First of all, are you talking about a hematocrit, hemoglobin count, or total red blood cell count? Those numbers could be either very scarry or almost normal, depending upon what you are talking about. What are the units? Depending upon the cause of the anemia, changing your diet may or may not have any effect. There are 3 general categories for causes of low RBC counts: destruction (usually an autoimmune, infectious, or cancer cause), blood loss (GI bleeding is the most common source), or reduced production, which can have many causes (cancer, kidney failure, or any missing "ingredient" in the RBC-producing pathway could all be causes). If your anemia is caused by an iron or vitamin B deficiency, then increasing your intake of those will help. But for most causes of anemia, changing your diet isn't going to help. You really need to see a doctor. Symptoms of anemia are related to lack of oxygen- dizziness, lack of stanima, weakness, inability to catch breath, etc. Please give us more information about what measurement you are using for your RBC count and any relavent health information (do you have kidney problems or cancer), etc.

I for one read the entire article and still stand behind what I said before, "I've had them done, and would have them done again sometime. They were economical enough and I figure why wait until something happens, possibly without any warning. " It does me no harm, and it doesn't pose any financial hardship. Could it be that the medical community sees LifeLine Screening as cutting into their own potential profits, thus putting it down? If I care to spend 'my' money for tests, what does it really matter to them or to anyone else? From the link Usefulness of Screening: Besides "Peggy Fleming says so," the website offers five reasons to get screened: (1) Stroke is the leading cause of serious, long-term disability, and the third leading cause of death in the US. (2) 700,000 Americans suffer a stroke each year, one every 45 seconds. (3) Most people who have strokes and aneurysms do not experience symptoms. [I think they meant before the stroke; surely patients have symptoms when the stroke occurs.] (4) 12 million Americans suffer from Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD). They are 4-5 times more likely to die of a heart attack. (5) Life Line Screening offers painless, inexpensive, and non-invasive preventive health exams right in your neighborhood. No, IÂm sorry but those are not reasons to get screened. ThatÂs like saying that lots of people die from cancer and Life Line takes pretty photographs so I should let them take my photograph. If screening reduced morbidity and mortality, that might be a reason to get screened, but they are not claiming that. They canÂt claim it, because there is no evidence to support doing these tests in the general population. I agree that there is no justification for ordering these tests in the general population, but since it poses no financial hardship to me, and because I prefer to take a proactive, rather than a reactive approach to my healthcare, I will consider having them done again in the future.

I'm so sorry, spring. I cared for my 86-year-old friend for the last months of her life; she too had major heart & artery blockages, but I don't think she, or I, believed the doctors when they said "6 months, tops". She was just functioning too well. But her heart was working itself too hard to keep up that functioning, & the time came when it just exhausted itself. The decline, at the very end, was pretty fast; it was like, everything's fine, everything's fine, everything's fine, where'd that brick wall come from? My free advice to your mother and to you is to consult with attorneys to be sure that she's covered all the bases as far as staying at home/going to a nursing home, when to go to a nursing home or hospital if at all, calling the ambulance or not calling it, burial or cremation arrangements, *including a contract with a service provider & the paying of the funds to that provider*, will, power of attorney & when it is to take effect, medical power of attorney & when it is to take effect, do not resusitate order (dnr), dnr to be effective if she's not in a hospital (they post it above her bed), physicians' directive, etc. Since Sally stayed at home & used hospice, I'll also throw this in: you can't take it for granted that hospice is the answer or has the answer to all questions. They will assign a nurse, social worker, aide, etc. The thing that you have to guard against is their tendency to assume that they know best, *& that they are entitled to make decisions*. For instance, when a new medication gave my friend some very bad side effects including hallucinations, I had to battle the nurse to get her to even talk to the doctor about it (nurse's comment: "it's the natural progression of the disease", doctor's comment "yes, this medication does have some bad side effects; we usually start with a strong dose & then reduce it when the patient starts hallucinating"). & the first social worker she had tried everything in her power to get my friend into a nursing home, even though the reason my friend was using hospice was to guarantee that she could die in the home she'd lived in for 55 years! I'm sorry; I've babbled. My main message is that, regardless of how well your mother is functioning now, her heart is 92 years old & it's doing a job that it *cannot* keep on doing. Be sure that your dear mother doesn't arrive at the point at which she can't get things done & regret, or be frightened about, the things that aren't already done. I wish you the very best.

Marf, Here's a very simple, but tasty recipe: 3# boneless/skinless chicken breasts* Mrs. Dash seasoning (I prefer the extra spicy flavor) 6oz pineapple juice (Dole sells them in a 6 pack) I use an 8 x8 or 9 x9 glass pyrex baking dish. Pack the breasts in the dish. Shake Mrs. Dash over the chicken generously. Pour the pineapple juice over the chicken. Cover w/ foil wrap. Bake at 350F for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Obviously this makes a lot of chicken, but it is easily re-heated in the microwave or slice up cold for sandwiches. Chicken can be served over steamed white rice and vegetable of choice (easy option: frozen broccoli in a small bowl w/ about 1 inch of water and microwave for 2 minutes). ***Be CAREFUL when you buy the chicken breast. Don't buy any that has been 'enhanced w/ broth' as that will contain too much sodium! Around here Sanderson Farms sells chicken w/o the added broth. Kerri