AC WAS SO MUCH FUN! I had such a good time there! It was a little hard suiting, so much so that I did have to suit a LOT less. On the 1st and 2nd day I really had to take mega breaks after suiting cuz it was triggering the asthma again or something of the sort, and the steroids I am on made it a lot easier to get dehydrated/have heat stroke. BUT. My partner helped me out with moving the suit around on the other days and that made it more manageable. Honestly suiting less was fine too! I had a lot of friend groups to bounce between, having people to hang out with made it so much better. And when I didnt have any of them I had time with my partner! There were so many cool people I got to meet at this con. Maybe more friends! We'll see! Glad I got to see older friends too that I havent seen in a while (probably since last year haha). Now that the con is over, I touched base with my new doc and we're agreeing im well enough to taper off the steroids and wind down the meds im doing. Going to be hopefully getting an easier work schedule too now. AND, a friend moved in with us! A lot has changed in one week hopefully for the better! Maybe AC is the starting cap for lots of good ahead ^^

Hey all, another health report! Things are moving the right way. I can 02Stat around 98% again which is great news, tho I am taking a LOT of meds. I will be on steroids and other oral meds for the next several weeks, which is not without consiquence or risk, but the doctors belive them to be the best course of action. I will likely not be able to drink for a while, maybe at most a sip if I am lucky, but I think im luckier to just be breathing right now. One of the docs I work with also went out of their way to make sure I have a spacer for the inhailers im on, and we're trying to tackle the right type of inhailers to both take care of my asthma and chronic condition in addition to not making me tachychardic. I'm gona get better. Managed to work a full shift today, so we're going in the right direction.
With that said!!! I can let that keep me from Anthro Con >:) ! I gotta get better for it, and I will. I'll be there with my friends soon, and look forward to seeing you all soon there!

Hey all, thanks again for reading, responding and reaching out.
Im breathing better each day, got placed on a LOT of meds which have helped in conjunction with all the stuff I got put on throught the IV the other day. I missed being able to BREATH. YAYY BREATHING! We still dont have a culprit yet, the x rays are clear enough, the shrimpy cold wasnt that bad, the air quality isnt that much worse then normal. But at the same time there has been a lot at once thats an issue so, maybe its a compounding issue kinda thing. The important thing is I got help and have docs to follow up with. Might cost a bit but I guess thats the price for..living? We still need to rule out chronic bronchitis amongst other conditions. May need alergy testing and a CT scan at some point. But at least I can breath for now.

Getting released from critical care unit. My oxegen droped to 90%, maybe lower? Asthma for sure. Trying to explain the rest. Specialist tomorrow. Need to rest and not die today. It’s not fun to breathe rn.

At critical care, trouble breathing

Good news, the texture of the suit is at least less bad now and closer to ok. Hopefully it’ll be passable by the next meet of any sort. Goodness knows I need furry animal time. Thank you everyone to reached out for support 💛💛💛
Love y’all

I am really heartbroken to say my fullsuit was damaged yesterday. In prep for a pretty massive pride event, my partner wanted to surprise me by cleaning my fullsuit different that usual, and used a form of oxyclean spray that destroyed the texture quality of him completely from head to toe. He feels crusty and crunchy now :(
We’ve done several cleaning methods and so far the only thing that’s helped somewhat is diluted vinager baths followed up with clarifying conditioner and moderate brushing. But I’m incredibly sad to say the fursuit hugs aren’t going to be the same, and for my end he might be uncomfortable to wear from now on. I’m so upset this was done, even as a well intended accident. Incredibly devastated I missed our pride event for this. Even more devastated that such an important extension of me reduced such damage. 💔

Sorry for a lot of posting today. Things are crazy! Being Py is one way to keep my head above water. My birthday was great! Had Habachi and a party with a ton of friends, fursuited, did a big VR thing afterwords, and the days before and especially after we’re mostly amazing!

Life seems to mix goods and bads though.

Just before both mine and my grandfathers birthday, my grandfather was in a severe car accident. This is the same grandfather that took me in along with my grandmother for a time when I ran away from home, so you can imagine how this is as one of few good flesh and blood family members and the one who I get my last name and much of who I am from. The cause of his car accident was a massive stroke, followed by a seizure while my cousin was in the car. They both survived, but my grandfather by a much closer margin. He’s in AFIB with a broken sturnum and several ribs in and out of the hospital. Thankfully again, he is alive, and may possibly recover partially, but this has been a tough moment for my family and a deep inpact in my life. I might be leaning a bit more into my sona lately, he really helps me cope when things are low. As do all the people that keep me around, or choose to be kept around by me. I appreciate all the kindness from others, especially right now where life might change a lot to aid him, and while the grief of the situation has been impacting us. Thanks for reading.

It’s been almost 6 years since my partner abs I made the Py fursuit head. Now he’s looking a bit battle worn from all the cons and constant use. It’s time; sadly he’s got to be retired and refurred. We’re hoping for a quick job so that the little local cons are still doable these coming weeks. If not, it’s allll good. What happens happens. My partner will be taking several days off to dedicate to fixing him up after my birthday. Speaking of; it’s this Saturday 🎉 Can safely say it’s a crazy year for us all but we will push through it. Gona make it another good rotation 💛

I think Py is THIRTEEN NOW!!!! OH GOSH! Ive been a furry a long time huh? The last couple years in the fandom havent been the easiest, but at the same time I wouldnt leave it for anything. Great stuff has been happening and still will be, and I look forward to Py turning 14 next year with more cons under his belt, more adventures in suit, art, and now the VR spheres! SPEAKING OF! I dont know what to do for his "Birthday", but with the VR model pretty fresh and new I think it might be fun to celebrate it by getting together with friends tonight :)
At around 7:30pm EST tonight I plan to be in VR chat for some amount of time! If you want to say hi on there, tonight is a good night to do it. Send an invite to PumpkinPythias and I'll catch ya there :D
Love yall, thanks for sticking around, some of you for the whole freaking 13 years WOW

Hey yall! Updates on health stuff. If health stuff squicks you please skip the part in the asterisks ***
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Bout 4 months back I was S I C K. It was mycoplasma pneumonia in the b/l lower lobes of my lungs I contracted from working with a child who was life threateningly ill that needed to be escalated from my job to the ER. Luck of the draw, I stay masked but this kid was coughing up their lung, def got sprayed down by em' while getting the o2 tank hooked up to them. Took a while to recover but about 2 months later I kicked the cough and felt mostly better, but that was after SEVERAL courses of hard hitting antibiotics. Around that 2 month mark tho I noticed I had like, a weird abscess at about the belt line in a weird spot. Hadnt payed it much mind and just did what I would hear anyone start for treatment; warm compresses, dont mess with it, etc. Admittedly did sterilize and drain it on my own at one point when I got home from NYFB but at that point I kinda did it realizing it was worsening. Silly me forgor I'm a med worker who also just had their insides killed with antibiotics :') . It most likely was a staph infection based on what the docs at my job were saying while treating me the last couple weeks. As I understand it one particular antibiotic I was on is known to raise your likelyness of contracting staph by like 60%. Fast forward, ive been on 3 more antibiotics internally and externally applied and a few lances and its MOSTLY better. Had a spreading cellulitis that was knocked out and any satellite infections were stopped in their tracks. Down side tho? My gut bacteria culture is FUCKED. I'll spare some obvious details of that fun and just say it wasnt C-DIF :') . But what it has done is give me heartburn for the first time in my life. Like melting from the inside and throwing up every day for weeks kinda heart burn. Finally taking meds for that now. Sort of self practicing on myself with the heart burn and acid reflux??? Treating it like its Esophagitis GERD secondary to one antibiotic in particular that I didnt realize I needed to GUZZEL water to take. Woops. Docs and PA's are saying im treating it right and its improving so, stay tunned to see if Py knows what hes doing lmao.
All this has of course sucked but ive been powering through it and doing what I can to not let it stop me completely in my tracks. Its still the busy hell season at work tho so when im not working im just kinda trying to keep the misery of being revolving door sick at bay. Its impacted some more trips and suiting opportunities which is a little devastating </3 , but at least im getting better!
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While all thats been going on, ive been getting into VR! Tried to in 2020 but for many reasons my Index has just been packed away for months. Its out now tho! I have a particular version of a Tiger Bee model ive been rocking thanks for someone I hope to call friend but dont want to jump the gun on saying without reciprocated feelings, and ive fallen sort of into their little group and community through a very very good friend of mine that is responsible for why I got into suiting and enjoying my sona more anthro creature than feral dragon. There may be a full VR Py edit of a model or two around the corner now too!!! Guess this was the last thing on the furry check box. Im not sure what furry activities ive missed at this point once ive got a VR model of Py xD
If folks want, I would love to say hi in VR now and then! Im mostly just free free on monday, its the day I recharge from the hell that is my 40+ hour work week in the healthcare flu season trenches. Hope to see yall around over there :)

I did a little vid to speak to y’all, but happy new year to everyone 💛
Stay safe and thank you for your kindness everyone!!!!
https://bsky.app/profile/pumpkinpyt...../3lentfpytgc2a

Yo! I’ll be in Deleware for tomorrow only. See some of ya soon!

I spit out my minds word vomit into both Twitter and Bluesky if anyone uses either and wants to see my pics and posts that are more frequent than here. I’m PumpkinPythias on both sites! I’ll be trying to add some pics on here tomorrow to update FA a little as well.

I gotta try and get back to work tomorrow. I have no sick time left. Wish I could just say I feel better. The fever is gone and my vitals are closer to normal but every night I’m having such a heavy coughing fit that I end up choking and gasping until I throw up phlegm and blood. I’m pretty sure it’s just blood from how raw my throat is but there was a lot more this morning. Wish I could just rest more but.. gotta keep my job. Gotta keep the bills paid. Hopefully tonight I wount cough as hard, actually sleep, and survive the day at work.

As mentioned Tippy unfortunately was also life threatening sick last month. The short version is she was rushed to the vet (and escalated to the emergency vet) for severe respiratory distressed, ended up having bilateral collapsed lungs due to a condition called pyothorax where bacterial fluid overtook the chest wall outside her lungs. She was punctured for some fluid to be drained, then had two chest tubes installed while she lived in the vets office for a week to receive medication to treat the infection and meds for pain management. She thankfully beat it and came home on an additional course of medication and had since made a full recovery. We all belive the cause of her infection was just from ambient internal bacteria, as Tippy sadly has FIV (feline version of HIV), and is immunocompromised.
The total cost of her treatment was well over $6000. While some of that was paid off by me and my partner, we still have a big bill remaining and had only just finished paying her last albeit lesser bill. Folks have all ready made big donations via PayPal or privately, so realistically we only have $4000 left to pay off and we have until September to come up with the money. We are not down to the skins in the bank, and even though I’m out of PTO/Sick pay and I’ve had to miss a full week of work due to my pneumonia, I do have savings and am safe, as is my partner and Tippy. With that said, if someone wants to donate to help, it absolutely would mean a lot and help go to her bill so we can stay on top of her health.
Link bellow, thank you for reading.
https://gofund.me/b47b841a

24 hours later update. Symptoms are getting better not worse, I should be on the right track and do not need to escalate to the hospital. I'm very sorry for sounding alarmist yesterday if I did, I am still quite ill but the worry I inherited from talking to the care provider I saw yesterday combined with how I felt left some very serious concerns that I might wake up just as bad this morning and be headed for the ER.
The concern yesterday was that my vitals were very poor, O2 dropping down to 95%, heart rate racing above 130's on average, blood pressure showing well out of my normal range, and a fever of 103F combined with the symptoms of wheezing, crackling sounds heard on my exam from my chest with poor air flow, shortness of breath, blood being produced by each cough (though the blood was fresh and not clotted), and overall lightheadedness/dizziness/difficulty orienting myself. I was diagnoses with pneumonia secondary to bronchitis possibly induced by a Croup causing virus or chronic asthma (that needs to be investigated more later), but the provider brought up very real concerns that septic shock could be approaching based on my symptoms.
Today though I think im in the clear. My temp and BP are normal, my heart rate is more in the 110's which is more acceptable, cant check my O2 but the shortness of breath is mostly gone. The night time is still rough trying to "lay down" propped in a reclining position to sleep, but at least im getting some amount of sleep now as opposed to none. The gurgling crackling sound that I felt when I felt like my chest was drowning from the congestion is also mostly gone, and there was only moderate blood production in my cough once in the middle of the night last night, none since then save some small flecks early this morning.
I'm on about.. 6 or so prescription medications, 7 if you count fever reducers I was told to take, and a few more over the counter meds to help manage some of the symptoms. With hope by the end of the week I will be good enough to go about life again, though the cough might be there for kind of a while. I'm supposed to finally go back to work on Wednesday, as long as im feeling how I am right now typing this or a little better. Today and tomorrow I'm just continuing to push on and stay on top of taking the breathing treatments and medications I was prescribed, not doing too much crazy stuff rn.

Thank you all for the comments yesterday and today, and for the dm's over the last week for those who knew I was sick. Two folks even dropped off a card which was incredibly sweet. It means more than I have the words for.

Hi all. Just need to journal out my thoughts right now. Wanted to update my FA with some fun fursuiting moments, but I’m honestly very sick at the moment. I have bronchitis that’s now turned to pneumonia, and the symptoms accompanying are getting bad. The doctor I saw today is putting me on aggressive treatment with the goal of seeing improvement at least somewhat in two days. I’m coughing blood currently, but I’m told I’m at the threshold or what’s acceptable. If it gets worse by tonight I need to go to the emergency room as well.
I don’t belive I mentioned on here due to the FA outage, but my cat actually recently went through a medical crisis and we’re still 4K in debt to care credit for the next year. I’m terrified I’m not going to be able to pay for hospitalization. But I don’t want to end up like how Neer did… I’m honestly scared right now. I spent so much of my life wanting to die, but now that life is good and getting better im brushing with the reaper again. There’s a genuine concern with my vitals and symptoms that the infection is turning septic. I’m going to bite the bullet for treatment if it is. If something happens to me though people give my partner lots of love and support.

Despite not having regular conversations outside of comments, Dragoneer was a positive presence in many of my circles that was always sort of felt there. Without him, FA wouldn't be here, and without FA I wouldn't have my current job, my partner, the place I live, the friends I have, I wouldn't havent traveled to the places ive been. Hell, I might not even be here period. To think that possible force is gone has been devastating. Especially in the way in which he past. Im remorseful that I was unable to swallow my fears of being a nuisance as I feel with all my friends and had spoken more to him, but in his own words its not worth looking back in regret, but rather we should be looking onward. I hope for peace with his friends and family in these times. I hope for FA to continue as well even if its not my primarily used site these days. Just wish I knew what I could do to be helpful and also swallow the sadness of his passing. RiP dude. We miss you allready.

Today is the worst Software issue in history and I got to experience some impact at work today. Thank you to the IT furries slaving away to fix this shit storm at your various markets and industries, you’re helping to free up a lot of critical jobs like healthcare, bless and stay sane 💛

Anthro Con was amazing this year. I feel like I cant really sum up my experience in words well but I freaking love being there. Even not in suit the vibe of being there around so many folks where I can just be me is such a good feeling. When folks ask what I got at the con, the first answer is usually "friends!", and I think good memories should come next before anything I physically got there. This year was so good I think its the first year I REALLY experienced post con depression. The person we live with said to me maybe its because now that we have a stable and happy life outside of the con, when I get home from it it leaves me with the time to really think about how good it was and miss it. To compensate ive been a furry trash bastard at home as much as I can be haha. I'll try and share a few pics on here of my home suiting sillyness should I have the time.
To anyone I met or ran back into at AC though, thank you. People are what make my time there so fun and valuable. Love yall <3

Hey hey, im gona make a seperate journal when I can about how great AC was and the general state of things being good in life soon, but I have to first make a little journal about Tippy. As I mentioned she was very VERY sick with the final word being that we belive she had a severe UTI that she was unable to fight off well due to her FIV, but thankfully with strong antibiotics and IV fluids shes been able to recover fully (and honestly seems chattier and more energetic now that shes better.) Unfortunately, the final bill for her care was well above 2k, so my partner has put together a GoFundMe for her care. Some folks have also donated privately pet food or cash which has helped out greatly, but if anyone is able to pitch in a few $ to her vet bill it would go a long, long, long way. On the same note, dont feel compelled to especially with how the state of everything is lately. Im picking up overtime to try and get her bill as well as our con expenses under control, and at the end of the day I feel safe saying we'll be ok no matter what, the vet bill is just a very large shadow over everything at a poor time.
https://gofund.me/b47b841a

Last night my kitty Tippy was spiking a fever and generally looked terrible after a few days of lethargy, loss of appetite and reduced urination and bowel movements. She wasn’t acting at all herself. One emergency vet visit (that she did AMAZING throughout) later and an ultrasound and (painful :[ ) urine culture we now belive she has a bad UTI, and is on treatment with a follow up appointment pending before we leave for AC. The bill was $1500, and she needs that follow up for further eval of her symptoms and more evaluation of her bloodwork and urine culture. She’s just like one of my patients at work yayyy (this is not yay). With the big bill some folks mentioned we should start a go fund me for her. I think after AC I will, but there’s no pressure to donate unless folks are able to. I won’t lie, the bill is daunting as hell and that money would have been going towards my own medical expenses, a new fridge since ours is breaking, and my college funds for nursing school. But even if we don’t get any help we’ll find a way to manage, made it through much worse last year all and all considered.

Just got back from this past week! We had a GREAT time up there for our anniversary, mostly chilled by the falls and sight saw but also got to hang out with a fellow furry in the area who was super nice to treat us out, and then got to check out Toronto for a day. Really lovely all around. For the animal lovers theres a place in Niagra called Bird Kingdom I really have to recommend, and for aquatic lovers Ripley's Aquarium in Toronto was fun if a little more younger audience focused.
Soon as we got back its been back to work and the several parties and meets folks around here do for the summer! But we're getting ready for AC which is VERY SOON! My partner got the new head done enough to wear with some final touches pending! After we get back it might be time to refur the old head, and for me to learn the trade a little better to help him with the process, though I think I have an idea of how we're going to fur it back up at least!
Once again, hope to see many friends at the con, really looking forward to it!!!

This week makes 5 years since mine and my partners first date and kiss, and 3 since our engagement! The wedding is still technically pending but its just a piece of paper and or common law marriage that needs to make it official lol, we know we're together and both wear our rings daily. For this trip we'll be crossing the border into Canada for the first time. Im nervous for any snags but excited to get out of the country a bit! I'll be hopefully seeing a small handful of furry friends on this trip if the days work out well, and maybe get to see how hard or easy it is for me to drive all the way up to the site of the Canadian furry con. On that note, I hope everyone doing the VR furry convention this week has fun! Peace all! <3