Nova in Hospital {Official Green Room Thread}

So, our friend Nova has had an accident at work. She's in hospital, in ICU; her neck is hurt, and there is some concern about paralysis, though she's wiggling toes now, thank God. Some posters are in contact with what is now several people near her, which should make it easier ot get help through, and a gofundme page or something similar will be forthcoming. We're discussing whether there are other ways to help as well.

Get well, Nova.

FYI. This thread is in the Green Room and is solely for sharing information and helping to coordinate aid to Nova and her family. All trolling is to be confined to the Red Room thread on the same subject. This is your warning that the moderation will be heavy handed and totally subjective, if you even THINK your post might cross the line it'd be best to post in the Red Room thread unless you are looking for a vacation.

This is not up for discussion in this thread. If you have an issue start a Help Desk thread. Derailing this thread will be considered trolling and dealt with as outlined above.

That said. Last I heard from Nova's wife things are looking good.

The long term prognosis long term for walking is good but not guaranteed. All her vitals are good. Still no sign of improvement in the hands, but it is still early. The family is very grateful for everyone's concern. I get the feeling we might be more supportive than the immediate community. To quote her wife: "No words to say how grateful I am for everyone's love and concerns."

She was able to log into Paypal and the money I sent is there. Hopefully soon she'll figure out how to withdraw funds. No immediate needs for material items (I mentioned that we could ship stuff) but she will keep me informed. She thanked me again for all the support.

So would PayPal be the way to go for now, or is it still better to wait for another venue?

So... Nova's wife isn't the most technologically savvy person. I'm still working with her on actually accessing the funds. Once I have a reasonable belief that money sent to the account gets make available to the family I'll let you all know. Until then I would hold off.

I know a dog and a human are two totally different things and I don't remember if I mentioned it here, but a little before Thanksgiving, The Dog had an accident. She slipped and fell in some mud playing fetch and was paralyzed from about mid-spine back. Not a broken back or a slipped disk. Dogs apparently can get this thing calle "FCE" where disk fluid pinches off blood to the spine, killing nerves. She couldn't move her hind legs at all and when I took her to the vet, the doc gave me information about dog wheelchairs. (But she did have pain sensitivity.)

I mention this because in the past month and a half The Dog has made about a 90% recovery. She still can't pick up her right hind leg when she is laying on her side and she limps a bit on that leg but she plays fetch and horses around with other dogs and chases squirrels like a normal dog.

Obviously a broken neck is much more serious (especially on a human, not a dog) and dogs heal much more quickly, but things aren't hopeless. In fact they may not be as bad as they seem.

As someone who's still in the fence about contributing, my biggest concern is how much of any aid is going to directly help Nova, as opposed to simply going to her family.

If the spinal cord was not severed, she has a reasonable hope of recovery. Bruised nerves still require time to heal, and time spent in bed needs recovery and recuperation.

I'm sure as sole breadwinner, Nova would want her kids taken care of. They still need to eat whether she's in the hospital or not.

That said, that is a legitimate concern. If the bill is exceeding high, the family might say fuck it and use it to fix all the rest of the broken stuff in the house. I can understand why some would have a problem with that.

In my view, it is the family that needs the aid. We don't know anything about the medical bills, but I don't believe Wordforge is in a position to cover that. Ultimately that is going to be Walmart's responsibility, but in the mean time, the hospital is not going to denny treatment.

The family, on the other hand, has no income without Nova, and probably won't collect any kind of disability or such for a while. I'm going to send some money once we know what works, specifically to help the family. Nova herself doesn't really need anything right now, but her household has bills and needs to eat.

We gotta take care of Nova. She's one of our own. Granted, we're all strangers in meatspace (and some of us are stranger than others) but we're soul-known. That makes us a piece. I probably missed the Paypal address being posted, but I'm actually a little lit this morning as opposed to faking it for yuks, so if somebody could PM me Nova's Paypal address, I get paid Friday and, therefore, so will Nova.

Just popping in to offer whatever help I can, either with a donation to a cause (although my Paypal doesn't work properly so alternatives would be nice) or time and support.

As an aside, can I just say that I came back to the forum yesterday in light of the news I'd seen checking into Facebook, where I am in touch with Nova, and I looked at the Red Room thread. You know, some of you should be ashamed of yourselves. I mention no names, but you know who you are. In fact, on particular individual, whose profession I share, I am very disappointed in. Whatever this place may be and whatever divisions there are in values and political opinion, we have all known each other for, what, 11 years now? It saddens me that people see a thread like the Nova one that was posted in the Red Room and think to themselves "oh, it's Red Room, goo I have a licence to troll and generally be a bit of a cunt". What sort of mentality does that take? Sure, we've all trolled in there. Probably all said some spiteful things. But these are surely situations where you just put that shit aside and understand the situation?

I don't care if Nova's wife is a but of a nutter. I don't care if this was a suicide attempt or not. In fact, if it was a suicide attempt that is all the more reason to show compassion. Had you all had the benefit of her Facebook posts you may have read between the lines and know just how difficult it has been for Nova to cope with the gender uncertainty she has wrestled with for a great deal of time now. We don't know the motivations for the gender issues. We don't fully know the circumstances of her personal or family life. But what is apparent is that it takes bravery to take a stand and stick up for what you feel is right for you in life, especially when society, particularly in a place such as Nova's hometown, is generally against you. That takes guts, but it also means that there is a lot of shit that comes with it. Stuff that is hard to deal with and causes stress. Family problems, acceptance problems, problems in the work place. None of this can be underestimated. Many of you have mocked what I have done over the years for a living, but being in the immigration field I have seen pretty much all iterations of family and personal circumstance. From gay people fleeing cultures that do not accept them, to women shamed because they have had relationships out of wedlock, to transgender people struggling with the authorities because it doesn't recognise them as their chosen sex legally to people shunned because of rape, poverty or social position. I've even faced it myself to some degree.

These are situations when humanity calls for compassion. We've known each other for so long, is it so bloody hard to show a bit of damned restraint and, God forbid, some compassion when the time calls for it? Right now I see someone down on their luck who probably needs to know they are valued to pull through it.

Hey good job on following instructions.

This no thread derailment. These are my views, in one post. I wanted to offer my help and my views on the immaturity without being dragged into some petty trolling nonsense.That's why I didn't put it into the Red Room thread. Got no time for that crap anymore. My post here flames nobody.

If you want to make an issue of it for drama - that's your bag my friend. I can see where your priorities lie. I'm not getting into any of that childish rubbish,

Let's discuss Chup's alleged thread derailment for two pages now!

In my head, I keep seeing this movie montage with everything that has happened to Nova over the last few years. Right at the end, it cuts to Wordforge, and a gloomy voice says:

And these are the friends that are coming to help her.

Alleged? You sound like one of those media types. "he allegedly jumped off the building" (the video shows he jumped off the building)

Let's nitpick my choice of words again for two pages now!

"Nitpick"!?! It's a valid criticism!!!

Okay, that's enough discussion on thread derailment. Back on track now, please.

Any progress on where to contribute?

Any update on Nova's condition?

It's probably been mentioned already but has anyone sent flowers or anything, as a start, before the proper monetary contributions follow?

No, due to transportation issues her wife hasn't been able to get to the hospital and see Nova since Sunday. Can't even talk on the phone to her.

Hoping to get a ride tomorrow. I'll update when I know more.

Hey ANC do you wanna send a plant? Flowers die what kind of symbol for recooperation is that.

If so let us know an amount and several of us can split it and send via pay pal to ya.

Or maybe we come up with the amount first. I'm down with $5. Who else will chip in?

Good news! Tomorrow they are going to try and move her to a rehab room.

@Aenea, great idea! I'll find out if rehab rooms can have plants (no flowers in ICU), when I get my update tomorrow.

What about balloons? Balloons are fun, too!

Can someone repost this so Anc can see it?

Seriously? She can't get on a bus to the hospital? Is public transport really that bad in the deep south? Hell, even in deepest suburbia in California you can at least find decent bus service but if you're in a big city you can probably find light rail service. Or is the problem she and Nova have had a fallout over the whole sex change thing so she doesn't want to try very hard?

Of course I have to admit I do not remotely understand the not driving thing especially if you live in the deep south where public transit is so bad. I, and absolutely everyone I knew without exception (well, that's not true as there was one exception), male or female, both wanted a car as soon as they turned 16 and usually got a car as soon as they turned 16. Many, including myself, got jobs are 14 (a paper route) and 15 (washing dishes) just so I'd have money to buy a car when that magic 16 year birthday came around. Some had parents just buy them cars while my parents decided to match my funds in order to encourage me to work and save towards a goal. My parents doubled my money so what ever I saved they matched but they wanted to make sure I really wanted it and was willing to make goals and save towards those goals.

I find it unbelievable that an adult would not have the desire or ability to drive.

Public transportation probably really is that bad in their area, yes.

AFAIK, Nova lives in a small rural town. No public transit there.

Also, AFAIK, she's in a hospital in another city.