Columns

Submit Your Disability Update Report Online

We are required to conduct continuing eligibility reviews for disabled beneficiaries every three years. This process requires that beneficiaries complete a Continuing Disability Review mailer to update information about their medical conditions and recent treatments. We now offer an online option to complete this update and provide any supporting documents about your medical treatment or your work. We designed this new form with convenience in mind — and to save you time. You can access the online form at www.ssa.gov/ssa455-online-form. (Use either Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome ...

Goodbye, Hello

Forty-one years is a long time to spend at one job. Not many people do that anymore. While Friday marked my farewell to this four-decade career in the news business, I will be hanging around to write a weekly column you will continue to find in this weekend space. This life-altering decision to hang up my pen has not been easy. There is no doubt that this past year of working at home, dealing with COVID constraints and missing my family played into this decision. Losing a fellow colleague last week only confirmed my decision. Others who have gone before me in retirement advised ...

MMR Vaccine is Critical, But Not to Help with COVID

DEAR DR. ROACH: We have friends who got the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine believing it will help with exposure to COVID-19. What are your thoughts on their thinking? — P.H. ANSWER: The World Health Organization has reported an increase in measles deaths since 2016, and that trend has accelerated in the past year. The COVID-19 pandemic certainly is having an effect on measles vaccination, and with a drop in vaccination comes a loss of herd immunity, meaning that a measles epidemic could spread in the population. Mumps and rubella are important too, but measles is incredibly ...

Couple Reaches A Stalemate in Marriage Without Intimacy

DEAR ABBY: My husband and I are both enlisted Army (he — 20 years, two Iraq deployments; I — 15 years, one Iraq deployment). We met in the service and have been married for 10 years. Three years after our wedding, my husband told me he was no longer physically attracted to me. It hurt. A lot. It has been seven years since that day, and we’re still together. I don’t feel loved, appreciated or valued. I’m a logic-driven person. Emotions don’t come easy for me. I have always been open about my thoughts and feelings, even the painful ones. Since that day, I resent him, ...

Hiatal Hernia Surgery Called for If Meds Fail to Help

DEAR DR. ROACH: I am a 72-year-old female with MGUS. I was just diagnosed with an ulcer, Barrett’s esophagus, GERD and a hiatal hernia of 8 cm. My surgeon has put me on high-dose Prilosec and Carafate before bed. My oncologist has given the OK for surgery for the hernia, but friends have told me that the surgery is really dangerous. My surgeon is concerned about the hernia being so large. What do you think about this surgery, and is it a good idea at my age? I am having really bad issues with digestion. — F.H. ANSWER: A hiatal hernia is a larger-than-normal hiatus (hole) in the ...

Son With New Girlfriend Grows More Distant From His Mother

DEAR ABBY: I’m a mom of three young adults, a daughter and two sons. The oldest recently married. My youngest is finishing his last two years of college out of state. Three months ago, he met a young lady. I have tried constantly to be close with all my children, but the youngest has always kept me at bay. He expresses how different we are. Now that he has met this young lady, I think he’s trying to push me further away and continue on with her and her mom. It makes me sad because no matter how hard I try to be a good mother and be present, it doesn’t work. What do you suggest? ...