Who wants a Christmas card? 2020 edition.

I am once again being terrible at keeping up with Dreamwidth. Last time I was here, I was all "hey, come join me on Discord or Skype, I'll PM you there"... and that lasted about a week. I have good thoughts for all of you, I'm just SO FUCKING TIRED.

Well. It is allegedly Christmas in ten days - OMG I typed "ten years" the first time, and that's how I actually feel :D It is far too late for any Christmas cards that I send to get to anyone remotely on time, but that isn't my purpose for sending them. The purpose is to prove that my imaginary internet friends are real. Therefore they will be physical cards, and you will get them sometime in the next six weeks, when spoons and covid-hit postal services can cope.

Don't worry about the cost. Don't worry about my spoons - I'll send them when I can. Just tell me if you want a card, who I should address it to, and where you live. Offer restricted to people I actually know.

Poll #25004 h-l's 2020 Christmas card Poll-thing

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: Just the Poll Creator, participants: 11

Do you want a Christmas card from me this year?

Yes please.
6 (54.5%)

No thank you.
2 (18.2%)

No, but I like to receive postcards so I'll give you my address anyway.
3 (27.3%)

The following partners, children, housemates and pets should be acknowledged on the card:

I normally have a question with comments like My address is: "The same as it has been for many years so I'm absolutely positive you have it", but let's just assume that I don't have ANYONE's address to hand right now. All comments are screened so you can include addresses safely.

Gluten Is Evil

So, I officially Have Problems With Gluten.

The hospital consultant thinks that I don't have c[o]eliac disease because the two blood tests they did were both negative - but I've read online in peer-reviewed papers in journals like the United European Gastroenterology Journal that up to 10% of people with c[o]eliac don't show up on the blood screening for various reasons. So I've asked them to do a gut biopsy.

The problem with a gut biopsy is that I have to eat enough gluten to potentially cause the damage to the villi in my small intestine. So I am essentially POISONING MYSELF every day.

(In practice, I can't poison myself every day - after 2-3 days with gluten in my diet, the digestive TMI is so bad that I have to take a day off to let my gut settle. Not least of all because having everything go through my digestive system way too fast affects all of my physical and mental health, since I'm not getting anything like the correct dose of medications.)

This gut biopsy is supposed to be in January but I don't have a date for it yet, and the covid is on the rise again, which means it's likely to get delayed.

So my life right now is a complete source of AAAARRRGGGHHHH.

I have two nice partners and lots of nice plushies and an acceptable relationship with my parents and many nice friends, but being literally in pain all the time SUCKS.

The reason why I'm going through with this is that if I have c[o]eliac disease then I have to COMPLETELY avoid gluten, whereas if it's non-coeliac gluten sensitivity, then I can eat food which does not contain gluten as an ingredient but "may contain traces of gluten" from the factory in which it is made or packaged. That distinction is quite important.