Bob, I do not believe I have had quite as strong of a reaction to tomato plants as what you experienced, but yes, it happened to me in about 2000. Did it last? Not completely. After the initial outbreak/reaction, it was a sporadic thing for a couple of years. It hasn't been as bad since that first year. For me, it is the worst when the sunlight is very strong...so it happens more in, say, July and August, but not so much in April or May, or in Sept.-Oct. With me, it only happens with green plants, so I have no problem making all the contact in the world with dead plants when I'm removing them after frost. I don't know what to tell you except that I take Claritin almost every day and sometimes still have a tomato reaction. It hasn't stopped me from growing them or eating them. I do often wear one of Tim's old, white, long-sleeved cotton dress shirts when I am doing a great amount of picking tomatoes. It helps if I can avoid making direct physical contact between my skin and the tomato plants. Obviously, wearing thick or impermeable gloves (I wear nitrile gloves) helps too. I think the amount of contact is what brings it on because I can run outside and pick 3 or 4 tomatoes for lunch and not have a problem, but let me stay out there picking tomatoes for an hour or two or three and I am in for itchy rashes on my arms and many of the other symptoms you described. I have friends who aren't supposed to eat tomatotes (their tongue and lips itch and then go numb and they can even have breathing difficulty) but they eat them anyway. For them, cooked tomatoes are not as much of an issue as raw ones, so cooking them must deactivate some enzyme or something that is what their bodies are actually reacting to. I hope your allergy is temporary or at least lessens in intensity. Dawn

Unfortunately, attitudes do change when the words Alzheimers is mentioned. For some reason, something like "Cognitive malfunction" or "senile dementia" goes over better. Let's hope that way of thinking changes soon. I can remember back to before Alzheimers was a common diagnosis. People were just said to be getting senile early and it was accepted. It's the same way with cancer. People react to the word as if the disease was contagious. I don't have any helpful hints. One thing my mother did was to get in the habit of making lists of things she needed to do. It seemed to help. Perhaps, seeing it written down worked better than just hearing or trying to remember. Remember the main thing is to take care of yourself too. I know that I don't have to tell you, but you must be the one that comes first in the family as you both will depend on your well-being.

The list of diseases affecting cherries is a long one. They are sensitive to excessive moisture in the soil, even for very short periods of time. If the soil is anything less than perfectly fast draining, the decline and death of a tree can be rapid. I wouldn't bother replanting your tree, simply because no established tree could tolerate being ripped from the soil in such a manner. Evaluate the surrounding soil and its drainage capacity before replanting with anything else, let alone another highly susceptible species.

I think it could be box blight. And there's evidence that all is not well on the second one either