Years ago, while speaking to 120 pharmacy students in an auditorium in Pullman, Washington, I had my first hot flash. First, my scalp suddenly started feeling hot and prickly. Then, two heartbeats …

Grandma Gay sent me home with a whole lot of apples from her back yard trees. It being the season for apples, I was trying to find a good recipe for them when I came across my stack cake recipe. …

“I don’t think I can take this medicine for the next five months, let alone five years,” insisted Robbie, a 61-year-old breast cancer survivor. After completing chemotherapy …

Sonny and I took a trip to visit Grandma Gay and Grandpa Monte. I always get a good chuckle as I enter their home, then turn around on my way to close the door behind me and peer through their wide …

What do you reach for when cleaning a kitchen cutting board or caring for a scratch? A disinfectant, antiseptic, or an antibiotic? Disinfectants and antiseptics are chemical compounds with the …

As the seasons change, our immune systems must overcome a new set of variables to keep us healthy. Doctors can only do so much, and I firmly believe it is up to me to do the best I can to stay as …

Q:       What is RSV? Respiratory syncytial virus, abbreviated RSV, is also known as human orthopneumovirus. One of the most common causes of severe respiratory …

It’s nice to know how to make sauces like white sauce, cheese sauce, and gravy. I’ll never forget the first time I actually considered gravy-making. I was seven, maybe eight years …

Q:           When is the best time to get a flu shot? The CDC recommends those aged 65 and older get vaccinated in September or October rather …

I visited Caren and Jake over the weekend and as I usually do when visiting, went to church with them on Sunday. They use old-fashioned hymnals and I like that. I am confident my kids started to …

Q: Every summer, my nose runs, and my eyes itch from my allergies. Which antihistamine is best? When you come in contact with something you’re allergic to, your body releases histamine, …

This weekend Kat took me to her favorite u-pick orchard. She and I were heading home from shopping in town when she got a text from a friend; turned to me and asked, “Mom, would you like to …

In the evenings before heading to bed Grandpa prepares the coffee pot to make five cups of coffee in the morning: one cup for me and two cups each for him and Grandma. In the wee hours of the morning …

Grandma started making ginger snaps this morning before Grandpa and I got up. (She does her baking early in the day during the summer months so she’s not warming up the kitchen in the heat of …

Grandma and I were preparing bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches for dinner when Grandpa came in. He took his place at the table like he does most evenings after working during the day around the …

Our oldest, Kat, brought me 10 lb. of cherries. She asked me if I wanted some tart cherries before she went to pick them; I asked how much do they cost; she said the farmer wanted a dollar a pound. I …

When Grandma Lydia was a young girl, her family lived on a farm. She had eleven siblings, six brothers, five older than she; and five sisters, two older and three younger. With that many folks in the …

I spent the morning helping Grandpa put a twenty-seven-foot truss beam together in the cramped shop (like everything that is useful, the shop is big, just not quite big enough for the next project) …

Beans are one of the nicest ways to eat protein. They provide fiber for the bowels, texture to the dish and are (usually) easy on the pocketbook. I came across this method of making three bean salad …

One early September morning in 1977, I hustled up three flights of stairs to the third floor of College Hall at Washington State University in Pullman, for my first pharmacy laboratory session. I …