave. I can’t risk any trouble.”
“We won’t be any trouble,” Kevin said, looking behind his shoulder.
“Truly, I would like to believe you boys, but you best be going.”
Duncan stepped aside and positioned himself to the side of the room. He tilted his head toward the door with a quick gesture, encouraging Simon and Barrett to leave.
“Now, please.”
“Can we at least get Kevin’s weapons over there?” Simon asked.
“I’ll toss them to you once you’re out of the door. Just go.”
Simon and Barrett complied. They walked out of the house and down the steps. Duncan led Kevin from his house, allowing the young man to move away from the pistol.
“Grandpapa!”
The men turned to see group of three women approaching the house. Two of them carried heavy bags of harvested food, while the third held a tactical submachine gun in her hands. The three of them kept staring at their grandfather, who kept his pistol held toward the brothers.
The woman with the submachine gun lifted the stock to her shoulder. She knew that with her large drum magazine, she could cut down these three intruders without the need to reload.
“We had a small misunderstanding, ladies,” Simon said with a winning smile. He looked at the woman with the submachine gun. Her short dark brown hair swooped over one of her eyes. She flipped her hair out of the way. “We’ll be on our way,” Simon continued, “once your grandfather hands us our weapons.”
“How about you head on out without them?” the woman with the gun said.
“That’s not fair,” Kevin said. He stepped forward as he said it, causing the woman to swivel her sights on him.
“On more step and you’ll have lost more than your weapons.”
“Woah, woah. Okay, message received,” Kevin said, putting his hands back into the air. “Let’s go, guys. It’s okay. We can find kinder hosts somewhere else.”
“Or, at least, a better fight,” Barrett said with a sniff of his nose. “An old man and three little girls hardly constitute a challenge.”
“I can wipe the floor with you, big boy,” said the woman with the machine gun.
“Audrey!” Duncan reprimanded.
“I’d like to see you try, girlie. Unarmed, one-on-one, you stand no chance,” Barrett said. As he spoke, he took a deep breath and inflated his already imposing figure. The muscles beneath his shirt could be seen flexing.
“Want to try me? Or are you scared of losing to a girl?” Audrey responded.
Barrett roared with laughter.
“Audrey, that’s enough!” the old man said. “Do not aggravate them. They’re on their way.”
“Wait!” the smallest of the three women called to her grandfather. “Can’t they stay? If they wanted to hurt us, they would’ve already.”
“It’d be too risky!” Duncan replied.
“But you’ve always said that people need to come together and rebuild this world,” she said.
Duncan flashed her a quick scolding look.
“Sylvie’s right,” the third woman added. “They can help us around the property.” Her eyes danced over Barrett’s large figure. While her middle sister seemed ready to harm him, she merely wanted to be held by him.
“Audrey, talk some sense into your sisters!” Duncan exclaimed. “You ladies know that we can’t invite people at random!”
“We’d be happy to help,” Simon interjected.
Kevin locked eyes with his young counterpart. Sylvie broke eye contact and looked at her feet.
“Yeah, we can help,” Kevin said a little absent-mindedly. He continued to admire the woman before his eyes.
“Wait a minute,” Barrett said, “This guy pulls a pistol on you and you want to help him? What are you going to do? Fetch him water?”
“We made him to spill it,” Kevin said with a shrug.
“Are you guys out of your mind? How can we trust them? What if the old man and these she-devils are planning to kill us in the middle of the night.”
“Oh, now you’re afraid of me!” Audrey teased, loosening her grip on the submachine gun.
“I ain’t afraid of anything,” Barrett snapped.
Simon bursted in laughter. “Buddy, you know you’re agreeing with the old man, right? He doesn’t want you around because he thinks your going to do to him what you think he’s doing to do to you.”
Barrett squinted his eyes, trying to parse the sentence.
“I don’t like it,” Barrett said.
“Neither do I,” Duncan agreed.
“Well, they’re not staying in the house,” Audrey said. She tilted her swooping hair out of her eyes again. “Give them the rotting house.”
Duncan stayed silent. Everyone looked at him as though it was his decision which made everything final.
“Fine, but I’m standing guard during the night. If one of these boys come creeping in the night, I’ll make sure our walls get a nice new shade of red.”
Barrett nodded his head in agreement. “And I’ll take first watch at our place.”
Audrey turned to her sisters. “Morgan, Sylvie, take the food inside. I’ll show these men their residence.” She adjusted the tactical submachine gun in her arms.
Her sisters did what they were told.
“Gentlemen,” Audrey said, leading the men down the slight hill, “Your new abode.” She kicked the front door, which broke free from its hinges. The wood from the door had rotted from the moisture in the air. Wet dust flew from the ground and an acrid smell spewed from the interior of the building.
“Enjoy.”
Audrey left the three brothers and returned to her home.
The three of the brothers exchanged uncomfortable glances and looked at the building. Kevin approached the doorway and peered into the darkness.
“Ghoul!” Kevin shouted.
His brothers ran into the building with their weapons drawn. Kevin threw his arms around his brothers as they looked at remains of a feral ghoul. It had died a long time ago.
“Pay up, boys!” he said with a smile. “Five caps each.”

“I told you there would be nothing in that military check point,” Barrett said. He cleaned his hands from bloodbug residue. “Only abandoned cars and empty cigarette machines.”
“Okay, I was wrong!” Simon admitted. “Is it my fault that I have hope?”
“No one ever knows out here,” Kevin chimed in.
Simon affectionally grabbed his youngest brother by the shoulder.
“See, Barrett, this is what a supportive brother sounds like.”
Barrett grunted.
The three brothers continued to follow the broken asphalt road. In time, the sky above them disappeared behind the ruins of an interstate highway. Its massive concrete columns towered over the horizon. It had cast a long shadow over their route.
Kevin stopped his brothers.
“Is that an elevator?” He pointed to the yellow cable lift that ran up to the overpass.
“I’m not using that,” Barrett quickly responded. He touched his stomach unconsciously, cognizant of his size and weight.
“Yeah, that might be an adventure for another life time,” Simon said, noting the precariousness of the cables that rose up to the ruins of the highway overpass.
Kevin pursed his lips with a modicum of disappointment. As the youngest and smallest of the three, he possessed more daring than his brothers combined. Perhaps this difference was due to the inexperience of his age or the simple fact that Kevin had a different mother than Barrett and Simon. His courage may have been a genetic inheritance that the others lacked.
“House!” Simon spotted the wooden building before his brothers, who still focused on the elevator and the possibility of ascending it.
“Let me guess, there’s going to be treasure inside of it,” Barrett said sarcastically.
“There could be!” Simon replied.
As the young men approached the building, it became apparent it had been apart of a long abandoned settlement. From their higher-ground perspective, they could see the ruins of several buildings roll down the landscape and into the consuming waters of the Charles River. The houses closest to the river had flooded and slowly rotted in the river’s murky water.
“We got a lot of work to do,” Barrett said. His siblings could hear the smile in his words. They knew that there would be at least one piece of worthwhile loot among these buildings. Barrett, however, wanted more than the natural greed of survival. The big man itched for a real fight.
“Raiders, Ghouls, or Mirelurks,” Kevin asked.
“Five caps on raiders,” Barrett said. His hand dropped to the pipe pistol holstered to his thigh.
“Five for mirelurks,” Simon said.
“I guess, I take ghouls.”
The three men moved closer to the first building. The residence, once a beautiful suburban home, had decayed over the two hundred and twenty years since its owners died in the nuclear fallout. Yet, despite the age of home, its door seemed to have been freshly repaired.
Simon, as per usual, approached the entrance with military tact. Barrett positioned himself behind his older brother. He placed one hand on Simon’s shoulder and the other around his pipe pistol. Kevin checked their flank and readied his pipe rifle.
Simon lifted his hand. He counted silently with his fingers.
One. Two. Three.
He grabbed the door and yanked it open. Barrett entered the building, his pipe pistol scanning the interior of the house.
“Clear!”
Simon followed Barrett. Kevin slowly backed into the building. He closed the door behind him.
“Stairs,” Barrett said to his brothers.
Immediately, the big man took the lead, scanning the floor above him with his pistol at eye-level. Simon followed in the wake of his larger brother, keeping his eyes straight to the top of the landing. Kevin stayed on the first floor. He found a corner, pressed his back into it, and crouched. He kept his eye on the front door.
“Clear!” Barrett’s voice rang through the structure.
“Nothing for nobody,” Kevin said, standing from his position and letting his rifle hang limply in his hands. He thought at least one ghoul would be hiding in the house. Their fraternal bottlecap wager would have to wait another house.
“Cheer up! Better luck in the next building.” Simon said as he walked down the stairs. “Right now, we have some time to loot.”
The brothers began the careful examination of the residential building.
Despite two centuries of rain and snow the building seemed to be in good condition. Clearly, since the bombs fell, a series of squatters had made improvements and adjustments over the years. In fact, the house seemed almost luxurious compared to the standards of the Wasteland. The floors had been redone with new planks of wood. The walls had been scraped of their original wallpaper and painted a light seafoam green. Although the glass from the windows had been long destroyed, curtains hung over the wooden shutters that secured the windows from the exterior world.
“Ooo!” Barrett exclaimed upstairs.
“What’d you find?” Simon called out. He stood at the bottom of the staircase and waited for a sign.
“Caps stash!” Barrett appeared with a grey tin can. He shook it and a number of caps inside of it pleasantly jingled.
“And you thought there wouldn’t be any treasure?” Simon laughed to himself.
“And the fridge is full!” Kevin called.
Barrett rushed down the stairs and joined his brothers at the fridge. Together, they drank a bottle of mostly clean water, each taking sips and passing it to the others. Then, they finished a plate of crispy squirrel bits.
“Almost fresh,” Barrett said, shoving a large handful into his mouth.
Simon continued his perusal of the house as he chewed his last portion of squirrel meat. He went to the living room section of the main floor and rummaged through a chest of drawers.
“Women’s clothing?” He lifted a dress from the chest of drawers and showed his brothers. The light green dress seemed to be in relatively good condition. The clean herbaceous smell of carrot flowers wafted into his nose.
“Someone might still live here,” Barrett said, looking at a bouquet of fresh hubflowers on the table.
Kevin looked from one of the windows. “I think he’s just arrived.”
Before Simon and Kevin could arm themselves, the door opened. An old man entered with two buckets of water. At the very moment he saw these three men, he dropped the buckets on the floor and rushed out of the building. One of the buckets spilled its contents across the floor, slowly dribbling down the front steps. Meanwhile, the old man pressed his back against the exterior wall of the building.
“What are you doing in my house?”
“We didn’t know!” Simon shouted back. “We didn’t mean to trespass!”
“Well, you did. Now, what are you going to do? Kill an old man and take his home?”
“Not if you let us leave unharmed!”
“How do I know that you’re not raiders?”
“You can’t,” Simon shouted back. “You can only make a leap of faith.”
“And why would I that?”
“Well, for one thing, there are more of us than there are of you.”
“Send one man out.”
“No!” Simon responded. “How do I know you’re not just going to shoot him the moment he leaves the building?”
“You can’t,” the old man shouted back. “You can only make a leap of faith.”
Simon felt bested by the old man’s negotiating skills.
“I’ll go,” Kevin said to his brothers.
“No, I will.” Barrett put his hand on his younger brother. He would gladly die in his place.
“There’s less of me to hit,” Kevin bantered.
Barrett grunted, but he could not stop himself from smiling.
Simon thought about dissuading his brothers, telling them that no one was going to leave the house, but this show of trust needed to be made. If things went well, there could be a chance that the three of them could profit from this encounter. Perhaps, they could spend the night sleeping inside a warm house and finally be able to get a proper night’s rest.
“I’m coming out,” Kevin shouted to the old man.
“Unarmed. With your hands up! If I see so much as a big iron on your hip, the deal is off.”
Kevin placed his pipe rifle and his switchblade on top of the chest of drawers.
Simon stepped close to his brother and embraced him.
“If he harms you, I will make sure he suffers until his very last breath,” Simon whispered.
Kevin squeezed his brother tightly and went to the door.
“I am approaching the door now,” Kevin shouted. “My hands are up.”
Kevin stepped over the spilled water bucket and crossed the threshold of the house.
“Keeping going,” the old man commanded.
Once Kevin descended the front stairs and reached the hard ground, he felt the old man sweep behind him and check for weapons.
“Do we trust each other?” Kevin said, letting the old man pat down his sides. “I’m alive, so I know I can trust you, but there are still two men inside of the house.”
“Two, huh? I thought there’d be more of you.” The old man met Kevin gaze. His face was wrinkled, freckled, and scarred. His neck-length beard, once nearly black in colour, had become streaked with grey. His moustache faired slightly better, but it too had begun to pale in his old age. Overall, the old man seemed hardened by his experiences in the wasteland, but, despite this hardness, Kevin noticed a softness behind his eyes. They reflected no bitterness or resentment.
“Now what?” Simon called from inside of the house.
“I’m going to come inside with your friend as collateral.”
The old man drew his 10mm pistol and pressed into Kevin’s lower back. Kevin straightened his posture with a reflexive fear. He climbed up the stairs and back into the house, the pistol never losing contact with his spine.
“Welcome to my home, gentleman,” the old man said. “The name is Duncan. I hope you make yourselves comfortable, although, by the looks of yesterday’s dinner, it seems as though you already have.”
Barrett glanced back at the empty porcelain plate. He wiped his greasy hands on his pant legs.
“Watch it, big guy,” the old man said. “You don’t want to make too many sudden movements.”
Barrett looked into his brother’s face. Kevin seemed calm on the surface, but Barrett could see the fear beneath his composure.
“My name is Simon. This is Barrett, and the man you currently threatening is our brother Kevin.”
“Pleasure, gentlemen.”
“We’re travellers. We’ve no particular destination. We’re just trying to survive.”
“Yes, that always seems to be the story. Why aren’t you getting comfortable in Diamond City or Goodneighbor?”
“We’re new to the Commonwealth,” Simon replied.
“Just arrived,” Barrett added.
“Boys, I’m happy to be your first experience in these here parts, but you’re going to have to leave. I can’t risk any trouble.”
“We won’t be any trouble,” Kevin said, looking behind his shoulder.
“Truly, I would like to believe you boys, but you best be going.”
Duncan stepped aside and positioned himself to the side of the room. He tilted his head toward the door with a quick gesture, encouraging Simon and Barrett to leave.
“Now, please.”
“Can we at least get Kevin’s weapons over there?” Simon asked.
“I’ll toss them to you once you’re out of the door. Just go.”
Simon and Barrett complied. They walked out of the house and down the steps. Duncan led Kevin from his house, allowing the young man to move away from the pistol.
“Grandpapa!”
The men turned to see group of three women approaching the house. Two of them carried heavy bags of harvested food, while the third held a tactical submachine gun in her hands. The three of them kept staring at their grandfather, who kept his pistol held toward the brothers.
The woman with the submachine gun lifted the stock to her shoulder. She knew that with her large drum magazine, she could cut down these three intruders without the need to reload.
“We had a small misunderstanding, ladies,” Simon said with a winning smile. He looked at the woman with the submachine gun. Her short dark brown hair swooped over one of her eyes. She flipped her hair out of the way. “We’ll be on our way,” Simon continued, “once your grandfather hands us our weapons.”
“How about you head on out without them?” the woman with the gun said.
“That’s not fair,” Kevin said. He stepped forward as he said it, causing the woman to swivel her sights on him.
“On more step and you’ll have lost more than your weapons.”
“Woah, woah. Okay, message received,” Kevin said, putting his hands back into the air. “Let’s go, guys. It’s okay. We can find kinder hosts somewhere else.”
“Or, at least, a better fight,” Barrett said with a sniff of his nose. “An old man and three little girls hardly constitute a challenge.”
“I can wipe the floor with you, big boy,” said the woman with the machine gun.
“Audrey!” Duncan reprimanded.
“I’d like to see you try, girlie. Unarmed, one-on-one, you stand no chance,” Barrett said. As he spoke, he took a deep breath and inflated his already imposing figure. The muscles beneath his shirt could be seen flexing.
“Want to try me? Or are you scared of losing to a girl?” Audrey responded.
Barrett roared with laughter.
“Audrey, that’s enough!” the old man said. “Do not aggravate them. They’re on their way.”
“Wait!” the smallest of the three women called to her grandfather. “Can’t they stay? If they wanted to hurt us, they would’ve already.”
“It’d be too risky!” Duncan replied.
“But you’ve always said that people need to come together and rebuild this world,” she said.
Duncan flashed her a quick scolding look.
“Sylvie’s right,” the third woman added. “They can help us around the property.” Her eyes danced over Barrett’s large figure. While her middle sister seemed ready to harm him, she merely wanted to be held by him.
“Audrey, talk some sense into your sisters!” Duncan exclaimed. “You ladies know that we can’t invite people at random!”
“We’d be happy to help,” Simon interjected.
Kevin locked eyes with his young counterpart. Sylvie broke eye contact and looked at her feet.
“Yeah, we can help,” Kevin said a little absent-mindedly. He continued to admire the woman before his eyes.
“Wait a minute,” Barrett said, “This guy pulls a pistol on you and you want to help him? What are you going to do? Fetch him water?”
“We made him to spill it,” Kevin said with a shrug.
“Are you guys out of your mind? How can we trust them? What if the old man and these she-devils are planning to kill us in the middle of the night.”
“Oh, now you’re afraid of me!” Audrey teased, loosening her grip on the submachine gun.
“I ain’t afraid of anything,” Barrett snapped.
Simon bursted in laughter. “Buddy, you know you’re agreeing with the old man, right? He doesn’t want you around because he thinks your going to do to him what you think he’s doing to do to you.”
Barrett squinted his eyes, trying to parse the sentence.
“I don’t like it,” Barrett said.
“Neither do I,” Duncan agreed.
“Well, they’re not staying in the house,” Audrey said. She tilted her swooping hair out of her eyes again. “Give them the rotting house.”
Duncan stayed silent. Everyone looked at him as though it was his decision which made everything final.
“Fine, but I’m standing guard during the night. If one of these boys come creeping in the night, I’ll make sure our walls get a nice new shade of red.”
Barrett nodded his head in agreement. “And I’ll take first watch at our place.”
Audrey turned to her sisters. “Morgan, Sylvie, take the food inside. I’ll show these men their residence.” She adjusted the tactical submachine gun in her arms.
Her sisters did what they were told.
“Gentlemen,” Audrey said, leading the men down the slight hill, “Your new abode.” She kicked the front door, which broke free from its hinges. The wood from the door had rotted from the moisture in the air. Wet dust flew from the ground and an acrid smell spewed from the interior of the building.
“Enjoy.”
Audrey left the three brothers and returned to her home.
The three of the brothers exchanged uncomfortable glances and looked at the building. Kevin approached the doorway and peered into the darkness.
“Ghoul!” Kevin shouted.
His brothers ran into the building with their weapons drawn. Kevin threw his arms around his brothers as they looked at remains of a feral ghoul. It had died a long time ago.
“Pay up, boys!” he said with a smile. “Five caps each.”

28yo Female, Australia. 157cm / 58kg
Current diagnosed conditions: POTS, IST, ADHD, Chronic Rhinitis & Sinusitis, Chronic Gastritis, Anxiety.
Medications: Metoprolol 50mg, Vyvanse 50mg, Loratadine 10mg, Losec 10mg, Nasonex nasal spray.
Being investigated: C-PTSD, Toxic mould exposure (MARCoNs Swab sent off)
Family history: Mother had a SCAD heart attack 6 months ago, father has GERD & Oesophageal Ulcers, brother has Autism & sister has PCOS. Grandmother had Sjogrens, Lupus, Raynauds & LAM Disease.
My recent history: Had multiple antibiotic resistant endometritis, EBV, CMV, Covid & then C-Diff (after 10 different antibiotics) all in the space of a few months in mid 2022 after the birth of second child & have had issues ever since. Gastric sleeve in June 2023, have lost 35kgs, in a DV relationship for 4 years, have been free since January.
➖ My hands and feet have a lot of issues.. persistent tingling, sensitive to hot and cold, sometimes they will feel tight and movement is slightly restricted. Other times they will itch, turn bright red & burn like crazy, other times they will feel frozen and ache. One will be white while the other is red. I’ve had random sensations of warmth washing over one foot like I’ve poured warm water over it.
Raynauds, Erythromelalgia & Scleroderma come up in google searches, could it be another condition to look into or a side affect from my medication? Which specialist/tests should I be asking for?
Thank you so much for taking your time to read.

28yo Female, Australia. 157cm / 58kg
Current diagnosed conditions: POTS, IST, ADHD, Chronic Rhinitis & Sinusitis, Chronic Gastritis, Anxiety.
Medications: Metoprolol 50mg, Vyvanse 50mg, Loratadine 10mg, Losec 10mg, Nasonex nasal spray.
Being investigated: C-PTSD, Toxic mould exposure (MARCoNs Swab sent off)
Family history: Mother had a SCAD heart attack 6 months ago, father has GERD & Oesophageal Ulcers, brother has Autism & sister has PCOS. Grandmother had Sjogrens, Lupus, Raynauds & LAM Disease.
My recent history: Had multiple antibiotic resistant endometritis, EBV, CMV, Covid & then C-Diff (after 10 different antibiotics) all in the space of a few months in mid 2022 after the birth of second child & have had issues ever since. Gastric sleeve in June 2023, have lost 35kgs, in a DV relationship for 4 years, have been free since January.
➖ My hands and feet have a lot of issues.. persistent tingling, sensitive to hot and cold, sometimes they will feel tight and movement is slightly restricted. Other times they will itch, turn bright red & burn like crazy, other times they will feel frozen and ache. One will be white while the other is red. I’ve had random sensations of warmth washing over one foot like I’ve poured warm water over it.
Raynauds, Erythromelalgia & Scleroderma come up in google searches, could it be another condition to look into or a side affect from my medication? Which specialist/tests should I be asking for?
Thank you so much for taking your time to read.

Im 21, having periods since i was 14. Within the last year, i have started getting extremely (and i mean unbearably) itchy on/in/around my vulva and butthole and my mouth (but the mouth is explained since i started getting cold sores every month on my period about 3 years ago). I try using some vaseline, itching, showering, and powering through, but nothing helps. I even get so itchy it wakes me up in the middle of the night. Has anyone else experienced this?? Any tips?? Thanks

I(32M) have ulcerative colitis and primary sclerosing cholangitis. About two weeks ago on Friday I started feeling unwell and ended up having an episode of cholangitis, where I had pain in my upper right abdomen. I needed about a week to recover, during which I had issues with stomach upset come up time and time again. However on the next Sunday I started developing a fever after eating a bigger meal, and ended up vomiting for 1.5 hours in the early hours of Monday. I didn't have diarrhea on the other hand, which I believed was because I vomited everything up from what caused me to get sick.
Since then I have been slowly recovering, but whenever I tried to eat a bigger meal I would again start feeling sick and develop a fever. When I realized this connection I stuck to eating smaller meals again.
We got a blood test done, which revealed a high CRP(66 mg/L), and an elevated GPT of 113(U/L). My white blood cell counts were also elevated. A few days after the vomiting I had one night where I was itching on my hands and feet quite badly, and this morning my urine was brown, but generally I experienced no pain in my upper right abdomen since two weeks ago.
So why I am posting this is to just get a few pointers on where I should head next. I visited my family doctor during the previous week twice and we were on the conclusion that I was recovering from a bacterial infection of the stomach, and that everything should be okay now. Instead yesterday(on Friday) I felt well enough to go back to work, until eating a bigger meal gave me a fever again and made me realize I am still not well. I would go back to my family doctor of course, but I cant' do that until Monday. I will also be calling my hepatologist/gastroenterologist to consult with them.
I am mostly worried about this pattern of only being able to eat small meals, and that sometimes even small portions can make me sweat, and of course the fever induced by eating a larger meal. Can anyone please give some pointers? I wasn't prescribed any antibiotics, since we believed that with the vomiting having gone, I was already recovering.
Thanks.

blood tests negative and mouth swabs negative but i was unable to get swabbed on time and now there is no way to prove i have herpes? what should disclosing look like?

Hi everyone, and my apologies in advance for this stress-induced vent.
I went to my GP around April of this year because I’ve been having very bad problems with sleepiness and fatigue. I’ve always been tired but it’s been getting to the point where I’ve started dozing off at work and have been getting drowsy while behind the wheel. I also get this all-consuming, heavy body feeling where I just feel like I cannot move or do anything—not constant, but prevalent enough. Periodic brain fog and forgetfulness as well. Not too ideal, so time to get it addressed. She ran an autoimmune panel and it came back with a positive ANA screen, positive anti-SSA/RO, and high CRP (18 when the lab reference is 0-5.00).
She told me to make an appointment with a rheumatologist as positive anti-SSA can be indicative of Sjogren’s and the wait was longer than I’d like, but from what I’ve heard, still pretty decent—I go in mid-June. However, since I made the appointment I feel like I’ve gotten significantly more symptoms. After researching Sjogren’s, some long standing problems that I’ve had make sense: I’ve had dry, burning, stinging eyes for YEARS requiring lubricating drops and have always chalked it up to screen time (phone/work), being tired, and dry environment. Nose and mouth dryness and periodic nosebleeds I’ve attributed to environment as well. GERD/esophogitis I’ve also chalked up to genetics because my mom has it as well.
But since April I’ve also started getting joint pain/achiness, worsening fatigue and lack of energy, lower stamina, and most recently has been an intense itching in my arms alternating with either pinprick pains, painful skin, or a sharp pain that radiates from my wrist to the middle of my forearm.
I guess my stress and worry is that this rheumatologist will either look at me and say “nope, nothings wrong with you” or that I will be told that there’s nothing that can be done. I always have a worry that people will think “Oh it’s all in her head” or “She’s complaining just to complain. She’s young enough and shouldn’t be feeling how she’s saying she does.”
Again, I’m sorry for the vent, but I hope that at least some of you in here understand my worries. If you’ve read this far, thank you, and I appreciate you 💜

Okay so I messaged here about two weeks ago. I’m pretty sure I have herpes but I don’t have a doctor I can just go to whenever so I’m stuck waiting until next week for me to get an appointment. The stuff on my face appeared again after my checkup and spread across my face and to the outer parts of my mouth leaving my lips and the corners of my lips incredibly tingly and dry. Now I didn’t see any blistering on my face but I noticed that after a day or two it had spread from the corners to me upper lip, then to my lower lip. Not much later I got the same deal happening on my genitalia, but again, no blisters. The skin of my scrotum got super red and bumpy like a rash and immediately became almost thick and leathery. On top of that it itched like a motherfucker. Scratching it felt incredible (yes I know you’re not supposed to, I did it once and stopped because I was afraid of spreading this shit yet again). Now the toughness has gone away as well as the redness. It doesn’t itch as bad and I don’t notice it through the day. What’s got me confused is the appearance of a cluster of small blisters on my middle finger which remind me of poison ivy. I’ve heard hsv can crop up literally anywhere but I haven’t like, sat and scratched my face or nether regions then sat and scratched my middle finger. I really wish I could show pictures of it but this Reddit doesn’t allow for it. Any suggestions? As far as I know I have not been exposed to any plants. There might have been something in my work gloves that triggered this whole thing but I doubt that. I’ve also been using cortisol-10 on everything except my lips which I’ve only been using carmex on. I don’t really know if any otc stuff I could be using and i damn sure can’t afford meds for this. Any advice at all aside from going to the doctor (because im already going) would really help.
https://ibb.co/TkJnkVG

I am posting my experience with feline Calicivirus (fcv) in a multi cat household…I have two 8 year old cats (siblings) a 5 year old cat and a 8 week old kitten that I adopted 3 weeks ago..the kitten was taken to the vet to get vaccinated and dewormed before being rehomed to me but unfortunately she was too young to get vaccinated at that time so when she came home we scheduled an appointment when she was of age to get vaccinated which will be tomorrow
(I do not agree with taking kittens from their mothers at such a young age but in this situation the person that was trying to re home them came into possession of them because they were approached by someone who found the kittens on their property and said they were getting rid of them one way or another without their mom so she rescued them and started to find homes for them and me being experienced in caring for kittens at a young age decided I had room in my home for one more)
sorry for the tangent I just felt I had to explain myself. But back to the Calicivirus…when I brought the kitten home she did sneeze occasionally but I didn’t think much of it and I allowed her to get to know my older cats during supervised play time.
About a week and a half after I had her one of my 8 year old cats stopped eating and drinking I knew something was wrong so I took her to the er vet and they said she had a fever but didn’t know what was causing it so they gave her a general antibiotic shot that lasts 2 weeks and could treat multiple infections as well as a liquid shot that would help her stay hydrated. After two days she was still in the decline so I took her back. This time is was a different vet who took more time to understand the symptoms as well as history and gave her a thorough examination. After her examination she showed me the inside of my babies mouth which was covered with ulcers which is why she wasn’t eating of drinking..she also did x rays and determined she had pneumonia…
the only option we had was to get a feeding tube put in place so my fur baby could get food and water because she refused to eat or drink because she was in pain..she was also prescribed a specific antibiotic that was used to treat the infection because of course the antibiotic shot she was injected with during the first visit did not treat an upper respiratory infection.
She has had her feeding tube for a week now and has been on her antibiotics for the same amount of time and she is almost completely back to her old self :).

my partner tested positive for syphilis & i have been experiencing symptoms as far as an ulcer near the tip, a popped pimple ( which i believe cause a cluster of smaller ones ) & 3 ulcers on the underside of my penis but reading everything online my symptoms visually match with herpes or hsv. is it possible to have both ??? or what would be a tell that i have both, i am waiting on result to come in next week.
also i am not experiencing any pain or burning when peeing nothing itches except for only near the cluster of pimple when i get out the shower & it’s drying off which i think is normal for a rash

3rd question.
I was just diagnosed with genital HSV. Waiting on the swab to confirm if it is type 1 or 2. My questions are about both giving and receiving oral.
Yeah, I know people use dental dams. I just don’t think orals even worth it with a barrier.

1. What are the risks of someone without herpes giving me oral (not during an outbreak of course). Is the risk just that they could have it transmitted to their mouth? or would they also be likely to get genitally too?
   
2. I don’t have oral herpes. Is there still a risk of me giving someone genital herpes if I give oral?
   

Thanks !

I think I have a decent pain tolerance out of necessity. Full spinal fusion at 13, lots of dental work, congenital brain problems, etc. I've understandably complained about my discomfort, but I'm too spiteful to let genetics win and do my best to deal without too many gripes.
But one thing I will never stop complaining about is when I caught hand, foot, and mouth disease from my toddler. Bad time for the whole 10 days, but the worst was the 12 hours of unrelenting, burning itch of the sores. Nothing could relieve it. I think cutting my limbs off would have been more comfortable. I would genuinely rather go through another 28 hours of labor with no meds while recovering from a spinal fusion/root canal combo with a side of migraine, than deal with that again.
This is 100% my own opinion. I know everyone's tolerances and discomforts are different. Though, I will advise everyone to be as careful as you can if around a kid with HFMD. Just because it's rare in adults doesn't mean it never happens. And when it does, it sucks.

Hi,
I've been tracking these wart-like growths on my labia for close to 10 years now. I'd like to preface this by saying I know it's not herpes or any STD, as I've had these since long before I was ever sexually active in any way. I first noticed the wart-like growths - on the right side of my labia directly next to/nearly touching my clitoris back in middle school. For all I know, they've always been there and puberty was when I noticed as it's when I started actually paying attention down there.
They used to look like shiny, finger-like protrusions, growing in a small cluster. Completely painless, flapped around like extra skin when I poked at them. Since then, though, they've changed in shape and quantity: it's like they've grown together to form just a couple of larger wart-like growths. There's no pain or itching, but in the center of them accumulates a tiny bit of some thick white substance (possibly discharge but idk) that can be scraped off. I'm just paranoid it's a tumor, as I was looking things up yesterday and found out vulvar cancer is a thing. None of the images I saw look like it, these still look mostly like VP or some kind of skin tag, but the way that they've sort of merged into fewer individual growths concerned me.

I went to the OB/GYN because I had a cut on my butthole and I thought it was infected. She swabbed it, and tested it for numerous things just in case. Three weeks later, it came back that I am positive for HSV one. How is it possible that I am being diagnosed with oral herpes from a swab of a cut on my butthole? I thought you could only be diagnosed with oral herpes through a mouth swab or blood test. And genital herpes was tested through swabbing the genitals or sores. Is it possible to test positive for oral herpes from a swab of a cut on your butt?

Female, 23, straight,
I went to the OB/GYN because I had a cut on my butthole and I thought it was infected. She swabbed it, and tested it for numerous things just in case. Three weeks later, it came back that I am positive for HSV one. How is it possible that I am being diagnosed with oral herpes from a swab of a cut on my butthole? I thought you could only be diagnosed with oral herpes through a mouth swab or blood test. And genital herpes was tested through swabbing the genitals or sores. Is it possible to test positive for oral herpes from a swab of a cut on your butt?
I have an appointment on Monday with the doctor. I just wanted to ask Reddit thinking maybe somebody will know. If I have HSV-2, that means my partner of six years has cheated on me.

I went to the OB/GYN because I had a cut on my butthole and I thought it was infected. She swabbed it, and tested it for numerous things just in case. Three weeks later, it came back that I am positive for HSV one. How is it possible that I am being diagnosed with oral herpes from a swab of a cut on my butthole? I thought you could only be diagnosed with oral herpes through a mouth swab or blood test. And genital herpes was tested through swabbing the genitals or sores. Is it possible to test positive for oral herpes from a swab of a cut on your butt?

I’m curious how much a 2 week course of Famotidine might have impacted these results because I don’t really have noticeable GI issues. I can’t get in to my ND for 2 weeks to go over these results so hoping for some advice here.
SIgA low: 470 Anti-gliadin IgA high: >500 Firmicutes high: 4.23e11 Bacteroidetes high: 7.44e12 Akkermansia low:

Everything else in range.
Context:
2 months ago I had a vaginal yeast infection and was prescribed 2 doses of Fluconazole 200 mg that caused a severe reaction (severe diarrhea for 8 hrs, vomiting, hives on face, neck, arms, throat tightness/itchiness) so I was switched to 2 courses of Monistat in case it was an allergic reaction (never had a reaction to it in the past). Swab culture showed yeast was cleared.
However, after the Fluconazole reaction I had lingering esophagus/throat redness/itching, high anxiety, cotton mouth, dry mucosa everywhere, mouth ulcers in gums and on tonsils, and diarrhea. I had none of these symptoms prior to Fluconazole. I did a 5-day Prolon fast that stopped the diarrhea before seeing GP who suspected GERD. She had me do a 2 week course of Pepcid 40 mg/day. Symptoms (cotton mouth, burning throat, mouth ulcers) improved for a few days, then worsened. I stopped it after 2 weeks and got a 2nd opinion from a ND.
I suspected oral/esophageal thrush. ND had me do GI Map (prior to any other treatment), then agreed to start me on an anti fungal protocol while waiting on results because at that point it had been 6 weeks of a burning mouth/throat. I had 8 months of antibiotics in 2022 due to a chronic UTI (hormone related and now resolved), so suspected something was off. I also have a long history of sinusitis and use Flonase daily which can cause oral thrush (though I’ve never experienced it before). I thought I had a sinus infection in February, my ENT scoped and said it was fine, just post nasal drip.
Given the reaction to Fluconazole, ND prescribed an oral Amphotericin B “low and slow” protocol, increasing dosage over 3 weeks. Within 24 hours I had the same reaction as I had to Fluconazole, but much milder, so I proceeded. After 3 days, hives went away but I had massive yellow mucus from sinuses that subsided after 3 more days (by day 8 of treatment), but with lingering congestion and mild drainage. It’s been 14 days of treatment (2 months since this all began), and I just got the results. I’m now wondering if there is a bacterial sinus infection. Dr. doesn’t want to start me on antibiotics without seeing me but I can’t go on like this for 2 more weeks - considering an urgent care visit. But also don’t want to further mess up my gut health.
Diet the past 2 months (with a few slip ups of pizza/wine early on) - lots of veg, fish, chicken, bone broths, Greek yogurt (only dairy), berries, eggs, wild rice, quinoa, raw saur kraut. No sugar other than berries. No reactions to any foods and pretty normal stools/GI symptoms. I had a Lymphocytic Colitis diagnosis 3 years ago, but all symptoms resolved after I started doing quarterly fasts the past 2 years - my body feels great during and after fasts. Taking L-Glutamine, Glutathione, Ampho B, biofilm busters, Sacro B, and Klaire Factor 4 probiotics.
Should I worry about the GI Map results or just try to get treatment for what seems like a sinus infection? I’m still on the Ampho B but now wonder if I should stop that too since no yeast is showing up. It’s been a frustrating and expensive 2 months!
Thanks for reading!