FINAL UPDATE: DS is home!! He feels better mentally, even when compared to how he feels a day after he has electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)! The doc added Lithium to help his antidepressant medication. I hope it continues to work because he is now at a 7 on an increasing scale of depression instead of a 9 (after ECT). Thank you for your prayers and good thoughts. We all really appreciate you!

:grouphug: and prayers.

Chef-Boy-Ar-Dee Spaghetti and Meatballs, directly from the can. If it is heated, I hate it -- it tastes and smells bad. Liverwurst, chicken livers, beef liver. Onions, asparagus Fresh spinach added to homemade soups.

Nutella, hummus, olives, sour cream, cream cheese, yogurt, mayo, arugula, sausage gravy, hot peppers, hot sauces, quinoa, anything with banana except an actual banana.

I guess with his three talkative siblings there, the nurse wanted to avoid hearing about how DS must have his Kindle. Because they took it away -- no electronics. We brought him some books.

Thank you for your prayers. Yes, we have support. My DS has been severely depressed for a decade, and we have been through this before.

Thank you. I'm fine. DH has gone to bed. The kids are on their way home. Hospital won't let them accompany DS to his room b/c it is a locked ward. Nurse has DS's backpack with Kindle, phone, and laptop. I hope they let him keep that stuff, especially his Kindle. I think he'd rather have the kindle than the phone b/c it isn't a smart phone.

He has tried and been rejected because he hasn't tried to commit suicide. He has been having electroconvulsive therapy for nearly 1.5 years. So far, that has brought him up to having suicidal thoughts daily, but not actively considering doing it. For several months he's been going once every 2 weeks instead of weekly. He's gotten worse since then.

FINAL UPDATE: DS is home!! He feels better mentally, even when compared to how he feels a day after he has electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)! The doc added Lithium to help his antidepressant medication. I hope it continues to work because he is now at a 7 on an increasing scale of depression instead of a 9 (after ECT). Thank you for your prayers and good thoughts. We all really appreciate you! **** He has treatment resistant depression. He is at ER with his siblings because he is actively suicidal. He is a devout Christian, so I'd appreciate prayer for him. Thank you. (I am not there because the kids were afraid that DH would have another stroke. I stayed behind to break it to him gently.) UPDATE: DS is being admitted to the psych ward. UPDATE 2: The kids are on their way home. Hospital won't let them accompany DS to his room b/c it is a locked ward. Nurse has DS's backpack with Kindle, phone, and laptop. I hope they let him keep that stuff, especially his Kindle. I think he'd rather have the kindle than the phone b/c it isn't a smart phone. UPDATE 3: The kids were allowed to stay with DS for a couple of hours while he was waiting for room to be arranged. He gets to keep Kindle, but not phone or laptop. Thank God! Thank you all so very much for your prayers! UPDATE 4: Thank you all for your prayers, good thoughts, etc. DS appreciates it very much, as he voluntarily told me yesterday. Three of us visited him yesterday. We brought him about 8 books. No electronics (or writing instruments, strings, glass, plastic) allowed. He can wear his own clothes, so we bought several outfits. And toiletries. The hospital doesn't supply them! Every patient has a private room that contains a desk, chair, wardrobe, and a bed. No headboard. No place on the bed to tie a person down -- I checked. DS has been treated well by the staff and they are friendly and polite. Dining is communal, in the dining/activity room. The place is very quiet and it looks clean. (By "looks", I mean I didn't have my microscope with me.) The quietness probably bugs DS (along with loss of Kindle, laptop, phone) ... our house has a lot of talkative people in it. DS was in a good mood, happy to see us. He hugged me several times ... and he is not a hugger. He wants to come home (creature comforts exist there), but he won't leave against medical advice. So I am relieved that this place is not like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Yes, I know mental health care has gotten better since then, but this is my DS. I came home, heated up dinner (leftover pot roast), sat in the living room to do a few logic puzzles. The tv's volume was at 41 and there was a Red Sox game on. DH is hard of hearing, but is in denial. I instantly fell asleep until 8:15 a.m. So I slept for about 12 hours straight. That never happens unless I'm sick. I am not sick. I figure I was so relieved that DS is okay that I just slept. Thank you again for your prayers and good wishes. I really appreciate that. UPDATE 5: The kids and I visited DS for 3 hours today. Played Scrabble -- I was on a team with DS and we won! Another patient joined us. DS said he may be able to come home on Friday. I hope so! He didn't want us to leave, but we had to because visiting hours were over and we stayed for each minute. Brought him double-stuffed Oreos, a candy bar, and orange soda ... he was delighted about that. I reminded him about the Oreos when we had to leave. DS says thank you very much for your prayers and good wishes, and so do the rest of us! You all are wonderful.

Around here, the Amish own the puppy mills.

My husband has both ASD and narcissism. Two of my sons have ASD -- one milder than the other. They are not narcissistic. That makes a lot of difference.

Our mothers would get along just fine.

That is a good question. Who would think that anyone would refuse a safety measure like that? My mom has. I suspect she doesn't want to face that she needs it.

Long ago, when Ted Turner televised the Goodwill Games, I looked around the office and no one was working. I asked loudly where everyone was and why they weren't working. Answer: Water Polo was about to come on. "Oh, Good," I said. "I can't wait to see how they get the horses in the pool!" When I found out there were no horses involved, I returned to being the only person working. I never lived that one down, to this day. (I keep in touch with some of my former coworkers from Turner.) And I still don't know what water polo is. I'll go look it up. Looked it up and it looks like a lot of fun.

When I was dating DH, I had long blonde hair. I wanted shorter curly red hair. So I had it done. When I went to DH's place to show him, he laughed uncontrollably. He thought I was playing a joke on him by wearing a Ronald McDonald wig. In his favor, I was well-known for playing elaborate practical jokes. Needless to say, we fixed it with some super heavy duty conditioner which took out the curl. Neither one of us remember what we did with the red color, but it got gone, for sure!

Congratulations! He is an adorable baby!

I have been emailing my congressmen about the healthcare reforms that are in the near future. I know both are big Trump supporters, but they represent the rest of us too.

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/labs-at-nimh/join-a-study/trials/adult-studies/rapid-antidepressant-effects-of-ketamine.shtml

They are adding clean bedding (or whatever it is called) to her stall.

Leg sticking out ETA: Both front legs are out now. I was a bit worried when there was only one. Also a substance -- whatever the giraffe's legs were encased in (I guess) fell to the floor, and she picked it up and ate it. It was a membrane,but certainly not 6' long! Every so often she reaches back and licks those little legs.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClnQCgFa9lCBL-KXZMOoO9Q/live

Lands' End was sold to Sears for around $1.9 billion.

So far, 6 surgeries in our family for this (3 people, 2 surgeries each). For the last surgery, we bought boxer shorts for our son to wear (instead of briefs or boxer briefs). He wore baggy shorts and t-shirts until he could wear regular pants. We loaded up on bandages and other supplies. We used Hipafix tape, which worked the best. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001SIS7MG/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&th=1 We bought a seat cushion which takes pressure off the surgical site: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001OVFNQA/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I made up a chart to keep track of antibiotics, and percocet, and bandage changes. Good wound care is extremely important. When healing was complete, my son saw a plastic/reconstructive surgeon for laser hair removal because this helps prevent recurrences. His second surgery was far more extensive than the first, and the plastic surgeon was the main guy doing the operation with a general surgeon's assistance. I also cleaned my son's bedroom very well before he came home from the hospital. Since he was in bed most of the time, I used Tupperware cups with lids that have holes in them for straws. I made sure my son knew that he was not bothering me if he wanted something. I didn't want him to not ask for help in order to spare me. We have a laptop cart that we used ... it fit over the bed much like the wheeled trays at hospitals. I can't recall where we got it. We followed every instruction of the surgeon vigilantly. We had been told that my son would probably have 4 more surgeries over the course of a year ... but this did not happen. We have found frequently that taking Keflex beginning when a pilonidal cyst first gets infected often stop the infection in its tracks or keeps it from becoming extremely painful.

Could he be lactose-intolerant?

I had a super-cuddly cat. She was about 8 weeks old when I got her. I spent a lot of time handling and playing with her when she was young. I had never been around cats before (she was a gift I didn't know how to refuse), so I treated her like a dog. We played for 3 hours every night and she went everywhere with me. My neighbor has tons of farm cats. Those from a particular mother are very friendly and affectionate and cuddly. So genetics likely plays a role in this, too. If your DD decides to get a cat, then she should start with a kitten who is not shy or a super-responsive adult cat, and not just take the first one that pops up on her radar. Regarding a dog's exercise needs, if she gets a dog, I bet there will be tons of students in her dorm who are eager to walk it or even run with it when it is old enough.