Lifestyle

Dear Amy: My father died three weeks ago. After his death, I talked with a close friend whose father died in 2007.

DEAR DR. ROACH: I am a healthy 77-year-old male. I’m 5 feet, 7 inches tall and weigh 145 pounds, with difficult-to-control high blood pressure. For many years I had a blood pressure reading around 140/80 with no medicines. Last year I had a very severe headache, and I thought it might be a stroke or TIA. I had a reading over 180/100 and was diagnosed with high blood pressure.

It’s important to note that even though the study is dated 2022, the datasets analyzed are from 2019 — before the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Our report illuminates the continuing crisis both in the prevalence of mental health conditions and in access to mental health services,” Schroeder Stribling, president and CEO of Mental Health America said.

In this way of delivering health care, providers and patients connect via secure software that allows them to chat, video chat and talk via a computer, tablet or smartphone. Patients can connect from their home or office, and providers from theirs. This reduces time off and transportation costs, and, of course, exposure to illness for both patient and provider.

A major contribution to Rooks County Health Center (RCH) has been recognized with the re-naming of the RCH Rehabilitation Center, which was added to the hospital in the fall of 2019. The donation, which will help fund critical hospital needs for years to come, was made by former Rooks County resident Cecil Crawford, who along with his late wife Brenda founded Crawford Supply Co.

Dear Readers, I’m worried about you this morning, this Official start to our July 4th holiday, when the only thing on my plate is why hot dogs and hamburgers are never sold in the same numbers as their buns? I know how lucky I am to hAve folks joining us here to celebrate versus me scampering across the state. From news I can’t seem to avoid, record numbers of you are flying.

Dear Amy: I was married for 46 years to a man who probably shouldn’t have been married at all. He was not affectionate, even during sex, cheated on me at least once, and when I asked why he married me, he said, “Because it was the thing to do.”

A few years ago, I traveled to Japan to spend five weeks training as a live-in student in the martial art of Aikido. This was a very intense training time. On long days we got up before 5 a.m. to start a cycle of arriving at one of several dojo (martial arts training halls) nearby to clean the dojo one hour before class, practice for a one-hour class, serve tea, clean, and then move on to the next place to repeat the process. The long days had six classes, so we tended to get to bed around midnight before repeating the cycle the next day. On shorter days we would have only a few classes and could even sometimes rest or travel nearby. We also had certain holidays when we'd travel into the mountains or to nearby parks or universities to demonstrate, train, or simply rest and celebrate.

Even before I went there the first time, it was described to me simply as a “thin spot,” a place where the distance between heaven and earth was thinner than elsewhere, a place where the presence of God seems more palpable, almost heavier. It was not until I visited that I understood what others were trying to describe to me.