I'm not going to argue with you about a situation about which we know few details. I'm sure no expert, but I've learned a whole lot about cancer and diagnostics since DH has been living with it (stage IV at diagnosis) for almost seven years now. Some blood work takes days or even weeks, results cannot be gotten quickly, not for a king or for the poorest person on earth. As far as a biopsy--there are types of cancer where rushing to biopsy would be a huge red flag for a doc who didn't know what he was doing. It's not always the right thing.

Not necessarily. It can take time to do all the diagnostics. Not just scans, but specialized blood tests. Not even a king with all the money in the world can speed up a test that requires X number of days to get results.

I find it difficult to believe that King Charles wouldn't have had extensive diagnostics (CT, MRI, PET) done prior to treatment for even something relatively routine like an enlarged prostate. And I think anything advanced would have been detected. So my "best news" guess is that it's something in the early stages that was too small to show up on a scan. My alternative "worst news" guess is that preliminary scans did show something very worrisome but not diagnosable on scan results alone, so the going-in-hospital-for-an-enlarged-prostate was a cover story for some sort of surgical biopsy or even exploratory surgery. I really think it could go either way.

I don't think what Jaybee is referring to is a vasectomy. There's a way to do a neuter w/o external stitches. I don't remember the last time I had a dog neutered who had external stitches. Avatar Dog is 12 and he didn't have them, neither did our almost two year old. I guess I've assumed that's how all vets have been doing then for a long time. This is from a link to a random vet office I found with a very quick search: And here's a link to an ASPCA spay/neuter site: Now obviously with any kind of incision you need to watch to make sure they don't mess with it too much, regardless of whether there are external stitches or not. But I haven't found neuters to be a problem in that regard.

FWIW, our county shelter is run by animal control (aka the sheriff's department, essentially) and is much higher kill than I would like. But the public areas are fine, the cat room in particular. Once a cat makes it to the adoption room they're golden--they stay there as long as it takes to get adopted. So if your shelter has something like that it might not be upsetting.

If you chose Bosch (or whatever brand you choose) make sure the rack spacing works for your dishes. I wasn't sad when our Bosch died. The bottom rack was a pain in the rear. Ditto stainless steel interior.

This would be my first step, I think. I'd ask them why they think they respond that way, what makes them so upset about simple corrections.

FYI, for the last few years they've offered 20 percent off for their Black Friday sale. That's when I buy them. But they're so durable I only need to buy every few years.

My DS on the spectrum is also extremely pain tolerant. Or maybe oblivious is the better word. When he was in first grade in public school we were watching on ongoing health issue for which we'd been instructed that it was okay for him to return to school, but that "if he gets any worse at all go directly to the children's ER." I picked him up at the regular dismissal time and immediately knew he'd gotten much worse during the day. He was admitted to the hospital a few hours later, and stayed there for a few days. His teacher, who knew all along about the issue, came to visit him and was absolutely mortified and flabbergasted that she hadn't noticed he was worsening during the day. I told her not to be concerned, that I doubted anyone other than me would have picked up on his cues because they're so very subtle.

I'm no expert, but I do think he should go get checked out. I'm thinking a lot of viral illnesses could cause his symptoms. I'm usually more inclined to take a wait-and-see approach, and I wouldn't be jumping to meningitis right off the bat, but still . . I think he should definitely go get checked. Keep us posted.

That's a great point. I bought this grooming table right after I started grooming Avatar Dog myself. It's served me well. I don't think I'd have a dog, especially not a longer haired one, w/o a grooming table. Even for just blow drying after an at-home bath, or for combing/brushing to keep the tangles at bay--having one would be well worth it to me. @Acadie, no matter what clipper you buy you'll almost certainly want a set of guide combs to use with it. You'll need to get ones that are compatible with whatever clipper you buy. But I highly recommend the stainless steel ones over plastic. These are what I use with the cordless Bravura clipper I linked to earlier.

DH was on 40 mg. for about a month for cancer treatment side effects. I was prepared for the worst and was very surprised that he didn't seem to have any noticeable side effects at all. I suppose he might have developed more if he'd needed to stay on it longer, but for that one month they were not a big deal. He did taper slowly over about another month, and he also didn't show any side effects during that time.

I do my Avatar Dog, a Shih Tzu. He went to a groomer twice when he was a wee puppy and I've done it since then, so almost twelve years. It's not too hard to groom a cooperative dog. Note the key word there is cooperative--I take my younger Tzu to a pro groomer. My advice is to watch approximately 10,000 YouTube videos. After the first hundred or so you'll start figuring out who knows what they're doing and who's a nutter that shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a pair of clippers. So then you concentrate on the people who know what they're doing. Or at least that's how I learned. 😉 I've acquired a range of equipment over the years, from cheap Walmart thinning shears to this clipper and an older model of this one. I have a high velocity (forced air) dryer that was relatively spendy when I bought it, but I think you can get them now for less than $100. Mostly I use a handheld dryer for my littles. I have a $30 pair of scissors from Sally Beauty Supply. You'll need some kind of blade wash, maybe some Cool Care (I use that more to clean/lubricate my scissors than on clipper blades) and some clipper oil. I don't know what kind of combs and brushes are recommended for poodles. You may need a slicker brush. I don't use them on my Shih Tzus, so my only tip is to make sure you get one that's not scratchy (many of them are). If you buy in person test them on the inside of your forearm. I use a stainless steel comb and have wooden pin brushes from Bass and Chris Christensen. A flea comb is helpful for "eye buggers" and random face gunk. I use a clipper for everything I possibly can and only scissor where absolutely necessary. I feel like it's a lot easier to hurt a dog with scissors than it is with clippers. Leave the face, and especially the chin, for last. The hair there is your "handle" for holding the dog's face still. ETA: You'll also need some sort of nail clipper. I use a battery operated Dremel and have an inexpensive pair of scissor type clippers for dewclaws (I can't safely access those with the Dremel).

I know that's a huge relief!

I don't remember having any coverage gap, and neither does DH. But two things that may make a difference (but I don't think so) -- his employer self funded their insurance and we transitioned to COBRA coverage from him being on long term disability. I hope you can get this figured out and he can get the biopsy on schedule. You all have had to wait long enough!

A "foster fail" means that the foster person or family keeps the pet. BTDT several times. I'm a standout foster fail. 😉 And yeah, most often the "fail" is because the pet is such a good catch. It's a "fail" because the original purpose of fostering is to provide an animal with a loving home, get it healthy and teach it some manners, then find a new, forever home. So it's a "fail" if you decide to keep the pet for yourself. There are some genetic throwbacks among purebred dogs. Even really good Lhasa Apso and Shih Tzu breeders will on rare occasions get a prapso (which is a short haired version of either breed). But I've never heard of a similar variation in Goldens. So I'd guess the dog is either a Flat Coat Retriever or a mix of FCR, Golden or something else that lucked out and got a similar temperament.

I know someone who takes trazodone for insomnia and raves about how well it works for her. If I ever need anything prescription I'm definitely going to ask about it.

That's so weird. I'm glad it's not painful!

Has he been urinating normally? Given the recent neuter I'd maybe think about getting him checked out if it keeps up. But also -- it's coyote mating season, or at least getting very close, and so they're more active. Depending on your area could it be that's weirding him out?

We had ours done by painters. It was very spendy but so worth it. I have a family member who has all sorts of hazmat certifications. He said there was no concern about asbestos (FWIW, our house was built in 1995). But in hindsight I kind of wish I'd gotten some estimates for having it covered with new sheetrock. I think that might have been quicker and less expensive.

I think that's your answer right there. I would take that as an indication that she either (1) doesn't want help and/or (2) doesn't want the world to know she's dealing with a serious illness.

I prefer the soft, but I buy the strong if that's what Costco has on sale. I haven't found either one of them to be very linty at all.

Cottonelle used to be horribly linty. I loved the way it felt, but the lint made me switch to Charmin. That's been a few years ago, so I don't know if it's still as bad as it was or not.

Our oven stays fairly clean, I guess we don't cook a lot of messy stuff. But mine has a "steam clean" feature that's a 20 minute quick thing for light messes. All I need to do is wipe out the excess moisture afterwards. I use that as a maintenance thing, to prevent build up of anything bad. I've never actually used an oven that was really gunky, but like others have said, I'd be afraid it could trigger a fire or make baked goods taste bad. I've read that the self-clean cycle can be very bad for oven longevity, as most of them don't adequately insulate the control panel from the high heat. I don't know if that's true or not, but my current one is just a year old and I intend to do what I can to make it last.

If you want a traditional sandwich type loaf the King Arthur easy everyday sourdough bread is good. I see now that there's a link in the recipe to one of their own Pullman type pans for baking. When I started using the recipe they were recommending this one, and it works very well and is a little less expensive than theirs.