Glad That I Could Be Of Help
Dear Ann Landers: If it weren’t for one of your columns, I might be dead or paralyzed. I owe you a large debt of gratitude.
For about a week, I had been experiencing temporary numbness in my left arm and hand. The numbness was sometimes accompanied by periodic paralysis of my left hand. My first thoughts were that I either hit my crazy bone or had perhaps been using my computer too much.
As I read your column describing the symptoms of a stroke, I immediately recognized that my numbness matched the early warning signs you had mentioned. I dropped the newspaper and went directly to the emergency room. The CAT scan revealed a large mass of blood in the crevice between my brain and my skull.
Fortunately, the operation to drain the fluid was a complete success and the doctors say there should be no lasting effects. For this, I am extremely thankful. Please know I am enormously grateful to you, Ann, for the perfect timing of that column. - Alive and Well in Springfield, Mass.
Dear Alive and Well: Letters such as yours make my day. Every now and then, I hear from readers telling me I should stop practicing medicine without a license. Describing symptoms, in my opinion, is a far cry from practicing medicine. Rest assured I intend to continue to educate my readers until my typewriter falls apart.
Dear Ann Landers: A year ago, I separated from my husband. After three months, I left the state with “Jake.” We have been living together, along with my three young children and Jake’s 14-yearold son, “Jeremy.” The boy decided he wanted to live with us rather than his mother.
Ann, Jeremy isn’t a typical 14-year-old. Sometimes he acts like he’s 4. He plays with my 3-year-old as if they were the same age. Other times, he demands that he be treated as an adult and reminds us that he is a teenager now.
Jake and I are expecting a baby in a few months and are living in a small, two-bedroom bungalow. We agreed that we couldn’t afford to have Jeremy live with us, and I thought it was settled, but without consulting me, Jake invited Jeremy to stay. The boy now complains that he is tired of sleeping on the couch and keeps asking his dad to buy him things we can’t afford. He is rude and disrespectful and talks back to me and his father. Meanwhile, my kids are picking up some of Jeremy’s bad habits and using street language, which I never heard from them before.
Jake seems to think a lot of our problems are MY fault. I’ve asked him to send Jeremy back to his mother, but he refuses. This doesn’t feel like my house anymore. I don’t know how to handle this. Should I just shut up and take it or what? - Losing It in Wisconsin
Dear Wisconsin: You need the support of an unbiased outsider. Insist that Jake go with you to a family counselor. Your relationship is at stake. Jeremy needs counseling, too. He should be told to accept counseling or he will be shipped back to his mother.
Let him know that counseling is not punishment but rather an opportunity to express his feelings, which will make him feel better about himself and those around him. An outside party could turn this mess into a real positive. Good luck.
xxxx