Columns

Sing In The New Year

'When I'm feeling down and blue, I close my eyes to be with you.' Funny how that line from a song keeps playing over and over in my head even though I have not heard the song for years. I, like many of you, have experienced the COVID-19 blues. Conversations with friends, family members and co-workers have all turned to the same thought -- we miss each other. We have not blown out birthday candles together or laughed over an anniversary dinner. There was no opportunity to sit across from one another at a picnic table in July. The Friday night out with the girls for shopping and ...

It wouldn’t be Christmas without cookies. Cookie dough has been cut into shapes for thousands of years and several methods have been used to create designs. Molding, pressing, cutting and a combination of these systems have resulted in festive cookies in all kinds of holiday shapes like bells, stars, and trees. The most common method of shaping dough in the United States is the cookie cutter. Other cookie making tools that are popular in Europe include, cookie molds and cookie presses. Cookie cutters, presses and molds are also a favorite collectible in the antiques world. ...

Blood Thinners Are Critical in First Year After Stent Placement

DEAR DR. ROACH: My 75-year-old wife had two third generation medicine-eluting stents inserted into a branch of the left anterior coronary artery in January 2020. On 75 mg of clopidogrel and 81 mg of aspirin for nine and a half months, she has endured several serious nosebleeds, one of which required hospitalization for three days. She just had emergency surgery for a life-threatening perforated ulcer. Going forward, we are scared to put her back on those blood thinners. Could she get by with natural blood thinners, such as gingko, curcumin, vitamin E, natokinase, etc., since she is ...

Fiancee Loses Sleep Over Widower’s Many Mementos

DEAR ABBY: In three months, I will be marrying a wonderful man I’ll call Harold. We are in our 60s and widowed, me for more than 30 years and him just under two years. At first, I thought he had worked through his grief because his wife suffered from early-onset Alzheimer’s and the last six years of their marriage she was very ill. We are not living in the home they shared, but a lot of their life together is in the home we are trying to create together. Harold is a good man. I know he has a big heart with plenty of room for me as well as love for his late wife. My dilemma is ...

Noticing Memory Problems? What to Do Next

Dear Savvy Senior, My mom, who’s 76, has become more forgetful lately and is worried she may be getting Alzheimer’s disease. What resources can you recommend to help us get a handle on this? Oldest Daughter Dear Oldest, Many seniors worry about memory lapses as they get older, fearing it may be the first signs of Alzheimer’s disease or some other type of dementia. To get some insight on the seriousness of your mom’s problem, here are some key warning signs to be vigilant of and some resources you can turn to for help. Warning Signs As we grow older, some memory ...

For Many OTC Drugs, Listed Dose Covers Most People

DEAR DR. ROACH: In the majority of over-the-counter medication, the dosing references “adults 12 years and older” and then gives a maximum dose. I’m 6 feet, 1 inch tall and weigh 220 pounds. The average 12-year-old is 125-ish pounds. I don’t get it. Are we overdosing the 12-year-olds or limiting effectiveness for the older (or much heavier) folks? Please consider my question, and answer in a thoughtful way considering the blood concentration level of a 12-year-old taking two aspirin vs. me taking the same two aspirin, and why that’s OK. Should I be taking a weight-correlated ...