Ellen you are NOT checking facts. You are reading the same thing over and over from multiple sources that are NOT reliable. Blogs are NOT reliable! You say: 'I for one am grateful when someone posts for ex re that mulch that caused some dogs to die.' Again, I say you didn't bother to find out what the ASAPA had to say, SOME dogs did NOT die, one did and it was suspect. No one can even varifiy it... according to the A.S.A.P.A. Or does a blogger know something about animals that the A.S.A.P.A. didn't get the memo on? Summary of the eRumor: There are several versions of this eRumor but all of them say that commonly sold cocoa mulch contains theobromine which can be lethal to cats and dogs. One version tells the story of a pet owner who lost a dog because of cocoa mulch. The Truth: It's fairly well known that some animals should not eat chocolate and according to the experts we checked with that warning applies to cocoa mulch as well, although the number of reported animal deaths is very low. The villain is theobromine, a chemical that is similar to caffeine. It can give a boost to humans but dogs and cats cannot always metabolize it successfully and it can be lethal to them. That is especially true of the shells of the cacao beans, which are ground up and used in cocoa mulch, and contain even higher levels of theobromine than the bean. Most packaging of cocoa mulch makes it clear that it's not for human or animal consumption. It also appears that all cocoa mulch is not the same. One manufacturer we checked with, the maker of Mirana cocoa mulch, said that their mulch is the result of a series of processing steps and that the level of theobromine in their mulch is barely detectable. We did find at least one documented case reported in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA).. The report says that a dog that had ingested cocoa mulch developed convulsions and died 17-hours later. An analysis of the stomach showed ingested cacao bean shells and lethal levels of theobromine. The AVMA has issued a release because of this new eRumor about cocoa mulch. It says that according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), there have not been any reports in 2006 of animals dying from cocoa mulch ingestion. In the years spanning 2004 and 2005 there were 16 cases of cocoa mulch ingestion reported, none of which resulted in death. The ASPCA says that the account of the death of the dog named Calypso that is in the eRumor is 'suspect.' The symptoms are not completely consistent with death from cocoa bean ingestion. The ASPCA says that although vomiting is a common result, the dog is described as having had a single seizure the next day during a walk and then dying suddenly, which is not what would be expected. Here is a link that might be useful: Truth or Fiction

So weird. I just got through with this. 1. Aching pain pretty constant. Dentist tried to locate the cause. Not really conclusive. Sent me to the endodontist. 2. Endodontist diagnosed a bad filling in the tooth that seemed to be aching, very old. And we did a root canal. I then left on vacation. What timing. 3. Holy cow the pain! It just started. Different than before. One drop of cold water and it was like the electric chair. Even a fast inhale. I thought "crap, he did the root canal in the wrong tooth." 4. 7 days and 80 advils later, the pain is gone. Vanished. Just like that. 5. Go to my regular dentist. He says he thinks he sees something...a small old filling in between 2 teeth popped out. Maybe that's the source. Going to have it filled again Monday. But really, since the cruise I haven't had any pain. 6. I have a feeling I'm grinding. I get more aware of clenching, and I think I will get a guard to test it out. Good luck!

Ravencajun, I am so sorry that you had that bad experience. The doctor told me to get Afrin because it helps with the nosebleed. I use it as directed, only when my nose is bleeding. It helps to slow down the flow of blood. What I don't enjoy is standing over the bathroom sink watching my blood run down the sink in a river. That scares the bejeesus out of me and makes me feel weak in the knees. Worse is trying to tilt my head back because I gag on the blood that goes down my throat. I spray with Afrin and put the nose clamp on for an hour to stop it. I'm really not a nasal spray person, I understand the risk of nasal spray addictions and usually only use saline spray or very occasionally Flonase. The first thing that happened when I got into Urgent Care was that they sprayed my nasal passages with oxymetazoline hydrochloride to try to stop the bleeding that had at that time been going on for 6 hours and was really frightening my husband and me. We were afraid that I was going to bleed to death. I promise that once this now intermittent bleeding stops, I will throw out the Afrin, I'm only using it when the bleed kicks up. Sometimes, just showering or slipping a clean shirt on is causing my nose to bleed. It starts bleeding when I am asleep. It's scary to me since I've never experienced this in the past. It is really hard to not blow the clots from my nose, but I don't dare.

DH and I met with the oncologist today. She's delightful, albeit only a teenager. haha. Seriously, she's a year or two past her fellowship at Northwestern's downtown hospital. I figure she must know all the latest about treatments. She explained everything carefull -- even calming my Very Anxious DH. It is probable that I do have MM, but I'm still a relatively healthy 77 -- no other ailments as far as we know. I'm not anemic. My calcium is high, but not out of range. I have no known kidney or bone problems. My light chain kappa/lambda ratio is 37; high is 100. I will have the bone marrow harvest Monday -- and turn in a 24-hour urine sample. In my future are a full body skeletal X-ray and a PET scan. They'll look for any places where I may have a cancer or other growth on my bones or in my organs and soft tissue. They will look for any genetic marker known to be involved in MM (test takes weeks for resolution). Presuming they find no bone, organ or soft tissue problems, we have a plan. The plan is to find drugs that will put my MM in remission. I'll start with a shot and a beer...no, no...a shot and two pills for chemotherapy. I'll go into the hospital one a week for this for...however long it takes to achieve remission. I'm glad we liked this MD and that I decided to go with the new hospital. It's even closer than Costco! Ten minutes, door to door. Beautiful new facility. Thanks so much for 'hanging in there' with me!