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To Your Good Health

DEAR DR. ROACH: I am an 81-year-old man (5 feet, 2 inches tall at 122 pounds) in good health, except that I have Type 2 diabetes. My A1C level has been in the range of 6.3% to 6.8% for the past five years with the help of metformin. Five times a week, I walk on a treadmill for 15 minutes (about a mile) with 25 minutes of stretching exercises, and I don’t have any chest pain or shortness of breath. A couple of my friends in similar situations took the nuclear stress test (due to age and diabetes); one ended up with two stents, and another underwent triple bypass surgery. Neither had ...

The Kovels – Antiques and collecting

Baby New Year can grow up fast! This baby was the mascot for Gillette’s safety razors, perhaps suggesting that they were both safe enough and easy enough for a baby to use, with the promise of babysmooth skin, too. Inventor King C. Gillette was not the first to create a safety razor, but he came up with the disposable blade, and his company popularized them in the early 1900s. Note that the calendar is for 1909 — a bit outdated for today’s use, but very appealing to a collector of antique advertising. It sold for $295 at Morford’s Antique Advertising Auctions. Oh, and ...

Kovels: Collecting

Glass can be extremely difficult to identify and date. Lundberg Studios, founded in 1970 and still active, makes iridescent glass with shapes and patterns reminiscent of famous art glass makers like Tiffany. They are not copies or reproductions but contemporary pieces taking inspiration from older styles. When it comes to contemporary glass (which Kovels defines as glass made after about 1970), the highest prices usually go to sculptural, avant-garde pieces made with unconventional techniques; simpler, more traditional pieces can be bargains. For example, this vase at Rivich Auction ...

Dear Annie

Dear Annie: I am a 48-year-old male living at home with my folks and older sister. We are a close-knit family and do things together often. I couldn’t be happier to have them in my life. Lately, I’ve been feeling a little bit down and stuck in the mud if you can call it that. I have no reason to feel like that. I am my oldest nephew’s home caregiver, and I am grateful every day for personally taking care of him. He’s disabled but very high-functioning when it comes to doing things on his own. Could this be some kind of depression of sorts or a midlife crisis change? I am ...

To Your Good Health

DEAR DR. ROACH: I am a 73-year-old who underwent successful treatment for prostate cancer, using hormone suppression and radiation in 2015. After the treatment concluded, my testosterone level increased back to 435 ng/dL, and my PSA remained below 0.1 ng/mL. I was once again able to perform sexually, although not at the same frequency I did before treatment. In the past six months, I have noticed a dramatic reduction in my libido, much like it was when undergoing treatment. My doctor wouldn’t check my testosterone level. I understand that testosterone replacement is not ...

Dear Annie

Dear Readers: Wishing you and all a very happy holiday season. Please enjoy the following poem. “A Visit from St. Nicholas” by Clement Clarke Moore. “’Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse; The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there; The children were nestled all snug in their beds, While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads; And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap, Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap, When out on the lawn ...