My dad has it, and I have it's milder cousin, IBS. A maddening condition because it waxes and wanes on its own little path. What helps to relieve it one flare up doesn't the next. There is a fantastic organization, the Crohns Colitis Foundation with lots of resources. Overall, I would say the hardest thing your son is going to have to deal with is that he is no longer Superman. He has a touchy constitution and has to watch his health regime--eat right, get a enough rest, practice stress relief techniques, learn coping strategies for having a chronic illness. And despite what people say, it is not about what you eat or your stress, although managing those things can help lessen your symptoms and lessen your suffering. It is an autoimmune condition. Keeping yourself stress free and healthy is good for the immune system, no matter how you look at it, but not always possible. We do what we can. It is also related to seratonin. I have migranes, another seratonin related condition, which is also chronic, so I definately can related to what your son is going through. Like I said, he needs to just realize that this is part of being human, he won't always have flare ups, it will pass and he will have many, many good days. And when he has a bad day, he will just have to take it easy and people will just have to understand. Then he can go back gangbusters on the good days. If you try to drug yourself into "normalcy" with these chronic conditions, my experience has been that you just drag out the hard times all that much longer. At least that's the way it is with my migranes. I can drug myself into a three day migrane to try and function, (which I can only manage to do marginally) or take a day off work and be back 100% the next day. Same with my dad, he was ill on steroids for 10 years, absolutely miserable, until he accepted his disease, went off steroids, adjusted his lifestyle and has been feeling great ever since. He also ended up with steroid related degeneration, so I would avoid that route if I possibly could with your son. My friend was taking steroids for asthma for years (which actually ended up being misdiagnosed and who knows how many of her subsequent health problems were a result of the steroids), and has had nothing but grief the past five years from fallout from that. I'm not saying steroids haven't saved some people's lives with these chronic conditions, but IMHO the best route is to try holistic management of a chronic condition first. My friend didn't even HAVE asthma, which shows you how the medical field can get things VERY WRONG some times. You need to educate yourself and be your own advocate. Your son is not alone! Just from my own experience, a mild diet low on the rough fiber (from wheat bran and vegetable and fruit peels) and low on dairy, but including soluable fiber (from things like applesauce, barley and oatmeal) is helpful. Some people are sensitive to onions, peppers and cruciferous vegetables, but if your son is not, then don't worry about that. Doctors say stay away from lots of fat, lots of sugar and caffeine and eat smaller meals spread out througout the day to keep from hyperstimulating the digestive tract. But that's good advice for anyone. Again, your son will just have to watch himself. He doesn't have an iron gut, but then no one should actually act like they do, although a lot of us do. My friend who has it swears by herbs, (and she's a scientist), but your mileage may vary. Everyone is unique in how they respond to various natural treatments. That's one thing you learn with a chronic disease, you have to find your own unique combination of coping techniques that work for you. There are lots of resources out there. Approach all with an open mind but a healthy dose of skepticism. It has been my experienc that a LOT of doctors know nothing about treating chronic diseases through prevention and lifestyle managment. They only know to prescribe this or that pill which is what they get from the pharmaceutical companies. I'm not totally dissing pills, but bear in mind that these pills all have side effects, many of which are NOT reported on. For example, my dad was on cholesterol lowering medication for TWO YEARS which gave him chronic lung congestion. He was on round after round of antibiotics and claimed to have a constant cold. Well FINALLY after going to many doctors, one realized it was a little publicized side effect from the medication. Same goes for my friend with "asthma," she actually had a rare swelling of the trachea, and 10 years of asthma treatment, (which is a bronchial condition), treatment for swollen vocal chords, etc. did nothing for her. Eventually x-rays revealed the problem was in the trachea, which is between the vocal chords and bronchial tubes, which had not been looked at all that time. I'm mentioning this because I really think that my dad got some BAD advice early on in his battle with ulcerative colitis and I would urge you to not take the kool aide totally with all these drugs the doctors push. Find out some alternatives from people who are also scientific in their approach, knowledeable, flexible and skeptical, but aren't totally under the sway of the drug companies and the billions they pump into research. Good information takes a little rooting around to find. There's probably an active Chrons Colitis group in your area to join. Here is a link that might be useful: Chrons Colitis Foundation

Broadcast sprays with residual action (the only way they'd have any effect other than shortly after the actual spraying) are not benign. I know of nothing that targets only mosquitos so anything you use will also kill other, unintended, insects. (And potentially harm the birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish and mammals that eat the poisoned, off-target insects.) Just because the company is owned by an entomologist doesn't necessarily mean he has much interest in live bugs, or a healthy environment. Indeed, one of the most lucrative career paths for entomologists is working for chemical companies devising new insecticides. I live (and work outdoors) in a buggy, ticky, rural area and there is no way I'd ever consider broad spectrum, residual sprays for my own comfort. Biting bugs can be miserable - you don't want to experience the sheer misery of black fly season on my northern NY farm - but there are ways to make them less annoying w/o adding to the chemical load in our world. Disrupting the environment by spraying makes it difficult for natural balance to exert itself and help mitigate the problem. More effective solutions such as neighborhood efforts to get rid of standing water everywhere make a bigger difference in the long run. I have lived in parts of the world where mosquitos carry deadly diseases and a huge difference happens when people change their behavior and discourage the conditions that promote mosquitos, even w/o sprays. Landscaping and environmental changes, protective clothing, head nets, screens, dumping water accumluations, fans, even the odious chemical-attractant mosquito killers (not ordinary bug zappers, which really don't work and kill many beneficial insects) are much better than insecticides which don't really work unless sprayed frequently at high levels. And at low levels are mostly ineffective but still extract a serious environmental cost on non-target organisms. Please consider some other remedies before the dubious, and enviromentally costly, quick fix of spraying. Your worries about your dog's safety are laudable, but what about the other animals that live on or near your property whose much-smaller body masses makes them even more vulnerable to the sprays. You not proposing to keep all the birds, squirrels, bunnies, turtles, snakes, fish, etc., safely inside your house on spray-days, are you? L.

I've had a Sonoma Cast Stone farmhouse style sink in my kitchen for 10 years. Expensive and cool looking. Several years ago however, it started to deteriorate around the drain. Then it failed on the bottom surface and looks just awful. Looks dirty when I know it can't be. I've reached out twice to the company for help - as soon as they see pictures they 'go away' as in no response. We also have a Sonoma Cast stone sink in our powder room. It's held up great because it gets hardly any use. My advice: DO NOT get one of these in the kitchen or anywhere else where you'll use it often! It won't hold up!

I have been diagnosed with CKD- Chronic Kidney Disease- since 2001. I had a sudden stroke from out of nowhere. I ended up in a hospital for a month. They determined the stroke was caused by hypertension (hiogh blood pressuere) caused by kidney failure. I recovered from the stroke, but not from kidney failure. In 2001, I had 18% kidney function, more than enough to sustain me.I was listed in Stage 3. But I had to alter my eating drastically, changing to a low protein (under 4 ouncesa day) diet, low potassium, low phosphorous, and no salt. The nutritionist will likely give her lists of foods to eat and to avoid. By eating properly, a person can live "normally" for 20 to 30 years. My kidney function gradually declined to around 7 percent in August 2007 , and that's when i started dialysis. There are three treatments for CKD: hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis and transplant. I am on three lists to get a transplant. CKD is a very manageable disease. Tell her not to panic. If she's in stage 3, she is probably very far from needing dialysis. Tell her to find a good nephrologist, who can test her, treat her, and answer any questions. Between 2001 and 2007 I lived a totally normal life, except for taking medication for hypertension.I worked full time3 to 2005, took care of my family, tended my house and garden. Tell her it's not a death sentence, she just has to listen to her doctors. There is no cure for kidney disease, it's a "chronic" problem. Kidney tissue does not heal or regenerate itself. But it's not a death sentence. My neph doctor says I will get a kidney transplant in 2-3 years, and the new kidney will last anywhere from 10 to 25 years. When/ if it fails, I will need to go back on dialysis and back on "The List". Tell your relative not to fret. There are plenty of websites and organizations to help her. Google "kidney disease".