so for context I am a senior in high school and this year my school introduced two emotional support dogs. One is hypoallergenic and the other is not, but the one that is not hypoallergenic is also training to be a full service dog I believe (I know very little about service dog training so if Im wrong take that with a grain of salt lol). the counsellors will walk around the school with the dogs and even spontaneously bring them to classrooms so the dogs get exposure to crowds.
and I'm sitting here wondering who the hell thought that was a good idea? I mean don't get me wrong, I think having the dogs would be great for other students and their mental health, but the problem is that they didn't warn any of the students or their families that this was happening. no emails were sent out, no phone calls - we just showed up to school this year and found out we have therapy dogs only because we saw them being walked around. and now they just randomly bring the dogs into classrooms without warning.
I'm allergic to dog dander (meaning I'm allergic to hypoallergenic dogs too) so I have to actively avoid these dogs during my school day when walking in the halls, and now I have to leave class early when the therapy dogs visit. I just don't get it because my school is super strict when it comes to things like fragrances, perfume, and air fresheners so no student has a reaction or asthma attack, yet they introduce therapy dogs and let them go around the school and in classrooms.
my reactions to dogs are most often systemic and result in an asthma attack where I can't breathe. earlier this month during a drug search I had to sit in the nurses office because I started having an allergic reaction to the drugs dogs (they wouldn't let me leave during the search so I had to sit through it till it was over).
and today in my first period the counsellor decided to bring in a dog in without warning. I didn't want to upset my class by making the dog leave because they were really excited about it so I decided to tough it out, plus this has happened before and everything was fine. it appeared that the dog was just gonna stay in one place, but the counsellor decided to walk the dog around the whole room for everyone to pet. I still decided to keep quiet, just keep my distance because I didn't want to cause a scene and ruin the fun. normally if I just keep my distance and not touch anything the dog touches I'm fine, but then the counsellor touched my bookbag after touching the dog. I didn't even think to account for that because that had never happened before when a dog visited my classes.
I then realized I screwed up and should have said something because I started having a reaction. it wasn't bad and my body was able to fight it off on its own resulting in my just being really tired and loopy for the rest of the day. while I know it was my fault for not speaking up, I'm still upset over this whole situation. Did they not account for kids like me? This is a public school with over 2,000 kids and none of the staff thought to notify students and parents ? I have brought this up before to other teachers and staff members so they know they have at least one student severely allergic, yet they continue to randomly visit classrooms and walk in the halls. I don't know. I know that reaction was my fault and the world does not have to accommodate me, but at the same time my school is aware that their students have dog allergies so why are they still just letting the dogs go wherever? It frustrates me cause now I have to spend my senior worrying if I'm going to have an allergic reaction anytime I step into the building. If I was a freshman when they introduced this dogs I believe I would have had to switch schools cause no way could I deal with this for 4 years lol.
This was just a rant so if I sound conceited and self-centered I apologize. I'm just pretty frustrated because of today.

If you are in immediate danger, please call 911. ^{Some of these resources have been previously posted on this subreddit and are also included in this list.}

Mental Health Services

Boynton Mental Health Office and Service Hours: Monday – Friday 8:00am - 4:30pm ^{Depending on location, clinic may have limited hours or not be open on Thursdays}
Boynton Mental Health provides individual, couples, and group therapy both in-person or by telehealth, as well as psychiatric treatment or medication management for students.
• Office Number: 612-625-8400 • Appointment Line: 612-624-1444 • 24/7 Crisis Connection Counselors: 612-301-4673 or Text "UMN" to 61222 • 24/7 Nurse Line: 612-625-7900 • Email: boynton.umn.edu
Student Counseling Services (SCS) Office and Service Hours: Monday - Friday 8:00am - 4:30pm
Offers non-crisis support through individual counseling services (at this time, students can anticipate, on average, up to a 1-2 week wait for brief consultations) and can provide other on-campus and off-campus resources right for you.
• Office Number: 612-624-3323 • Email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
Also offers:
Let's Talk - a free drop-in service that offers informal, confidential consultations for U of M students throughout the academic year.No appointment is necessary, so a student can select from in-person and virtual drop-in options during the scheduled times. Learn to Live - an online therapy program that is available and free for students (code “UMN”). Programs are confidential and accessible anywhere with the following topics: depression, insomnia, social anxiety, substance use, stress, and worry.
Disability Resource Center (DRC) Office and Service Hours: Monday – Friday 8:00am - 4:30pm
Helps provide accessibility and reduce barriers on campus to improve access for disabled people through consulting on strategies to provide access and inclusion, implementing reasonable academic, workplace, and guest accommodations, and partnering with University offices to support meaningful physical and technological access.
• Office Number: 612-626-1333 • Email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Office and Service Hours: N/A
Offers 24/7 crisis-lines related to suicide, counsuling for emotional distress related to a disaster, and free treatment referral and information services.
• 24/7 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: 988 • 24/7 Disaster Distress Helpline: 1-800-985-5990 • 24/7 National Helpline: 1-800-662-4357
Hennepin County Acute Psychiatric Services (APS) Office and Service Hours: Monday - Sunday 7:00am-11:00pm ^{For Walk-In appointment and other lobby services}
Provides emergency services, counseling, assessments, and referrals to persons experiencing mental health crises including psychosis, depression, violence or suicide, and other crisis situations.
• 24/7 Crisis Counseling: 612-873-3161
Human Development Center (HDC) Office and Service Hours: N/A
Provides services for children, teens, young adults, and adults including case management, mental health services, therapy services, eating disorders treatment, an employment connection program, chemical dependency treatment, and many more topic-specific services.
• Minnesota Crisis Line: 218-728-5126 • Wisconsin Crisis Line: 715-395-2259
Birch Tree Center (BTC) Office and Service Hours: N/A
Provides counseling and residential crisis stabilization to adults experiencing a mental health crisis or emergency. This includes programming designed to enhance psychiatric stability, personal and emotional adjustment, and the necessary skills to return to a more independent setting.
• 24/7 Crisis Response: 218-623-1800
Essential Health Mental Health In-Patient Services Office and Service Hours: N/A
Provides mental health inpatient programs for children, adolescents, and adults. Services provided are medication evaluation, medication management, indivudual and group therapies, as well as other patient-focused services to help manage and maintain mental illness and mental health related issues.
• Miller Dwan (Duluth, MN): 218-727-8762 • St. Joseph's Medical Center (Brainerd, MN): 218-829-2861

Other Health Services

University Recreation and Wellness (RecWell) Office and Service Hours: Monday - Thursday 5:45am - 11:00pm ^{Weekend hours are: Friday 5:45am-10pm, Saturday 8:00am-9:00pm, and Sunday 9:00am - 10:00pm}
Offers a wide range of programs, services, and facilities designed to aid in the prevention of stress, anxiety, and depression-related challenges as well as promote and enhance physical, mental, and social wellbeing.
• Office Number: (612) 626-9222 • Email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
Boynton Health ^{(After Hours Care}) Office and Service Hours: N/A
Provides resources for many different medical and health needs.
• For more information: Click here
Planned Parenthood Office and Service Hours: N/A
Provides primary care, birth control, HIV/STD testing and services, transgender healthcare and hormone therapy, and more
• For more information: Click here
WE Health Clinic Office and Service Hours: Monday ‐ Thursday 9:00am ‐ 4:30pm, Friday 9:00am ‐ 4:00pm
Provides, advances, and advocates for evidence-based reproductive and sexual health care for all.
• Office Number: 218-727-3352
Youth and Aids Project (YAP) Office and Service Hours: N/A
A non-profit organization housed in the University of Minnesota's Department of Pediatrics—offers HIV testing, HIV/AIDS medical case management, HIV prevention services, and sexual health education programs for young people living in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area.
• Phone: ‭651-231-4849‬ • Email: ​[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
Know The Dangers Office and Service Hours: N/A
Provides information about opioids and provides support and recovery treatments to those who struggle with mental health, substance use, and gambling addictions.
• Opioid and Substance Use Treatment Information: Click here • Narcan/Naloxone Finder: Click here • Gambling Hotline: 1-800-333-4673
Clinic 555 Syringe Exchange Office and Service Hours: Monday and Wednesday 1:00pm - 4:30pm ^{Other hours are Tuesday and Thursday are 1:00pm - 6:30pm, and Friday from 12:00pm - 3:00pm}
Anonymous syringe exchange and disposal.Various syringe sizes available for injecting medications, substances and hormones. Narcan (overdose reversal medication). Wound care. HIV and Hepatitis C testing. Vaccinations. Connection to community resources.
• Office Number: 651-266-1295 • Ramsey County Public Health Center: 555 Cedar Street Saint Paul, MN 55101 ^{(Walk-in at Ramsey County Public Health Center during syringe exchange hours only. No appointments.})

Sexual Assault Programs

^{UMN POLICY: Sexual Harassment, Sexual Assault, Stalking and Relationship Violence}
The Aurora Center Office and Service Hours: Monday - Friday 8:00am - 4:30pm
Provides free and confidential crisis intervention for victims of sexual assault, relationship violence, stalking and harassment.
• Office Line: 612-626-2929 ^{(office hours only}) • Text Line: 612-615-8911 ^{(office hours only}) • 24/7 Helpline: 612-626-9111 • Email: [[email protected]](mailto:aurora.umn.edu)
Sexual Violence Center (SVC) Office and Service Hours: Monday - Friday 9:00am - 5:00pm
Provide support through crisis lines, in-person and virtual counseling services, support groups, and help in navigating the medical and legal processes.
• Minneapolis Office: 612-871-5100 • Savage Office: 952-448-5425 • 24/7 Crisis Line: 612-871-5111 • Email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
Ramsey County SOS Sexual Violence Services
Office and Service Hours: N/A
Provides 24-hour crisis counseling, information and referrals for victims of any sexual violence and for friends and families.
• 24/7 Crisis Line: 651-266-1000
Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) Office and Service Hours: N/A
Offers telephone and online-chat crisis intervention services to support communities with crisis intervention, empathetic listening, and warm handoffs to designated local service providers. Most services are available in English and Spanish
• Crisis Line - 800-656-HOPE • For RAINN Crisis Online Chat - Click here
Program for Aid to Victims of Sexual Assault (PAVSA) Office and Service Hours: Monday - Friday 8:30AM - 4:30PM
A nonprofit rape crisis center located in southern St. Louis County that helps area residents cope with the aftermath of sexual violence. Services include various options for people who have been victimized, ranging from immediate crisis intervention to long-term counseling.
• PAVSA Office Line 218-726-1442 • 24 Hour Helpline 218-726-1931
MN Day One Office and Service Hours: N/A
Provides emergency shelter and safe housing, a crisis line, and other resources including support groups, transitional housing, legal advocacy, and culturally specific services.
• Crisis Hotline: 1-866-223-1111 • Email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault (MNCASA) Office and Service Hours: N/A
Provides sexual assault information, locations and telephone numbers of other sexual assault programs in Minnesota
• For MNCASA Public Directory: Click here

Domestic Abuse Support Services

Family Pathways (Carlton County) Office and Service Hours: Monday – Friday 8:30am - 4:30pm
Provides support services for victim-survivors of sexual and domestic violence including hospital advocacy, 24 hour crisis line, and advocacy in the criminal justice system.
• 24/7 Crisis Line: 800-338-7233
Safe Haven Resource Center Office and Service Hours: Avalible 24/7
Emergency shelter, legal advocacy, safety planning, support groups, and community education for victim-survivors of domestic violence in Duluth and Northern Minnesota.
• Office Number: 218-623-1000 • 24/7 Crisis Line: 218-728-6481
Dabinoo’Igan Shelter Office and Service Hours: Monday - Sunday 8:00am - 5:00pm
Dabinoo’Igan is an emergency domestic violence shelter for women and their children. It provides a temporary place to stay while looking at options that will help keep you safe.
• Hotline: 218-722-2247
Advocates for Family Peace Office and Service Hours: Monday - Friday 8:30am - 3:30pm
Provides free and confidential services to victim-survivors of intimate partner domestic violence including support services, advocacy, assistance filing protective orders, and connecting to resources.
• Office Number: 218-248-5512 • 24/7 Crisis Line: 1-800-909-8336
Violence Free Minnesota (VFM) ^{AKA the Coalition for Battered Women (MCBW}) Office and Service Hours: N/A
A membership organization, with 90 member programs located throughout Minnesota with a strong history of effectively carrying out programming that advances women's safety and security.
• Office Number: 651-646-6177 or 1-800-289-6177 • 24/7 Helpline: 1-866-223-1111

Services for Victims/Survivors of Exploitation/Trafficking/Prostitution

Program for Aid to Victims of Sexual Assault (PAVSA) Office and Service Hours: Monday - Friday 8:30AM - 4:30PM
PAVSA’s Trafficking Program provides supportive services and case management to victims/survivors of sexual exploitation and sex trafficking including crisis services, support groups, counseling, and legal advocacy.
• Office Number: 218-726-1931
Breaking Free (St. Paul) Office and Service Hours: N/A
Breaking Free provides advocacy, direct services, housing, and education to women escaping systems of prostitution and sexual exploitation.
• Office Number: 651-645-6557
Life House (Sol House) Office and Service Hours: Monday - Friday 11:00am - 6:00pm
Sol House, a program of Life House, is a 24hr supportive staffed house for up to 6 youth ages 15-20 who have experienced commercial sexual exploitation.
• Office Number: 218-722-7431 (For Sol House, dial ext. 113)

Homeless Services

United Way Office and Service Hours: N/A
Offers free and confidential information about a wide range of health and human services including basic needs, health care, income support and employment, individual and family life, mental health, and criminal justice.
• St. Cloud Office Number: 320-252-0227 • Central Minnesota Number: 211
Life House Youth Center
Life House provides homeless and street youth ages 14-24 with unconditional support, transitional housing, and a safe alternative to the streets.
• Office Number: 218-722-7431
Renaissance Teen Transitional Housing LSS/ Street Outreach
The LSS Renaissance program provides supportive housing in a shared living environment for homeless youth ages 16-21.
• Office Number: 218-723-8052
Spirit Valley Young Mother’s Program
YWCA’s Spirit Valley Young Mother’s program provides supportive housing to young mothers (ages 16-21) and their infants including services such as advocates to help with access to medical care, education, employment and childcare assistance. Other services include case management, parenting classes, money management, self-esteem enhancement, life skills and homework assistance.
• Office Number: 218-722-7425 ext. 116
Damiano Center
Provides hygiene kits, community kitchen, free store, free phones, mailboxes for folks experiencing homelessness, etc.
• Office Number: 218-722-8708
MN Assistance Council for Veterans
Provides assistance to veterans that are experiencing homeless or other life crises.
• Office Number: 218-722-8763

Emergency Childcare

LSS Crisis Nursery
Temporary emergency care of children ages 0-12 for up to 3 days (and nights).
• Office Number: 218-302-6879

Culturally Specific Services

Communidades Latinas Unidas en Servicio (CLUES) Office and Service Hours: Monday - Friday 8:30am - 5:30pm
Provides programs and services to connect Latino families to resources, skills, institutions and systems and create an environment for people to be engaged and empowered.
Minneapolis Office Number: 612-746-3500
St. Paul Office Number: 651-379-4200
Email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
Casa de Esperanza Office and Service Hours: Monday - Friday 8:00am - 5:00pm
Based in St. Paul, MN, national resource center for Latinas and leader in the domestic violence movement. Offers family advocacy and shelter services. Services offered in English and Spanish.
• Office Number: 651-646-5553 • 24 Hour Crisis Line 651-722-1611
Minnesota Indian Women's Sexual Assault Coalition (MIWSAC) Office and Service Hours: N/A
One of 22 Tribal Coalitions around the country formed to address sexual assault and domestic violence in American Indian Communities, focusing specifically on ending and preventing sexual violence.
• Office Number: 651-646-4800 or 1-877-995-4800 • STRONGHEARTS Native Helpline: 1-844-762-8483
The Steve Fund-Crisis Text Line for People of Color Office and Service Hours: N/A
The Steve Fund, through its partnership with the Crisis Text Line, promotes text messaging as a means to improve critically needed access for young people of color to crisis counseling.LGBTQ+ Services
• Crisis Line: Text STEVE to 741741 • Email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
American Indian Community Housing Organization Office and Service Hours: Monday - Friday 10:00am - 5:00pm
AICHO’s operating philosophy is that every American Indian woman and child deserves to live in a safe, non-threatening environment and should be treated with dignity and respect. Runs Dabinoo’Igan Domestic Violence Shelter, transitional housing program, Giiwe Project – social services, and support and safe housing.
• Office Number: 218-722-7225
Fond du Lac Social Services Office and Service Hours: Monday - Friday 8:00am - 4:30pm
Provides social service programs that are culturally sensitive and responsive to the values of Indiginous clients.
• Social Services Main Line: 218-878-2145 • Domestic Violence Crisis Line: 218-348-1817
ASCEND - Hmong American Partnership (HAP) Office and Service Hours: Monday - Friday 8:30am - 5:00pm
Works with victims and at-risk youth to address the severe harm caused by exploitation and move them towards recovery and independence.
• Office Number: 651-495-9160 • Email for Lead Youth Advocate: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])

LGBTQ+ Resources

The Trevor Project Office and Service Hours: N/A
The Trevor Project offers a 24/7 crisis line to offer support to LBGTQ young people.
• Office Number: 212-695-8650 • 24/7 Crisis Line: 1-866-488-7386
Trans Lifeline Office and Service Hours: N/A
Trans Lifeline is a hotline staffed by transgender for transgender people welcoming the calls of any transgender person in need/experiencing crisis.
• 24 Hour Crisis Line 877-565-8860
LGBT National Help Center Office and Service Hours: N/A
LGBT National Help Center is a free and confidential peer-support resource that can also help find local resources available for LGBTQ+ folks.
• National Helpline: 888-843-4564
• Report Violence Online: Click here
Anti-Violence Project (AVP) Office and Service Hours: N/A
LGBTQ+ and gender non-conforming survivors of violence who are experiencing trauma as a result of the current political climate are encouraged to contact this number.
• 24 Hour Crisis Line: 212-714-1141

Legal Services/Reporting Abuse

For Children:
Child Protective Services
To report concerns about child abuse, neglect, or sexual abuse, contact the county or reservation where the child lives during business hours. If the child is at immediate risk of harm, please contact your local law enforcement agency or dial 911.
Minnesota Department of Human Services: 651-431-4661 Hennepin County Family Services: 612-348-3552 Ramsey County Human Services: 651-266-4500 For more county contact information: Click here
For Vulnerable Adults:
Minnesota Adult Abuse Reporting Center (MAARC)
MAARC should be contact if there suspected neglect, physical or sexual abuse, or maltreatment of a vulnerable adult by their caregiver.
• Office Number: 844-880-1574
For Sexual/Domestic Violence and all other crimes:
^{I encourage you to contact any of the above resources that help guide through the legal systems before connecting with these resources. It can be hard to do it alone and there are resources to help you through this.}
University of Minnesota Police Department
• 612-624-2677 • [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) • 511 Washington Ave. SEMinneapolis, MN 55455
St. Paul Police Department
• 651-291-1111 • [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) • 367 Grove StreetSt. Paul, MN 55101
Minneapolis Police Department - Special Crimes Investigations Division (SCID)
• 612-673-2941 • 350 South 5th Street, Room 130, Minneapolis, MN 55415
Ramsey County Sheriff's Department
• 651-767-0640 • 425 Grove Street Saint Paul, MN 55101

Tools and Resources for Self/Friends/Family

UMN Student Counseling Services (Self Help)
The Self Help page on the SCS website provides information and numerous resources such as websites, apps, online screenings, and listed hotlines to help you with your mental health.
• For the Self Help website: Click here
[email protected]
A well-being portal for University of Minnesota students offering tools, dynamic content, and resources built to align with on-campus health and wellness programs and resources. The platform is highly personalized and will help UMN students find the campus and community content and resources tailored to their individual needs and personal goals.
Minnesota Department of Health Sexual Violence Prevention Program (MDH)
Helps people and organizations identify effective ways to prevent sexual violence.
Sexual Violence Center (How Can I Help My Loved One or Friend?)
Provides information to friends/family on how to help support victims and survivors of violence in their lives.
MNCASA Sexual Violence Prevention
Has a prevention team at MNCASA that offers technical assistance, training, resources, networking, and more on the primary prevention of sexual violence.
• For more resources and tools, please visit the MNCASA website https://mncasa.org/tools/

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In light of the recent posts sharing their stories and experiences, I wanted to create a list of resources for students and their loved ones to hopefully get connected and find support through whatever it is they are going through.
I am a volunteer advocate with PAVSA, so some of these resources may be physically located in Northern Minnesota, but I made sure to include local and remote resources as well.
Feel free to contact me with questions or to share some information and I will update this post if I find any other resources.
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Hi! I have tried to find looking for this person I wanna spend the rest of my life with for a long time and still not getting any, so I am trying this again and hopefully it will work. I had a relationship before but it ended up ugly and personally, I wouldn’t want that to happen since, look, we’re getting older and dating after 25 especially if you only had one relationship your entire life is hard.
My name is Trish and I work in a call center hence why I am used in different timezones. I am chubby so expect body fats and stretch marks and what not. I crochet most of the time when I’m not working (or when I’m working too) but I reply fast! I graduated Pharmacy but working in where I’m at now is probably one of the best things that happened in my adult life. I may rant about it but hey, no work is perfect. I live with my family and we own a dog named Chewie. I am a mental health advocate, considering I am diagnosed with depression.
I love watching WWE, binge watching series (last was Supernatural and I am still hung up on the show, I haven’t started one again in 3 months) and loves true crime documentaries. An ideal date would be, well, coffee date in a fine afternoon where we can stroll in museums after, go to yarn shops and watch my facial expression change every time bc I heard it’s funny and gaze on the night sky. Cliche, I know.
I like going to concerts of artists or bands I really like, but I am a huge home body. I like staying in and just chill.
Who am I looking for? Someone I can connect to mentally and emotionally. I really wanna have a long term chat mate and hopefully it leads to something good! If you’re just gonna ghost me after 3 days, don’t bother sending messages.

Just wanted to spread a little positivity to those who feel like giving up because they've failed or they graduated so long ago. I graduated in May of 2018 and I'd say I was an average student grade-wise throughout nursing school but I was overwhelmed after graduating and decided to take a "break." This break then led to life happening: getting married, moving across the country, deciding to take my NCLEX on a whim 8 months after graduating with only having done MAYBE 60 questions max on UWorld thinking "I got this!"- I in fact did not "have this" and failed in about 189 questions. I convinced myself this was just a fluke and scheduled to retake it for the second time as soon as the 45 days passed. I started studying again, did more UWorld questions, was studying Saunders and had even signed up for the Kaplan review, but life happened once again and I was thrown a curveball in the form of a divorce. I spiraled into a depression but chose not to reschedule my exam and this time: I failed in 75. I moved back home and tabled nursing as I had to take care of myself and my mental health. The pandemic happened, went back into hospitality as this was what I knew and was even advancing career wise in my field. Yet I woke up one day and realized that while I was good at what I was doing, it wasn't the career I wanted and with support from my family & boyfriend- I quit my job in November of 2022 and began the process of getting my ATT again.
​
How I did it:
I began my journey studying in December by going to the library 5 days a week for 8 hours at a time. That first month I focused on reading Saunders Comprehensive review on the subjects I downright could not remember while I waited for my state to get back to me about my ATT. By early January when I was finally able to schedule my NCLEX and I knew I wanted to avoid the Next Gen so I scheduled for mid March in another city. At this point I stopped reading the Saunders book and found the Mark Klimex's audios and someones 91 pages of notes (whoever you are, THANK YOU.) I started every morning at the library by doing 60 UWorld questions and then STUDYING the shit out of the rationale, as in not moving on until I understood the "why" (by the end I filled an entire notebook on just UWorld notes.) Afterwards I'd take a 45 minute lunch outside and go right back inside to listen to one Klimex audio a day and follow along with the notes I printed and add my own alongside. When I finished all 12 audios I turned my second half of studying into watching all of Simple Nursings pharmacology videos and taking notes on each one as well. These are the notes I would read every night before bed. I built good testing habits and saw my UWorld scores go from below average in the 30's-40's to maintaining above average in the mid 60's and higher. A week and half before my test I had finished the entire UWorld question bank. I took this time to go over ALL my notes but also I slowed down on my 5-6 days at the library and truly relaxed- the weekend prior I went on a 2 night vacation and was just going over my notes for about 4ish hours a day. I drove to the city I'd be testing at the day prior to my NCLEX and re-listened to Klimex's lecture 12.
​
On the day of my exam I wasn't nervous, I didn't feel like I was going to throw up like I did the other two times. I walked into the testing center with a game plan: you're sitting for all 145 questions- no expectations, take your time and read EVERY question and answer choice, use the white board provided to "cross out" answer options, take a break every 40 questions, eat your snacks and just breathe. When I took my break at 40 questions I remember already being over an hour into the exam but I took my time to use the bathroom, eat some snacks I brought and just give myself words of affirmation because I was starting to internally freak out over the fact that the test felt too easy so far. I sat back down and when I saw question 70 I told myself "10 more and you can go eat another snack again!" You can imagine my face when it shut off at 75. Think Pikachu surprise face. I didn't let myself freak out because I truly felt like I KNEW what I was answering. Went out to dinner with some family in town that night and couldn't resist doing the Pearson Vue trick: I GOT THE GOOD POP-UP. I didn't want to get my hopes too high and was still waiting the 48 hours for the quick results. Turns out my boyfriend was looking for my name on my states BON and by 1PM the next day (24 hours after my test) my license was posted!
​
I officially passed 13 days ago, and received my license in the mail on Thursday and it still feels surreal. If you've read this far, I just want to say thank you and please believe in yourself, you WILL pass. One day at a time. There were days that I'd cut my studying short because I was overwhelmed but I learned it's about continuing to pick yourself up and believing in yourself, leaning on those who are there for you.
​
TL;DR: Graduated in May of 2018, life happened, took the NCLEX twice in 2019- failed both times. Fast forward 4ish years and realized I wasn't happy in my career field. Quit my job, studied full time, and passed my NCLEX in 75 question on March 15th. If you really want something, you CAN do it.

Short background info: I'm 19M with no job, no driver's license, and am not in college, due to the fact that I keep ending up in these situations, and I've lost all trust for any system that's supposed to help me.
The first instance of this phenomenon really happening was when I was 17 and in my senior semester of high school (I was in online school and had voluntarily opted to graduate a semester early as I thought it would be helpful). It proved more difficult than I had anticipated, but not for reasons you would initially think. Not only did the school decide to TRIPLE the amount of written assignments that year for everyone, but my town specifically was also having near-weekly power outages that just so happened to occur during this period of time, and caused me to miss a whole bunch of work, significantly impacting my grades. The cherry on top was that, at the end of the semester, the testing center for the ACT/SAT was too far of a drive, and iirc my family was having issues with our car anyway, so I never got to take either. I did manage to scrape by, barely graduating with all C's for the semester. However, my options for college have been significantly limited forever, due to this convoluted situation of external factors.
The next instance of this happening has to do with my first (and only) semester of college. It was an online school with a 100% acceptance rate. I was studying accounting but it ended up being confusing and had less to do with math (which I enjoyed) than I had thought. Still, I persisted and was on track to do fine for the semester. That is until my family decided to move across the country on a 2-week-long road trip, and I had no choice but to go with them as I live with them. Due to being on the road all day and only staying at hotels at night, I had practically no internet access once again. It was kinda like my high school situation all over again, but for a different reason. When I finally got internet access again at the new house, I realized I had missed pretty much the most important work of the semester, and all my A's and B's had turned into F's. The semester was almost over too, leaving me no time to realistically raise my grades enough to pass, so I sucked it up and failed and never went back. Almost a whole semester worth of college work for nothing, leaving me back at square one, just older.
The third, most recent, and arguably most tragic instance of this happening just happened last year. I can't really go into much detail regarding the opportunity that was affected, but I can share what happened to me individually. Basically, I was in a really rare but cool opportunity right up my alley that lasted a few months and would benefit me forever. For the first half, it was going smoothly. I was also just learning to drive and had just scheduled my road test. However, Hurricane Ian eventually decided to strike and take out the power pretty much the day before my road test and also interfere with said opportunity. Simultaneously, I started experiencing many strange health issues. Over the next few weeks they got worse. To put a long story short, eventually I couldn't fall asleep at all, was having seizures (or at least something similar), was misdiagnosed with schizophrenia, and put in a mental ward for 10 days. I eventually came back to normal, but I strongly believe I was misdiagnosed and still haven't received closure or a real second opinion. You can find more about this in my post history. My best guess is that I had a blood clot in my brain/head, because immediately after one of the seizures, I felt a crack in the back of my head which triggered a really bad nosebleed, and after that I gradually started getting better. This seizure also happened WHILE in the mental hospital and they said I was FAKING all of it. They actually kept me longer because I "faked" that seizure (When I didn't, it was real. Maybe it wasn't a seizure, but whatever it was, it was similar and wasn't fun). I'm still really mad about that, because I probably could have died from their negligence had it been something worse. Anyways, the opportunity I was in just kept going on without me because there were other people in it, but it was pretty much over by the time I got out, which felt really isolating and basically ruined what was left of it for me specifically.
But yeah, to sum up, every time I think I'm doing something to move forward with my life, something else always comes along and interferes to the point of sabotage. I'm sick of this happening and have made no further efforts to improve my life anymore because something stupid always happens that sets me back to where I began. I don't know what to do anymore. I'm sick of mooching off my parents and feeling embarrassingly inferior and increasingly incompetent compared to my fellow young adults, but it's still better than going through these types of experiences repeatedly and wasting my time.

Long time lurker and y’all’s irl fan :)
I’m 28 and a SW working in the hospital setting. I started just before COVID and have worked everywhere in a large level 1 trauma center, from various inpatient units to ED. The whole time I’ve worked the RN case managers alongside me have made more for the same job, while they require a bachelors and I had to get a masters.
This job is just not what was portrayed in school. I feel jaded. I feel like I don’t actually help anyone and the whole system is just suffering. But I read a lot here and I figure a lot of you feel the same way.
Regardless, I’m fascinated by the medical aspect of nursing. I love learning about different disease processes and listening to the doctors/nurses. I’ve cared for family members before and after going into social work and know that that aspect does not faze me. Picc line care, dressings, toileting, bathing, etc— I’ve done all of that at home for family and with home health/hospice assistance.
I’ve been thinking about returning to school for nursing. It’s possible personally, but also not ideal financially.
I’m just afraid of being similarly jaded afterwards. Right now I talk to people about coping with their chronic diseases, substance use, domestic violence, etc. I get frustrated when none of it seems to change anything. I think nursing education will be more interesting. But then I look at our diabetic pts coming in in DKA every month, copd patients I set up with oxygen and nebs that won’t stop smoking, etc. and worry nursing won’t change anything either :,)
I guess what I’m saying is, I’m burnt out and see a job I’m interested in, but I see all of them burnt out too. On the other hand, the nurse case managers that have my job make more doing it, so that’s a fallback. Aaaaand I know social workers who became nurses but not the other way around.
Just looking for thoughts/opinions? I’m also trying to find out how easy it is to just leave social work/healthcare completely and go into tech or something lol. But looking at friends in those types of fields, it is less fulfilling, blah blah.

tl;dr: sorry for the vent, I'm just feeling lost. Does anyone have any advice on how to navigate the health care industry and find the appropriate medical care I require? Urgent care centers aren't exactly there for monitoring and medicating mental health, etc.
How do you even find a family doctor? .. and if that isn't an option, how do you go about obtaining medication that you would normally need to continuously see a doctor for?
I can't exactly walk into an urgent care center and talk to some random doctor and ask for anxiety/depression meds without them understanding my medical history.. or can I? I legitimately have no idea.. it just doesn't seem like that's something that could be done, and if it is, I don't know if I would trust a complete stranger who doesn't know my history, and doesn't specialize in anything specific, to start prescribing me medication. Beyond mental health, I also need to see a doctor for other reasons that I would rather not publicize.
Does anyone have any advice, or could point me in the right direction?
I'm just tired of the state of medical care in this country, I'm tired of looking for a family doctor, I'm tired of being sick and hurting and never knowing what's wrong with me, and mostly, I'm tired of 8 - 10 hour long ER visits only to be sent home because they either a) would need to see me regularly, or b) don't specialize in the kind of medical care I need, or both.
I'm not going in for a broken arm or something simple like that, I need to see a doctor about my brain chemistry and hormonal fuckery and I'm tired of feeling helpless when it comes to my own physical and mental health. I'm doing everything in my power that I can do to fix things/cope on my end, but I really need to see a professional.

I have bachelors degree in Agriculture and Natural Resource Management and moved to CO where I got a masters degree in Bioagricultral Sciences and Pest Management AKA Entomology. Upon graduating my graduate committee asked me what I wanted to do career wise, and I told them "Commercial Insect Production/Insect Farming" interested me, but ultimately I wanted to do something good for people and the environment They told me that was unsustainable (the insect farming part) and that I should keep my options open.
Upon graduating I immediately became an exterminator because other work was scarce and there were lots of openings. I hated it. It was the exact opposite of what I wanted to do, but I needed the money. It wasn't worth though, it was soul crushing, and I eventually started having some bad reactions to the chemicals we were using. I phased out of that and went into wildlife management. Once again, I hated it. I basically spent 2.5 years, 1 year with a county government, 1.5 with a private company gassing prairie dogs. The work was physically draining, the pay/benefits were shit, and once again, it was soul crushing. The work was also seasonal which means there anywhere from 4-5 month long breaks where I wasn't getting paid. It wasn't anywhere near what I wanted to do with my life.
Eventually I decided I was going to buckle-down and seriously pursue a career in insect farming/breeding. I polished my resume and cover letter, and got super active on LinkdIn. Then I connected with a guy who was part of an Insect Consulting group (for farms, zoos, etc.) and he gave me great advice! Advice which eventually led me to an insect farm where I thought was going to pursue my "dream job/career". I sat down with the business owner (We'll call them owner 1, because there co-owners). Owner 1 was impressed with my education, my previous experience and overall knowledge. They invited me to take the position of "Insect Farm Manager". They told me they had set up cricket farms before, had an algorithm for tracking insect growth and breeding, and that they had a "system" in place to get everything set-up successfully. After some negotiations I we agreed on a $44k a year salary with no benefits. This is ridiculously low for a 30 year old with a masters degree living in CO, but it was more than I had ever earned in my life, so I accepted.
Things almost immediately began to not go so well. Upon arriving co-owner 1 & 2 were still debating on how to set up the cages (we did all our cricket breeding in cages inside of a cargo-container). There was also no power. They attempted to set up their own solar panels, but couldn't get them to work, so we relied on a gas powered generator to power our entire operation for the first 2 months. Of course I was the one that drove back and forth buying gasoline. There wasn't a system set-up for getting our own water, so I was the one that drove back and forth filling 5gallon water jugs at Walmart. In addition, the algorithim they had didn't work. They "fixed it" AT LEAST once a month the entire time I was there and upon leaving it still wasn't working right. Needless to say the "system" wasn't working. When I brought up some of these concerns I was ignored by owner 1, even though owner 2 (who was our engineer, handy-man, and one of the financial backers) agreed with me.
Despite being told I was being hired partially for consultations reasons my advice was ignored. Upon noticing the floors in our breeding area were filthy and covered in debris I encouraged everyone to sweep and mop and that we should get everything off the ground that we can. Despite the fact that owner 2 agreed with me, owner 1 told me, more than once they didn't sweep or mop the floors on site because they "Didn't feel like it" and didn't see any possible way to move things off the ground. Less than a month later we developed an issue with dermestid beetles, that became so out of hand they started to breed in the same cages we kept our crickets. I noticed when I walked into the container in the morning (sometimes owner 1 would stop by in the evening to do some on-site work) that some of the cage fronts were left slightly askew, allowing adult crickets to escape. I suggested we keep a better eye on the fronts, but was simply told by owner 1 "Accidents happen sometimes". And crickets continued to escape. This is bad, because the adult crickets would break into the hatchery room and start devouring babies and eggs. I recommended we place a "cricket trap" in there to catch adults, but was told both that it wouldn't work and there wasn't enough room. I placed a trap in there anyway and the amount of adults feeding on eggs/hatchlings dropped by 38% in the first month. I also noticed several things on-site that could lead to rodent issues. I was ignored and sure enough we had multiple mice living in the same cargo-container we kept our food supply in, exposing it to rodent feces. I expressed all of this to owner 1, who ignored me, but owner 2 listened, agreed and even tried to talk with owner 1.
Then the new year started and things got worse. We were supposed to start making sales in January. Apparently we had multiple business "locked in". But we didn't make a single sale in January or February. The Cricket farm was owned by a larger conglomerate run by some "shady-boomer" (owner 1's description, not mine). She was waiting on this shady boomer to send a sleezy salesmen (owner 1's description, not mine) to come an help us make sales. As we continued to not make sales and the sleezy salesmen hadn't shown up, both owner 2 and myself offered to help with sales, but owner 1 refused our help. After going back and forth like this for a while I expressed all my concerns to owner 2 who said he's talk with owner 1. Owner 1 intentionally avoided talking to owner two for 2 weeks, comply because they didn't want to have the talk. When they finally did have the talk it seemed like they were both on the same page, and like things were going to be fine. They weren't.
About two week ago owner 1 shows up on the job and says they need to talk to me. Apparently the business was "bleeding money" and they couldn't afford to keep me on salaried or full time. But they MIGHT be able to give me 8 hours a week at $16 an hour. They did this with no warning or notice.
I was devastated. I spent the next three days in bed switching between depression episodes and anxiety attacks. And now here I am. I gave everything to this business.
This is the first job where I've ever gone "above and beyond". I constantly engaged in tasks not listed in my contract including but not limited running errands, the installation of flooring, researching products to use one site, researching potential buyers, reading and consolidating information (off the clock) from scientific articles to use on-site, and I even developed a commerically viable breeding program for mealworms FROM THE GROUND UP, BY MYSELF (off the clock).
My car was old and I spent the last bit of mileage in it fetching gasoline, water, and other supplies for the farm. It literally started making it's death rattle on a Friday. The next day I found out it was unsafe to drive and basically dead. Thankfully my gfs and my schedules lined up just right to where I could use her car. When I told owner 1 she didn't want gas-cans in her car we "suddenly" had a fix for our power issues the next day. Upon telling one of the owners I expected to be paid (I then sent the money to my gf) for mileage picking up water. Within 5 business days we suddenly had our own water system set up. Now I don't have a car, and they didn't pay me enough/keep me on enough to save for another one and now I'm stuck in a situations where I need a car, can't afford one, and don't have money coming in.
During the holidays I hurt my back REALY bad. So bad my gf had to help me us the bathroom, dress me, get food etc. I needed more time to recover but owner 1 said they REALLY needed me on-site after I had taken one week off to heal from a BACK INJURY. Despite being in excruciating pain, I went back to work. My back still hasn't fully recovered. I wasn't given health insurance and I wasn't paid enough to see a doctor out of pocket. In addition to this I was diagnosed with clinical depression and anxiety roughly 15 years ago and It's gotten worse over the past few years. Once again, I wasn't provided health insurance or paid enough to see a therapist out of pocket.
I've fucked myself even further because when my family and friends of the family told me that if I "Worked hard, went to college, and stayed out of trouble with the law" that everything would simply "work out" for me, and I was stupid enough to believe them. Now I'm 31, in more debt than I can ever pay off, I have no useful skills (handyman/automotive stuff, tech skills, business stuff, etc), I've had a new job almost every year since graduating( none of which have payed well enough to survive), no savings/retirement, no car, a bad back, depression and anxiety, and honestly, no hope. I have no hope for the future, either my own or the worlds.
Since losing my job I've been doing my best to reach out and apply for jobs. All I've gotten so far is silence, rejection, and some part-time farm work that won't schedule an interview until they've actually spoken to 3 different references (apparently one of my VERY FEW professional references has gone non-responsive), which seems weird for part-time farm work, I don't think anyone actually bothered to ever call my references. I've even reached out to government jobs, even though I almost always receive no response or get rejected from them.
In September inflation hit which made my salary not worth as much. In October my car died. In November I caught covid (despite being vaxxed and boosted), In December I hurt my back. In January I caught the stomach flu. In February I found out other people in similar positions, background, and experience were earning 15-30% more than I was...after taxes, health, vision, and dental. I've taken so many "L's" over the past 6 months, I feel utterly defeated.
I only have three real talents (this isn't just me, these are things others have expressed out loud): I' good with animals, I'm decent at writing, and apparently I give good spiritual (Neopagan) advice. There's no way to make a living with those skills. No on cares about any of those things, at least, not enough to pay for rent, savings, etc. I'm 100% useless. I'm half tempted to just give up.
But I'm here to try and avoid that. I need advice on, well, finding a path since what I thought would be my career blew up in my face. I don't have any real passions any more, and the things I am passionate about don't matter in the real world. There no living to be made in attempting to do something that's good for the earth and for people. How is someone with useless degrees, no skills, and a failing body and mind supposed to make a living? How do I find my path? Is there even a path for me? Honestly, I'm lost, scared, and don't really know what else to do.
Sorry for the novel.
PS- Yes, I'm aware I should see a therapist. Unless you're willing to cover the entire cost for treatment don't bother bringing it up, because I can't afford it.

Apologies, as I know this will be a long post. I know it’s common for MS and mental health issues to go hand in hand. I’m sure it’s strongly related to inflammation, and lesions on the brain. However, I’m really feeling like I’m on a slippery slope lately, and I’m scared there’s no coming back.
Although I was diagnosed with MS last spring, I still consider myself in diagnosis limbo. I chose to seek multiple opinions from neuros. So far I have had one neuro say I definitely have MS, one say he didn’t think I do, and the third doctor who I’m sticking with basically gave me a very through and scientific explanation, that equates to a maybe. He said I have a white matter disease that’s causing demyelination and lesions, but he’s just not sure it’s MS yet. He took me on as a patient at Mellen Center through Cleveland Clinic, and gave me the option to start a DMT or wait and see what the next MRIs show. I chose to forego a DMT for the time being, and I’m getting my next round of MRIs next month. The reason I chose to forego a DMT is related to my severe health anxiety, as the thought of being immune compromised in anyway terrifies me. I’m also very scared of being misdiagnosed, for obvious reasons.
Since my symptoms started, by far the worst things I’ve dealt with have been cognitive or mental health related. I’ve always suffered from depression, but have also gone through periods of severe OCD, panic, anxiety and phobias in the past. All of these are currently raging unchecked with a vengeance and getting worse steadily. I’m on Klonopin as a rescue med, which is a lifesaver, and I don’t think I would still be on this earth if I didn’t have it…but I know it’s only a bandaid. I’ve reacted VERY poorly to Paxil in the past and was on Wellbutrin for years, but felt it made me manic. (I was diagnosed as bipolar II while on a high dose) I’m also trying to find a therapist, but have struck out with several so far.
I’m feeling hopeless and like there’s no chance that any of this will ever improve. I’m held captive by crippling panic attacks, OCD, intrusive and disorganized thoughts, severe health anxiety, phobias, cog fog, severe depersonalization and mood swings. I’m also going through the hell on earth that is peri-menopause, which I know is a huge contributing factor.
I’ve tried every mood supplement and special diet that exists, but nothing makes a significant difference.
Now to the point of my rambling- I’m wondering if anyone here knows of any antidepressants or mood stabilizer meds that are known for inducing neurogenesis, reducing brain inflammation and helping with anxiety, OCD, phobias AND depression? (Yea I know that’s asking a lot) I do plan on talking with my neuro about it at our next visit, but I know that’s not his specialty. I’ve tried to research on my on but end up getting confounded by medical journals and studies that I can’t make heads or tails of.
I often think about how nice it would be to just peacefully slip away in my sleep, but I would never do that to my family, and suicide is against my personal beliefs. Not to mention that my family wouldn’t get my life insurance payout if I did that. I’m just so exhausted of the physical symptoms that I deal with and also constantly feeling like my mental health is getting worse. At the same time, I’m also so scared to try psychiatric meds again because of such poor experiences in the past. I figured there may be some experienced MSers in this group who have gone through something similar and may have advice.
If you’ve made it to the end of my post, thank you for reading.

https://www.budget.canada.ca/2023/report-rapport/toc-tdm-en.html
Groceries:

For 11 million low- and modest-income Canadians and families, the Grocery Rebate will provide eligible couples with two children with up to an extra $467; single Canadians without children with up to an extra $234; and seniors with an extra $225 on average. This will be delivered through the Goods and Services Tax Credit (GST Credit) mechanism

Junk fees:

Budget 2023 announces the government's intention to work with regulatory agencies, provinces, and territories to reduce junk fees for Canadians. This could include higher telecom roaming charges, event and concert fees, excessive baggage fees, and unjustified shipping and freight fees.

Predatory lending:

Budget 2023 announces the federal government's intention to introduce changes to the Criminal Code to lower the criminal rate of interest from the equivalent of 47 per cent APR to 35 per cent APR, and to launch consultations on whether the criminal rate of interest should be further reduced.

Lowered CC transaction fees for small businesses:

In Budget 2023, the government is announcing that it has secured commitments from Visa and Mastercard to lower fees for small businesses, while also protecting reward points for Canadian consumers offered by Canada's large banks.

Right to repair:

Budget 2023 announces that the government will work to implement a right to repair, with the aim of introducing a targeted framework for home appliances and electronics in 2024

Common chargers for devices:

Budget 2023 announces that the federal government will work with international partners and other stakeholders to explore implementing a standard charging port in Canada, with the aim of lowering costs for Canadians and reducing electronic waste.

Students:

Budget 2023 proposes to provide $813.6 million in 2023-24 to enhance student financial assistance for the school year starting August 1, 2023. This includes: Increasing Canada Student Grants by 40 per cent—providing up to $4,200 for full-time students. Raising the interest-free Canada Student Loan limit from $210 to $300 per week of study. Waiving the requirement for mature students, aged 22 years or older, to undergo credit screening in order to qualify for federal student grants and loans for the first time. This will allow up to 1,000 additional students to benefit from federal aid in the coming year.
Budget 2023 proposes to increase limits on certain RESP withdrawals from $5,000 to $8,000 for full-time students, and from $2,500 to $4,000 for part-time students.

Mortgages:

The federal government, through the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, is publishing a guideline to protect Canadians with mortgages who are facing exceptional circumstances. Specifically, the government is taking steps to protect Canadians and ensure that federally regulated financial institutions provide Canadians with fair and equitable access to relief measures that are appropriate for the circumstances they are facing, including by extending amortizations, adjusting payment schedules, or authorizing lump-sum payments. Existing mortgage regulations may also allow lenders to provide a temporary mortgage amortization extension—even past 25 years.

Healthcare
New dental care plan:

Budget 2023 proposes to provide $13.0 billion over five years, starting in 2023-24, and $4.4 billion ongoing to Health Canada to implement the Canadian Dental Care Plan. The plan will provide dental coverage for uninsured Canadians with annual family income of less than $90,000, with no co-pays for those with family incomes under $70,000. The plan would begin providing coverage by the end of 2023 and will be administered by Health Canada, with support from a third-party benefits administrator. Details on eligible coverage will be released later this year.

Dunno if y'all will like this, or if it will even remain up, but a bit of a DISCLAIMER; The first chapter is more akin to a prologue than an actual part of a story, but it is required for the story to make sense, as the story needs a lot of world building and explanation for everything to work out, and unless y'all wanna be confused for the next three chapters, then I suggest you read, unless you aren't interested of course. Oh yeah, it was so long that I needed to post the first chapter in multiple parts, so get comfy, and prepare to read almost forty pages in total.
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Chapter One - Part One
Extremely Lengthy Exposition
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He didn’t know how to describe it.
A sort of lucid state in which he was only partially aware of who and what he was? Maybe. A condition of some sort of brain death, it being a result of gazing upon an entity far too complex for the human mind to ever even dream of conceiving? Perhaps. Or maybe it was a sign. A sign from whatever gods or higher beings that were our forefathers, our creators. The very things that created the universe, and all others as we know it. Perhaps it was a sign from Them, of his ascension, his final evolution into a being so superior, that to others, he could be considered a god himself. Yes, that was right. He could feel it, the power. Not in a way of touching something with a hand, but in a more metaphysical way, one far better than the crude grasping tools that humanity has had to work with for far too long.
It was so close, the innate understanding that was intrinsically tied into the human genome from eons ago, the inheritance he was meant to receive, what he DESERVED to receive, was right there. All he had to do was reach out, and touch it. He did just that, his mental probes extending outwards towards it, to claim what was rightfully his. He closed his fingers around it, and-
“Jacob, wake up. The doctor is trying to say something to you.”
Or it could just all be a construct of his dying brain, one that was futilely trying to sort the things that he was experiencing into something that could be translated and read.
“Jacob?” His mother repeated, with a more stern note entering her voice.
“Oh uh, sorry. What were you trying to say?” Jacob leaned forward, clasping his hands together, placing his elbows on his knees and leaning on his arms.
“I was asking you how you’ve been feeling recently, as it does pertain to the conversation I am having with your parents.” The doctor smiled patiently, expertly hiding most of his probable frustration behind a veneer of placidity.
“Relatively well, though I have been having a good amount of headaches, considerably more than usual.” Jacob responded, plastering a nonchalant expression onto his face.
“And what about that little . . . episode you had a moment ago?” The doctor questioned, leaning forward expectantly.
“Oh yeah, that. I guess I just kinda zoned out there for a second, you know?” Jacob replied casually.
“Zoned out for over half an hour?” The doctor tilted his head.
“Yep.” Jacob wasn’t going to fall for the bait.
“Hmm.” The doctor leaned back. “Well, I'm fairly sure that ‘zoning out’ for over half an hour with absolutely no idea what's going on in the outside world isn’t exactly normal behavior typical for a boy of your age, Jacob. Did you perchance have any sort of feeling that you can’t explain, or something similar to an out of body experience? It could even just be similar to lucid dreaming.” The doctor appears to be very insistent, Jacob, why don’t you take care of him? You could be out of state within a day or tw-
“Well when you put it like that, sure.” Jacob decided that he would indeed play the doctor’s game.
“Hmm. Well Mrs. Pattine, you heard it from him. When we did our testing last week, we noticed extremely irregular brain patterns that would normally indicate extreme stress upon the brain. However, Jacob here seemed perfectly fine, aside from a rather annoying headache.”
“Now, I’m fairly sure that anybody could deduce that that type of behavior from the brain isn’t good at all. In fact, the tumor that we had diagnosed Jacob the same week, being practically the size of a peanut, has now doubled in size. In fact, the growth appears to be scaling upwards in terms of the growth rate. What was doubling in size per week, will quickly grow to quadrupling, and then quintupling. Soon, Jacob will have to undergo intense chemotherapy.”
Jacob’s mother did not seem placated, like what the doctor was trying to do, but in fact appalled.
“Why are you saying all this in front of him!? He’s just a child for damn sake!” Jacob's mother clutched Jacob tighter, much to his both amusement and frustration after she refused to let go.
“I’m sorry Mrs. Pattine, but all parties involved here have to know what’s at stake here, including young Jacob here.” The doctor, to his credit, did seem genuinely remorseful, yet not really backtracking enough to make an effective apology, more like creating a plausible justification for his actions.
Jacob didn’t really care either way. Well, he did care that he was probably going to die and was thankful that the doctor had decided to be blunt, but not caring about his mother’s rather extreme outburst in his supposed defense.
That had been the case as of late, not really caring about his loved ones. Well, he DID care, at least he thought he did, but why did they always have to be just, so, well, like that all the time? Jacob was rather exasperated from the whole ordeal, and plus, the doctor was talking again.
“-however, we have a solution to this problem of Jacob’s.” The doctor reached out to the briefcase on the table to his right, opening it. He then extracted what appeared to be a syringe filled with clear liquid.
“This is a prototype we, us being ANTI, have been working on for a long time. You might have learned what this is from various pop culture and media sources, but if you don’t, I’ll explain what it is now.” Without giving anybody in the room time to protest, he continued on.
“This is a syringe full of nanobots. Yes, honest-to-god, genuine nanobots. We’ve been working on these for a good amount of time, since around 2000, yet no significant headway had been made towards making a nanobot serum cost-effective enough to employ in more, liberal, uses.”
“However, when Russia annexed Crimea back in 2014, Congress decided that a viable threat was rising, and revived the program with a stimulant called cold hard cash. When another budget increase came with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it didn’t exactly hinder us, and a year later, we came up with the first effective prototype of nanotechnological biological cellular regeneration to date. And now, we're gonna give it to Jacob.”
Mrs. Pattine didn’t appear to care about all of the war stuff or fancy political words, only really catching onto the words of, “give it to Jacob” and responded accordingly.
“I don’t believe it. What's the catch?” Mrs. Pattine glared suspiciously at the doctor.
“No catch, just the requirement that we are given full liberty to experiment on the tumor in Jacob’s head, within legal bounds.” The doctor appears to be trying to brush over that fact, but Mrs. Pattine also catches onto the important bits.
“You want to experiment on my son!? That sounds like a pretty big catch to me!” Mrs. Pattine screeches in protest.
“It’ll be within full humane laws, nothing illegal, I promise you. In fact, we’ll give you even more incentive.” The doctor pauses, seemingly for dramatic effect.
“So, out with it!” Mrs. Pattine seems to be quite stressed, and most likely wants nothing more than to just go home already.
“We will give you a sum of thirty million dollars, with no tax put on it.” The doctor says plainly.
Mrs. Pattine doesn’t react for a moment, seemingly processing what she just heard.
“Th-th-thirty million dollars!?” Mrs. Pattine splutters in disbelief. “You can’t be serious!”
The doctor chuckles. “Oh but I am. We’ll place it directly into your bank account, as liquid assets would likely be hard to manage for you. It’ll even be covered by insurance.”
Mrs. Pattine clearly is still suspicious. “This is too good to be true.”
“I can assure you, Mrs. Pattine, it is not.”
She looks unsure as to whether or not to take the deal, and looks at Jacob.
“Go ahead.” Jacob shrugs, hoping to maybe NOT die.
Mrs. Pattine then gets up. “I need to go over this with my family.”
They accepted the deal.
* * *
Three days later, Jacob was inside a chamber packed with men and women in lab coats, all of them seeming to be doing something important. The room was about twenty feet in diameter and in height, circular, with a large ten-foot-high blast door being the only intentional access point that could be used to enter the chamber. A large secure industrial vent was inset into the ceiling, also covered with a steel mesh to prevent something from getting in, or perhaps out. In the center of it all was a large contraption, with many pipes, hoses, and wires protruding from various access ports around the machine. It all seemed a bit too militaristic for a minor cryo experiment, but what did he know?
On the front of the machine in the center of the room was a thick plastic cover that exposed the interior, the interior being a cavity about eight feet tall and two feet wide. It appeared to have been designed to allow a human to rest upright inside the machine, and rest comfortably to boot, utilizing a foam mold to mimic a bed. In fact, the little foam mold appears to be fitted to Jacob’s exact dimensions. Jacob, being the ever-curious fellow, inquired as to what the strange doohickey.
“So uh, what am I looking at here?” Jacob gestured to the machine in the center of the room.
“This is, for all intents and purposes, a cryo pod. It can effectively freeze a human being, preserving them for extended periods of time, without them growing or aging at all.” The doctor, who appeared to be in charge of this whole ordeal, answered him.
“And you’re putting me in there?” Jacob asked.
“Yes. We are hoping to learn more about that little tumor-that-isn’t-a-tumor in your head, as it's something that we haven’t ever seen before. Since the tumor is progressing at an alarmingly fast pace, and since we don’t want you to die, we will be placing you in this for a single year, on the dot. The freeze will stop the progression of the tumor, and the nanobots will keep you in top shape even if something goes wrong with the pod, and they will even combat the tumor, so you aren’t in any danger.” The doctor replied.
“Huh. And you’re gonna find some sort of miracle cure for the tumor while I’m on ice?” Jacob asked, wanting to get all of the essential information.
“Yes.” The doctor didn’t elaborate this time.
“Uh, cool. So we’re starting now? I was wondering why I was in this weird looking wetsuit thingy.” Jacob pulled at his sleeves, the tightness of them a little uncomfortable.
“Yes. Once the specs have been fully calibrated, we can place you in the pod, and you can say goodnight.” The doctor nodded to himself. “Yes, it should only be ten more minutes.”
* * *
Fifteen minutes later, a bit over schedule, everything was set up. Jacob was standing in front of the cryo pod, talking to one of the doctors.
“So I just step inside, right?” Jacob inquired.
“Correct you are. We’ll strap you up, run diagnostics, and then see you in t- a year.” The lady, Dr. Sophia Vasel by her nametag, appeared to have stopped herself from saying something was either a simple misspoken word, or something she wasn’t supposed to say. It didn’t really matter to Jacob, since you could just kill her, now and be done with it. It would be so easy, to ju-
“Alright, nice.” Jacob stepped up inside, a little stepladder conveniently set into the machine. He turned around and shifted a little, trying to get comfortable. Dr. Vasel and one other doctor began strapping him in, hooking little electrodes and wires up to him to do all sorts of technical mumbo jumbo. After a minute of attaching devices to him and making sure everything was in order, they began to run diagnostics to make sure everything electronic was working. After an agonizingly long ten minutes of affirming and reaffirming, the first doctor that he had met with walked up to the plastic clear door with a microphone in his hand.
“Can you hear me Jacob?” The doctor asked.
“Yeh.” Jacob replied lamely
“Uhm, OK, it seems like everything is alright on our side, so without further ado, I think we’ll be seeing you in a year.” The doctor nodded to his colleagues next to him, and they started to press buttons on the console. A loud alarm started blaring, and a hissing noise spread throughout the pod. Devices began to inject what was probably some sort of powerful anesthetic, considering he began feeling extremely drowsy a moment later.
The last thing he saw before he fell asleep was the plastic cover being coated in frost.
* * *
Three weeks after that, a government official of the program that had taken Jacob Pattine in for treatment and experimentation contacted the Pattine family to offer their condolences, as they had to inform them that due to a malfunction in the systems of the nanobots, Jacob Pattine had unfortunately died in testing, and that they hoped this won’t sour relations between them.
However, it did sour relations between them, as the subsequent lawsuit against them proved all too well. It had even progressed to a Supreme Court case called Pattine v Army Nanotechnological Initiative, which ended up with a seventy-two million dollar payment towards the Pattines, and a ruling that outlawed any and all with the use and/or experimentation on humans with nanotechnology, as it was deemed too dangerous to use on humans. A deep-dive into the records of the ANTI yielded many discoveries, the most notable of them being the many deaths of humans in the testing trials of the nanobots. This also led to the dissolution of the ANTI, and shaped the future of nanotechnology for years to come.
However, using nanobots for the use on humans didn’t stop there. In fact, some would say it thrived, just in a different way than imagined. Like many other creations that were found to be too radical or immoral for the majority of the populace, the CIA was the one to collect the scraps, and make it their own. By using their own funding to revive the unofficially named Nano-Cryo project, they resumed research, employing many of the original members of the infamous project, with the doctor being put back in charge of the currently unnamed project.
That left only Jacob to deal with. Luckily for him, Jacob wasn’t so disposable as some might believe, as certain conditions on his being made his potential quite desirable to some shadowy heads of certain organizations. This led to the CIA creating a cover story about the unfortunate death of the boy, which would allow them to both obtain the asset, and snip off the loose thread that was ANTI, killing two birds with one stone. They continued testing within CIA Black Site-046, which was located within the city known as New Jersey, which would later influence the name of the secretive project.
One more alteration would be made to the test. As Jacob had now been cut off from the outside world and was presumed dead, the CIA had no worry about public retribution, allowing them to extend his period in the cryo pod from one year to ten. At the end of the ten years, Jacob would be woken up from stasis, and testing would be enacted, with various procedures analyzing how his physiology had reacted to the tumor and the extended stay in cryostasis. The nanobots were there to ensure that Jacob didn’t die from the tumor, but also to make sure he didn’t die from the long periods of time spent sleeping. After twenty-four hours had passed, Jacob would be placed back within the cryo pod, and be woken up again when another ten years had passed, with this cycle repeating for the foreseeable future.
In the development of the cryostasis model, one thing had persisted throughout the trials. When the testers had been subjected to extended periods of time within stasis, once unfrozen, the brain would refuse to reactivate. No matter what measures were taken, the brain would simply not resume biological function, and the subject would be effectively dead. The leading theory on this was that the brain had been “dead” for so long, that it simply couldn’t remember that it was alive. This is the same reason why cavemen, even if perfectly preserved in ice, couldn’t be simply revived with a shock paddle or some adrenaline.
So, the nanobots were there to stimulate and keep the brain semi-active during time spent sleeping, keeping the brain alive through the barest of actions, making it more akin to sleep instead of simply dying and then being revived with a perfectly preserved body and brain. However, this led to the tumor being slightly active as well, so it would still progress while within stasis, albeit at an incredibly glacial pace. This would likely cause problems in the future, but a solution is bound to come up at some point.
Right?
* * *
Invariably.
What an interesting word
And a nice one at that. It really just rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it? A word that most people probably can’t even recall the meaning of, yet is seen so commonly in works that are often above the skill of your average eighth grader. It means for something to happen a lot, or always. For instance, you could say, “Oh, whenever I go to my friend's house, the meals his mother makes are invariably burnt.” or something along those lines.
Jacob couldn’t apply that word to his situation.
That would imply that he had been doing or experiencing something for long enough that he could use that word as a hyperbole. However, he hadn’t. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Imagine blinking your eyes. Now try to recall how long the moment between opening your eyes and the light reaching your eyes was. Now that's a more accurate comparison.
Right when Jacob closed his eyes, he had been hearing a hissing sound, expecting sleep to take him. Then a slight, rather odd blip in his awareness caused him to lose his bearings for a moment, but quickly regained them. The hissing continued, and became rather annoying after a bit, considering the nasty headache he currently had. Did he have that before he entered the pod? He wasn’t sure, but he was having a hard time remembering his last moments before he entered the machine, which was odd, as that was just a moment ago. Oh, now the hissing noise is stopping, so Jacob guessed that the doctors realized there was a problem, and were now spooling down the machine to take him out before something disastrous happened.
The hissing noise stopped, and the sound of pistons groaning filled the small cavity instead, along with a notable difference in the positioning of the cryo pod door, specifically moving upward. Ah, now the door is opening, fantastic. Jacob hoped that he could just get this damn experiment underway, without any more delays.
Goddamn the door is slow. At least he could see somewhat outside, as the door had opened up enough to let him see the feet of two people standing outside his little home. Actually, scratch that, three people standing outside, as the door had opened more up to let him see a third person standing behind the pair that were closest to him. He blinked several times to clear the fog from his eyesight, his eyeballs feeling pretty cold, as if he had spent a little in pure winter weather with his eyes open, letting them freeze a bit. Matter of fact, as feeling returned to his body, he felt cold all over. Not so cold that it was painful, but more of a cool uncomfortableness.
Speaking of feeling returning to his body, he felt a rather unpleasant prickling sensation throughout himself, like his entire body had fallen asleep, or if he had just returned from the cold after a long stay in the frigid winter air. He flexed his fingers, or at least tried to. His fingers were encased in a hard plastic glove, molded to fit his hand. It was the same story with the rest of his body, many straps fastened tight enough to restrict his movement, but not enough to restrict his blood flow. He tried to see more than the feet of the unknown people in front of him, as the door was open about halfway now, but the fog, or maybe steam, wafting up from his pod was masking everything else.
Oh yeah, the hissing was back too.
After another eternity of the door just slowly opening, the long-awaited event finally arrived. The door clanked to a stop, now resting somewhere on top of the cryo pod. The hissing noise also came to a stop, seeming to have been the cause of the fog as well, considering how it began to clear up with the end of the abhorrent hissing sound. The fog cleared up fully, allowing him to see a rather strange sight.
Three people in full hazmat suits were standing in front of him, one of the two in front holding an odd device that looked vaguely like a heart monitor. The one with the heart monitor stepped up to him, uttering a single word.
“Please hold still.”
Jacob naturally held still as the person wrapped a sensor on his wrist, then one on his neck. The man then pressed a few buttons on his little machine, and then watched some sort of readout on the screen that Jacob couldn’t make out from his angle. The man stayed like that for about half a minute before taking off the little sensors from his wrist and neck, and then put the device down on some sort of table that Jacob also couldn’t see due to his angle, before nodding to the man beside him.
The pair moved into action, unstrapping and unclamping him in various areas around his body, unrestricting his movement. Jacob didn’t move yet though, as once the pair were done taking off the various inhibitors, the third man in the back stepped up, as if he wanted to speak. The unnamed man grabbed the bottom of his visor, where a small lip was present. The man then used that lip to pull up the plastic covering his face, or at least the layer that was preventing Jacob from seeing his face. The man pulled it up, revealing the doctor, who’s name he still didn’t know. However, something was off about him, though Jacob couldn’t put his finger on it.
“Long time no see Jacob.” The doctor smiles disarmingly, which makes Jacob beg the question of why he would need to be disarmed.
“What do you mean, ‘Long time’? It hasn’t even been half an hour.” Jacob frowns, tilting his head questioningly, though Jacob is pretty sure he already knows the answer to his own question.
The doctor’s smile wavers, and his eyes turn downcast, avoiding Jacob’s.
“Well, ah, you see Jacob, it HAS been a long time. I imagine you just didn’t notice, due to no little input on our part.”
Suddenly, Jacob realized what was off about the doctor. When he had seen him last, the doctor had a look about him that made him seem like he could be in his early thirties or late twenties, with a little margin for error, of course.
However, The doctor now looked like he had aged around a decade, sporting a few new wrinkles that definitely weren’t there before. Instead of being a man just entering his more mature ages, he looked more like a man entering a higher, more responsible position in your standard American technical corporation. To put it shortly, he looked like he was in his forties.
“So you're saying that it's been a year already, and I was just too out of it to notice?” The doctor winced, and opened up his mouth to speak, but Jacob continued talking.
“However, I have noticed that while you said I was supposed to be in here for a year, the actual reality is different. Unless you somehow had a growth spurt, or decided that looking older was a new fashion trend, it's odd that you seem to have aged a decade in what was supposed to be a year of stasis.” Jacob tilted his head, focusing a stare on the doctor. “Tell me, doctor, how long was I out?”
The pair in front of him, having been listening this whole time, looked back at the doctor expectantly. The doctor shook his head, and attempted a smile, though the result looked more like a pained grimace. The doctor then looked up at Jacob, giving him a strange look.
“Noticed that, did you? Well, I suppose you do deserve an explanation. Let's talk about this in a more, comfortable, area.”
* * *
Jacob fixed the doctor with another bland stare for the fifteenth time in four minutes.
“So you’re telling me, that the damn CIA kidnapped me, your government organization was dissolved, and now I’m officially dead to the outside world? Not to mention I was asleep for not a year, but a decade?” Jacob said all of this with a tone that might have implied disbelief and anger.
“Well, when you put it like that, it sounds, well, exactly like what happened I suppose, but I wouldn’t put it, well, any sort of other way, so yes.” The doctor, contrary to the facade he was still bravely trying to put up, didn’t appear too comfortable with telling Jacob all of this. After all, who would want to tell an innocent, carefree, bright-eyed young boy, that his family thought him dead, and that he was asleep for a decade as well.
Jacob leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms and breathed out the air he had been holding in.
“Huh.” Jacob didn’t elaborate.
“I’m sure that this might be very alarming to you, but remember that this wasn’t in our control. I’m very sorry for your loss, but just know that we do have therapists and other people that you can talk to on hand, just let us know.” The doctor didn’t seem very proud of this series of unfortunate events happening to the aforementioned carefree child.
“Well, as long as they aren’t dead yet, I’ll be fine.” Jacob shrugs.
The doctor blinks in surprise.
“I- what? Are you sure? Your mental health is very important, and despite what our higher ups at the CIA might say, you are also important as a person.” The doctor had an increasingly worried expression on his face.
“Nah, I think I’m pretty good for now.” Jacob remained seemingly uncaring for his current status as perceived dead by his family, or for his mental health. “So, what happens to me now? I’m assuming I’m not getting executed for lack of further usefulness, or else you wouldn’t be offering me therapists, and I’m not exactly going back out into society, as that would be a rather awkward situation for the CIA. So, that leaves only one more avenue of action.” Jacob leaned forward. “I’m going back in the machine, aren’t I?”
“. . . yes.” The doctor seemed put off by Jacob’s lengthy statement.
Jacob leaned back and nodded, satisfied by his answer. “I have just one question then.”
The doctor cocked an eyebrow.
“Why am I so important? Plenty of people have brain tumors, and yet you guys aren’t kidnapping those people, right? So, what makes this one special?” Jacob tapped the side of his head.
The doctor cleared his throat, seemingly more comfortable to be conversing over a topic more familiar to him, like neuroscience.
“I can do that. Follow me.”
* * *
The doctor led Jacob to a room with only one other person inside, that person being an assistant. The lights were off, the only source of illumination being a projector shining on a blank whiteboard, the image being an x-ray of what looked like a brain.
“Well, as I’ve said before, that so-called tumor in your head isn’t exactly behaving like a tumor normally would. In the beginning, when it first appeared, it looked like any old brain tumor, forming in your cerebral cortex. It grew a bit abnormally, but nothing too out of the ordinary.” The doctor pointed at a small marble sized mass that was present inside the aforementioned section of the brain on the projection. “However, that's when things took a turn for the stranger.” The doctor motioned for the assistant to switch to the next slide, which he did.
The diagram now showed the same image as before, which Jacob now knew to be his brain, with the sole difference being that the mass had now enlarged, seemingly spreading what looked like feelers or tentacles outwards, the longest one stretching towards a middle section of the brain.
“After this happened, we were notified through plants, and we took over your medical case, observing the growth of your tumor.” The slide switched again, now showing a larger tumor. It had grown even more feelers, now numbering at five, and the longest one was now in the middle of the brain.
“The tumor had spread itself out, and the longest appendage of it had now entered what we call the anterior insular cortex, or, “ The doctor looked at Jacob. “the empathy center.”
Jacob stared back at the doctor, not showing any outward form of reaction. The doctor looked back towards the projection, clearing his throat.
“Ahem, anyway. As you can probably guess, this was highly irregular behavior from what was supposed to be a simple tumor. And what we realized next was even more shocking.” The assistant clicked to the next slide, this one showing . . . nothing.
Actually, it did show something, Jacob just didn’t notice at first. The tumor was now not a simple mass, but instead had somehow become, fainter, he supposed. It didn’t have any clear separation from his brain, instead, only sections could be made out from the former tumor. It seemed like it had merged with his brain, which wasn’t exactly comforting to Jacob.
“The tumor now couldn’t be described as a simple tumor. We had to deduce that it had somehow become part of your brain, as we couldn’t find any clear definition of where the tumor began and where it ended. We could still technically see the tumor, though it was like it had faded its edges in with your brain, merging with it.” The assistant shut off the projector, and turned the lights back on.
The doctor turned back towards Jacob, with what looked to be a sympathetic expression on his face.
“Now I hope you understand why we want to know what the hell this thing is. If this was some sort of parasite, and if it could spread . . “ The doctor let Jacob figure out the rest on his own.
“Huh, yeah. I wouldn’t really want the world to turn into a reenactment of a certain hit TV adaptation of a certain hit zombie game.” Jacob nodded. “So, how are you gonna go about solving, “ Jacob gestured haphazardly to his head. “This?”
“We . . . aren’t sure yet.” The doctor grimaced. “However, it has only been, well, it's been quite awhile, but we learned a lot from the first go around. We are hoping to gain more data from the next decade, with some new technologies to be used.”
Jacob nodded his head, looking around. “So do I just go back in now?”
“No, actually. The planned procedure is to keep you awake for a minimum of twelve hours, with us taking several tests to determine if any changes have been made to your mental or intellectual state. And also, you are going to have to visit some therapists, that's non-optional.” The doctor replied.
Jacob only grunted in response to that last statement.
* * *
Jacob is running on a treadmill, with several devices measuring his various functions.
“Just let us know when you’re getting tired.” The man, Dr. Markus Vasquez by his nametag, repeated for the fifth time.
“And that would be right around now, actually.” Jacob stopped running when Dr. Vasquez pressed the off button.
“Hmm, alright. You’re operating at standard rates for a boy of your age.” Dr. Vasquez writes down notes on his clipboard, probably about him. Or maybe some sort of weird fan fiction about some US president, you never know.
Dr. Vasquez motioned for Jacob to follow him, which Jacob does.
“And that should conclude your physical testing regimen for today.” Dr. Vasquez leads Jacob into a square room about six feet wide, with a couch, a chair, two tables, a bookshelf, and a TV on the wall opposite from the couch.
Then, another doctor walks into the room, holding a clipboard and a sheet of papers. Dr. Vasquez and the new doctor share a few silent words, ones that Jacob can’t make out, before Dr. Vasquez walks out of the room. The new doctor, a Dr. Sophia Vasel by her nametag, sits down on the chair next to the couch.
“Hey again Jacob. I’m here to-” Dr. Vasel begins, but Jacob cuts her off.
“Oh wait, aren’t you one of the people who strapped me in that pod a decade ago?” Jacob tilts his head questioningly.
Dr. Vasel blinks. “Erm, yes. Anyway, I’m just here to give you a couple tests, alright? Just standard procedure.” Dr. Vasel flips through her clipboard. “Here is the first one.”
Jacob started again. “No signing any forms or asking for consent or anything?”
Dr. Vasel hid her apparent frustration admirably. “Uh, no. Our policy doesn’t require us to do that. Anyway, if we could get on with the test?” Dr. Vasel pulled out a pen. “Just some questions for the first one.”
* * *
Jacob was a bit bored.
Actually, that was an understatement. He was VERY bored. There, a much more apt statement.
After a large amount of rigorous testing, physical, mental, biological, the whole shebang, they had basically left him in the small room and told him to entertain himself for the remaining eight hours, twenty-seven minutes, and five seconds. After that, he would be going back into cryosleep. They gave him access to a good amount of literature from his time, as well as giving him a rather generous library of online media, also from his time. However, they had severely underestimated his preferences, as the majority of the online material consisted of children for the age of ten, and all the good books he had already read several times over.
So yes, he was quite bored. So bored, in fact, that even pacing around and thinking couldn’t sate his hunger for entertainment, as the intense migraine he had prevented him from running any sort of complicated scenario that could even mildly entertain him. So, he was forced to turn to his old friend.
History.
A decade ought to have yielded a good amount of entertaining historical fruit, especially when you consider the rather hot pot that was world politics at the time of the beginning of his short nap. So, he had requested a book that recapped everything important that had happened in the last ten years. And how interesting it was.
Standing out the most in terms of the global stage, the American intervention in the Russo-Ukrainian war, pushing the Russians not just out of Ukraine, but also reclaiming Crimea for the Ukrainians as well. This had happened due to Russia repeatedly threatening to use nuclear weapons in the war, and so America finally had to intervene, managing to push them out of Ukraine in just two and a half months. And it seems Russia was bluffing, as no nukes were ever launched.
However, war wasn’t the only highlight of the last decade, as a miniature space race actually occurred not between the East and the West, but SpaceX and NASA were both racing for the clout and money that being the first to have a human land on Mars would be. It ended up with a SpaceX victory, and not a small amount of a budget increase.
Nanotechnology had also progressed, yet not as much as other avenues, as it's mostly been used for small-scale construction supposedly. Congress was being quite strict on the Supreme Court’s ruling. However, some small advancements had been made in the effectiveness and build of a standard nanobot, making them considerably cheaper and easier to make. However, the availability of nanobots was mostly limited to either private firms or large corporations willing to invest in the product.
As entertaining as history was, it wasn’t enough to sustain him for more than an hour, so he resigned himself to sitting, standing, pacing, and occasionally watching kids cartoons for the rest of his time. He wasn’t going to ask for his benefactors to obtain some new content for him to watch, not because they couldn’t, no, they likely could do anything, but because his pride would be too injured if he did. Yes, a truly brilliant mind we have here.
* * *
“This feels familiar.” Jacob mused, his words certainly pertaining to the scenario that he was currently in.
Dr. Vasel and another doctor were strapping him in, securing his hands and feet in molded plastic to restrict movement, and straps to secure his arms and legs. This time, a little hat with a dozen blinking electrodes was added to his menagerie of devices. They had also given him a fresh edition of nanobots, these ones supposedly more efficient by two percent. Yes, such a great increase. However, they also fed off the energy his own body produced, so that theoretically gave them an infinite life, as long as he was alive.
The doctors finished up strapping him into the machine, giving him a final once over to make sure nothing bad happens again. They stepped back, and began to run diagnostics on their computers to make sure everything electronic was in order as well.
Jacob sighed. He had a feeling that this set of actions would become an agonizingly long procedure.
After a very long fifteen minutes, the unnamed doctor, who had come down during the diagnostics, nodded to an assistant, and he began pressing buttons. The machine clicked and hissed, and the door came down, blissfully quicker this time. After just thirty seconds, the door sealed shut, and Jacob saw the doctor through the plastic. The doctor walked out of sight, as the foggy plastic couldn’t see that far, though the doctor clearly went somewhere where he could talk to Jacob, as he heard the doctor’s voice over what sounded like an intercom inside the pod.
“You can hear me, right Jacob?” The doctor asked.
“Uh, yep.” Jacob replied.
“Very good. As there isn’t anything else we have to do on our end, we’ll be sending you off right about now. Any questions before you’re frozen?” The doctor inquired.
“None that I can recall.” Jacob said.
“Then we’ll see you again in ten years.” The doctor said.
The intercom shut off with a crackle, and the hissing noise came back, probably meaning he was gonna fall asleep any time now. He wondered what the world would look like in another decade, bu-
Oh wait, he did have a question. What WAS the doctor’s nam-
-------------------------------
​
Part Two is gonna come, maybe in a day. I've already finished it, but the first part will serve to as a way to observe this communities reactions to this little thing, and see if I should post another. I expect about ten to twenty chapters, with hopefully not all of them being as long as this one, so yeah, hope y'all like this.

I have been (and still am) a socially anxious person but in recent days things have gotten better, and I never would've thought I could do whatever I just did. I think I really wanted a sense of dignity for once as I always bail out on things.
For around 2 months, I have been walking a dog for this elderly woman named Lorriane, who is my neighbor. At first she gave me the impression that she was just a forgetful, stubborn person but I have been learning more and more that she is inherently a manipulative person that sucks the energy out of you. I posted this on advice, but I'll copy and paste it here:
... Lorriane has been trying to get [my family and I] to help her contact Department Motor Vehicle, use a laptop, give her rides, etc. I asked if she has been using services from the senior center, and she said that she has, but they can only give her a ride to the grocery store once a week.
What has become annoying is, whenever I come to her house to get her dog, she always rambles about her plans and what she wants to do, but then says that "these neighbors around here never give a hoot." Then, she flatters us by saying "what could I ever do without you?" "you are so sweet" "you are like a friend to me," all that nice stuff. It would look obvious to anyone that she knows exactly what she's doing, because she literally does this every single day. (Hell, she called my mom asking her to bring her to the drugstore because she was "on her period." Again, she's 85. Kind of suspicious of her to lie about that.)
Since I'm 17 and don't know how to help her get a car, I only offered to help her use a laptop. But we never quite started the process of laptop classes because she has been delaying them by saying that she's feeling "too tired today." Now, Lorriane has been telling me to tell my dad to help her out, as well as him or my mom to give her rides.
My dad does not want to help her--- he knows she is an old lady who is alone and stubborn, but honestly, he legitimately doesn't have the time. My mom, having met Lorriane herself, knows that Lorriane is a liability. She has bad gut feeling that Lorriane will grow much more dependent on her. Neither my parents are available to help Lorriane.
Clearly Lorriane never let me help her in those times when we were setting up dates to teach her how to use her laptop.
So, having made my complaints about Lorriane to my family for a while, we resorted to just nodding and smiling whenever Lorriane tries to guilt-trip us.
[A few days ago], a few hours after I walked the dog, Lorriane called me and asked me "what happened?" I wasn't sure what she was talking about. Lorriane said that my dad and I were gonna come over and help her with the laptop. I told her that I never said that. She proceeded to talk about how she remembers me telling her that my dad and I would come over, and I continued to tell her no, I never said that. I got a bit nervous as Lorriane was talking about a bunch of stuff I had no idea how to respond to, and so I paused multiple times to think. Lorriane's voice noticeably began to raise as she spoke some more.
Since my phone was on speaker during the call, my entire family heard my conversation with Lorriane (they were kind of laughing while listening).
My mom told me to give her the phone, and I did. A heated discussion ensued between my mom and Lorriane. My mom attempted to explain that there was a misunderstanding while simultaneously telling her that it was not a problem.
After some further discussion, my mom told Lorriane to get some rest and to take care. Lorriane laughed and said "you too." At this point my mom and Lorriane would have ended the call, but it seemed that Lorriane forgot to hang up.
We heard "fuck you lady."
My mom ended the call right after Lorriane made that comment, and my whole family stared at each other with our mouths gaped.

After some digging on the internet, I was able to find Lorriane's grandson's email. I shot him a message explaining who I was and the situation Lorriane is in.
Her grandson got back to me and said that Lorriane has opted not to have contact with her family despite their efforts to help her, and that Lorriane is a very difficult person. Her grandson recommended that I set some strong boundaries and keep distance for the sake of my family and I's mental health.
So today after a few days passed of awkwardly walking the dog with an impending sense of doom, I wrote a rough script and called Lorriane.
When she picked up, she said something along the lines of, "Hey u/notZ987, you walking the dog today?"
"No, because I---"
"You know, I sit around ALL day "
Then I tried to raise the tone of my voice and interrupted her interrupting me and said, "Lorriane, I wanted to call you tell you that I'm quitting my position as a dog walker, because---"
"So you're not walking the dog..."
I then explained that because of the way she had been talking to my mom the other day and me recently, I am feeling too uncomfortable. Lorriane proceeded to tell me that "your mom is so wrong" or something like that.
After that the rest of the conversation was her trying to talk over me. I quickly said that if she has any questions, she can call my dad, good luck and goodbye. I hung up.
She called me again and I declined. She then sent me a voice mail upset over the fact that I hung up on her ("I don't know what's wrong with you people!"), saying that I lost a "good friend."
I feel like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders. Yes, I made good money from the job, but Lorriane was unbearable. Walking a dog is the most relaxing job but this woman made it awful. I'll hopefully find another dog to walk (one that obviously has respectful mentally-intact owners).

Hey all,
Graduating in May and wanted to get some thoughts on a Family Medicine offer at a private practice that is in town, but includes some covered days at another location (5 minute drive locally, maybe 10-15 for the neighboring city). The letter is not super detailed, are there any red flags or details I should get specified? I interviewed with the CEO and they said they would like me to work my way up up to 20 patients/day, but I would start with a lighter schedule. They seem to encourage double booking for providers for quicker visits. They do assign MAs to providers.
Salary: $100k based on "40 patient hours"
Schedule: 4 days per week plus admin day
Timing: 15 minutes for sick visits, 30 minutes for annuals and physicals.
Vacation: 3 weeks
CME: 5 days, $2000 reimbursement
Reimbursement: Memberships (?), DEA, Licensure
Bonus: 25% of collections after $260,000 bi-annually
Insurance: Malpractice, no mention if this is tail or not, short-term disability. Health, dental, vision, life insurance plans offered.
401K: They said they have a plan that will match but not much else in detail
Leave: 8 weeks notice
No non-compete mentioned

Department of Labor - 5500 Form Search

I used the Department of Labor website to compile this list. Please use this list if you are looking for work. These are the largest 401k plans by participants in Miami. Some of these might be a PEO but still it's a good source to start from in your job search.

• 5500 Form Search
• Plan Codes: 2J, 2E
• Mailing zip: 33010 - 33196
• Plan Years: 2021

​

Plan Name	Sponsor Name	Address	City	State	Zip	Plan Year	Participants	Participants EOY	Assets BOY	Assets	PDF Document Link
ADP TOTALSOURCE RETIREMENT SAVINGS PLAN	ADP TOTALSOURCE	10200 SUNSET DR	MIAMI	FL	33173	2021	284485	318269	$6,897,744,071.00	$7,855,931,614.00	File
Ryder System, Inc. 401(k) Savings Plan	Ryder System, Inc.	11690 N.W. 105 Street	Miami	FL	331781103	2021	40065	43935	$1,739,214,732.00	$1,975,599,489.00	File
Ryder System, Inc. 401(k) Savings Plan	Ryder System, Inc.	11690 N.W. 105 Street	Miami	FL	331781103	2021	40065	43935	$1,739,214,732.00	$1,975,599,489.00	File
Ryder System, Inc. 401(k) Savings Plan	Ryder System, Inc.	11690 N.W. 105 Street	Miami	FL	331781103	2021	40065	43935	$1,739,214,732.00	$1,975,599,489.00	File
The MasTec, Inc. 401(k) Retirement Plan	MasTec, Inc.	800 S. Douglas Road 12th Floor	Coral Gables	FL	33134	2021	19108	22530	$314,200,215.00	$410,817,472.00	File
SOUTHERN GLAZER'S 401(k) PLAN	SOUTHERN GLAZER'S WINE AND SPIRITS, LLC	1600 N.W. 163RD STREET	MIAMI	FL	33169	2021	18990	20497	$1,544,328,768.00	$1,789,525,983.00	File
VITAS HEALTHCARE CORPORATION 401(K) PLAN	VITAS Healthcare Corporation	201 South Biscayne Blvd	Miami	FL	331315354	2021	13328	12642	$384,590,929.00	$442,631,565.00	File
SPIRIT AIRLINES, INC. EMPLOYEE RETIREMENT SAVINGS PLAN	SPIRIT AIRLINES, INC.	2800 EXECUTIVE WAY	MIRAMAR	FL	33025	2021	6868	7563	$155,977,082.00	$198,811,802.00	File
Royal Caribbean Cruises LTD. Ret. Savings Plan	ROYAL CARIBBEAN CRUISES LTD.	1050 CARIBBEAN WAY	MIAMI	FL	33132	2021	6696	6815	$568,750,338.00	$660,084,921.00	File
Watsco, Inc. Profit Sharing Retirement Plan and Trust	Watsco, Inc.	2665 S. Bayshore Drive	Miami	FL	33133	2021	5650	6692	$199,060,200.00	$422,436,131.00	File
INTERFOODS OF AMERICA, INC. EMPLOYEES SAVINGS PLAN	INTERFOODS OF AMERICA, INC.	9500 SOUTH DADELAND BLVD 800	MIAMI	FL	33156	2021	2321	6223	$2,695,723.00	$2,955,883.00	File
OPKO Health, Inc. 401(k) Plan	OPKO Health, Inc.	4400 BISCAYNE BLVD	MIAMI	FL	33137	2021	5529	6189	$207,426,248.00	$251,868,252.00	File
BAPTIST HEALTH ENTERPRISES, INC. 401(K) EMPLOYEE RETIREMENT PLAN	BAPTIST HEALTH SOUTH FLORIDA, INC.	6855 RED ROAD	CORAL GABLES	FL	33143	2021	6184	5875	$146,917,938.00	$163,917,363.00	File
HEICO Savings and Investment Plan	HEICO Corporation	3000 TAFT STREET	HOLLYWOOD	FL	33021	2021	5424	5702	$687,206,215.00	$740,808,242.00	File
Laureate Education, Inc. 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan	Laureate Education, Inc.	78 SW 7th Street	Miami	FL	33130	2021	6994	4961	$301,732,863.00	$260,299,486.00	File
GREENBERG TRAURIG 401(K) PLAN	GREENBERG TRAURIG, PA	8400 NW 36TH STREET, STE 400	DORAL	FL	33166	2021	4696	4922	$1,071,053,414.00	$1,246,521,688.00	File
COSTA FARMS, LLC 401(K) PLAN	COSTA FARMS, LLC	21800 SW 162 Avenue	Miami	FL	33170	2021	4456	4706	$21,184,236.00	$25,794,946.00	File
Harvard Maintenance, Inc. 401(k) Savings Plan	Harvard Maintenance, Inc.	201 South Biscayne Blvd	Miami	FL	33131	2021	1930	4603	$15,598,985.00	$19,786,369.00	File
ChenMed, LLC 401(k) Plan	CHENMED, LLC	1395 NW 167TH ST	MIAMI GARDENS	FL	331695373	2021	3627	4167	$76,871,641.00	$109,063,266.00	File
Big Bang Enterprises, Inc 401(k) Plan	Big Bang Enterprises, Inc.	800 Douglas Rd	Coral Gables	FL	331343189	2021	4379	4063	$1,374,357.00	$2,032,426.00	File
PLUMBERS & STEAMFITTERS 72 DEFINED CONTRIB FUND	PLUMBERS & STEAMFITTERS 72 DEFINED CONTRIB FUND	2010 NW 150TH AVE, STE 100	PEMBROKE PINES	FL	33028	2021	4383	3555	$127,054,139.00	$144,855,490.00	File
REGIS HR GROUP 401(K) PLAN	THE SIMPLEX GROUP, INC.	10625 N KENDALL DRIVE	MIAMI	FL	33176	2021	3185	3455	$53,184,522.00	$72,133,892.00	File
AGI-CFI Holdings, Inc. 401(k) Plan	AGI-CFI Holdings, Inc.	9130 S. Dadeland Blvd	Miami	FL	331567858	2021	3839	3433	$8,790,004.00	$11,742,371.00	File
AGI-CFI Holdings, Inc. 401(k) Plan	AGI-CFI Holdings, Inc.	9130 S. Dadeland Blvd	Miami	FL	331567858	2021	3839	3433	$8,790,004.00	$11,742,371.00	File
AGI-CFI Holdings, Inc. 401(k) Plan	AGI-CFI Holdings, Inc.	9130 S. Dadeland Blvd	Miami	FL	331567858	2021	3839	3433	$8,790,004.00	$11,742,371.00	File
CARNIVAL CORPORATION FUN SHIP SAVINGS PLAN	CARNIVAL CORPORATION	Tax Department	Doral	FL	331782418	2021	3507	3372	$341,828,100.00	$392,528,281.00	File
NCLC 401(k) Plan	NCL BAHAMAS LIMITED	7665 CORPORATE CENTER DRIVE	MIAMI	FL	33126	2021	3433	3313	$219,684,214.00	$255,364,181.00	File
Restaurant Brands International Savings Plan	Restaurant Brands International	5707 Blue Lagoon Drive	Miami	FL	331262029	2021	3873	3243	$113,093,764.00	$126,686,541.00	File
BAYVIEW ASSET MANAGEMENT LLC 401(K) PLAN	BAYVIEW ASSET MANAGEMENT LLC	4425 PONCE DE'LEON BLVD	CORAL GABLES	FL	33146	2021	2587	3200	$165,029,679.00	$213,499,739.00	File
World Fuel Services Corporation 401(k) Profit Sharing Plan	World Fuel Services Corporation	9800 NW 41st Street	Miami	FL	33178	2021	2466	3047	$245,690,792.00	$287,147,318.00	File
SPIRIT AIRLINES, INC. PILOTS' RETIREMENT SAVINGS PLAN	SPIRIT AIRLINES, INC.	2800 EXECUTIVE WAY	MIRAMAR	FL	33025	2021	2636	2864	$585,799,882.00	$754,518,736.00	File
SEMINOLE TRIBE OF FLORIDA 401(K) PLAN	SEMINOLE TRIBE OF FLORIDA	6300 STIRLING ROAD	HOLLYWOOD	FL	330242153	2021	2626	2799	$126,545,975.00	$152,317,499.00	File
VitalMD 401(k) Plan	VITALMD GROUP HOLDING, LLC	3225 AVIATION AVENUE	MIAMI	FL	33133	2021	2645	2696	$257,380,121.00	$299,553,655.00	File
LARKIN COMMUNITY HOSPITAL 401(K) PLAN	LARKIN COMMUNITY HOSPITAL, INC.	5996 SW 70TH STREET	SOUTH MIAMI	FL	33143	2021	2712	2692	$10,849,984.00	$12,633,144.00	File
Leon Management International, LLC 401(k) Plan	LEON MANAGEMENT INTERNATIONAL, LLC	8600 NW 41ST	DORAL	FL	331666202	2021	2718	2653	$94,055,025.00	$103,899,087.00	File
CANO HEALTH 401(K) PLAN	CANO HEALTH, LLC	9725 NW 117TH AVE - 2ND FLOOR	MIAMI	FL	33178	2021	1862	2566	$2,578,687.00	$10,150,282.00	File
AVANTE GROUP, INC. 401(K) PLAN	AVANTE GROUP, INC.	4601 SHERIDAN STREET	HOLLYWOOD	FL	33021	2021	2598	2529	$9,664,137.00	$10,922,610.00	File
The Service Companies 401(k) Profit Sharing Plan and Trust	The Service Companies, Inc.	2900 MONARCH LAKES BLVD	MIRAMAR	FL	33027	2021	1705	2480	$3,215,445.00	$3,274,033.00	File
BRAMAN DEALERSHIPS 401(K) PLAN	BRAMAN MOTORS, INC.	2060 BISCAYNE BLVD, FLOOR 2	MIAMI	FL	33137	2021	2150	2328	$47,739,142.00	$56,229,216.00	File
GOODWILL INDUSTRIES OF SOUTH FLORIDA INC 401(k) Plan	Goodwill Industries of South Florida, Inc.	2121 NW 21st Street	Miami	FL	33142	2021	2390	2215	$10,521,258.00	$12,402,448.00	File
BOEING DISTRIBUTION SERVICES INC. RETIREMENT PLAN	Boeing Distribution Services Inc.	3760 W. 108th St.	Miami	FL	33018	2021	2281	2141	$73,476,061.00	$83,003,087.00	File
BANKUNITED 401(K) PLAN	BANKUNITED, INC.	14820 NW 77 COURT	MIAMI LAKES	FL	33016	2021	2062	2130	$163,998,916.00	$192,667,297.00	File
QUIRCH FOODS 401(K) PLAN	QUIRCH FOODS, CO.	2701 S LE JEUNE RD 12TH FLOOR	CORAL GABLES	FL	33134	2021	1629	1823	$14,411,304.00	$41,879,748.00	File
PERRY ELLIS SHARED SERVICES LLC 401(k) PLAN	PERRY ELLIS SHARED SERVICES LLC	3000 NW 107TH AVENUE	MIAMI	FL	33172	2021	1554	1618	$87,654,403.00	$92,969,854.00	File
SEAWAY HOTELS 401K	THE BILTMORE HOTEL LIMITED PARTNERSHIP	1200 ANASTASIA AVENUE	CORAL GABLES	FL	33134	2021	1385	1614	$16,311,819.00	$17,813,309.00	File
Atlantic Coast Automotive, Inc. 401(k) Plan	Atlantic Coast Automotive, Inc.	5875 NW 163rd Street, Suite 104	Miami Lakes	FL	33014	2021	1402	1599	$7,905,674.00	$17,962,675.00	File
C & C NORTH AMERICA INC. 401(k) Profit Sharing Plan and Trust	C & C NORTH AMERICA INC.	355 Alhambra Circle, Suite 1000	Miami	FL	33134	2021	1461	1584	$32,744,536.00	$43,152,074.00	File
ABB Optical Group, LLC 401(k) Profit Sharing Plan	ABB/CON-CISE OPTICAL GROUP LLC	12301 NW 39TH STREET	CORAL SPRINGS	FL	330652403	2021	1807	1558	$53,680,158.00	$58,653,033.00	File
AREAS USA, INC. 401(K) PROFIT SHARING PLAN AND TRUST	AREAS USA, INC.	5301 BLUE LAGOON DRIVE	MIAMI	FL	33126	2021	1269	1557	$2,772,917.00	$3,263,281.00	File
Armor Health 401(k) Plan	Armor Correctional Health Services Inc.	4960 SW 72nd Avenue, Suite 400	Miami	FL	33155	2021	996	1545	$13,513,168.00	$14,105,276.00	File
POINT BLANK ENTERPRISES, INC. 401(K) PLAN	POINT BLANK ENTERPRISES, INC.	2102 SW 2ND STREET	POMPANO BEACH	FL	33069	2021	1308	1540	$9,651,153.00	$12,295,122.00	File
VIKING HOLDING COMPANY, LLC 401(K) PLAN	VIKING HOLDING COMPANY, LLC	1111 BRICKELL AVE, SUITE 2625	MIAMI	FL	33131	2021	1448	1513	$38,766,098.00	$42,262,244.00	File
JAE RESTAURANT GROUP 401(K) PLAN	Jae Restaurant Group, Llc	1100 Park Central Blvd Unit 3300	Pompano Beach	FL	33064	2021	2155	1505	$3,119,172.00	$3,859,897.00	File
Verifone, Inc. 401(k) Retirement Savings & Investment Plan	Verifone, Inc.	2744 University Drive	Coral Springs	FL	33065	2021	1553	1485	$176,558,949.00	$186,760,711.00	File
MCASF LOCAL 725 DEFINED CONTRIBUTION RETIREMENT TRUST FUND	BOARD OF TRUSTEES MCASF LOCAL 725 DEFINED CONTRIBUTION RETIREMENT TRUS	15800 PINES BOULEVARD	PEMBROKE PINES	FL	33027	2021	1412	1474	$55,114,107.00	$62,483,020.00	File
Bacardi U. S. A. , Inc. & Affiliates 401k Savings and DC Retirement Plan	Bacardi U.S.A., Inc.	2701 Le Jeune Road	Coral Gables	FL	33134	2021	1394	1439	$218,029,276.00	$257,288,529.00	File
Del Monte Fresh Produce Company Incentive Savings & Security Plan	Del Monte Fresh Produce Company	241 Sevilla Avenue	Coral Gables	FL	33134	2021	1449	1418	$96,645,605.00	$97,603,747.00	File
RESURGENS ORTHOPAEDICS 401(K) RETIREMENT PLAN	RESURGENS ORTHOPAEDICS, P.C.	5671 PEACHTREE DUNWOODY ROAD NE	ATLANTA	GA	33042	2021	1169	1330	$188,464,466.00	$209,146,467.00	File
Duty Free Americas, Inc. Retirement Savings Plan	Duty Free Americas, Inc.	6100 Hollywood Blvd.	Hollywood	FL	33024	2021	1303	1316	$30,399,971.00	$30,740,210.00	File
CHARTER SCHOOL 401(K) RETIREMENT PLAN	CHARTER SCHOOL ASSOCIATES, INC.	5471 NORTH UNIVERSITY DRIVE	CORAL SPRINGS	FL	33067	2021	1777	1312	$6,514,744.00	$7,940,429.00	File
GUIDEWELL SANITAS I, LLC 401(K) PLAN	GUIDEWELL SANITAS I LLC	8400 NW 33RD STREET	MIAMI	FL	33122	2021	1207	1265	$3,864,963.00	$6,392,643.00	File
COLE, SCOTT & KISSANE, PA 401(K) PLAN	COLE, SCOTT & KISSANE, P.A.	9150 SOUTH DADELAND BLVD, STE 1400	MIAMI	FL	33156	2021	1184	1256	$30,542,462.00	$38,722,256.00	File
KW PROPERTY MANAGEMENT LLC 401(K) PROFIT SHARING PLAN & TRU	KW PROPERTY MANAGEMENT LLC	8200 NW 33RD STREET	MIAMI	FL	33122	2021	1410	1250	$10,280,516.00	$13,665,265.00	File
JCSA SERVICES INC 401K PLAN	JCSA SERVICES INC	1420 SW 88TH AVE	PEMBROKE PINES	FL	33025	2021	1364	1243	$0.00	$2,583.00	File
Starboard Group 401(k) Plan	Starboard Group Employment Services	12540 West Atlantic Blvd.	Coral Springs	FL	33071	2021	1604	1210	$3,914,449.00	$4,152,520.00	File
F&E AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE 401(K) PLAN	F&E AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE MIAMI,	657 SOUTH DRIVE, SUITE 306	MIAMI SPRINGS	FL	33166	2021	1003	1204	$6,512,773.00	$7,858,717.00	File
MAGUIRE FLEXSAVER PLAN	CDR MAGUIRE, INC.	P.O. BOX 771750	MIAMI	FL	33177	2021	489	1197	$13,312,193.00	$18,506,134.00	File
HackerUSA Inc 401(k) Profit Sharing Plan and Trust	HackerUSA, Inc. d/b/a ThriveDX	7360 SW 53rd Place	Miami	FL	33143	2021	522	1171	$51,424.00	$1,305,054.00	File
City National Bank Retirement Savings Plan	City National Bank of Florida	100 SE 2nd Street	MIAMI	FL	33131	2021	1053	1155	$72,787,148.00	$83,489,465.00	File
Monte Nido & Affiliates 401(k) Plan	Monte Nido & Affiliates	6100 SW 76TH ST	SOUTH MIAMI	FL	331435002	2021	893	1153	$2,732,057.00	$4,696,148.00	File
MICCOSUKEE TRIBE OF INDIANS OF FLORIDA 401(K) PLAN	MICCOSUKEE TRIBE OF INDIANS OF FLORIDA	MILE MARKER 37.5 US HIGHWAY 41	MIAMI	FL	33194	2021	1270	1152	$35,253,778.00	$39,801,657.00	File
Professional Airline Services, Inc. 401(k) Plan	Professional Airline Services, Inc.	8601 NW 27th Street	Doral	FL	33122	2021	996	1144	$4,131,198.00	$4,675,514.00	File
Professional Airline Services, Inc. 401(k) Plan	Professional Airline Services, Inc.	8601 NW 27th Street	Doral	FL	33122	2021	996	1144	$4,131,198.00	$4,675,514.00	File
UNIVERSITY OF ST. AUGUSTINE FOR HEALTH SCIENCES 401(K) RETIREMENT SAVINGS PLAN	University of St. Augustine For Health Sciences, LLC	800 S. Douglas Road, North Tower	Coral Gables	FL	33134	2021	983	1108	$15,954,013.00	$20,573,049.00	File
BARRY UNIVERSITY 401(k) PLAN	BARRY UNIVERSITY	11300 NE 2nd Ave	Miami Shores	FL	331616628	2021	1350	1050	$85,698,101.00	$93,625,695.00	File
THE CYXTERA 401(K) SAVINGS PLAN	Cyxtera Management, Inc.	2333 Ponce De Leon Boulevard	Coral Gables	FL	33134	2021	1220	1048	$73,409,318.00	$73,591,955.00	File
THE HACKETT GROUP, INC. 401K PLAN	THE HACKETT GROUP, INC.	1001 BRICKELL BAY DRIVE STE 3000	MIAMI	FL	33131	2021	1253	1043	$117,135,234.00	$129,758,565.00	File
Independent Living Systems 401(k) Plan	Independent Living Systems	5200 Blue Lagoon Drive	Miami	FL	33126	2021	1023	1015	$18,524,495.00	$22,270,753.00	File
Independent Living Systems 401(k) Plan	Independent Living Systems	5200 Blue Lagoon Drive	Miami	FL	33126	2021	1023	1015	$18,524,495.00	$22,270,753.00	File
PHIL SMITH AUTOMOTIVE GROUP 401(K) PLAN	PHIL SMITH MANAGEMENT, INC. DBA PHIL SMITH AUTOMOTIVE GROUP	4250 N. FEDERAL HIGHWAY	LIGHTHOUSE POINT	FL	33064	2021	1108	1014	$16,214,058.00	$18,628,890.00	File
Amerant Bank, N.A. Retirement Benefits Plan	Amerant Bank, N.A.	Amerant Bank	Miami	FL	33182	2021	994	1010	$144,126,439.00	$155,047,001.00	File
Amerant Bank, N.A. Retirement Benefits Plan	Amerant Bank, N.A.	Amerant Bank	Miami	FL	33182	2021	994	1010	$144,126,439.00	$155,047,001.00	File
GUARDIAN DENTISTRY PRACTICE MA 401(K) PROFIT SHARING PLAN & TRUST	Guardian Dentistry Practice Ma	5803 NW 151 St Suite 201	Miami Lakes	FL	33014	2021	633	1007	$1,352,025.00	$5,500,056.00	File
TracFone Investment Plan	TracFone Wireless, Inc.	9700 NW 112th Avenue	Miami	FL	33178	2021	1000	982	$103,519,230.00	$123,082,481.00	File
The Swatch Group (U.S.) Inc. 401(k) Plan	The Swatch Group (U.S.) Inc.	703 Waterford Way	Miami	FL	33126	2021	978	965	$56,173,225.00	$65,427,009.00	File
CMX Cinemas, LLC 401(k) Plan	CMX Cinemas, LLC	175 Southwest 7th Street	Miami	FL	33130	2021	953	956	$2,015,546.00	$2,588,698.00	File
KASEYA 401(K) PROFIT SHARING PLAN	KASEYA US, LLC	701 Brickell Avenue, Suite 400	Miami	FL	33131	2021	733	933	$20,352,090.00	$23,800,491.00	File
POTAMKIN RETIREMENT PLAN	PMC, LLC	5800 NW 171 STREET	HIALEAH	FL	33015	2021	886	909	$21,299,911.00	$25,051,532.00	File
SOUTH MOTORS OF DADE COUNTY 401(K) PLAN	SOUTH MOTORS OF DADE COUNTY	16165 SOUTH DIXIE HWY	MIAMI	FL	33157	2021	910	862	$12,794,738.00	$14,393,566.00	File
SOUTH MOTORS OF DADE COUNTY 401(K) PLAN	SOUTH MOTORS OF DADE COUNTY	16165 SOUTH DIXIE HWY	MIAMI	FL	33157	2021	910	862	$12,794,738.00	$14,393,566.00	File
Fontainebleau Florida Hotel 401(k) Plan	Fontainebleau Florida Hotel LLC	4441 COLLINS AVE	MIAMI BEACH	FL	33140	2021	797	861	$20,189,830.00	$23,034,647.00	File
Fontainebleau Florida Hotel 401(k) Plan	Fontainebleau Florida Hotel LLC	4441 COLLINS AVE	MIAMI BEACH	FL	33140	2021	797	861	$20,189,830.00	$23,034,637.00	File
BRITISH SCHOOL OF WASHINGTON 401(K) PROFIT SHARING PLAN & TRU	BRITISH SCHOOL OF AMERICA	1111 BRICKELL AVE	MIAMI	FL	33131	2021	864	855	$20,386,588.00	$25,021,327.00	File
CRAIG ZINN AUTOMOTIVE GROUP 401(K) RETIREMENT PLAN	TRIANGLE AUTO CENTER, INC.	1841 NORTH STATE ROAD 7, 2ND FLOOR	HOLLYWOOD	FL	33021	2021	872	844	$26,924,207.00	$30,432,963.00	File
Ocean Reef Club Employee Savings and Retirement Plan	Ocean Reef Club, Inc.	35 Ocean Reef Drive	Key Largo	FL	33037	2021	889	834	$33,390,438.00	$36,133,264.00	File
777 Partners LLC 401(k) Plan	777 Partners LLC	600 Brickell Avenue	Miami	FL	33131	2021	722	830	$12,078,854.00	$18,158,121.00	File
METRIC ENGINEERING SAVINGS AND RETIREMENT PLAN	METRIC ENGINEERING, INC.	13940 SW 136TH STREET SUITE 200	MIAMI	FL	33186	2021	660	824	$22,145,363.00	$25,607,913.00	File
Ocean Bank 401(K) Savings Plan	Ocean Bank	780 NW 42nd Avenue, SUITE 427	Miami	FL	331265597	2021	805	817	$84,615,293.00	$97,441,492.00	File
Inktel 401(k) Plan	Inktel Holdings Corp.	8200 NW 33rd Street	Doral	FL	33122	2021	919	810	$4,797,094.00	$6,212,023.00	File
UNITED HOME CARE SERVICES, INC. 401(K) PLAN	UNITED HOME CARE SERVICES, INC.	8400 N.W. 33RD STREET	MIAMI	FL	33122	2021	674	800	$5,632,690.00	$4,536,672.00	File
Kent Security Services, Inc. and Kent Security of Palm Beach, Inc. 401(k) Retirement Plan	Kent Security Services, Inc.	14600 Biscayne Boulevard	North Miami	FL	33181	2021	863	799	$5,521,752.00	$6,554,323.00	File
THE PALACE 401(K) PLAN	PROFESSIONAL CARE I INC.	10850 SW 113 PLACE	MIAMI	FL	33176	2021	878	792	$7,427,666.00	$8,530,676.00	File
H.T.A. CAST RETIREMENT PLAN	HISTORIC TOURS OF AMERICA, INC	201 FRONT STREET, SUITE 206	KEY WEST	FL	33040	2021	785	780	$14,813,327.00	$17,109,026.00	File
THE RELATED GROUP 401K SAVINGS PLAN	PRH INVESTMENTS LLC DBA THE RELATED GROUP	2850 TIGERTAIL AVE, STE 800	MIAMI	FL	33131	2021	805	779	$25,885,322.00	$29,308,897.00	File
JOHN KNOX VILLAGE OF FLORIDA, INC. 401(K) RETIREMENT PLAN	JOHN KNOX VILLAGE OF FLORIDA, INC.	651 S.W. 6 STREET	POMPANO BEACH	FL	33060	2021	895	775	$11,155,931.00	$11,347,378.00	File
QUINTAIROS PRIETO WOOD & BOYER P.A. 401(K) PLAN	QUINTAIROS PRIETO WOOD & BOYER,	9300 SOUTH DADELAND BLVD 4TH FL	MIAMI	FL	33156	2021	787	775	$45,888,786.00	$57,167,780.00	File
BAER'S FURNITURE COMPANY, INC. CASH OR DEFERRED PROFIT SHARING PLAN	BAER'S FURNITURE COMPANY, INC.	1589 NW 12 AVENUE	POMPANO BEACH	FL	330691730	2021	710	775	$9,873,649.00	$12,673,369.00	File
BEAN AUTOMOTIVE GROUP 401(K) PLAN	Kendall Imports, LLC	10943 South Dixie Highway	Miami	FL	33156	2021	816	768	$11,437,307.00	$15,066,778.00	File
BETHESDA HEALTH, INC. 403(B) EMPLOYEE SAVINGS PLAN	BETHESDA HOSPITAL, INC.	1500 SAN REMO AVE.	CORAL GABLES	FL	33146	2021	834	761	$46,427,325.00	$48,671,151.00	File
TRAVEL TRADERS HOTELS INC. 401K PLAN	TRAVEL TRADERS HOTELS INC	6205 BLUE LAGOON DRIVE, SUITE 550	MIAMI	FL	331266020	2021	736	759	$9,821,295.00	$10,781,286.00	File
Cordis US Corp. Retirement Savings Plan	Cordis US Corp.	14201 Northwest 60th Avenue	Miami Lakes	FL	33014	2021	724	758	$0.00	$32,146,877.00	File
Cordis US Corp. Retirement Savings Plan	Cordis US Corp.	14201 Northwest 60th Avenue	Miami Lakes	FL	33014	2021	724	758	$0.00	$32,146,877.00	File
AMERIJET INTERNATIONAL, INC 401(K) AND PROFIT SHARING - OPERATIONS PLAN	AMERIJET INTERNATIONAL, INC.	4500 N.W. 36TH STREET	MIAMI	FL	33166	2021	714	747	$18,829,450.00	$22,384,610.00	File
goTRG 401(k) Plan	The Recon Group, DBA goTRG	20200 W Dixie Hwy	Miami	FL	331801918	2021	502	741	$592,572.00	$1,199,086.00	File
El Dorado Furniture 401(k) Plan	EL DORADO FURNITURE CORPORATION	4200 NW 167TH ST	MIAMI GARDENS	FL	330546112	2021	777	738	$18,136,836.00	$22,217,810.00	File
El Dorado Furniture 401(k) Plan	EL DORADO FURNITURE CORPORATION	4200 NW 167TH ST	MIAMI GARDENS	FL	330546112	2021	777	738	$18,136,836.00	$22,217,810.00	File
The Retirement Savings Plan of Sunbeam Television Corporation	Sunbeam Television Corporation	1401 79th Street Causeway	North Bay Village	FL	33141	2021	758	738	$69,032,072.00	$77,207,054.00	File
Alpha Industries Management, Inc. 401(k) plan	ALPHA INDUSTRIES MANAGEMENT, INC.	2919 CENTER PORT CIRCLE	PAMPANO BEACH	FL	330642105	2021	724	733	$42,533,742.00	$49,334,728.00	File
H.I.G. Capital Management, LLC 401(k) Plan	H.I.G. Capital Management, LLC	1450 BRICKELL AVE, 31ST FLOOR	MIAMI	FL	33131	2021	667	733	$64,480,743.00	$78,316,965.00	File
DermCare Management, LLC 401(k) Plan	Dermcare Management, LLC	4000 Hollywood Blvd	Hollywood	FL	33021	2021	630	725	$6,302,773.00	$11,669,999.00	File
THE NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE CAPITAL ACCUMULATION PLAN	MIAMI DOLPHINS, LTD.	347 DON SHULA DRIVE	MIAMI GARDENS	FL	33056	2021	734	714	$37,380,374.00	$42,735,165.00	File
FLORIDA MEDICAL SYSTEMS, LLC 401(K) PLAN	FLORIDA MEDICAL SYSTEMS, LLC	6901 YUMURI STREET	CORAL GABLES	FL	33146	2021	820	703	$2,045,704.00	$2,270,451.00	File
JOHN KNOX VILLAGE OF FLORIDA, INC. 403(b) Plan	JOHN KNOX VILLAGE OF FLORIDA, INC.	651 S.W. 6 STREET	POMPANO BEACH	FL	33060	2021	938	697	$1,596,304.00	$3,065,028.00	File
Alcora Corporation 401(k) Plan	Alcora Corporation	10000 NW 15 Terrace	Doral	FL	33172	2021	629	686	$5,864,980.00	$8,840,894.00	File
Hellmann Worldwide Logistics, Inc. 401(K) Plan	Hellmann Worldwide Logistics	10450 Doral Boulevard	Miami	FL	33178	2021	608	667	$24,475,887.00	$29,182,519.00	File
WESTCHESTER GENERAL HOSPITAL, INC. 401(K) PLAN	WESTCHESTER GENERAL HOSPITAL, IN	2500 SW 75 AVE	MIAMI	FL	33155	2021	587	666	$8,362,628.00	$8,058,788.00	File
JL Audio 401(k) Plan	JL Audio, Inc.	10369 North Commerce Pkwy	Miramar	FL	33025	2021	509	651	$16,401,546.00	$20,348,825.00	File
GrandVision USA Retail Holding Corporation 401(k) Plan	GrandVision USA Retail Holding Corporation	3601 SW 160th Ave.	Miramar	FL	33027	2021	649	648	$18,092,178.00	$18,581,360.00	File
GULLIVER PREPARATORY SCHOOL, INC. EMPLOYEE SAVINGS & RETIREMENT PLAN	GULLIVER PREPARATORY SCHOOL, INC.	9350 S DIXIE HWY FL 11	MIAMI	FL	331562945	2021	646	648	$38,685,080.00	$45,530,351.00	File
FAENA HOTEL & RESIDENCES, LLC 401(K) PLAN	FAENA HOTEL & RESIDENCES, LLC	3201 COLLINS AVE	MIAMI BEACH	FL	33140	2021	403	640	$4,188,839.00	$5,358,783.00	File
INTERAMERICAN MEDICAL GROUP LLC 401(K) PLAN	INTERAMERICAN MEDICAL CENTER GR	1000 NW 57TH COURT	MIAMI	FL	33126	2021	777	631	$3,930,122.00	$5,168,721.00	File
Fontainebleau Development Hospitality 401k plan	Fontainebleau Florida Hotel LLC	19501 Biscayne Blvd.	Aventura	FL	33108	2021	685	623	$12,424,573.00	$14,024,224.00	File
NPW 401(k)	National Auto Parts Warehouse, LLC	5801 E 10 AVE	Miami	FL	33013	2021	512	609	$2,714,214.00	$4,537,377.00	File
Ivy Healthcare LLC 401(k) Plan	Ivy Healthcare LLC	9429 Harding Avenue	Surfside	FL	33154	2021	571	600	$4,228.00	$229,297.00	File
Prevailing Multiple Employer Plan	Milum, Inc.	8175 W. 32nd Avenue, Suite 1	Hialeah	FL	33018	2021	587	594	$1,268,477.00	$1,275,549.00	File
HIDDEN EYES LLC 401(K) PROFIT SHARING PLAN & TRUST	Hidden Eyes LLC	4171 W Hillsboro Blvd Suite 2	COCONUT CREEK	FL	330738308	2021	524	590	$3,189,523.00	$3,550,332.00	File
Best Labor 401(k) Plan	Best Labor Contractors, LLC	3211 Ponce de Leon Blvd	Coral Gables	FL	33134	2021	608	589	$717,512.00	$1,284,290.00	File
ONE SPA WORLD 401K SAVINGS PLAN I	ONE SPA WORLD,LLC	770 SOUTH DIXIE HIGHWAY, STE 200	CORAL GABLES	FL	33146	2021	660	581	$33,061,683.00	$33,142,446.00	File

Bipolar disorder is a mental health condition characterised by extreme mood swings between manic episodes of high energy, enthusiasm, and euphoria and depressive episodes of sadness, hopelessness, and despair. These episodes can vary in duration and intensity and significantly impact a person's daily functioning.
Types of Bipolar Disorder
Bipolar disorder symptoms include increased activity levels, racing thoughts, decreased need for sleep, and impulsive behavior.
There are 3 types of disorders:
Bipolar I - is marked by at least one manic episode that lasts for a week or more.
Bipolar II - includes at least one hypomanic episode & one depressive episode.
Cyclothymic disorder is a milder form of bipolar disorder characterised by periods of hypomania and depression lasting at least two years.
Bipolar Disorder in the Workplace
Bipolar Disorder and Job Performance:
People with bipolar disorder often face unique challenges in the workplace.
Stressful work environments and unpredictable challenges can significantly impact their mental health.
Irregular or extended work hours can also disrupt their stability and job performance, while shift work or frequent sleep disruptions can disrupt their mood patterns.
Full-time work is too demanding for a person going through this disorder to manage, mainly when dealing with the highs of mania or the lows of depression.
Boundaries and stress-management techniques are two key coping mechanisms and management strategies for bipolar disorder symptoms in the workplace. Working with a mental health professional to develop a plan for managing symptoms while on the job may also be helpful.
Challenges Faced by Employers and Colleagues: A person who has Bipolar disorder has difficulties fitting into different workplace situations.
Criticism from a colleague or subordinate due to professional detachment or moodiness can trigger feelings of abandonment or rejection, leading to inappropriate anger, intense emotions, self-harm, or other impulsive behaviours.
Emotional reactivity, individuals with bipolar disorder may tend to see people as all-good or all-bad, using this coping mechanism to avoid abandonment or rejection.
Helping Employees with Bipolar Disorder:
Prioritize: In order to maintain a stable workplace, employers must place a high priority on providing employees with bipolar disorder with as much consistency as possible.
Positive Workplace Culture: One way to foster a positive workplace culture is to value each employee's individual traits and personalities as potential assets. Instead of highlighting particular behaviors, it's critical to concentrate on what is expected of all staff members.
Support: In order to ensure that employees with bipolar disorder succeed at work, it is important to be aware of the subtle signs and to offer them support and resources. Ensuring that the workplace is inclusive, supportive, and understanding for all employees is crucial.
Treatment/ Therapy for Bipolar Disorder:
Therapy is an essential part of treating bipolar disorder.
Bipolar disorder is frequently treated with cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) to teach coping mechanisms, recognise triggers, and control symptoms. Additionally, CBT can aid people in developing better communication and self-esteem, which can be especially beneficial for those who experience depressive episodes.
Bipolar disorder sufferers may also benefit from family-centered therapy because it fosters better intergenerational understanding and communication.
Interpersonal and social rhythm therapy (IPSRT) focuses on establishing a routine and managing social relationships, which can help stabilise mood and prevent relapse.
Medication management is often necessary for treating bipolar disorder. An Amalgamation of therapy and medication can help individuals with bipolar disorder achieve long-term stability and improve their quality of life. Working with a mental health professional to develop an individualised treatment plan that addresses specific needs and goals is essential.
Conclusion
It is necessary for people who are suffering from bipolar disorder to learn how to cope with workplace stress and practise stress management at work. But it is more important that the stigma around mental health should be removed so that people suffering from it don't have a problem expressing themselves.
Get in touch with Solh Wellness if you are someone who has bipolar disorder. At Solh, we provide personalised mental health solutions at affordable rates with easy access to individuals. Make a move towards bettering your life and your mental health. Download the Solh Wellness App now!

I watched the movie "99 Homes" on Thursday night. Have you seen it? If watching this movie doesn't make you want to check your Assignment I don't know what will.
What I do know is it set me be back a bit. I brought back all of the fears I started feeling in 2014 and we weren't even in foreclosure.
It brought back the hell we went through as a family before the tide turned in the Court.
It brought back all of this, an excerpt from the final Enforcement Motion I filed against US Bank/Wells Fargo in January of this year:
"Over the course of the last 6 years, due to the creditor's harassing behaviors, psychological torment and disregard for the law, debtor Donna DeRosa-Ruquet has suffered several bouts of acute pancreatitis caused by stress. Debtor Donna DeRosa-Ruquet has not had an alcoholic beverage in over 20 years and is not obese, two factors that are commonly found to correlate with acute pancreatitis. The most recent occurred in July of 2019, when, after three (3) weeks of bed rest and clear liquids, the pain still became so great debtor Donna DeRosa-Ruquet was advised by her doctor to go to the emergency room for a CT scan to rule out necrosis of the pancreas. In fact, on July 27, 2019, just three (3) days before the final hearing that is where debtor Donna DeRosa-Ruquet was: in the ER being subjected to radiation to determine whether or not her pancreas was being eaten away from the stress caused by the creditor. Thankfully and with God's grace and mercy, the findings were unremarkable for necrosis; this time. L. This is not the first time debtor Donna DeRosa-Ruquet has been hospitalized for stress related conditions. In 2014 after fighting the creditor tooth and nail for a proper Proof of Claim, she was first diagnosed with acute pancreatitis. In 2015, shortly after a long, protracted battle with the creditor to correct her account, she was hospitalized for three days for observation and diagnosed with an ulcer. More recently, on or about July 22, 2019, debtor Donna DeRosa-Ruquet underwent an expedited endoscopy, which revealed long, razor like lesions throughout the lining of her stomach, indicating her ulcer has returned and worsened. Debtor Donna DeRosa-Ruquet will now remain on medicine for the rest of her life to control a condition that was never present in the debtor's life until she encountered this creditor. M. All of these medical conditions have caused not only undue stress on debtor Donna DeRosa- Ruquet's physical health by affecting the organ that is responsible for more deaths in this country than any other organ (the pancreas), they have also caused thousands of dollars of unnecessary medical expenses that the debtor can ill afford. Unfortunately it doesn't appear that these expenses will decrease and or disappear especially in light of the creditor's never ending penchant for fraudulent gain. Speaking freely, the creditor is starting to remind the debtors of the "angry spouse' in a divorce case: that is, the one party who just wants to make things difficult even if doing so means shooting themselves in the foot. Along with all of these physical problems caused by the creditor's actions, there have been emotional and spiritual consequences as well, not only felt by the debtors, but the debtor's son as well. The creditors have affected the debtor's family deeply. They creditor caused a rift in their marriage that they really were not sure was repairable until they began the litigation in December of 2018. Only then did debtor Scott Ruquet finally begin to understand that the actions taken by the creditor relative to their mortgage was not normal, not legal, not moral, certainly not ethical and additionally, it caused debtor Donna DeRosa-Ruquet great stress, anxiety and physical aliments. This caused the debtors to argue constantly where they had never argued before, because debtor Scott Ruquet thought that debtor Donna DeRosa-Ruquet was over reacting and more concerned than necessary. The creditors actions caused the debtor's son so much stress by seeing the debtor's upset, yelling and fighting with each other where they never had before. Also, seeing debtor Donna DeRosa-Ruquet argue with the creditor for hours on end when he was home from college and seeing his mother act in ways that were uncharacteristic made him scared, angry and upset. So upset in fact, that he retreated into a drug addiction in and around 2015 that nearly killed him shortly after he graduated from college in May of 2016. This was a young man who, in five short years earned both his Associates of Science and Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science after maintaining an un-weighted GPA in high school of 3.76. Debtor Donna DeRosa-Ruquet found her only child unresponsive in August of 2016 and revived him; she also paid the mortgage that month. When the debtor's son tried to detox off of Xanax by himself, he ended up in the psychiatric ward of Community Medical Center on January 2, 2017, just one month after debtor Donna DeRosa-Ruquet had major back surgery, the debtors paid the mortgage those months too, even after they were told their son may be hospitalized for the rest of his life. The beautiful, loving child who debtor Donna DeRosa-Ruquet carried and birthed alone as a single mother, the child she raised by herself until he was three years old who made good grades and wanted nothing more than to make his parents proud, was almost an indirect casualty of this creditor's disgusting actions and tactics. Thankfully and only by the grace and mercy of God, the debtor's son not only recovered and was released after five (5) days, but has also remained clean and sober since that incident. That incident with also served as a wakeup call to the debtors and how it had come to consume their lives. Still in tact as a family, it was with all of the aforementioned experiences in mind that the debtors filed the first Motion because again: this creditor had and has no intention of stopping their harassing, criminal behavior and so it was time to take a stand. It is with this in mind that the debtors have filed this Motion but this time they are filing before the creditor has the time to obfuscate, confuse and cloud the debtor's mortgage account to the point that it takes another year to force them to make it straight. The original Motion filed on December 10, 2018, resulting in the Contempt Order filed on August 20, 2019, was intended to put closure to this horrible mental abuse the debtors were and are still enduring at the hands of the creditor. It was intended to put closure to the horrible feeling of being held hostage by the creditors too, but obviously, the creditors haven't stopped. Instead, the creditors have actually, in their not so subtle quest to default the debtors, committed fraud on the Court by representing they have reconciled the debtor's mortgage with phony statements that in fact meant nothing, as their intention all along was to manipulate the debtor's account in any way they could to "get theirs" through the next escrow analysis. The debtors can only assume the creditor felt that this case would be closed by the time they started their antics back up again. Aside from finding her child unresponsive with his eyes rolled back in his head- an image that is burned into her brain for the rest of time, what also haunts debtor Donna DeRosa-Ruquet and keeps her up at night is wondering how many other families did not make it? How many people committed suicide or fell into and or succumbed to drug addiction? How long are these creditors going to feel they can run ram shod through people's lives with the clear intention of destroying families by wearing them down to the point that they give up, only so the creditor can reach their ultimate goal of repossession to clean up the dirty mess that the creditor in fact created? Perhaps most prevalent these days is the mere thought of not being under the protection of this Court. Clearly the creditor feels they are above the laws and Orders of this Court, so once this case is closed it will be nothing short of open season on the debtors. Quite frankly, this is terrifying after the last six (6) years of exhausting, debilitating tactics used by the creditor and the debtor respectfully asks the Court to consider this when and if the Court rules."
Please check your Assignment.