Save your money and get an Excalibur. I've been regularly dehydrating for about 25 years (I'm 41). I've used cheap ones and a 9-tray Excalibur (that I lost in my divorce). The quality difference between the two types is astounding. The best cheap one I had wouldn't dry well enough to prevent growth. The next time I get one, I'm getting this one: http://www.excaliburdehydrator.com/shop/tray-dehydrators/5-tray/radiant-5-tray-w-plastic-trays .... in pink ('cause I can)! I don't need the 9 tray again. If you don't think you can save to this amount, because it really is expensive, I would recommend this one: http://www.cabelas.com/product/home-cabin/kitchen-dining/food-dehydrators|/pc/104798880/c/104739480/sc/104294880/cabela-s-six-tray-heavy-duty-dehydrator/2288560.uts?destination=%2Fcatalog%2Fbrowse%2Ffood-dehydrators%2F_%2FN-1101289%2B10000050%2FNe-10000050%3FWTz_st%3DGuidedNav%26WTz_stype%3DGNU A friend of mine has it and while she's not as happy with it as she was with her Excalibur (she also lost hers in a divorce), but she says it's decent. AND, if you look right now, it's on sale at a *really* good price. Kris

Well...... here is what I come back to: If it is MS, you'll continue to get worse and you'll start showing lesions on the brain/spine. (Remind me, your MRI was clear, right?) If it is ALS (which I still don't think it is), you'll continue to get worse and the tests will start to come back looking like ALS. Right now I don't think you even qualify for a biopsy or an LP. {{{{hugs}}}} I'd go for a second opinion. I've been doing a lot--and I mean a lot-- of reading on neuromuscular disorders right now, both demylenating and neurotoxic disorders and you just keep adding to the list of OH SHIT. Don't ignore. Kris

LOL! I was going to tell her it IS all in her head. MS is in the head. ALS is in the head. The Brain is in the head. You get the point. Kris <------who is funny.... or as my kids say: is NOT funny

Americans see these numbers and do not understand what they mean. You look at the 50% of your income and see it going out the door, but do not see the stabilizing effect on your income. Father's rights groups are out there throwing fits right and left because the Norwegian countries have little to no child support laws and "we should emulate" that. Reduced tax advocates yell and holler that the taxes are "too much". But, first off, not everyone pays that much in taxes. Second off, you BENEFIT from paying taxes. Today (5 Dec) USDollar to SEKrona the national tax cut off is about $45,000. If you make less than $45,000, you simply do not pay taxes. There are local taxes (similar to state and federal). Above $45,000 there are two levels of tax brackets. The average paid-out taxes is only 44%. You still get good healthcare. You still get good education for your children. You still get child subsidy payments (which are untaxed). https://sweden.se/society/why-swedes-are-okay-with-paying-taxes/ https://sweden.se/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/SI_pressrelease_tax_140507.pdf Additionally, and I don't have time to go find it for you, but there are ways to reduce your tax-to-be-paid. A current initiate in Sweden is to reduce trash by encouraging people to fix household items rather than replace. They are currently at 1%. That makes the US an embarrassment. Then you get into the medical reassurances that my cousin has that I do not have here in the US. Add to that: while the overall COL is higher in Sweden, many of the individual costs are less. Rentals are on average 1/3 less (again, not looking this up right now---don't care), as are utilities, and overall grocery prices are less. Living costs are less. You can live a basic life in Sweden for less than in the US. The luxuries are very expensive, but the basic costs are not. Norwegians get a lot for their taxes. Each country is a bit different, but they have assurances that we in the US do not have. I see the 28-60% tax rate as being an insurance policy. If you (the royal 'you') know you are healthy and your children are healthy and will never get sick, you have a good job that will never be lost, and you can afford your own and your children's educations.... then yes, living in the US is a much better deal. I live in the real world where I have a 15yo and an 18yo children with MS.

Grrrrr. What are the qualifications of the neurologist? I'm back to MS and I'd want a second opinion from a demylenating specialist. Where are you again? I can ask for a referral from my MS group. Kris

Well, yes, if it is about money it does change the situation. As for anecdotal, I was answering a specific wishful line of note... I could back it with stats, but quite frankly, I don't care. The whole point of this thread is that the US is way behind on a number of things. Kris

Just addressing this: My cousin (our great-grandfathers were brothers) lives in Sweden and reduced her working hours to nothing to stay home her 2 1/2 (the 1/2 is a step-daughter) children until the youngest was 7 and then worked 20 hours a week until the youngest was 10. She could have stayed home longer, but wanted to return to her career....which was undamaged by their decision for her to stay home. Plus, she was given 80% of her pay for over a year for each of her two children and her husband was given 80% of his pay for 2 months to stay home with each child. Not only that... when her mother was dx'ed with terminal cancer less than a year after she returned to work, she and her 3 siblings took turns taking time off work to care for her. They each received 80% of their pay. This kept mom out of hospice until the very end, less than a week, and allowed the family to tend her needs. I know many people think they couldn't do there what is done here....and I disagree. I wish I had moved there when I had the chance at 22. Kris

That is so very incorrect. Kris

So, let me get this right.... You would rather have this family celebration without one of the siblings simply because she's in the middle of a miscarriage and isn't happy-happy? Yes, I can understand that this is a happy family event, but I would want the family member there for the hopeful moments of happy that she _can_ have. I would want her to be there. Kris

If you are willing to continue to pay support, offer to keep SD and NOT alter the custody arrangements. Get mom to sign a voluntary guardianship for you to keep her saying nothing about CS. Then, after you've had her for 6 months. File for custody in TN. Kris

Sadly, in family court they are. Kris

Okay, having read your last update.....and I'll also state that this is NOT legal advice and you need to seek legal counsel.... I would be very careful. If he keeps her without a local order, he will be at risk of custodial interference. Ask around if someone knows of a family attorney that would help. Does your husband have established paternity? Without it, you are *really* in a bad position. Right now, try to come up with the money to prove that she is his. If you can locally, try and get it done through the local court system. Otherwise, you can do an "at home" paternity test. Without established paternity, he has NO RIGHTS to the child. Also, if there is a child support order, then he either has established paternity OR he has assumed paternity. In that case, don't worry about the paternity issue unless an attorney says to. Also, you said, "abuse". I am a firm believe in what I'm about to say: you cannot in good conscience send her back to a situation where she is being abused. If you cannot afford an attorney and/or can't find an attorney who will help at low-fee...I would give some serious consideration to taking her to talk to a social worker with Child Services. I know this is hard. But, you can't look at this 16yo kid in the face and say, "sorry, I'm not willing to fight for you." {{{hugs}}} Kris ETA: I can't read at this hour: "DH stopped it tried to get custody but with little $$ and no lawyer all he got was an order for support." Never mind about the paternity issue...that was already taken care of.

So, I kind of grazed through the responses and there is a lot of speculation and theory going on here. First, you need to know what his CUSTODY papers say. Get them out and read every find detail. Before that, you can't DO much. Now, what I would _expect_ to see in the current custody papers is something along the lines of: shared legal parenting and some form of allotment of visitation time. When was the last time she saw her mother. Tell her that she has to honestly answer these questions: a) last time she saw her mother; b) last time she slept under (any) roof of her mother's; c) when they became homeless; d) where her birth certificate is. Were I you....and if he has shared legal custody. I wouldn't send her back. I would, however, file in your state for emergency orders (I just saw that you can't afford an attorney) due to abandonment. This has the potential of being tricky, but as long as he has shared legal custody, he is within his legal rights. (this isn't about kid's legal rights, sadly.) Second...... and neither you or Dh can say this TO her. She can just refuse to get back on the plane. And see to emancipate herself. She's 16. Kris

Oh, how FANTASTIC!!! I am so excited to read this post!!!!! Look, there are plenty of things that can cause foot drop. The fact that you are having other symptoms just meant that you needed to be evaluated for MS. One of the things I've learned over the past year is that the BEST thing you can do with MS is get started on treatment early. That means that doctors have to stop ASSUMING that MS is rare and start evaluating and using the technology that we have available to us. The more aggressive MS treatment is started, the better the long-term outcome. But, if you don't have it!!! WOOOOT!!! I'm thrilled! Now, I will give this caveat: if you are still having the same problems with NO other diagnosis, you need to have a repeat MR in 6 months. Follow through with it....don't ignore it. If they find something else (heaven forbid it is bad), then you can drop MS. But, if in 6 months you have the same--or worse symptoms with no other dx, get a repeat MR. No change....then yay! As for where to go now.....good luck! Kris, who really is thrilled for you!

I viewed these days as the best and worst ever. They were the days before "it" happened and changed everything. Mind you, things were already changed. The disease had already changed my life, but before I didn't know. It was a phone call for my son and a piece of paper (and an expletive that popped out in the middle of the Imaging waiting area on an Air Force Base) for my daughter. Those were the before/after moments. Kris

That is SO true. I think I'm more Federalizing what we have NOT making it state run. Medicaid is an example because it is already in place...but not really what I would want to use (because of the state issues). Honestly, I'd like to just take Tricare/CHAMPUS (NOT the currently run individual regions), but the overall plan and expand that to everyone....but most people don't even know _what_ I'm talking about let alone know the details. Kris

To some degree, illegal aliens and temp visa people would have to get healthcare. We don't have the ocean of cushion that Oz has, I'm not sure how Canada does it or the UK, but with Mexico to the south of us and all of South America, we do NOT want unvaccinated children here in the US. (Now, I'm trying to tread carefully and not step into immigration politics--where I am NOT a Trump supporter.....) We have illegal aliens and I don't think that is going to change much. We do NOT want to have unvaccinated and not-treated (TB, HIV, a number of others...) illegal aliens living amongst us. We are already paying for this....and I pray that Trump isn't able to change that. THAT would be a healthcare nightmare. Kris

Good point! I'm not exactly sure how Canada/Australia/UK do it, but that's my generic basis. I wrote a paper on the Aussie version several years ago, but didn't focus on WHO gets what. You have to pay into it to get it. Off Topic, but are your boys keeping their US citizenship as adults? I thought everyone had to pay taxes to the US? (there was all that hoopla about renouncing US citizenship because of it) Kris

That I don't know..... LOL, I can dream, but don't have time to actually research the idea! Kris

I think comparing Single-payer healthcare system with VA is a bad example. VA has many problems and most of their problems should never have happened. They were allowed to happen due to politics and other issues. If you look at Tricare and the DOD medical system, you'd see a better pattern of workable solution. Why not expand Medicaid to cover everyone who is a citizen? Period. With no exception. Get rid of the health insurance business for US citizens. Have supplemental plans to cover non-citizens, people in the US covered by visas. That isn't going to solve the problem for illegal aliens, who still need healthcare and have to have it, but it will change the dynamics quite a bit. Kris

DOD is a better example and it does work. Are there problems, yes! I got into a nasty fight with the naval hospital in VA when they told me that they wouldn't release a baby without feeding them formula if the mother's milk hadn't come in within 3 days (my milk came in on day 5 with both kids). But, overall, DOD works. Kris

Establishing a contract for adult children living in your home will actually HELP the "overwhelmed" woman. If she knows what is expected of her, AND that she has agreed to it, there are fewer surprises. The second part I agree with....for the most part. Wet towels and food products in the house make a bigger problem that affects the whole house. Plus, if she's sharing a bathroom with a sibling, that just won't be acceptable. Kris

Okay, so I read the couple of posts after mine.... If she is depressed and you feel the need to create a household contract, make an appointment with the therapist for mom/dad and daughter. Daughter doesn't have to give the therapist permission to talk to you for you to talk to both of them. Make sure this is NOT a gang-up-on-daughter event. Simply make this a "come-to-Jesus" moment between members of a household. Kris

This doesn't matter if they are paying rent or not. Simply having a verbal contract with no money exchanged, rent = chores, equates to renter's rights. If you are going to have the problem, you are going to have the problem. Kris

Well, I don't have time to read all of the responses...but here is my take on having adult children living at home: Rent: Adult children (post HS) pay rent. That can be one of two things: a) full-time school = no cost. b) full-time employment = 25% of your income comes to me in form of rent. (I plan to put that money away for them, but if in the future I need that money, I will use it.) This is before or after college. So, she's graduated, WOOT!! Pay rent. Why 25%? Because that is the amount of money we are told housing should typically cost. _I_ want my children to become successful and functional adults. If they are living in my home, it is NOT because it is the easy and cheap solution....easy, well, ya probably will always be. But, not cheap! If Junior is making $1000 a month, working full-time, then rent will be $250---not much. However, if Junior is making $4000 a month, then rent is $1000. Can you live on $1000 or less in rent a month? Follow up with that: if she can't maintain the bathroom to clean, you use part of her rent for maid service. I would first offer it to a younger sibling or myself; second hire a maid service to clean it. I have no problem hiring someone to come in and ONLY clean the one bathroom. This is the primary rule. If you choose not to have full-time school or employment, you find a new home. I have decided to give leeway for both of my kids in that if they are unable to find employment because of their illnesses (neither can become overheated), then they can volunteer full-time. Responsibilities: Live in my house = chores. We all contribute. It might be time to sit down with her and ask HER what SHE thinks she can handle. Curfew: we discuss. Why? Because other people live in the home and coming and going at odd hours is rude. You work until 2am...then ya, you aren't going to be home by midnight. Please note: this isn't to say there IS a curfew...this is just to say, I'd like to have some idea when adults are coming in and out of my home. Behavior: Manners are important. You want me to treat you well, I expect the same. We are family, not roommates. Meetings: Adults have the right to decide a rule doesn't work for them. I, Mom, agree to listen to any discussion, if it is in discussion form. Open House hours: Past 10pm, friends need to get out or shut up. Wake me and I'm not. nice. at. all. Booze and Drugs: Not In My House. (now this is less of a concern for my children, because Ky is and Lori will be on drugs for MS that will not allow either.) 18 does not Equal Adult: Attitude and Achievement ='s Adult; You want it; Earn it! https://www.empoweringparents.com/.../living-agreement...