I am also training for a 1/2 marathon; I had to stop for a month because of emergency surgery. I am dropping back a bit because I have to (I lose all endurance in one week), but if you started the long run and could keep up at that pace, it wouldn't hurt to try.

We rent property that we own at well below market rent to both my Mom and my IL, who have nothing saved for retirement. We are prepared to let them live rent free if need be. Having said that no one takes advantage of the situation, they are great to live by, and are actively helping us raise our kids, so I feel we get a lot in the process. I do worry that we should be using that extra money to save or our retirement more, but my husband and I both feel good about it.

It wasn't after pregnancy, but I had my gallbladder taken out last week after my first attack ever. It started out of the blue one day about two hours after I ate. It was a really bad sharp pain (bad enough I couldn't speak in full sentences) and it went away after about an hour. At first it was more epigastric, then became more localized over my right side. I was really tender over my right upper abdomen. I was also nauseated. After the first episode, it repeated three more times before i finally went in to the E.R. and I couldn't handle it anymore. It was stones in my case, and I had surgery about 12 hours after going into the E.R.

I lock myself in my bedroom, watch t.v. on my laptop, drink diet coke and read a magazine. If I do that for one hour, I feel much more relaxed and happy. There is a diminishing return; if I do it for much more than one hour, I start to feel too sluggish.

My husband handles all of the subjects that require a lot of concentration and focus. The subjects I teach; history, science, languages, geography, I do in 20 minute segments daily, which suits my kids just fine. I also try really hard to stay off the internet until bedtime, which obviously isn't working today.

We watched it with our kids at that age a year ago; the only thing that I was uncomfortable with is there is suicide that is described and is pretty bad. It also references the fact that Sacajewa was pretty much a slave, but not in any great detail. Our younger kids did not really pay attention towards the end of the documentary, but I really enjoyed it.

Not at all; even if problems may self correct, it can be a good idea.

There is a speciality of medical bariatric physicians. The one in my area that I am familiar with does medically supervised weight loss that focuses on two things; Phentermine (a stimulant) long term as well as Low carb diet. I have known several people that have had great success with her (50 lb weight loss+ that kept off for over a year) and she sees her patients at least once a month to monitor se of the phentermine. Other physicians will prescribe it, but it is not FDA approved for long term use and she is prescribing it "off label"

We went to the Middleton Plantation this past fall and it was great; I would skip the house tour (the original house was destroyed in the Civil War), but the grounds were really great. They had several artisans doing demonstrations, and my girls were especially interested in a Women doing Gullah rag quilts.

The DPT supercedes the masters; you only get the DPT.

Melissa Clark's Double Coconut Granola..It is in her most recent cookbook and by the far the best granola I have ever eaten.

My husband and I staged an intervention with our almost 11 year old son. In addition to talking about body changes/puberty, we talked to him about his appearance and hygiene. We got his hair cut and took him to get some slightly nicer clothes. My daughter at the same age took a rather natural interest in her appearance, but he didn't at all. Nothing profound, but it is really fun to feel like we are helping to usher him into being an adult, and I know personal appearance is just a tiny part of that, but he does look quite handsome.

If you are in the PNW, the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance; which includes Fred Hutchinson and the UW. It is also a top tier Cancer Center. If you have a fever with AML, you need to be in a hospital. Most larger hospitals have oncologists on call 24/7 and you can probably get what you need by going to the E.R. of a larger hospital, if getting to Seattle is not a possibility.

Let me know how it goes. Every few years I go and visit friends from college in NY. I usually do a bunch of research at all the places I want to eat. I have had a couple meals that I still dream about. If a place is tough to get into, I usually try and eat lunch or get in for an early dinner at 5 or 6. Have a really wonderful trip.

If you want to have a fabulous meal, love fish, and are okay with a bit of sticker shock, go to Le Bernadin. I would definitely do some research and avoid Times Square itself; you have the opportunity to have a once in a lifetime great meal, so I would go for something special. Gramercy Tavern, Spotted Pig, Esca, or Eleven Madison Park are all really good.

Definitely a Western. Zane Grey or a Louis L'amour? I really liked listening to John Steinbeck's Travels with Charlie as a family.

Both professionally and personally I am a huge fan of IUDs and implanon. Some women really don't like them, but I find most women that get them are very happy with them. Any contraceptions with hormones carry a warning with liver disease. I recently did a lot of research before I put one in a woman with active hepatitis; specialists reassured me that it was still safer than pregnancy and should be fine with most liver problems (obviously each person/disease is a little different). The relative risk is pretty low.

So sorry! I hate that too. I cry in situations like that, turn bright red when I am slightly embarrassed, and start to stutter when I am talking to overly attractive men. I hate it. I am a 35 year old Mother of 4 and it is totally ridiculous, but I can't control it.

If they are going to help, you should see an improvement with antibiotics within 24 hours after the first dose.

It has been awhile since I was in school, but I got almost a full ride scholarship to one of the Seven Sisters because my Dad had lost his job about 18 months before I was a Freshman. If he had continued to make his middle class, government salary I never would have gotten such a great scholarship. Good to know that sometimes they really are silver linings.

I like the planning stages much more than the actual doing for a lot of things.

No. You aren't having kidney trouble. Estimated Glomular Filtration rate is not that helpful as a screening test in a health person, but it shows up on routine labs. Was your creatinine/BUN normal? I usually start worrying about someone having pre diabetes when their fasting blood sugar is above 115; even then it just is something to watch out for, not diabetes.

I had emergency laproscopic cholecysectomy on Wednesday, and my husband has been so great through the whole thing, from me waking him up and needing to go to the E.R at one in the morning to picking up prescriptions to keeping the house running. He even took the kids to piano practice while I was having surgery (I told him to, he came to see me as soon as I was out of recovery) I didn't think the surgery was going to be any big deal, but I am still in a fair amount of pain and don't think I am going to be back in action for at least a week. I just really appreciate how much he has stepped up to the plate without my even having to ask.

I had the first part of a c-section without any anesthesia; I had a prolapsed cord, was trying to have natural childbirth. I was in a hospital with full time anesthesia, but they got there after the O.B. started surgery and put me under. They did use topical lidocaine, and I honestly barely remember any of it. My pediatrician told me it was pretty bad, but everything turned out okay..they delievered my son fast enough that he was fine. It makes for a pretty impressive story.

Bellingham and Olympia are both mid sized towns with universities and only a couple of hours from the airport.