TOP priorities: 1. HEPA air filter for the bedroom. Critical. Run 24/7. Whatever brand is fine. Bigger the better, in general, just make sure it's rated for at least the size of the room you'll put it in. You should be able to find a good one on Amazon for about $100 for a bedroom. You have to replace the filters every 6 months or so (another $30-50 each time). I also have a large freestanding expensive ($700) "whole house" HEPA filter that I inherited from my mom. I might not have run out and spent close to a thousand bucks on one . . . but it does sort of rock. I run it 24/7 in the main living space. 2. Keep pets out of the bedroom. Also critical if you have pet allergies. 3. Wash bed linens frequently. Also, if possible: 1. Remove carpeting and replace with hard floors in the bedroom and, the rest of the house, too, if feasible. This made a HUGE difference in our household, but I know it's pricey. Still, it really does make a huge difference. I will never, ever again have an inch of wall-to-wall carpeting in our home if there's anything I can do to avoid it. I have one large Chinese silk rug in the piano room where no pets are allowed and no shoes are worn . . . that's it. No other rugs or carpet except washable bath mats. Best thing ever . . .

"Farts belong in the bathroom." When my kids got out of hand around those ages with farting, burping, or other grossness, I enforced the "farts belong in the bathroom" rule. In your situation, I'd send him to a bathroom for 5 minutes every time you hear a fart or loud gross burp or any other fart-ish noise. Get a cheap, simple 5 minute timer of some sort and keep it in the closest bathroom. Put a few educational reading items in there (Kids magazines, etc, ideally, as they're "disposable" just in case.) Nothing else entertaining would be permitted in the bathroom. Just the reading rack of pre-selected Mom-approved educational reading. He can sit in there and either fart or go potty or read, whatever, but he stays until he's been in there 5 minutes. If you have limited bathrooms available and/or don't like the idea of banishing him to a bathroom, then you can banish him to his bedroom or a stair step or wherever. I just like the bathroom idea since I tell my kids that's where farts belong. A thing I said often was "Do you need to poop?! Did you crap your pants?! Are you sure? Never trust a fart!! You might crap your pants!" -- things along that line are just embarrassing enough for my kids to not like to hear it from me. Since I frequently said things like that when I heard a fart, it discouraged them from doing it in my presence. (Clearly, I'm talking about 8 year olds who've been potty trained for many years . . . My advice doesn't apply to young kids who are still potty training!)

A close friend has an adult daughter with serious mental illness (who she adopted as a young child, but whose birth mother had lost parental rights due to bad, bad things, so the girl had a very traumatic early childhood and some unlucky genetics to boot) . . . Anywho, I know that at one point around age 18-20 or so, the girl spent some time (months?) in an outpatient/all day sort of program like you describe. In her case, it was very helpful. They'd been getting her mental health care for YEARS (since early adolescence), but she was never inpatient, and the intensive outpatient program (that my friend carefully found and felt was just right for her) combined with ongoing lower intensity (weekly, etc) support/therapy after the program seemed to be the thing that turned the tide. It's been several years since she did that program and she's been stable and relatively successful since then. (I.e., she's alive, in her mid-20s, stable in a relationship with a good person, holding a job well enough to mostly cover her very low cost living standards with help from her parents on big things and the state on medical things via some sort of disability coverage that offers her medical care/Medicaid of some sort . . . This state is a HUGE win for this kid who was at such high risk for implosion it's not funny at all.) Seems to me that an intensive out patient program would be MORE beneficial in many cases than an in patient program, so long as the person can be "safe" outside a hospital . . . as it allows the patient to learn/grow/heal while still "dealing with" their regular life . . . so might be easier to integrate change/growth into their normal life . . . whereas inpatient programs, although sometimes necessary, naturally result in a large and risky adjustment period after discharge. Intensive outpatient programs, on the other hand, can sort of ease people back into their normal lives while integrating healthier habits/behaviors/meds, etc . . . So, anyway, that's all I know. My guess would be that, just like regular therapy or in patient treatment, success varies dramatically depending on accurate diagnosis, quality of clinicians, etc. I hope your friend's child gets better.

You bet you can do this. Hal Higdon training plans are the gold standard of basic, doable, will get you there training plans. You can choose whichever appeals most to you and seems doable. I'd suggest sticking with Novice 1 for your first one. Just start on week 2 or 3, whichever will get you to the end on the right date. The cross training days on the plan mean you can do your BeachBody or whatever you want those days. http://www.halhigdon.com/training/51131/Half-Marathon-Novice-1-Training-Program http://www.halhigdon.com/training/51130/Half-Marathon-Training-Guide *DO NOT* run more than the plan says. You're begging for an injury if you do. IME, most folks get their first running injuries trying to get to the HM distance (too quickly). YOu're pushing it already, but it *is doable* based on what you've written. Just take it easy and Trust The Plan. When the plan gives you a choice between running and cross training, you MUST cross train, not run. Your legs just aren't ready to run 4 days a week, trust me. (OK, sure, there's a 10-20% chance you'd be fine trying to do that, but a 80-90% chance you'll be hurt, at PT, and not finishing the plan.) Print out your plan and go get 'em!!! You can totally do this, IMHO.

Perhaps you can cut back to 1 hour of schooling and try to squeeze it in while the distracting one is busy with SOMETHING. Perhaps you could stuff distracting dd into bed with dad in the morning and turn on a video for her? Or do lessons while she naps? For a long time, while I had "littles", I would do certain subjects (especially teaching to read, as that really required my 100% attention) when the littler ones were napping. Sometimes I'd even squeeze in teaching reading or violin while the littles were already in bed. A famous and oft-repeated phrase was, "Would you like to practice violin now, or go ahead to bed?" Not surprisingly, the child would generally chose to practice and stay up a bit later. Same idea works for naps. You might also consider curriculum choices that are more flexible for you to use despite distractions. For instance, I used both Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons and Explode the Code with my kids. 100EZL REQUIRED 100% mom attention, undivided and uninterrupted, for about 20 minutes. I generally only taught that during the baby's nap or when Daddy was home. On the other hand, ETC could easily be taught with kid-at-table and mom-jiggling-baby-on-hip. There are numerous choices in curricula like this . . .

Random tip . . . Fridges are really deep. "Counter depth" fridges are still deep-ish but are MUCH more expensive for the storage space you get. So, in general, if you can plan for a "full depth" fridge, that's better. Cool trick is that you can simply build cabinets extra deep, so you can use a regular depth fridge and then have extra deep counters on the "run" that is on the fridge wall. Now, that'll be tricky if you have a range on the same run as the fridge . . . So, if you wanted to do this (use a regular depth fridge and build deeper cabinets, which MASSIVELY increase storage space, FYI), you could swap the pantry and fridge locations, and then on the run that currently has the pantry (and now would have the fridge), you can build those base cabinets 30" deep and the upper cabinets can either be kept at the standard 12" deep, or even better, build them to 15 or even 18" deep. I did this on the one small cabinet run that is adjacent to our fridge and the increase in cabinet storage space is incredible in those drawers on the base cabinet (30" deep). I kept the upper cabinet the standard that our cabinet shop uses (13" deep, but more like 12" deep inside as ours are "inset" cabinet doors instead of the more common "overlay"). You can still reach the upper cabinet just fine (we use it 20 times a day, as it houses our cups). So, anywho, just a thought. (I spent approximately 47,000,000 hours designing my kitchen, lol, so I'm sorta' tuned in to these details.) If you don't move the fridge, be very careful about the fridge being next to that wall . . . As the (awesome) french door fridges that are popular now really need clearance on both sides for the doors to open properly. Really study fridges before you finalize your layout. (What I did was build a custom cabinet surround around my fridge, so there's cabinets above (OMG, huge super deep cabinets that store so much huge weird crap) and then just wood walls/trim on the sides. Must be done carefully that the fridge doors extend PAST the cabinet sides/surround or, in the case of a wall, the doors must extend PAST the wall -- so that the wall is only as deep as the body of the fridge, not the doors. People often add a "filler" 12-15" full height cabinet such as a pull out pantry (awesome possum, IMHO) between a wall and the fridge to solve this problem, FYI. (And, those pull out pantries are $$$$, FYI, so consider cabinet costs when changing things.) Also, consider where somebody will be standing when they are "browsing" in the fridge and the amount those doors will swing and block the aisle. I have my fridge on the back/seating side of our island, and I allowed about 5 feet between the front of the fridge and the edge of the island overhang/seating area. That's just enough to comfortably allow somebody to be using the fridge while someone else is seated. The plan, as drawn, looks just a little tight. That pantry is very small (36" wide, 24" deep, from my guess), so be sure that's the size you want, as once you lose 6" on each side for the walls, that's barely 2 feet wide . . . If you moved it over to where the fridge is, you can use an existing wall as the left wall, so you'd lose less space to wall construction, and maybe you could squeeze in 36" wide and 30" deep? I personally like having my DW on the right side of my sink, but if you don't mind having it on the left side, that'd probably make more sense to allow the unloading dishes to be more easily moved to where you store them . . . because as is, the DW is sort of at the far end of everything and so you'd surely have to carry those dishes pretty far . . . I love the fact that nearly all my regular dishes are stored within arm's reach of my DW. Alternatively, if you want to keep the DW on to the right of the sink (which, honestly, I would, too), then see if your island can have enough space to make "dish drawers" in a lower cabinet close by. There's a site that used to be called gardenweb (and is now a subunit of houzz), that has a "kitchen design forum" that is sort of like the WTM boards for kitchen design. The people there are insanely smart about these things and can/will totally help you re-draw your kitchen if you post it there. Super awesome helpful. Anyhow, I don't regret a minute of the 277,213,233 minutes I spent designing my kitchen, because it really did turn out great, and you spend so much time in there that every detail really matters, IMHO. You've got a good amount of space and can likely get a great final design if you do some tweaking. That ability to tweak is, IMHO, the one thing about self-building that sort of makes it worth the trouble, lol. https://www.houzz.com/discussions/kitchens

Totally not my business, but I *love* looking at house plans . . . I love the look of the plan you cited. It has a craftsman feel that I love. :) However, I don't like the MBR so close to the common areas and so close to the other bedrooms. I've got kids your kids' ages, and I want my BR as far as possible away from theirs. Both for my/dh's privacy and for theirs (not having to hear them come/go/play video games/watch Netflix/etc.) I'm also not a fan of an entrance straight into the main room. SO, I searched on that site for the same style as yours (Arcadian) and similar sizes, and this one popped up as looking good. Anyway, it's just a thought. If you detail your preferences, I'll be happy to spend more time browsing floor plans, lol. https://www.theplancollection.com/house-plans/home-plan-26265 Oh, one other thing, if you can swing 2 1/2 baths, I'd do that, as my kids are PIGS and having to send guests to THEIR disgusting bathrooms means I'd have to clean it . . . frequently . . . I already do that when we're having overnight houseguests just because I don't want the mortification of having someone wander into their moldy/scummy/disgustingness accidentally, even though we have tons of other (clean!) bathrooms.

I haven't read all the replies, and so this may be totally not helpful, but just in case it is . . . If I'm right that your oldest is barely 6 . . . Can I please point out that your homeschooling should take less than an hour a day. Really, truly. No more than 2 hours. For sure. That's 4-5 days a week. I raised 2 National Merit Scholars and my youngest is similarly off-the-charts accomplished. We did this on very few hours per day of "school" when the kids were little. Really, truly. Even with music lessons. Make sure to spend 20-30 min/day most days on teaching your 6 year old to read. Another 15-30 min/day on some sort of nice math thing. Then make sure your home is full of creative play options, limit screen time, have tons of books around, and read to all the kids for pleasure . . . That's ALL YOU HAVE TO DO FOR SIX YEAR OLDS. Ramp it up a tiny bit each year, and you're good to go. Really. Reading + Math is ALL you have to do at that age. If you truly have time and interest for more, that's great . . . but with a pack of little kids and not much time to spare, I'd urge you to pare back as much as possible. Give yourself a huge break. Cut back on the unnecessary things. Keep meals simple. Keep dishes simple. Keep laundry simple. No ironing, no complicated meals unless it truly nourishes your soul/heart to cook. NO VOLUNTEERING EVER. Say "no" to every unnecessary thing. Say "yes" to every offer of help. Skip church stuff, too, if that's in your life, as much as you can. Just stay home and BE. Give yourself a huge break and your family a huge break. Really, truly, please. Babies grow up way too fast. You're likely deep in the sleep-deprivation zone and the "I can be a perfect mom" zone . . . that zone where most of us lived when our kids were those ages. I doubt that many of us who have "made it to the other side" (and now know for sure that we can never be perfect, despite now being able to reliably get plenty of sleep) regret the pies we didn't bake or the starched shirts our dh didn't wear . . . (100% cotton no-iron dress shirts CHANGED MY LIFE, lol). Anyway, ignore me, of course, if what I'm saying isn't applicable or helpful. I sure wish I could go back in time and relive every day from the day my first was born. I'm 100% certain there'd be a little less cleaning, less volunteering, less curricula, less organized anything, and a lot more lazy days on the couch reading books or just napping. (((hugs)))

Well, how much sleep can/do you get each night? How much sleep does your dh need to be reasonably rested and healthy? In my ideal world, everyone gets 8-10 hours of sleep. Unfortunately, I rarely live in my ideal world. My dh typically gets 6 hours or so if he's lucky. He gets up around 6 and on average, he gets to sleep around 12 if we're in a good sleep routine. When life is bonkers, he may get by with 5 hours or so for many a night. He can often get 7-9 hours the 2 or 3 mornings a week that he doesn't work in the morning. So, if your dh can get by OK on 6 hours, I'd say he could be up by 9 and helping by 10, if he's going to sleep at 3. If your life is so nuts at this point that you can't get 6 hours of sleep most days, then I could imagine trimming his sleep to 5 hours, especially if he can sleep longer on the weekends. Also, I'd be considering that it's his choice to take the slow hour when he wakes up. If at all feasible, I do think it's healthier for everyone to get 6+ hours every night, 7+ if possible.

I thought this article provides some interesting insights into the oft-discussed pros/cons of higher education. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/12/06/not-only-are-americans-becoming-less-happy-were-experiencing-more-pain-too/?hpid=hp_hp-more-top-stories-2_wonk-happiness-9am%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.6fe88310d97f A pertinent chart:

If my kids were young enough to do that, I would, lol. I have two college kids and one 15 year old . . . So, they're old enough to have their own careers and adult lives . . . We're still leaving the options on the table . . . and the next 2-3 years will be the critical decision time. . . I hope the USA returns to some sense of decency where my kids will want to build their futures . . . Time will tell . . . That's all I can say w/o turning political.

Kids don't care about beds, at all. I would buy the kiddo a new bed pronto, and not call it a present.

That's pretty much what we've done for our family as well -- a small business group plan. We went with a nice PPO option 750 deductible . . . Family of 3 -- $1800/mo. Each college kid is another 400/mo or so. So would be about 2700/mo for family of 5. (18+ seems to ramp up premiums quite a bit.) I'm expecting to pay about 35-40k in health care premiums/deductibles/copays in 2018. Canada or New Zealand would be great . . . but my kids aren't on board . . . yet . . .

Lessons generally get longer as the child advances. My kids' lessons have typically been one hour long when they're 8+ old, but they've been serious about their music. General rule of thumb is weekly lesson length = length of daily practice (up to an hour). If the kid is practicing an hour a day, then an hour lesson makes sense. If they're still practicing just 30-40 min, then a 30 min lesson should be OK. I always follow the teacher's guidance on these things, though. (But, again, my kids have been very, very serious musicians, so my experience may not generalize.) At the point where the kid is practicing more than an hour per day, lessons can still generally remain at one hour, IME.

"Sis, I think my meal plan for the week will fit with your criteria, except for the grass-fed meats and whatever dairy . . . Honestly, I generally choose those things for our small family, really, due to the costs of buying groceries for nice meals for our large group for the week, I generally don't use the super pricey grass fed meats and super pricey dairy when we have such a large gathering. I think I can find that stuff, but it'd add at least $200 (insert whatever number makes sense to you) to the grocery budget for the week, and that just isn't doable for us with all the other holiday expenses. What do you think we should do?" That's her chance to say, "Oh, sis, I'm sorry, of course! Let me pitch in to cover the meat and dairy for the week! I can PayPal you $300 (ideally 50% more than whatever number you throw out) right now if you'd let me do that!" Or, she can mumble and whine. And prove herself an ass. If you can readily predict which answer she'll give you, then I guess you might need to reconsider my suggestion . . . Alternatively, you can think of the actual dollar cost (say the $200) and decide if it's worth the argument or the money, and just spend the extra money yourself. Or plan fewer meals with meat and/or dairy . . . Another option would be to ask family members to bring/contribute certain items to help defray expenses. That might be more comfy than asking everybody to pitch in $$. You could make a list (5# grass fed beef roast, 10# non GMO organic potatoes, etc.) and ask folks to choose x items from the list. You could include a caveat that "If you don't feel like shopping, I get it! I'd be cool to do the extra shopping if you'd like. Just let me know, and you can reimburse me later. I think $50 per family would be AWESOME." Or something like that.

I'd move where YOU most want to be for the 15 months. If your family is loving and enjoyable to be around, that's where I'd go. I'd take the chance to be close to them while you can, as you never know when/if you'll have that chance again. There's nothing like family support/help, IME. (My parents are both now deceased . . . we lived near family for 4 years when my kids were little, and it was awesome. I'm glad we had those years. My dad died a few months after we moved there . . . but my mom and aunt were alive the entire time, and that was amazing. If your family is annoying or not helpful or pleasant, then I'd move back from where you just came from where you have a good friend network. And, thank you for your family's sacrifices for our nation. I can't imagine how hard these things must be.

FWIW, I've read numerous times that this is a big thing that holds women back professionally . . . apparently men (on average) will readily apply for jobs that they have some/much/most of the "requirements" for whereas women will hold back and not even apply unless they have nearly all or all the posted requirements. Lots of times, folks get hired who didn't/don't have all the listed requirements. So, my suggestion is to GO FOR IT. If you don't get an interview, what have you lost? If you get the job . . . you've gained A LOT!

Re: melatonin. It works very well for me . . . I found that 5-10 mg made me very hung over and groggy the next morning. But, once I figured out my ideal dosage (3mg), it helps me greatly in getting to sleep and then doesn't hang me over at all. Also, the chewables take effect much quicker which helps trigger a very sleepy temporary state when it's especially easy to go to sound sleep in a 30 min window when the melatonin is peaking. I add 2 tablets of benadryl at the same time, and this combo works as well for me as much more serious and dangerous drugs. I'm having my kid worked up for sleep disorders this week, and my understanding is that the PCP will refer us to a psychiatrist who would then order a sleep study (overnight), do a thorough history/questioning . . . and presumably other doctors or back to the PCP if there are more physical things that need addressing, or therapist for therapy if there is more of an emotional cause to the sleep disturbance . . . I'm not sure about these steps though, because I am literally a day away from beginning the first medical appointment. I definitely have confirmed that the diagnostic process is best begun with the primary care doc.

ps. true story, from this summer. Our family was going to a sort-of fancier party at a friend's house, and I'd decided to make limoncello sorbet as a treat to take. It only had 3 ingredients: sugar, lemons, limoncello. I know I always have LOTS of sugar in the house because we have a huge pantry, so I keep 2 bags in there as well as the full canister on the counter. Buy more when we get down to 5# of sugar, which is enough for at least a month or two of typical use (except in holiday baking season). And I knew we had at least 3/4 bottle of limoncello because I'd last used it in May at ds's grad party, and I recalled putting it back in the liquor cabinet at least 3/4 full, as it was just one small part of a big bar/party. So, I had dh pick up a bag of lemons on his way home from work that day (Saturday, midday) so I could make the sorbet that night, as it needs to harden for a day before serving (the party was the next night). Around 9PM I went to make the sorbet. Sure enough, we had the lemons dh had just bought. Went to measure the sugar, and there was literally less than a cup left in the canister. No problem, I keep bags in the pantry. NOPE, no such bags. NONE. DD15 had been doing a lot of baking in recent weeks . . . Sugar never got on the list. OK, well, I know we can run up to the quick mart and grab sugar, no problem. Went to find the limoncello. WHAT limoncello? There was no limoncello!! I (rightly, as confirmed later) guessed that ds-graduate had snagged the limoncello at his party . . . (Later confirmed that he and his pals had an unfortunate night with limoncello . . . post-grad-party . . .) So, there you have it. As a 47 year old grown woman, I had to run to the liquor store (30 min drive) late on a Saturday night! So, anyway, that's an illustration of why I was so perplexed at the very thought of a pantry inventory tracking app!

Oh. My. God. Please tell me this is satire. I am lucky if I remember to buy milk, and I open the fridge 109 times a day and it's at eye level. (We had to use canned evaporated milk for 2 days running this week . . . It's gross, for the record.) There is No. Way. On. Earth. anyone in my house would participate in any app use to track pantry items. I mean, I can't get them to write down "sugar" on the list when we run low because they've been baking incessantly . . . What, would they have to scan everything when they use it? HA!! I'm still begging them to put the trash IN the trash can instead of on the counter right ABOVE the trash can. Or dishes IN the sink instead of wherever they last used them . . . Let alone launder in hampers . . . Your home must be frighteningly (in a good way, I think, lol) organized. And your family fantabulously cooperative (definitely in a good way). I'd say, give yourself a pat on the back for such an organized house and cooperative family . . . and carry on. I sure won't criticize if you actually have all that . . . Wow. Just wow. (And, this is NOT meant to be insulting. I'm just truly and absolutely incredulous!!)

In general, the seller takes responsibility for the shipper delivering as directed/properly. Amazon would then make UPS pay for the damage if UPS failed to follow whatever guidelines Amazon and UPS have for this sort of thing. I have no idea the details of the UPS shipping agreement, but if the OP has clearly instructed UPS on where/how to deliver packages to her address, and UPS failed to live up to their standards, then UPS will take responsibility (via Amazon). If UPS followed their own rules and Amazon's rules . . . then Amazon will refund if they feel inclined. IME, as a very frequent Amazon purchaser . . . I've found Amazon to be very generous about refunds on any sort of problem. Companies such as Amazon make financial/business decisions on who to use for shipping . . . they negotiate rates and guidelines . . . If they chose to hire a local whack job to toss packages onto your yard where it got rained on or eaten by animals or mowed over by the lawn service . . . instead of a reputable carrier to follow standard norms and deliver properly to the residence's designated delivery spot (by the front door, presumably) . . . then it's on Amazon to make it right. That's part of the risk they take when they allow sub-contracting/etc. (Google up "delivery person shitting in driveway" for a current video story of a contracted (in a U-haul!) delivery woman doing just that . . . The subcontracting of deliveries is getting a bit out of hand, IMHO. Personally, in our locale. our UPS and USPS guys are great. The FedEx ground guys are idiots. The FedEx air guys are great . . . I have no problem holding a company responsible when their selected delivery service does a bad job.

Hmmm. I'd definitely contact Amazon. They'll probably refund you . . . But, since you know this is gonna' keep happening . . . Just to save you aggravation . . . I'd treat it like a business (which you sort of are, right, as a farm?) . . . and put up a big obvious sign (we have a big foot-square one on our back door at work) that says "PUT ALL DELIVERIES HERE!" etc etc or similar verbiage, and then create some sort of secure place (a metal box/bin with a lid? A "cage" like you can have for garbage cans in rural areas? Something like that? I'd put signs up in all the relevant places (like wherever the various delivery guys like to drop packages . . . At my house, sometimes they put stuff right at the garage door (makes no sense but is a shorter walk) or sometimes by my front door. . . So, if this were me, I'd put a sign over by the garage door saying something like "DO NOT DELIVER ANY PACKAGES HERE! They will be utterly destroyed by rogue goats!!! ALL DELIVERIES must be placed in the designated box by the front door!" And, then, over by the front door, I'd have a big animal proof-bin and another sign saying, "All deliveries here in this bin, please! Thank you! Please also ring the bell so I know to come get it! Thank you for protecting our packages from our rogue goats!"

ps. So far as co-infections . . . those are best treated based on symptoms. Again, a LLMD will be the one to figure this stuff out.

Does she have symptoms of Lyme? What are they? When did it start? How long have they lasted? IME, with acute Lyme this summer that almost killed me (no shit), I found that all "normal" doctors don't know shit about Lyme, and that they all think a month of doxycline (regular, low doses) will kill it. That was NOT the case for me. And from what I've learned, I think it's fairly common that the month doesn't do it. If your kid is still in the "acute" stage (a month or two post-bite), then a month of ABX might do it. Maybe 90-95% of acute cases will respond to a month or so of doxy and she'd be good to go (according to my LLMD). The other 5-10% of folks won't respond to the month of low dose doxy. They will fight this damn disease for years or a lifetime. For me, given how terrible my Lyme was (in my brain, excruciating pain from Lyme meningitis) and how wide-spread (disseminated rash all over me) . . . I decided to abandon the "regular" doctor bullshit and go to a LLMD. I was on SUPER HIGH doses of multiple antibiotics for a total of three months, and then I went off, and now, a month or two later, I'm symptom and (hopefully) disease free, and surely hope that lasts forever. (Will feel more confident in several more months . . . each day that goes by makes me more confident that I've kicked it). Others, who caught the disease much later, may never be able to "kick it" and end up on various ABX and/or herbal and/or all sorts of other more invasive regimes for many years. Others go ahead and die. So, for me, I was very happy to get access to a LLMD and get proper treatment. If it were me, or my kid, I'd get them to a LLMD IMMEDIATELY. Understand that almost no LLMDs accept insurance. You will have to cash pay. You may be able to get reimbursement from your insurance and you might be able to get your meds and labs covered by insurance. In my case, insurance covered all my labs and drugs (to the tune of about $5000 in drugs over 3 months), so that was awesome. I submitted my receipts for the DR visits to our insurer, but I'm actually not aware whether we ever received any reimbursement (dh handles our bills). I don't care. I'd have paid any amount to get treatment. Clearly, most cases of acute Lyme resolve w/o any medical intervention and many/most other cases respond to the standard 3-4 weeks of low-dose doxy. If that weren't the case, we'd all be dead, lol, as Lyme is everywhere and is an epidemic. So, most folks survive by taking their chances with traditional doctors. Those others who don't get the happy side of that gamble are really and truly F*CKED for a very long time. So, I didn't take chances. (Besides which, the symptoms of Lyme that I had were utterly unsurvivable, so it's not like I was "just" taking the chance of having arthritic knees or being really tired/brain foggy for life . . . Although those are also some really crappy conditions, at least they would have been survivable, whereas my pain was not.) I used to be afraid of antibiotics and drugs. I'm now VERY VERY thankful for the "nuclear" antibiotics I took. They saved my life and gave me a very good chance of being healthy for many more years. I'll be on nuclear level probiotics/supplements for at least a year (and was all throughout treatment) to try to undo the damage to my GI/microbiome/etc . . . but so far, I've escaped major side effects of all those ABX, likely due to my aggressive probiotic regime. (I take 10 capsules of various probiotics/supplements twice a day . . . and was taking even more other supplements/herbs when I was on the drugs.) Find a LLMD. IMHO.

No, I don't think it's immoral or unethical. Depending on the details, I think it depends on how you define conspicuous consumption whether it is tacky or unclassy to display wealth. Morals and ethics have to do with right and wrong. One could argue that it is immoral or unethical to HAVE or KEEP vast wealth, but displaying it is just about manners, not morals, IMHO.