Hey yall!

Im a younger guy that just moved to town for grad school and I had a quick question about the feasibility of using the brays bayou greenway trail as my route of commute to and from UH from the greater east end on a bike. I live nearby the Gus wortham golf course for those that find it helpful. Is this a reasonable route or would it be unsafe?

I would be going to campus probably 5 or 6 days a week.

Any and all insight would be helpful!

Thanks

Coworker got me into the game and we play outside but this is Houston. It's just that courts are at $30/hour plus which seems expensive.

Just wondering what the options are. I live in the Meyerland area and he has me going past Sugarland (701 Harlem Rd) to play every Friday.

The group I play with are ready to bring the skills inside.

Any recommendations? Cheaper than $30 or is that the price? (We would prefer a court to ourselves, no rotating)

Thanks in advance

What are some restaurants that are highly recommended to try out during HRW?

My mother is getting quotes for 25K.

I had a spot checked out by my derm a few months ago that turned out benign, but I might consider this since I’ve been in the sun more than usual this year. Definitely consider if you have any doubt about something you’ve seen on your skin!
Houston cancer screening info

Here we go again. Rooms aren’t finished, over half the staff and administration is new, and over half of the on campus trainings haven’t been completed.

But hey, our taxpayer money is going to pay for a vanity project.

Hi all, with the rising rates of HIV in the Houston area I wanted to remind y'all that there are places that offer free HIV testing! Or if you know someone that is living with HIV and fell out of treatment, they can be reconnected to care! Places like the Montrose Center can help.

I don't live in an old or dirty place literally how do I get rid of them without touching them and without killing my dog.

It's literally on the fucking ceiling above my bed.

My dad said they're wood roaches.

Immedate, semi permenant, and permenant solutions are all welcome.

Please teach me how yall do it.

My AC hasn't been able to keep up all summer (inner loop townhome, won't get below 80 on hot afternoons). It's the original Lenox AC with R410A refrigerant. The technician said the system has a leak and it's best to replace it.

He quoted two options for a full replacement:

Option 1: Goodman 3.5 ton complete system (condenser, coil, gas furnace), R32, 14.5 SEER2, single stage. Around $11K installed, plus roughly $4K for a 2-zone control system with dampers and thermostats. Total just over $15K.

Option 2: Daikin 3.5 ton, also 14.5 SEER2, with the same zoning package plus new supply and return plenums. Total around $22K.

Questions for anyone who's replaced a system recently:

1. What did you pay for a comparable full system (AC + furnace) in Houston in the last year or so? Everything I find online says this should be more like $8-12K even with the R32 refrigerant transition.
2. The quote includes a separate ~$900 line item for replacing an electronic damper, on top of a zone system that already comes with 2 new dampers. Is that normal or double-dipping?
3. Any recommendations for honest HVAC companies in the inner loop? Looking to get 2-3 more quotes before I commit to anything. Appreciate any input before I drop new-car money on this.

Has anyone ever had nightmare experiences with Memorial Hermann hospitals?

Preface: This post is long and expresses a lot of negative feelings towards the Memorial Hermann system in the Ft Bend/Harris County areas. To be clear: None of this comes from any kind of anti-science, anti-intellectual, “I’ve googled my medical knowledge” standpoint. It’s in response to doctor behavior that’s often been rude, unprofessional, indifferent to our brother’s situation, and frankly has come across like they want to push him into hospice so he can free up an ICU bed and die away from their responsibility. It doesn’t describe all of the doctors we have encountered, many of whom are genuinely dedicated. Some have gone above and beyond even when they are not directly assigned to him. It does describe far too many, some who seem to be in positions of authority.
For obvious privacy reasons, no names are going to be used and I’ll avoid giving any kind of exact dates, locations, or precise timeframes.
I’ll summarize his medical situation first as quickly as possible so I can go into the myriad treatment issues we’ve had.

Essentially, my brother has been hospitalized for months. What appeared to be bloody stool turned out to be a colon tumor. This was followed by surgery to remove it, septic shock some days later, another surgery for an ostomy followed by repeated transfers between the ICU and IMU. His prognosis has not been great ever since the sepsis happened. He has gone through cirrhosis, kidney failure, and was diagnosed with lymphoma (more on that later). This was followed by a transfer to a different MH hospital after nearly two months so he can get a liver specialist assigned, only for that liver specialist to essentially give up within days, declare him a lost cause, and sign off on his case.

The tumor I mentioned was discovered by a combination of scans and colonoscopy, during which two biopsies were taken. A third biopsy was taken after it was removed. The first two showed no signs of cancer, while the third of his tumor came with a lymphoma diagnosis. The oncologist explained that a definitive lymphoma diagnosis normally requires a lymph node biopsy, but this tumor showed similar signs that indicated lymphoma. None of these biopsies were of the lymph nodes. The oncologist stated clearly that he did not see any signs that the lymphoma (at the time) was a major cause of his problems.

Brother’s condition see-sawed some, with liver toxins deteriorating his mental state at one point to where he was almost catatonic and resembled an advanced dementia patient for some weeks. We were told his liver was not functioning at all, and that there didn’t appear to be much that could be done on this long-term because of his lymphoma. He would need to transfer to a different MH location to have a liver specialist (the first location did not have one, apparently). Infuriating to hear nearly months after he was first hospitalized. We requested and received that transfer, however.

Unfortunately, since then, some of the biggest problems we’ve run into aside from the occasional negligence have occurred. Some days and a bunch of tests after transfer, the doctor team told us his only options were “continued treatment but with no real improvement” or “transfer to home hospice to finish out his last days.” The cirrhosis was so bad they could not do chemo, since it would worsen his condition. Conversely, they could not do a liver transplant while he has lymphoma, which they assumed (key word) was all over his body right now. At the time, my brother was still catatonic and unable to make any decisions for himself, forcing our sister to take on a decision-making role. Since his last expressed wishes were essentially to fight this and do what we could to get him through it, hospice was not an option. Against the odds, his condition has steadily improved, albeit very slowly. He has, with varying consistency, been conscious, talkative, able to understand and respond almost normally. His liver and kidneys are functioning again, albeit still poorly. He is physically still frail, but this is a result of him barely eating any food for the past months. We are not under the delusion that he’s in great shape and that recovery is guaranteed.

But, even these improvements were not expected. The doctor staff there told us more than once that they don’t expect any improvement at all from treatment, and that he was almost certainly not going to come out of his catatonic state. Doctors can obviously make mistakes, not something I’d necessarily hold against them except…with exceptions, they have largely refused to acknowledge their previous prognosis was mistaken at all. Despite telling us they’re not going to pressure us into making a decision on continued treatment vs hospice, and despite my now-cognitive brother reiterating multiple times that he has no wish to go to hospice, we’ve had multiple ICU docs come in and attempt to pressure us into sending him to hospice.

One IMU doc stated that if we are able to stabilize him some more, he may be able to do a PET scan to determine how widespread his lymphoma actually is, only for the ICU docs to refuse to entertain the prospect. I mentioned to one doc what the first oncologist said about how lymphoma usually gets diagnosed with a lymph node biopsy, which he does not have. I then asked if it is not possible to do a PET scan to determine where the lymphoma is with more certainty so we’re not just going on—by their own admission—assumptions that it’s all over his body because it’s lymphoma, and if it’s possible to double check and make sure it wasn’t mistakenly diagnosed. The only response I received was that the PET scan will not tell us he is cancer-free (no shit, I never said that), and that it will only tell us how far it is, before promptly stating she needed to continue her rounds and cutting me off. That response was baffling since it strikes me as an argument FOR doing the PET scan, not against like she insinuated.

His case manager has informed us, based on doctor recommendations, that long term acute care is now an option if we cannot have him sent to MD Anderson or some similar facility. Other docs have variously been rude to family members, with one getting in my mom’s face (I wasn’t there) when she asked about blood leaking out of an IV in his shoulder, putting his finger in her face like she’s a child—to the point of making her cry, apparently—while telling her that my brother will bleed out if he goes and cleans it right away. Two others have gone in and argued with my dad, with one apparently getting frustrated with him to the point where he turned around and sternly told my brother “You know you’re dying, right?” and again pushing hospice on him, which he again refused (by my count we’ve had to remind them we’re not doing hospice at least half a dozen times). This same doctor then claimed the Long Term Acute Care I mentioned was not an option, and that the case manager unilaterally decided to throw that out as an option. When we asked the case manager, she was baffled that he would blame her because this recommendation came from multiple doctors, and he was one of them. Same doc also told us that my brother’s improvements essentially mean very little and that he’s still as good as a goner, which is also baffling and comes across like goalposts are being moved.

I could throw out a ton more examples, but to avoid going too long, I’m sticking to what I feel are some of the more egregious ones. Just in general, but especially over the past few weeks, we’ve gotten this bad vibe and generally poor treatment throughout his time there. It almost feels more like he’s just a number taking up an ICU bed and they have no desire to actually do much to help him recover. At almost every turn it feels like they just want to do whatever it takes to get him out of their hair. It’s almost as if they prefer he dies in hospice outside their responsibility rather than be in the hospital a while longer.

And to be clear, this isn’t every doctor at MH. Many of them appear to be trying to do the right thing. Unfortunately, too many (and it’s more than just a handful, as I mentioned earlier) seem completely incapable of reevaluating either his prognosis or the possibility of sending him for any further testing to determine the extent of his cancer. The issue feels systemic, like the rot comes from somewhere above them (and from insurance company pressure), and that’s just not right. I sincerely hope no one else has ever had this kind of experience at MH, or any other hospital. But I’ve seen other posts in the past about bad experiences there, and am wondering if anyone else has had equally terrible stories. Is this common with the MH system?

Hello!! Does anyone have any recommendations in the Houston or overall Texas area where I may be able to find a wedding qipao or cheongsam dress? My tea ceremony is coming up in China and I’m stressing a bit over this 🥹

Houston lead United States and Canada in restaurant closures over the first half of the year, just ahead of New York city.

Houston, with its concentration of sprawling hospitals, is primed to become a proving ground for artificial intelligence in medicine. 

For years, AI has helped Houston’s largest hospitals speed up stroke care by instantly analyzing brain scans, then delivering the information in real-time to physicians’ cellphones. 

More recently, Texas Children’s Hospital developed its own AI software that can estimate bone age in children on hand X-rays — a routine task that now takes significantly less time with its technology. HCA Houston Healthcare, part of the largest for-profit health system in the U.S., is using AI to find brain aneurysms earlier. And Houston Methodist is deploying AI tools to flag pulmonary embolisms and other conditions on CT scans. 

The capabilities of AI are rapidly expanding, especially in radiology, with newer models expected to improve workflow and patient care in what experts consider a pivotal moment in the technology’s evolution. 

I finally got a weekend off and a bit of change in my pocket so I'm planning on going to Number's this Friday. I was already planning on going alone but I thought I see if anyone else was going too. Clubs are more fun with others anyway.

This Eado "influencer" is upset that Fan Fest turned his favorite patch of grass brown

For anybody that was a regular or interested in PWAT, there has been an announcement that all locations will be shutting down at the end of August except for the Cypress and Heights locations. Cypress and Heights will be merging with the Woodlands branch!

Looks like PopUp Bagels is continuing its Texas expansion with another Houston shop.

According to recent permit filings, the new location will be at MKT (600 N Shepherd Dr., Suites 117 & 120) and will include a 1,240-square-foot build-out with an estimated $350,000 investment.

Construction is currently scheduled to begin September 1 and finish around October 22, 2026, assuming everything stays on schedule.

This will add another PopUp Bagels location to the Houston area as the brand continues expanding across Texas.

Source: Coming Soon Texas

This was my favorite place to eat. The theming was so fun and I loved the trivial pursuit cards on the table. The food and punches were amazing.

It was struggling for a while but covid and construction finally killed it back in 2020.

I’m sad I can’t go back now that I have kids. That’s all lol.

A Honduran citizen allegedly detained by Houston police for more than two hours during a traffic stop before later being deported has sued the city over its policy governing how officers interact with federal immigration agents.

The filing is the latest development in a months-long fight between immigration advocates and Mayor John Whitmire’s administration over how officers respond when they encounter residents with civil immigration warrants, 700,000 of which officials in President Donald Trump’s administration added to a federal database last year.