mockingbird

I had a bout with cervical dysplasia about six years ago and my doctor talked to me about LEEP then (actually, he scared me about LEEP, but that's beside the point.) After a colposcopy showed that it was very mild, my doctor and I opted for a wait and see approach instead. It cleared up on it's own and I've had a long run of negative Paps since then. So, I was surprised with an abnormal one a few weeks ago. I had a colpo and a biopsy on Monday and this morning my new doctor said she recommends LEEP. Since this is my second go-round with dysplasia, I'm opting for treatment this time.

I have the information sheet from the doctor so I know the basics about how it works and what the recovery is meant to be like, but I'd like to hear from women who have actually had it done. Was it painful? Did you have much in the way of side effects? How long did they last? Any advice?

We're looking for a lake area where we can camp and rent jetskis. Western Washington would be ideal, but the Chelan/Wenatchee are would do too (though we'd rather not go much further east than Moses Lake or thereabouts.)

It sounds like sci-fi, but there was an article in the July/Aug issue of Vegetarian Times that discussed a method developed by a vegetarian doctoral candidate at the University of Maryland. Using three muscle cells taken from a live cow (by needle) and nourishing them in the lab in a broth of glucose, amino acids and minerals, he has been able to encourage them to reproduce. After a few weeks, a sheet of the meat can be peeled off and ground up into hamburger. Growing meat this way could conceivably put a dent in factory farming and reduce the number of animals slaughtered every year. It’s also purported to be safer because there’s no “need” to treat the animal with antibiotics, steroids and hormones and it could eliminate the threat of mad cow disease. So… would you go back to eating meat if no animals had to die for it? Or are your other reasons for going veg compelling enough to keep you veg?

This is for my boyfriend (who is too busy working out to log on and ask his own question...)

He wants to know if it's true, when weight training, that it's not beneficial to work out for longer than 45 minutes.

My boyfriend and I are thinking of trying to get pregnant next year. Ideally he’d like a boy and I’d like to have a girl, although I know he’d adore his daughter every bit as much as I’d adore my son. I know he’s probably never heard of the Shettles method and likely has no idea that there may be ways to tilt the odds in favor of one gender or another. I know it’s nowhere near a surefire thing and, as a matter of fact, if I had access to a surefire method like sorting sperm by X and Y chromosomes and discarding all the Y’s I probably *wouldn’t* do it because it’s a little too much like playing God for my taste. Manipulating the timing and position doesn’t strike me the same way. So, since I do know about it and he doesn’t, would it be wrong for me to take advantage of that knowledge and try to conceive a girl using this method?

I know nothing. Money is a consideration, but I'm not necessarily looking for the cheapest one out there, just a good deal for a good camera.

Some things in particular that I want to know:

Megapixels - I can go ahead and assume that more is better, but how big a difference is there between 4 megapixels and 5? Between 4 and 6?

Video - are the digital videocameras that can also take still shots a good idea? Or is it, at least in terms of picture quality, better to start with just a still camera?

All in one - what about those camera/printer dock bundles (like the Kodak Easyshare) - good, bad, indifferent?

Any advice anyone has to share regarding good brands, features to look for, etc... is much appreciated!

He's bright and funny and sweet. We love each other a lot. I'm just curious about what people think of the older woman/younger man thing (I don't get a lot of reaction in general because I look a lot younger than I am... people just assume we're close in age.)