Douche Bag du Jour

[mijan]

Dear Assholes of the World,

When a person of Jewish heritage asks you to please stop having a detailed discussion about the treatment of Jewish prisoners in concentration camps within earshot... SHUT THE FUCK UP or GO SOMEWHERE ELSE.

Thank you,
This Person of Jewish Heritage

Comments

[tamerterra.livejournal.com]

Oh, but they just want to finish what they were saying! It won't take a minute! *smilyface*

People never seem to twig when it's the content of their conversation that's upsetting/disturbing, rather than the volume or presence of swearwords.

[eldritchhorrors.livejournal.com]

I don't have much living family on my mother's side, because they were Romani. Everyone but my grandparents died in one of the Mauthausen-Gusen camps or other camps in Linz, Austria.

I find that those that really know what happened in the camps have a hard time talking about it. I know I get choked up thinking about it. It should be spoken of, because it should never happen again, but there is a time and place, and other people should be respected.

[mijan.livejournal.com]

I was just ALREADY upset by other stuff today, and I couldn't take any additional emotional stresses. Yes, people need to talk about these things so they're never forgotten. I just couldn't cope today.

[eldritchhorrors.livejournal.com]

Trust me, I know exactly how that feels. Hope you are doing better now, though.

[mijan.livejournal.com]

I'm doing a little bit better. I had ice cream and sushi (not at the same time) with my wife, and we just got home, and I'm relaxing. I'm not feeling all that great.

I just found out today that all the speculation that I "might" have an auto-immune disease has turned a lot more definite, and I finally had to accept the fact that I really do have some sort of systemic, auto-immune connective tissue disease. The found out what that bump on my finger was. Such a stupid little annoying bump. But the removed it, and did a biopsy test on it. Turns out it's a specific type of granuloma that ONLY occurs in people with rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, or other similar diseases. It's like a diagnostic smoking gun. I tried to post about it earlier because I was a bit upset and needed support, and people didn't get what I was trying to say. People just replied, "So... it's a bump."

And so I was upset. And the last thing I needed was hearing about holocaust horrors.

I need tea now.

[eldritchhorrors.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry. I had to go through a similar thing (with painful breast lumps) and the first doc said "you'll just have to live with it, we really don't know what causes this." I had to go through three docs to finally get answers.

If you need to bitch about it, I'm a sympathetic ear who has been in the same situation.

[mijan.livejournal.com]

Ack, I dealt with the EXACT same thing, only it was a single painful breast lump. It took two years before I got a doctor who listened to me and removed it. By then, it had grown to almost 5 cm, and hurt so bad I couldn't sleep on that side. It was a no-touching zone for my wife because it hurt. But it was benign, so it was "unimportant" as far as some folks were concerned. I mean, yes, it wasn't a cancerous malignancy, but it fucking HURTS. So I totally sympathize on that one.

At least with the small bump on my finger, the doctors recognized IMMEDIATELY what the medical significance was. In fact, the dermatologist who reported the findings to me was quite concerned, asked if I'd ever experienced any joint pain, if I had ever seen a rheumatologist, and was glad that I was already taking care of it. She said she'd send my pathology report to the rheumatologist immediately, and he's going to probably find it very significant. Just because something isn't fucking cancer doesn't mean it's not a medically significant finding. It's just my friends online here who didn't get it.

*growls*

[eldritchhorrors.livejournal.com]

I finally found out that it was auto-immune. A severe allergy to a very, very common food additive: caffeine. It is also in skin products, so I have to rigorously monitor everything I eat, drink, put on my skin, and even smell. Most people don't appreciate how difficult that can be, nor my paranoia about food, because it's "just an allergy," and not anything serious.

[mijan.livejournal.com]

Wow, caffeine??? They put that in EVERYTHING. And holy shit, yes, I know what you mean about people being obnoxiously careless or dismissive about allergies. It boggles me, because allergies can be extremely serious, and in this day and age, people should GET that.

Although, strictly, an allergy isn't auto-immune. It's definitely a sign of an over-active, malfunctioning immune system, and an allergic reaction can trigger a separate auto-immune response by causing inflammation and initiating an immune response cascade, but by itself, and allergy doesn't count as auto-immune. (I'm over-picky about terminology. Blame the biologist in me.)