Progress on Miriam's Health

I'm ridiculously thrilled by some solid progress on Miriam's health issues.

To try to abstract things to a point of easy understandability, there is a test, test foo, that Miriam has had done several times.

In the past, she has always gotten result A. Result A is not indictive of auto-immune issues. However, it's well-documented that result A can *actually* be a pattern called pseudo-result-A, which is caused by overlapping multiple other results that *do* indicate auto-immune issues. There's a note about this in the official medical literature about this test and has been for years, yet it has not been incorporated into the actual process of test interpretation. It takes significant expertise to distinguish pseudo-A from actual A, and doing that check isn't part of the standard process, so an unknown percentage of people with auto-immune issues are getting dismissed as negative on test foo.

The most recent panel of tests Miriam got returned both result B and result C on test foo. This is what Miriam has suspected has been going on for *at least a year* and probably longer, but there's no way to contact a testing center and ask if they have anyone with expertise to make this kind of judgement and who could look at the test.

To say I'm thrilled would be an understatement. Possible progress toward treatment for her pain! And at the same time, The fact that this takes *so long* for the medical establishment to figure out when it seems so obvious a possibility to us is infuriating.

Transbian Powers Activate!

And earlier today, before getting those test results, I was doing more work on my RGB lighting control code. I worked out some more issues and can scroll two different sets of colors in different directions on the two LED strips on the front of my computer case. Transbian powers activate!

https://youtube.com/shorts/JkJXhMmUO-k?si=xIwKWqBqvrT7kqNk

Operation Gayest Bike in Regina: Phase One

I'd decided I was going to use Testors enamel paints for the stripes on my bike. I took Miriam to school today and ran some errands, including a trip to Michael's to get a brush and possibly paint thinner (unless buying mineral spirits at a hardware store turned out to be cheaper).

But while I was there, I saw that their permanent indoor/outdoor vinyl wrap was on sale. And they had the right pink and blue. So I decided to give it a try that way first and tonight I did the trans stripes on the top tube for a bit less than it would have cost for the paint and supplies, and I didn't have to mix custom colors either.

I don't know if I'll be able to find the right colors to do the lesbian stripes on the downtube, so I may paint those. I bet I can get the right colors of vinyl for the pride rainbow on the seat tube though. I'm still not 100% sure that the vinyl is going to last and look good long-term, but for now, the first part of queering up my bike is accomplished! Better pictures outdoors some time when it's warmer and I can ride somewhere.

I cleaned the top tube with isopropyl alcohol before putting the vinyl on, but it was hard to tell whether I was removing dirt, or whatever black spray paint the person who briefly had possession of my bike used, so that may be an issue for the vinyl longevity too? I'll just have to see how it goes.