['lizbeth]

Marie,

You go ahead and rant. In fact, it makes me feel better that someone else is human too and gets upset.

Your grandma is pyscho and mean-spirited. Shame on her.

I've been my husband caretaker for 11 years. There were a few times that I thought I would lose him. The stress that you are under with the mighty oak is a terrible, terrible burden and I worry about you.

I am lucky, I got my miracle. Twice really, but here is one story:

In 2006, my hubbie, Mike, lost 34 pounds in 28 days, after catching a bad cold and having hiccups for 10 days. He has LGL, an uncommon leukemia that causes a low neutrifil count. And he has severe anemia. His throat was so painful he couldn't hardly eat for 3 weeks. At the same time his boss' mother was ill and passed away. While he was sick Mike worked 22 days in a row.

Then when the plane was in for maintenance (he's a pilot too) we took off for a few days to go to our condo in Mammoth Lakes. His long-time "friend" and boss docked his pay.

In Mammoth, just as he was getting better, he came down with the hiccups, 24/7. It was scary. He was so sick and so frail. I finally took him to ER. They seemed to help, but we left the next morning on a 6 hour drive to San Diego. He got worse. I finally insisted the doctors do more than write prescriptions and send him home like the previous times. They put him in the hospital and finally got rid of the hiccups.

So he recovered fully, but he scared the heck out of me at the time. I lost 10 pounds from the stress and the fear.

Oh, and the boss docked him again for the 5 days he spent in the hospital. And the bosses wife insisted he work on my birthday. So he quit. And life was tough for awhile, but we adjusted.

You have us, so rant away. And I am still pressing God for a miracle for the mighty oak.