wendy said: Your forum focus seem to imply that conifer-geeks have more input about pruning yews than shrub-geeks. ===>>> so she misses the entire point ... a yew is a conifer.. and must be pruned like a conifer ... it is not a shrub .. and can NOT be pruned as a shrub ... but its you guys that are caught in the semantics.. GW has forums for different types of plants.. and until you learn what kind of plant you are talking about ... you will spend a lot of time.. spinning your wheels ... if you insist on calling a tree a shrub.. well where do you go from there??? if you google pruning shrubs ... you may or may not learn the proper methods .. my dogma as one of you said.. is not about the biological differences of woody perennials or a masters thesis in horticulture like gal seems to think .. its about using the right words.. so that we can have a meaningful conversation about the actual plant the OP has ... i really.. truly ... dont care where anyone posts.. but when one starts a post by calling a conifer a shrub.. it tells me.. the first thing that need be done.. IS TO CLARIFY WHAT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT ... the OP learns nothing useful .. if we let her stay confused about the common term shrub ... now in the case of a yew.. well frankly.. its just about the only conifer you can prune like i prune most flowering shrubs.. which involves starting by running it over with a truck.. and cutting off the rest ... IT JUST DOESNT MATTER... but had she a pine tree ... and you let her keep calling it a shrub.. [like my dad did, by the way] ... and she googles pruning shrubs.. well it will be dead in no time ... [for dad, everything in front of the house .. was a shrub] as a recovering atty by trade.. UNLESS you define what the heck you are talking about.. arguing about it is useless .. like most of all this ... and gal.. i am getting really tired of your personal attacks on just about everything i post ... if you had you way.. we should just change this to GalWeb.. and be done with it .. SG .. just do whatever you want.. and it will either turn into what you want.. or it will become so ugly you can get rid of it w/o remorse ... [ i suppose Gal will argue that point also, and if i am lucky.. call me stupid while doing it] ken

Vcreed - I wouldn't suggest forsythia of any kind for a formal hedge as its growth pattern is informal, even F. Sunrise which is supposed to get to 6' x 6', a bit smaller than many. Forsythia is a plant that looks pretty awful when pruned IMO, particularly since it doesn't grow back evenly and ends up with holes and awkward branches. If you can find a variety than stays small enough to not need pruning and you don't mind leaving it to its natural growth pattern instead of making it boxy, it would be a good choice for a hedge. Most of the varieties I could find are either a bit tall (5'-6') or a bit small (2'-3') for your wishes. Heed the warnings about yew and deer. Nothing is nastier looking than a totally defoliated shrub with all the small twigs also gone. I live in a rural area and there are a fair number of deer, but the only plants they have ever bothered really are yew (completely bare and only larger branches almost all of the time) and toad lily. If you have any real deer problem, this won't be a hedge at all, and having to replace that many shrubs would be expensive. Otto Luykens isn't hardy for me so I can't comment. I'll add to the folks who like Fotherilla. I have Mount Airy in a variety of places around my property. Healthy leaves, interesting flowers before the leaves with nice mild honey scent, moderate growth rate for me, and stunning autumn color. It doesn't mind clay subsoil or sandy soil (I have it planted in both.) Mine were planted as 8" cuttings and now (6 years later) are in the range of 3' tall and wide. If planted larger, they'd make a nice hedge by now. In one spot they get snow shoveled onto them from the path by the back door and they do just fine. Look into dwarf red twig dogwoods if you want winter interest. Arctic Sun (Cornus sanquinea 'Cato' ppaf')and Arctic Fire (Cornus stolonifera 'Farrow' ppaf) both get to about 4'. AS has gold shading to red orange towards the tips in winter and AF has red twigs. They both have a low-key green appearance during the spring and summer, but AS has nice bright yellow fall color as well. Flowers are white, but pretty unobtrusive. Periodic pruning of some of the stems to the ground will keep the winter stem color bright, but isn't required to maintain your view. In some areas shrub dogwoods may have disease issues but not everywhere, so check with a local folks who would know if this is a problem in your area.

I have a fibroid that has enlarged somewhat(now 3cm) over the last few months. My dr has recommended a subtotal hysterectomy, where only my uterus will be removed. Only the cervix,and ovaries remain. Does that mean the fallopian tubes will be removed also? I am having difficulty emotionally, and am contemplating not having the surgery done because of all the information that is out there. I am 43, and have had infertility issues in the past. I have mild endometriosis on the outside of my uterus which never prevented my last two pregnancies, which I took fertility drugs for. I had one other pregnancy previous, no fertility problems ever, at the time was 19. Somewhere in my twenties I developed infertility problems. I am so emotional as to having this surgery done because of all the side effects. I am going for a second opinion before consulting with my dr again. Has anyone had a myomectomy done prior to having a subtotal/partial hysterectomy done? What about ablation? This has always been a an emotional journey for my husband and myself. We have gone thru a total of five pregnancies, and two of them were miscarriages. The last miscarriage almost killed me, and I hemorrhaged pretty bad. My dr says it was due to the enlarging fibroid. I know with my age it is getting harder and harder to conceive, but having a hysterectomy will definitely change everything. We are not sure about conceiving again, because of the most recent miscarriage, but we always wonder what if they (drs.) were wrong?? My dr seems to be pushing for a the subtotal hysterectomy instead of myomectomy. I am having second thoughts... very difficult choice to make.

My father died of CHF -- which itself was a symptom or result of an earlier problem and in turn led to other organs failing. I started to post earlier, but ther real place for the OP to be having a discussion is with her father and family, his doctor and medical staff and possibly other doctors or medical staff. If the only information is coming from the father, it would be appropriate to have a conversation directly with the doctor or other medical staff to see if the father is understanding and retaining what he is being told. In order to have that discussion, you should have a HIPAA release naming you as someone the doctors can release info to. You need to know why this has happened (if known - but may follow a heart attack, history of COPD or other problems) and how severe it if (there are four stages). Then you can talk about how it may be treated or managed and what the prognosis may be. So much depends on the particulars. If you don't feel he is getting appropriate medical treatment, ask more questions of the current doctor and staff and seek a second opinion.