Lilo - I agree with you about not needing (wanting) the surgery! My mother was 65 (or there about) when she had her appendix out. Her doctor told her that "appendicitis was a YOUNG persons disease"! So, maybe that will make all of us who might happen to have appendicitis at what we consider a mature age really "young".......LOL Glad your DH is recovering nicely.

My problem appeared out of nowhere 4 days before my 40th birthday. It was so bad I rushed myself to the hospital (while on the cell phone with 911) convinced I had been poisoned and would soon die. The tingling, odd sensations, pounding heartbeat and overall sense of dread pretty much brought on a panic attack. The hospital found nothing wrong and didn't diagnose anything. A nurse believed I was in trouble and at the very end of my stay gave me some sort of upset stomach medicine like milk of magnesia - even though nothing in my symptoms said "stomach problem". It kinda worked so I did my own research on stomach problems, then the tv started showing ads for Zantac and I found a new doctor and everything fell into place. If you have damage to your esophagus - sores or ulcers you will not be able to tolerate strong acid drinking like apple cider vinegar or pickle juice. It will be very painful. I slurp a capful of vinegar off and on throughout the day and always before I lay down to sleep. Other people drink much more. It is very harsh and hard to swallow and in the beginning you will think you've just poisoned yourself. It is hard medicine but very cheap to buy and the most affective treatment for GERD for me. It doesn't work for everyone. For me, the position of my neck seems to affect my chest quivering. If I bend my neck forward, where my chin is close to my chest it will upset my esophagus and I will have problems (either immediately or days later). I have to sleep with my shoulders raised up on a thin pillow so that my neck does not bend while I sleep. My biggest problem is rolling over in my sleep and sleeping on my stomach (face down). This will push the top of my stomach up through my diaphragm and cause all sorts of pain and discomfort - quivering for days, general unease, touchy and nervous all the time. When your stomach pokes up through your diaphragm it is called a Hiatal Hernia. Mine doesn't do it often and it always slides back down into the correct position so my doctor called it a sliding hiatal hernia (they don't do surgery to repair them). When mine gets bad I find that walking around is the best treatment - the dog gets plenty of midnight walks around the block when things get bad. With my GERD problems, taking the pills calmed things down and after a month or so I was back to normal with the occassional problem. I understood what caused my issues and tried to keep them under control. I cannot eat a large meal after 4 oclock in the evening. I eat my largest meal at lunch time. I can eat anything I want at breakfast unless I know I rolled over in my sleep and upset my esophagus, then I will eat a small boring breakfast without anything strong or sweet tasting. I snack all day. When my GERD is acting up I cannot eat anything extra sweet or flavorful - one jelly bean will cause a weeks worth of problems. I also have to avoid citrus fruits when things are bad. It is a big problem when you're sharing space with people that don't have this problem - people that want to eat pizza as an evening meal, people that enjoy going out late in the evening and eating large amounts of spicy food. You just can't. Your chest will teach you the hard way. After a couple of rounds of painful episodes you'll change your habits. I did not enjoy the endoscopy. But they knock you out completely. There was not any pain or discomfort afterwards. I had it done over 10 years ago and I'm sure they are better at it nowadays. It was nice to see the video of my esophagus and stomach and have everything explained to me. It is the only way to see what's going on. I have since moved to a new state/new city and I have since also had a colonoscopy which went much smoother. If I ever need another endoscopy I will make sure I do it at the same clinic that performed the colonoscopy, they were very good at it.

I am not sure, but after reading the sites about Celadrin, all I think it does is relieve pain by reducing inflamation. The glucosamine helps actually rebuild lost cartiledge and that reduces the friction at the joints, thus reducing the pain. Celadrin certainly wouldn't hurt and it would seem to be worth trying. I think that the two things work differently.

I also repackage my dry goods in the cupboard. After I got an infestation of insects in some grain products, I decided to so something about it. One day, my brother's friend showed up with a box of old-fashioned mason jars. They had turned pale blue with age, and had wire clamps to hold down the glass lids. (Real old, but cool!) I bought them from him. I put all my dry goods inside them, and that way, even if one of the products came down with "bugs," it never spread. That worked fine for a several years, but then we moved to a new house. There was not as much storage space. The jars didn't fit into the new house's cupboards as well. There were two different heights, and some had a different diameter. So I standardized by getting quart mason jars -- wide mouth -- and the white plastic screw-on lids. (Didn't want to mess with the two-part lids that came with the jars.) Each jar holds about one pound of dry beans. Easier to find stuff, now that the jars are all the same size and height. I use pint size jars, also wide mouth, for smaller quantities. They stack.