Like many have said before, I hope everything works out for you @Aimless Ryan! If you don't mind me suggesting some advice, you should focus on getting better first and not get too stressed over all the BS. Easier said than done, but your recovery should be your biggest concern right now and overwhelming yourself with all that negativity will make the healing process that much longer. Once everything is settled and you feel ready, I look forward to another UD video! Definitely keep us posted.
Going back to the raw wood topic, I found some interesting wood on a small hike in LA. I don't know if this was carved by somebody or if the wood is organically designed this way, but I found it very interesting and maybe someone here can identify it and provide some more info? Apologizes for the size of the images. Spoiler to keep it small.
Obviously the patterns would be sanded down, but I don't think I'd mind my next UD to have these striations!
Those are probably Eucalyptus (aka Blue Gum) trees and the grooves are burrowing insect (larva) damage.. possibly/probably the Eucalyptus Longhorned Borer. We have a lot of these trees around here (NorCal) too and borers are a big problem. I milled a dead/down Eucalyptus like that a few years ago so actually have some 'nicely' larva damaged pieces with texture like that.