Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Eddie 88]

Doing an archive crawl, I realized something -- is Faye's mom like, twenty or thirty years older than her dad? Unless I got the timeline mixed up, as I understand it, Faye's dad killed himself shortly after she graduated high school. In the flashback, he looked pretty young. No gray hair, at least.

Faye went crazy shortly thereafter and was then in the hospital for what did she say? Like two years? And then she moved up to Northampton, and was only there a few months before meeting Marten.

So the time it took from the flashback of Faye's dad killing himself (in which he looks young and has no gray hair) to Faye meeting Marten was three years tops.

Yet when Faye goes home to visit her mom after the fallout from The Talk, she looks like a granny; totally gray, can't even drink sweet tea, probably in her sixties at least. Her dad looked like he was thirtysomething, maybe fourty in the flashbacks.

So is this artistic liscence on Jeph's part, or is Mrs. Whitaker twenty or so years older than Mr.?

[Carl-E]

You'd be surprised how much losing a loved one, or other traumatic event, will age you. 

My beard went gray in the 6 month period my daughter was in and out of hospitals with cancer.  I have proof...

[TinPenguin]

Some things worth bearing in mind:

1. We only saw her dad's face in flashbacks of her as a young girl.
2. This was back in the 500s, when Jeph's art was still developing - it's easy to draw young people, or old people, but middle-age needs more subtlety.
3. Also, for the flashback sequence he was experimenting with a new style.
4. What Carl said.

Her mum may well be a little older, but I don't think the difference is as drastic as twenty years. The gap must be something like that for Henry and Maurice, though.

[Is it cold in here?]

How she looked at the time.

[Storel]

Admittedly, even in the strip where Faye's dad shot himself, where we only see his back, none of his hair seems to be gray. For what it's worth, however, my father didn't start going gray until his late 40s, and even then it was just around the temples where it made him look distinguished, not old, so Faye's dad could have had some gray on his temples that we couldn't see with his back to us. Whereas my mother started going gray in her late twenties (around the time my twin sister and I were born, SHE claims ) and dyed her hair for decades. If Faye's parents were like that, perhaps Faye's mom just didn't have the energy to think about dying her hair in her grief. That by itself, plus the aging effect from the severe grief as Carl mentioned, could account for why she looks so much grayer than her husband only a few years after his death.

[Kugai]

Hey, I just realised something


Faye before her father killed himself

A budding Daria?

[Carl-E]

Well, she woulda had the requisite angst and snark, I suppose...

[Frepp]

It's just an idea, but all of this occurs in a flashback, which means that it is Faye's interpretation of it

Because of this she is simply remembering what her dead father looked like, which could lead to her using a template image formed in early childhood. We tend to be quite favorable in remembering what people look like and so he could seem younger because that is how she remembers him - or the is how she wants to.

[Storel]

Excellent point, and welcome to the forum! 

[Eddie 88]

Oh yeah, all that makes sense. The hair-dyeing sounds like it's probably the biggest factor -- my mom started going gray when she was in her thirties, but always dyed, so you couldn't tell. She's sixty now, and recently she fell and broke her hip. She was completely bed-bound for three months, during which she couldn't get to the salon to dye, so her gray hair grew out. Faye's mom (surprised that nearly 2500 comics in we still don't have her first name, given that we got her dad's during The Talk) probably stopped dyeing after her husband died. She even said he was the only man for her, she's not gonna remarry or anything.

Sorry to hear about your daughter, Carl. Is she better now?

[Is it cold in here?]

Welcome, insightful new person!

[Carl-E]

Sorry to hear about your daughter, Carl. Is she better now?

No, but thanks for asking. 

[westrim]

This strip strongly implies that they were of similar ages.

[Eddie 88]

Sorry to hear about your daughter, Carl. Is she better now?

No, but thanks for asking. 

I hate doctors. I really, really hate doctors. "In her head." That's just what they say when they mean "I'm not nearly talented or experienced enough to give you a diagnosis, and I can't be bothered to go the extra mile to find you someone who can because I honestly don't care as long as I get paid, but I don't want you to sue me so I'm not going to admit any of that."

I myself have a still-undiagnosed systemic joint and musculoskeletal disease which has me house-bound, unable to work, unable to walk more than a few feet on my own without crippling pain, and unable to use my hands properly (I can only post on these forums or use a computer at all 'cause I'm using a speech-to-text program). This started in Summer 2012 (I was 100% perfectly healthy prior to that). By Fall 2012, after having seen a dozen different doctors, the conclusion was "it's just in your head."

And as much as that sucked, all I could keep thinking was, "I'm a decent-looking twentysomething white male, and they're treating me with this much disinterest and callousness. Statistically, I'm getting the best treatment and most attention. I can't even imagine what it'd be like for a woman and/or a person of color."

It's 2013, and apparently, the state of modern medicine is no better than it was in 213; guesswork, blind guesswork. And if your symptoms don't fit neatly into a pre-existing easy diagnosis, tough shit, nobody cares, nobody's willing to take a personal interest and go the extra mile. There are no Dr. Cox's, there are no Dr. House's, there are no superdocs who'll work tirelessly to uncover a medical mystery. If one test comes back negative, they write you off; it must just be in your head.

I really hate doctors.

[Mr_Rose]

Slightly ironic given your sig quote, but there you go.

That said, sounds like you got some sort of progressive joint fibrosis. Which probably means autoimmune problems given the late, rapid onset. IANAD though.
Also, are you in one of those countries where doctors get paid by the test rather than by the cured patient? Because that always seemed silly to me; imagine paying police by the arrest or firemen by the fire….

[Pilchard123]

"The citizens had a rather disturbingly direct way of thinking at times, and it did not take long for people to see the rather obvious flaw in paying a group of people by the number of fires they put out. The penny really dropped shortly after Charcoal Tuesday."

[Eddie 88]

Slightly ironic given your sig quote, but there you go.

That said, sounds like you got some sort of progressive joint fibrosis. Which probably means autoimmune problems given the late, rapid onset. IANAD though.
Also, are you in one of those countries where doctors get paid by the test rather than by the cured patient? Because that always seemed silly to me; imagine paying police by the arrest or firemen by the fire….

It'd only be ironic if I claimed to be a true man :p

It's not fibrosis or anything like that -- I actually have better-than-average flexibility, normal strength, I don't get any swelling, redness or itching, it's just that when I use my joints/muscles (can't tell precisely which it is, or if it's both) for normal everyday activities, they feel worn-out and almost like their muscles are pulled really fast, and then comes the pain. It's a bit different for different joints.

Like, did you ever see that South Park episode where a character (can't remember which, I'm not a SP fan, I just happened to see it when someone else was watching) gets his legs replaced with a black person's legs (ha ha so funny). He's playing basketball at one point and his knees basically splatter, the legs come off, gore splashes everywhere. That's what it feels like is gonna happen to my knees if I stand or walk too long.

As for my fingers, they just feel like the muscles get intensely pulled intensely fast when I do stuff like try to write, type, play piano (*laments his username*) or use a videogame controller. It's far too intense to grit my teeth and push through it, I just have to basically not use my hands all day. My wrists feel all crickly and crackly, like they're filled with gravel. X-Rays show my bones appaer fine, though.

Blood tests and bone tests and one nuclear thingy test ruled out pretty much all known autoimmune diseases. At this point, my running theory is that it's either genetic, something exotic like a rare viral/fungal/mold or something, or a problem with my body's ability to produce adenosine diphosphate or adenosine triphosphate.

And I dunno how doctors get paid in my country (the United States of America, sadly), but it's definitely not for curing patients.

"The citizens had a rather disturbingly direct way of thinking at times, and it did not take long for people to see the rather obvious flaw in paying a group of people by the number of fires they put out. The penny really dropped shortly after Charcoal Tuesday."

Heh.

[Loki]

Pilchard: Which book is that from? (I recognize it as Discworld )

[Is it cold in here?]

This is a long shot and you may already have tried it, but at some kind of research/teaching institution you stand a better chance of getting a doctor who's a nerd, and if there's one leading around a gaggle of students s/he may feel some pressure to act like a skilled professional.

[Pilchard123]

Pilchard: Which book is that from? (I recognize it as Discworld )

Guards! Guards! I think, though it may be from Jingo.

[ankhtahr]

I think it is Jingo, the part about the burning embassy.

[Carl-E]

There are no Dr. Cox's, there are no Dr. House's, there are no superdocs who'll work tirelessly to uncover a medical mystery. If one test comes back negative, they write you off; it must just be in your head.

I really hate doctors.

Well, I'm not fond of many of them, but there are good ones.  The ones who are willing to say they don't know, and go on to push further on your behalf, ask around, find the researchers who have an idea.  We found one in the head of neurology at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (which is the teaching hospital that holds the charter for Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh).  She was the one who put together the massive conference call to finally give us a diagnosis.  She was the one who brought all 30-odd neurology fellows to her room and told them to pay careful attention, because even though they may never see another case like this in their entire career, they need to know that things beyond their normal level of expertise exist. 

Also, I hate to say this, but your symptoms sound a lot like fibromyalgia.  There's no test for it, and the symptoms vary, and not everyone even recognizes it as a disease (more like a vague collection of symptoms, commonly called a syndrome).  The fact that you're a young male means that you're statistically very unlikely to have it (it's most common in women over 40), and so I'm betting most docs are ruling it out without even screening you for it. 

Most docs. 



Keep looking.  You deserve better. 

And I think we should end this here, unless you want to resurrect the thread in Discuss that covered this stuff.  (actually, there are two, one about insurance and the other about health care costs, but none about medical issues in general). 

[Eddie 88]

Pilchard: Which book is that from? (I recognize it as Discworld )

Guards! Guards! I think, though it may be from Jingo.

I thought it was from Animal Farm, actually. Shows what I know. Granted I never actually read that book, it just sounded like something along those lines.

This is a long shot and you may already have tried it, but at some kind of research/teaching institution you stand a better chance of getting a doctor who's a nerd, and if there's one leading around a gaggle of students s/he may feel some pressure to act like a skilled professional.

I should try that, you're right. At this point, though, my big obstacle is money. I can't work, and I'm too old to be on anyone else's insurance (and I don't have a spouse or anything). And because I don't have a specific diagnosis, I was rejected from Medicaid. I mean, most hospitals and doctors will treat you without payment if you can't afford it, just let your bills pile up assuming you'll start paying them eventually, but what's the point of getting healthy enough to work if it puts me so far in debt and ruins my credit rating so totally that I spend the rest of my life barely making ends meet?

There are no Dr. Cox's, there are no Dr. House's, there are no superdocs who'll work tirelessly to uncover a medical mystery. If one test comes back negative, they write you off; it must just be in your head.

I really hate doctors.

Well, I'm not fond of many of them, but there are good ones.  The ones who are willing to say they don't know, and go on to push further on your behalf, ask around, find the researchers who have an idea.  We found one in the head of neurology at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (which is the teaching hospital that holds the charter for Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh).  She was the one who put together the massive conference call to finally give us a diagnosis.  She was the one who brought all 30-odd neurology fellows to her room and told them to pay careful attention, because even though they may never see another case like this in their entire career, they need to know that things beyond their normal level of expertise exist.

Heh, actually, I live near Pittsburgh, I'm on the UPMC Financial Aid program (which is how I've been able to see any doctors at all after getting rejected from Medicaid). Unfortunately, thus far, all the doctors I've seen (except an opthamologist, but that was for an unrelated matter) have been lousy. Just this past Monday, my rheumatologist flat-out told me there's probably no answer to what's wrong with me, that because my symptoms don't fit neatly into a pre-existing diagnosis, I'm pretty much on my own.

He's actually my second rheumatologist -- I stopped going to the old one after she basically laughed me out of her office when I told her I wanted her to just start running tests for every possible thing that could be causing my joint problems. When you're in your mid twenties and you're not an athlete, people don't take your complaints of joint problems seriously.

Also, I hate to say this, but your symptoms sound a lot like fibromyalgia.  There's no test for it, and the symptoms vary, and not everyone even recognizes it as a disease (more like a vague collection of symptoms, commonly called a syndrome).  The fact that you're a young male means that you're statistically very unlikely to have it (it's most common in women over 40), and so I'm betting most docs are ruling it out without even screening you for it. 

Most docs.

Keep looking.  You deserve better. 

And I think we should end this here, unless you want to resurrect the thread in Discuss that covered this stuff.  (actually, there are two, one about insurance and the other about health care costs, but none about medical issues in general).

Thanks.

I'll stop it here, though, no need for a new topic. I wasn't trying to like, bring up drama or anything, the conversation just sorta lead there.

[Loki]

I wasn't trying to like, bring up drama or anything, the conversation just sorta lead there.

You'd be surprised how often that happens here.

Good luck to you.

[Eddie 88]

I wasn't trying to like, bring up drama or anything, the conversation just sorta lead there.

You'd be surprised how often that happens here.

Good luck to you.

Heh, like I said -- healthy, normal people don't frequent the QC forums :p

Thanks.

[Carl-E]

Speak for yourself. 



Oh, wait, I think you were...

Nevermind!