Tuesday, September 11, 2001, COLUMBIA DAILY TRIBUNE, Columbia, Mo., www.columbiatribune.com 9A
YOUR BIRTHDAY WEDNESDAY: Success becomes your middle name. All you need is to stay focused on your goals and objectives. Use precision in money dealings, especially if they involve a friendship. Your popularity grows in an unprecedented manner as you expose yourself to more public interaction and become more social. Network more than you have in the past. If single, a friendship could open the door to a special relationship. Walk on through. If you are attached, the two of you will need to circle your wagons around a key goal. Striving to make it so brings increased closeness. Cancer stands up for you and is lucky for you as well. The stars show the kind of day you’ll have: 5-Dynamic; 4-Positive; 3-Average; 2-So-so; 1-Difficult. VIRGO (Aug. 23-S Sept. 22): ★★★★★ You know what you want. Making it a reality will involve bypassing some rigid ideas. Delve into financial potential through key associates. Network to your heart’s content. Unusual forces now work in your favor. Take a risk, even if you normally don’t like to. Tomorrow night: Where your friends are.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-O Oct. 22): ★★★★ Your ability to sort through what is important separates you from others. Allow your imagination to lead. Express ideas if in a business/work atmosphere. Others seek you out to brainstorm. Don’t get distracted from key responsibilities. Tomorrow night: Call an older relative. SCORPIO (Oct. 23-N Nov. 21): ★★★✍ ★★ Stop hemming and hawing. If you want to do something, get going. You will be pleased with the results. You might not feel like being open to many people about what you think. So reveal yourself to a key partner who understands. Tomorrow night: Check out different travel possibilities. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-D Dec. 21): ★★★★★ Schedule time with those you need to deal with. You’re more successful if you deal with others directly. Another might misinterpret your motives; open up conversation. A parent, boss or associate wants greater influence. Tomorrow night: Don’t forget your personal life. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-JJan. 19): ★★★★★ Others find you; you don’t need to seek anyone out. Getting certain projects done will take talent or
closing your door and screening your calls. Let others know when you will be available, even if it might be late. Tomorrow night: Catch up on a friend’s news over dinner. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-FFeb. 18): ★★★★ Pace yourself! An exercise program helps you discharge anxiety and tension. You want more facts before you make a decision. Go after information yourself by using the many resources you have available. Tomorrow night: Discuss an idea with a partner or friend. PISCES (Feb. 19-M March 20): ★★★★★ Your sense of fun emerges even though this is a workday. Don’t mix your playfulness into finances and a work partnership. The mixture could be a dreadful mistake. Clear your mind when doing facts and figures. Others seek you out. Tomorrow night: Now play! ARIES (March 21-A April 19): ★★★★ Positive thinking manifests itself — finally. Instead of becoming flustered at confusion, you laugh. Isn’t this easier? Your good will accomplishes good work relationships and an effective day-to-day atmosphere. Still, consider a home office. Tomorrow night: Spruce up your pad. TAURUS (April 20-M May 20): ★★★★★ Your enthusiasm is contagious! Look past confusion at work and seek out the facts. Your ability to grace a situation with calmness and understanding makes you a valuable
HEALTH Paul Donohue Dear Dr. Donohue: I have been overweight all my life. I am 45. I weigh close to 300 pounds, and I am 5 feet 5 inches tall. I have been on many diets, including medically supervised diets. I exercise as much as I can. I do not lose weight. I am considering surgery as a solution. What are your thoughts? Many doctors don’t approve. Many people are like you. They carefully watch what they eat. They exercise. They cannot, however, take off pounds. The complete explanation for obesity hasn’t been discovered. It is not always a matter of calories taken in vs. calories burned. Genes must play a role because obesity is often a family affair. I have no qualms about surgery for you. You are morbidly obese. The definition of morbid obesity is 100 pounds over ideal body weight. The “morbid” indicates that such weight shortens life and makes you prey to many other illnesses. Diabetes is a prime example. Osteoarthritis of the knees and hips is another obesity complication. Often such body weight generates high blood pressure, which
stresses the heart — already stressed by having to pump blood to the far reaches of a large body. Two popular operations for weight-loss surgery exist. Rather than dwell on surgical techniques, let me say they both reduce the stomach’s capacity to hold food. After the operation a person is not able to eat the amount of food eaten before the operation. There is no room for it. Furthermore, the small stomach sends to the brain signals indicating it is full. The brain, in turn, floods the person with a sense of satiety, and the desire to eat evaporates. Every surgical procedure has a number of possible complications. People can develop blood clots that find their way to the lungs and lead to death of sections of those organs. Infections are another complication. Stacking surgery complications against medical benefits, one must agree that surgery is the winner. ■ Dear Dr. Donohue: I have a pain in the rear — no joking. It hurts when I sit and feels a bit bet-
team player. No wonder others seek you out for advice! Use your ingenuity. Tomorrow night: Visit with a friend, in person or by phone. GEMINI (May 21-JJune 20): ★★★★ Opt for controlled splurging. You don’t always need to deny yourself. Stay upbeat with those around you. Creativity surges. Participate in an animated conversation. Express yourself. Spend some time on your home or with a family member. Intuition follows your financial decisions. Tomorrow night: Dote on another. CANCER (June 21-JJuly 22): ★★★★★ Build on your knowledge, especially if mixed information comes up. Slow down with others who might not be as energetic as you. Help someone work through his problems. Use your keen listening skills. Express your perspective in a way that others can hear. Tomorrow night: Be spontaneous. LEO (July 23-A Aug. 22): ★★★ You know a lot, but you might not choose to let everyone else know what is on your mind. Gather facts before you make a decision. Information might feel contrary, yet there might be a way to reconcile everything. Could both people be telling you the truth? Tomorrow night: Early to bed. TOMORROW’S CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS: publisher Alfred A. Knopf (1892), actress Linda Gray (1940), athlete Jesse Owens (1913).
ter when I stand. My doctor ordered X-rays, which showed nothing. He put me on Aleve and told me to soak in a tub of warm water. I am not getting better. What could I have? This is speculation. You might have coccygodynia — pain from the coccyx. That structure is the tail end of the spine. It consists of three to five small, fused bones. Sitting slumped in a chair can irritate the coccyx, as can arthritis of the spine. A fracture from trauma is another possibility. Try this regimen for three weeks. Continue with the soaks and Aleve or any other anti-inflammatory you might want to try. Find a 3-inch-wide belt. Wrap it a bit below the normal beltline and directly onto the skin. Its position should be such that it pulls the large buttock muscles together. That provides a cushion for the coccyx and makes it more comfortable to sit. If the pain has not gone away within three weeks, go back to the doctor. A cortisone shot in the painful area might bring relief. Dr. Donohue regrets that he is unable to answer individual letters, but he will incorporate them in his column whenever possible. Readers may write him at P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, Fla., 32853-6475.
CONTRACT BRIDGE
NEWS OF THE WEIRD
By STEVE BECKER
By CHUCK SHEPHERD
■ ■
North dealer. North-South vulnerable.
You follow to the first three rounds of trumps, discard a diamond on the next trump, but what do you discard on the fifth trump after declarer throws a club from dummy? When the hand was played, East discarded a spade, and it was this seemingly innocuous play that cost him 2,510 points! Declarer next cashed the A-K of diamonds, leaving this position:
ADVICE Ann Landers Dear Ann Landers: Tell your readers that when they are hospitalized, they should leave their jewelry at home. I had minor surgery a few days ago, which required an overnight stay in one of Boston’s finest hospitals. I placed my gold earrings and pearl necklace in the drawer of the nightstand. When I returned from surgery, the earrings and necklace were gone. I reported the loss to the head nurse at once. She said, “Sorry, but we cannot be responsible for such losses. We tell our patients to leave their jewelry at home, but when they don’t listen, there’s nothing we can do.” Please, Ann, if you’ve told them before, do so again. — Boston Reader Dear Boston: Thanks for your letter. The same advice holds true for those who go to the hospital for mammograms or other procedures. When you go to the hospital, leave your jewelry at home! ■ Dear Ann Landers: My husband, “Bill,” and I divorced 12 years ago, after 25 years of marriage. We made a pledge to each other that we would set aside our differences and always do what was best for our children. We have kept that pledge. Bill was more than fair with his money and extremely generous with his time. He helped me guide our three teenagers into adulthood. All three children love and respect us. We have both never remarried. Three months ago, I learned I am terminally ill. Bill continues to stand by me, and I know he will until the end. When the time comes, I want Bill to be listed as “a special friend” in my obituary — not necessarily as a husband or even an ex-
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husband. Some family members say it would be inappropriate. What do you think? — Just Asking in Tennessee Dear Tennessee: This must be a terribly difficult time for you. By all means, name Bill in your obituary as “former husband and special friend.” ■ Dear Ann Landers: Thank you for printing the letter from “Cindy in Wisconsin,” who wanted to stay friendly with her ex-stepmother’s family. You were absolutely right to tell her she should keep in touch if she wants to. Both my parents have been married three times, and I have had a series of revolving-door siblings, aunts, uncles and grandparents. Every time someone remarries, I am expected to welcome the new relatives with open arms. Whenever someone divorces, I am expected to disown my step-siblings and act as if they never existed. It is painful to ignore people who treated you as a close relative for years. I decided early on that just because my parents couldn’t get their lives straight didn’t mean mine should be torn to pieces. I have excellent relationships with my exstep-siblings, ex-step-grandparents and other family members. No one can tell me who to love. — RedHeaded Stepchild in Kentucky Dear Red-Head: You’re my poster child for good sense. Feeling pressured to have sex? How well-informed are you? Write for Ann Landers’ booklet “Sex and the Teenager.” Send a self-addressed, long, business-size envelope and a check or money order for $3.75 to: Teens, c/o Ann Landers, P.O. Box 11562, Chicago, Ill., 606110562.
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■ Antonio Vargas of Windsor, Calif., told the San Francisco Examiner that he’s optimistic the San Bernardino County district attorney’s office has finally gotten straight after more than 20 years that he is not one of the eight Antonio Vargases they want for such things as missing child-support payments. Vargas said he has received summonses and orders over the years aimed at other Antonio Vargases but that even as he gets things straight with one prosecutor, another mistakes him all over again, and the office only recently revamped its tracking system. 15321
The bidding:
Opening lead — queen of spades. Assume you’re last, defending against seven hearts, and that you see only dummy’s hand and your own. Partner leads the queen of spades, taken by dummy’s king as you contribute the three and South the six. Declarer plays a low trump to the queen and continues with the A-K-J10, West following to the first trump lead and then discarding two spades and two clubs. ■
When South now led a diamond to the queen, West was squeezed. Whatever he discarded, declarer would win the rest of the tricks. But note that if East’s spade holding in the diagramed position had been the 5-4, West could have discarded the 10 of spades at the crucial juncture and South would have gone down one. It just goes to show what a big difference one little discard can make. Tomorrow: Self-preservation.
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