We're fortunate if such warnings even appear on Echinacea supplement labels. Flareups of autoimmune skin disease have been reported in patients taking Echinacea. As lorna noted, this problem could potentially affect people with arthritis (i.e. the rheumatoid form), but would not be expected in the most common form of arthritis (osteoarthritis, a.k.a. wear-and-tear arthritis).

Meow! Two boxes arrived today! And Dad told me last night that we were only waiting on one. Well, in his defense, he was pretty drugged up. He came home with a tired achey back, so I slipped some catnip into the margarita he had with dinner. What a combination! It always gets my fur in a tizzy...lol! You've all been great to play with, even you humans weren't too bad! LOL! I need to go take my late-afternoon nap, so I'm going to let my lovely assistant take over and do some accounting. She'll figure out if everyone has received their box or not. If everyone has, then she'll close out the swap. I do have one question before we end though. Would anyone like to meet back here towards the end of the summer and have a perennial swap? I'll host again if so. Let me know, and stay tuned. You never know what's going to happen next! Happy Purring & Slobbering! (had to include the canines, right?) -Bump the Magnificent, otherwise known as His Majesty =========================================================== Now, doesn't that figure? There's work to be done, and "His Majesty" walks off and leaves me to do it! Hiss! Spit! Meowr! Don't you worry, I'll get him! TRUST ME!!! ***sigh*** Meowrr, so you humans need me to tell you if everyone has received their box in this swap? Well, give me a few minutes, and I'll let you know. Let's seee..... Dan sends to dem_pa sent/received ishareflowers sends to poisondartfrog sent/received wispfox sends to lindaruzicka sent/received jlee160 sends to ishareflowers sent/received dem_pa sends to wispfox sent/received gardencraze sends to mchill320 sent/received micyrey sends to jlee160 sent/received poisondartfrog sends to dan_the_mailman sent/received Linda sends to gardencraze sent/received mchill320 sends to micyrey sent/received And there you have it. Everyone sent and received a box of goodies, and I must say, there were some very interesting boxes! Put your paws together and give yourselves a nice round of applause! As Bump mentioned before he ran off (the old goat), we're thinking of hosting a perennial exchange, probably posting it around the first of August with everyone mailing out their boxes towards the end of August or first week of September, which should give all those nice juicy plants plenty of time to settle in before winter comes. What do you think? Wishing you all a happy, fun-filled summer... -Stella, Her Royal Highness

Diane, I actually recommend making 2 albums, one for you, and one for her. let her pick out the pictures she wants in her album and make copies of those pictures for her. Let her work beside you when you do yours. Let her write out as much as she can in her own handwriting (write it out for her in her own words to help with spelling if needed, and let her copy it on journaling mats- email me your addy and I will send you some of different colors) Buy her a 7x7 sentiments albums. Perfect size for her. Ask her why she picked the photos she did, and have her tell you what she remembers of that day/event. She will treasure it forever. Plus, it is a wonderful bonding experience, and it will help her and you talk about it, which can be so hard to do. It is ok to be sad and to cry, that is part of healing. It took a long time before I could look at my album without crying at all. I did this with my little sisters after I made mine. They were 11 when our brother died. To this day (they are 14 now), they still pull out their albums whenever they miss him. It has such a healing effect. Alot of tears were shed when we made them, but now looking back, that time together was priceless. I was able to help them "capture" those memories and most importantly the stories that went with them. I hope this helps. Feel free to email me anytime :) for help with your album. I know I will forever be thankful to the person that suggested it and helped me with mine, and I will continue to help others do the same. Kathy

Gail, I know you mean well, but only people who have a family history of ovarian cancer OR have other symptoms of ovarian cacner need this test. Unfortunately, surgery is the only option and "they" _will_ do surgery -- often unnecessarily, and with risks -- if they see an elevated CA-125. It's the ONLY way to diagnose ovarian cancer. But based on the CA-125 alone, it is often an unnecessary surgery. (Ultrasound, CT scan and even PET scans are just as ineffective. Only a combination of these tests AND reported symptoms are the way to find the suspicion of ovarian cancer. Not one of them is a stand-alone test.) As for symtpoms, please read the May 2004 issue of the Journal of teh American Medical ASsociation. There is a great article there explaining the research on this. 95% of women DO REPORT SYMPTOMS AT STAGE I ovarian cancer. Also, the CA-125 is not even the same value from woman to woman. The guidelines just changed on this test in February, and now a 35 is not the magic number. Based on age and a host of other factors, a reading of 70 could be considered "normal." It's a very very confusing test. It's not a screening test for ovarian cancer, no matter how you look at it. Every national organization and every physician and subspecialist in this field (and most actual ovarian cancer patients) will agree: The best tool we have is to raise awareness about this disease is to encourage women to look for symptoms and get them to their doctors at stage I. There's even legislation about this. And because the disease is so agressive and fast-growing, even if there is a 100% foolproof screening test, awareness of symptoms will still be equally as important. The CA-125 can jump from 70 - 7000 in a week's time. Symptoms occur even earlier. A yearly blood test won't be often enough. it's not like cervix cancer, which is slow-growing and can wait a year to be diagnosed with a Pap test. This is a seriously aggressive cancer which needs constant vigilance. This is what I do every single day. I spend 75% of my time with ovarian cancer patients and many, many of them get so frustrated when this test is misunderstood. 3 of our current patients had NO elevated CA-125 and this made them think their symptoms were "just menopasue" or something else...until the symptoms became so regular that it was late-stage, full-blown, unmistakeable ovarian cancer. Had they not relied on that test, they may have been treated earlier. Another 2 of our patients had elevated CA-125 and had a surgery they did not need. One now has a serious staph infection and the other is now missing her ovaries...but neither has ovarian cancer. Gail, I completely agree with you that we must call attention to this disease. But the best way we can do it is by spreading awareness about symptoms so that we can get women into their doctors earlier. THEN a CA-125 MIGHT be appropriate (and a pelvic exam and an ultrasound or a CT scan or a risk assessment). If anyone wants to see more, please visit www.wcn.org. And Gail, I am really sorry to hear about your sister. It's hard to watch someone fight this disease.