Dear Doctors: I’ve been an endurance athlete my whole adult life. After having COVID-19, I’ve gone from running marathons at an 8-minute mile pace to needing walking breaks whenever I run. Are there studies about long COVID and endurance? How do I find one I can join?
DEAR HARRIETTE: My 30th birthday just passed, and it was awful. I hate to sound ungrateful, but what should feel like a major milestone felt completely overlooked. Honestly, I’ve had a rough year, so I was OK with having a quiet birthday this year – just some reminiscing, goal setting and maybe some quality time with friends. Someone asked me if they could plan a surprise for me. While the thought was sweet, I expressed that I didn’t want anyone spending money on me, but they insisted on doing something. They asked what I would want, and all I asked was that it be low-budget and that my parents be present. I found out that everyone who attended had to pay, despite it being in my friend’s home, my parents were not invited and the host had a program full of her favorite activities for the gathering. It didn’t feel like this party was for me at all.
John McLaughlin is not sugarcoating the problem. A longtime Republican pollster who has worked closely with President Trump, McLaughlin writes on the conservative website Townhall that the current government shutdown is “a potential political catastrophe for the GOP.”
My sister said, “I had a very strange dream, and you were in it. You want to hear?”
DEAR HARRIETTE: I accidentally referred to my friend with the wrong pronouns, and they snapped at me! We’ve been friends for nearly a year now, but I introduced them to some new friends and used the pronoun “she” to describe something about them. I felt awful. Just as quickly as I was about to correct myself, they were already yelling at me. They lost it.
Dear Doctors: My husband has prediabetes. I read that going for a walk after you eat can help your blood sugar, so I always do that. But my husband says when you sit down again, your blood sugar goes right back up, so what’s the point? Is that true? I’m not giving up on him joining me.
Responded to a animal call of a calf out in the area of Oklahoma and Hughes St., Thomas.
One of the main themes of the second Trump administration has been the explosive collision between the president’s determination to enforce federal immigration law and many Democratic leaders’ determination not to enforce federal immigration law.
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DEAR HARRIETTE: Recently, I spent a weekend with friends my husband and I met on the beach a few years ago. We all really liked each other, so it felt natural to invite them to stay with us one weekend when a lot of mutual friends were gathering since they didn’t have a beach rental this year. It was great spending time with these new friends, but the husband smoked cigars constantly. He never smoked inside, but the smoke in the backyard wafted everywhere. I have asthma, and it really got to me. I didn’t realize how much smoke there was until I started coughing uncontrollably. It was not good.