I also had a case of kidney stones myself and a resulting weakened immune system, in December 2008. Very painful. You definitely have empathy from me! The best remedies I know of for boosting the immune system include WATER, EXERCISE, stress reduction, meditation, and getting adequate sleep (neither too much nor too little). And there are also some herbs and dietary changes that help. Regular aerobic and weight bearing exercise (but not too much exercise) is vital to keep an immune system healthy and strong! We need about one hour of walking every single day to keep an immune system healthy. Go at whatever pace your energy level allows- if you are in pain and tired from all the recent illness it'll be necessary to walk slowly. In addition to the walking, 30 minutes of weight bearing exercise every 2 to 3 days will strengthen the body and this will also strengthen the immune system. Drink 3 gallons a day of reverse osmosis water. Reverse osmosis is best if at all possible. Filtered tap water from a Brita or Pur filter, etc. *still* contains the dissolved ions that your body has been turning into stones. And most spring water also has dissolved ions in it. Not kidding about the amount. At least 3 gallons of reverse osmosis water per day. 3 gallons seems like an awful lot of water and I know personally that it is difficult to drink this much. Nonetheless it's VERY important to drink this much despite the difficulty. The only way to drink this much each day is to CONSTANTLY drink. If you do something that makes you sweat, drink more after you sweat. Each time you go to the bathroom you lose some water, so drink then too. And anytime you are bored or on a work/study break or stuck in traffic, drink. If you ever *actually* feel thirsty it means you haven't been drinking often enough. No matter where you go, you gotta bring a liter of reverse osmosis water- churches, parks, libraries, school, offices, jobs or interviews, amusement parks, restaurants, movies, sports events, bars (if you go to those), malls, and inside your car. Even to places that try to disallow people bringing in water or 'beverages' so they can sell you their drinks. They will have to be shown a doctors note telling them they HAVE to let you bring in your own water. And if these places still don't let you bring water in, don't go inside. Boycott them and tell others not to do business with them because those places are disrespectful of public health. Go somewhere else instead, your health has to come first. It's a hassle to drink this much AND it is necessary to do so anyway. To boost the body's ability to fight infections and to heal damaged kidney tissue, the body needs LOTS of water. Also water is vital to strengthen the immunity overall, and it also will really help pass the stones faster so you spend less time suffering as they are trying to come out. In my experience, I agree that there really is no herbal remedy that can 'dissolve' kidney stones. I have practiced herbalism for over 20 years as an unpaid volunteer. It goes against my spirituality and culture to accept payment for helping others with my herbalism. There are, however, herbal remedies and dietary modifications that can make it faster and less painful to pass kidney stones by reducing inflammation. Good herbs to reduce pain and inflammation from kidney stones include uva ursi, joe pye weed, sugar free cranberries, polygonum persicaria, and some others. There are also remedies and dietary modifications that can reduce the likelihood of kidney stone formation- especially if the stones are calcium oxalate. Stage_rat Annette has already provided a link to some of that info. :) Unfortunately since your stones were formed during a time when you drank a lot of soda and also drank insufficient water, odds are high that your stones are calcium phosphate which are much harder to treat than the common calcium oxalate kidney stones. IMHO your stones are likely to be calcium phosphate because sodas have a lot of excess phosphates in them (in the form of phosphoric acid). Take a good B-complex vitamin supplement daily, which contains pyridoxine (vitamin B-6). B-6 deficiency produces kidney stones in experimental animals. In high doses, B6 is used medically to treat kidney stones. Remember- B-6 deficiency is very common in humans. Yogurt and other probiotics are a good idea too, and in addition to that I also really recommend Dr. Berger's Immune Power Diet for you.

I see what you mean about the complete 'stone-cold' to peak heat being a stress on the system. I experienced the shutdown leaks in the rental home that I used to live in, so I was expecting leaks. (And I haven't shut this unit down this year because the garage fan, which circulates water 24/7, leaked at the bottom connection when the water got down to about 100°F.) The system was flushed in December, a few months before we bought the house. To this day, it still has some air trapped. Not much, but I can hear it in the garage. I figure the air must have come from the fresh water that was taken in. Is there any additive that is ever used to keep the tank and plumbing / gaskets healthy, somewhat like radiator fluid for an automotive engine? My boiler is 25 years old now. I hear so many conflicting stories about whether it's really worth getting a new one installed. From what I can see, a boiler is a boiler. 25 years old or not. Aside from the reliability, is a 25 year old hot water boiler *really* going to save any energy compared to the old one? The ones that I see in plumbing shops look exactly the same as this unit. I'm not interested in some super mega-efficient system because of the cost and the questionable reliability. (My aunt and her neighbor have experienced the CompleteHeat system. Let's just say that there may be one system left in this city.)

Cupofkindness What has finally worked for me is having daily tasks: I made a table using Word and put the tasks under each day of the week and stuck it on the wall in my familyroom. I don't look at it much now, as I have the routine ingrained. DAILY: clothes meals swish and swipe each bathroom (DD8 often will do the main) clean kitchen after each meal- any dishes that won't fit in the DW are hand washed basic tidy up each day DD8 bedroom tidy up I have certain tasks on certain days: WEEKLY: Monday is the floors Tuesday is change bedding and ironing Wednesday is bathrooms and towels Thursday is dust and cobwebs Friday is floors and ironing Weekends- gardening How I worked out my weekly tasks was in reflection of the day- eg Monday the chn have swimming and we get home late- so I want and easy day. Wednesday is my day off, so I have the time to do the bathrooms. MENU: I follow a specific menu plan which is a six week rotating cycle. (Again, consider daily needs- eg Monday is my busy day so I often choose fish and salad for that day as it is quick to prepare.) DH is a computer nerd and used Access to make a menu/grocery program- each week he selects eg: 'Week 4' and the menu for week 4 generates a grocery list- with a quick check of the pantry/fridge we know what we need. The grocery list also includes store items (eg flour) and cleaning products (eg washing powder). One we check items as a quantity or a zero the program generates a grocery list. Now this is my super nerd hubby- the list is in aisle order and shelf order as you go down the aisle of our local grocery store. Sweet! Sometimes I miss the old style of hit and miss cooking days (... mince... hmmm, do I have a tin of tomatoes? oh a carrot!... any basil? yes! Spaghetti? no... oh well penne will do!). But overall, I love the fact that I can tell you that next Sunday I am having a beef roast with roasted beetroot, garlic, carrots, sweet potato and broccoli. With fruit and yoghurt for dessert! My time organiser is my regular calendar- I bought one with a column for each child (harder for you I realise). I told them all- if it isn't on the calendar it won't happen. School assignments, social engagements, meetings, visitors, family time and anything that impacts on a specific day. Good luck! How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time! In other words- keep goals realistic. Em

Hey Bookert, We have two full sized Aussies, brother and sister. Aussies are a working breed and need a 'job'. If left to their own devices, they'll create their own 'job' .. which mean destroying your house, yard, etc. ;) They are very smart dogs and very willing to please their people .. their physical, as well as mental energy just needs to be focused though. Obedience and agility training are both great suggestions, not only do they burn off energy, have mental simulation, give the dog a job, but they help form a great bond between you and your Aussie. Aussies are very 'velcro' dogs and their's nothing they like better than spending time with their person. We roller blade with our dogs almost everyday, plus they get a walk in everyday. My DH is also a contractor and builds log homes. The Aussies often go to the job sites with him and serve as job site formans, which they love. They meet lots of new people, see lots of new things and expend a lot of energy keeping everyone in line. :) As far as colors, they do come in a wide varity of colors, shapes and fur lengths. Our Aussies are from a working line, so they aren't quite as fluffy as some of the Aussies I've seen bred from show lines. Our female is a solid red with copper and white trim. Our male is actually a ' mis-marked' Aussie. He is supposed to be a red merel, but he carries the E Locus Yellow gene, so he's a Yellow and his merling is 'masked'. You can only tell he's a merle because of his eyes, which are blue and green marbled. Because of this it's important he was neutered so his genes wouldn't carry on. He's a pretty guy and wonderful as a companion animal, but if someone mistakenly didn't understand he was a merle and bred him with another merle, it could cause problems with the pups. I think all Aussies are beautiful in their own rights, they each have their own unique look and personality. Here's my DH rollerblading our's : Taz our male at work with Dad : Talula our female at work with Dad :