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Dear Annie: Husband’s dream hobby has become a nightmare

Dear Annie: My husband recently bought an old classic car, the kind he has dreamed about since he was 17. He made the purchase after seeing one roaring down Main Street with the top down. It is shiny, loud, impractical and, according to him, “an investment.” According to me, it is a very expensive midlife crisis with chrome bumpers. He found it online after months of searching and drove three hours to see it “just to look.” Naturally, he came home with a bill of sale, a grin on his face and a car that now sits in our garage under a special cover like it is the crown jewels. ...

Coronary artery score continues to raise amid statin treatment

DEAR DR. ROACH: I’m an 80-year-old male who doesn’t drink or smoke, exercises regularly, and takes telmisartan for blood pressure and rosuvastatin for cholesterol. I’ve never had any heart issues except for a diagnosis of arteriosclerosis. Five years ago, my calcium score resulted in a left anterior descending artery at 92.9 Agatston units, while the other arteries were all zero. Now this same test shows my LAD artery at 91.6, with the left main coronary artery at 57.6 and the right coronary artery at 31.6. Now, the total score is 180 compared to 92.9 five years ago. I’ve ...

America’s story is resilience. Martina McBride has been singing it for years.

When artists canceled their performances for President Donald Trump’s June 25 Great American State Fair, one stood out for me: Martina McBride. The first time I saw Martina live in concert was at the Taste of Cincinnati festival in Cincinnati, Ohio, on Memorial Day Weekend in 1994. Her iconic song “Independence Day” had just been released as a single. It’s a song we would have no doubt heard if she stayed in the lineup for the D.C. event. Like other artists who withdrew, Martina felt misled regarding the political nature of the event. Artists now say what was originally ...

Which party will recover first from its current self-harm?

Tuesday saw the usual first-week-of-June gaggle of state primary elections. It’s a feature of the American federal system that states choose when to hold primary and local elections. Back in the 1850s, as historian Roy Franklin Nichols notes, there was an election in all but one or two of the 24 months in the two-year congressional election cycle. From the results, in those pre-polling days, politicos and pundits drew conclusions about the strengths and weaknesses of the Democratic and Republican political parties and their various candidates. Congress in 1872 set a single date ...

Dear Annie: The emotional weight of letting items go

Dear Annie: I recently cleaned out my mother’s house after she moved into assisted living, and I thought the hardest part would be the boxes. I was wrong. The hardest part was realizing that every drawer held a memory, and every memory came with a decision. There were birthday cards she had saved from 1987, chipped coffee mugs from family vacations, old school projects, costume jewelry, recipes written in her handwriting and enough plastic containers to open a small deli. In the hall closet, I found my father’s old raincoat, still smelling faintly like him, even though he has been ...

Daily productive cough causes patient to wonder about COPD

DEAR DR ROACH: I decided to practice using an inhalation spirometer, partly because I have a daily productive cough (small amounts three to four times a day). I smoked a pack of filtered cigarettes a day from ages 17-29. I smoke marijuana now. My scoliosis is quite complex and has taken over 4 inches off my height. But at age 75, I volunteer as a stable hand for 6-8 hours a week, and they say that I’m the hardest working volunteer! I’m lean and fit. I do three inhalation tests in a row, and it’s always 2,400 mL. Do I have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and ...