Thanks, dlm! I went online and found that they have a dealer right in my small town. I called and am going over tomorrow to order the door...and they will instal it, too. I appreciate the link!

Hhireno--thanks for asking about DH. Almost seems like a lifetime ago that he had his surgery. So much has happened since March 5. DH is doing very well. He was discharged on March 11 and came home. I had taken so much time off from work during the previous two weeks that I ended up going into work the next day, leaving him home with our dog. Those first three days were extremely difficult not being home with him. I'm sorry I had to make that choice, but we made it through without any issues. When he was discharged they had him on an antibiotic for an infection at an IV site. Not a pretty sight. They only prescribed 5 days worth and it was not any better so I brought him to our local ER where they prescribed meds for another 5 days at twice the dosage. That did the trick. A week after being home he sneezed without his pillow and pulled a muscle in his chest, which caused him more pain than his chest incision. Thank goodness it was on his right side because he would have thought it was his heart giving him the pain. Only now that pain has finally gone away. We were scheduled to see the surgeon last Tuesday, however, received a call the previous day rescheduling to this Tuesday. Unfortunately I have a huge conference I'm running on Wednesday so cannot go with him. My DB has offered to drive him down, which I'm thankful for. Otherwise, he would have taken the bus, since he's not allowed to drive yet. Hopefully the surgeon will give him the green light on Tuesday and our lives will start getting back to something close to normal. We are scheduled to close on our current house and our new build home on May 15. Packing hasn't begun, but I've given myself until this Thursday and will start in earnest then. The past 3+ months have gone by so quickly. I can't believe we are leaving our home of the past 20 years and on to a new adventure. Just holding my breath that we make it to the other side.

Alisande, It's not too surprising that anyone should need an emergency heart bypass from the use of Cool Whip. The major fats used to make this horrible stuff are hydrogenated coconut and palm kernel oil. While natural unrefined coconut oil is actually a good fat, hydrogenation of this and other fats into hardened products like margarine and shortening creates trans-fats which are one of the major contributing factors for clogged arteries and heart disease. It should be no wonder why there is such a large problem with heart disease, since the use of these hydrogenated fats is so common in making the processed foods that are so popular in the marketplace. If people would become more educated about the existence and dangers of hydrogenated fat in food and started reading labels to check for the presence of these fats, and left products containing them on the shelf, the need for drugs to control cholesterol and heart bypass operations would no longer be so common Years ago, I used to eat a cereal called Kellogg's Cracklin Oat Bran. I remember that the label mentioned something about eating oat products like this could help lower cholesterol or some similar sounding health claim. Once I found out how bad hydrogenated fats were, I started reading labels, and discovered this cereal and many other food items that I was eating, had various amounts of these fats in them. Dotty's concern about full fat ice cream should be less of a concern if the ingredients do not list any hydrogenated oils. Many of the fancy flavor ice creams such as Rocky Road are made with ingredients containing this. One brand that I have found that has a variety of flavors without these oils is Ben and Jerry's. The same for chips. A lot of chips are fried in these oils, but you can find many that are not. Bacon does not contain hydrogenated fat, and if you use a good quality bacon and cook it to where it has most of the fat rendered from it, you shouldn't have much of a concern even about fat. A couple of good websites that discuss cholesterol, trans fats, and heart disease are located here: http://www.newtrendspublishing.com/SallyFallon/aboutSallyFallon.html http://www.mercola.com/forms/seminars/heart_disease.htm The reference to Sally Fallon is about a book that discusses dietary fats and nutrition. She was a speaker at a farm conference I attended this past winter. A lot of what she had to say only confirmed and added to, what I have learned over the last few years about how the health of people is being compromised by the changes that have taken place in the food industry over the past 50 years. The other website discusses cholesterol and heart disease, and discusses the hazards of trans fats, and why the USDA nutrition guidelines have contributed to an increase in heart disease. GG

Dang! Ain't it a b-i-t-c-h!!! I hate biopsies. They totally take the fun outta "maybe". They screw with your life's plans don't they. What you thot would be is suddenly air. The back of my mind is contemplating widowhood and I don't like it..not one bit. I sincerely hope you guys make it!!! HEY!!! A friend of ours survived prostrate cancer! Fifteen years later he's still driving his wife nuts!!!!!! Hang in there Bon :)