Recently, I have developed a bald spot on the centre/back of my head. It is about two inches in diameter and surrounding that, there is an area of broken off hair.

My doc is no help at all - "it's just stress", and I don't know of it happening before in women. Does anyone have any knowledge of apopecia (thats it's medical name) ? Does it get better? Or does it continue to get bigger. I wasn't too worried about it until last week when someone commented on it, so now I wear hats, surprisingly, some of them don't look too bad!!

If anyone know anything about this, could you please let me know.

Thanks,

grannyjack.

I have a bit of a predicament. My son, whom I love dearly, has to attend court for custody of his two girls next week.

Let me digress: about three and a half years ago, my son and his eldest daughter stayed here. As a result, I promised my daughter he would never be welcome in the house again.

When he and family went to Woolongong for Easter, my daughter was happy for him to call in on his way through.

Now he has to go tho court, five hours from home. My daughter reluctently agreed that he could stay here, but there is the problem of the pssibility of him losing his girls, he may have a major outburst, maybe get violent, maybe( probably) get drunk - he has a drinking problem and uses dope.

The last straw came last night when  my son told me that he was bringing his 13 yo stepson and his baby, three months old. This is not acceptable, and I will tell him this at my earliest opportunity ( it is now 12:43am)

My predicament is this: I love both my children, and I want to support my son, but not at the cost of my daughter's sanity.We had a wonderful time visiting him recently, it was fabulous to see him so well. He drank and did dope while we were there, and my daughter thoroughly enjoyed our visit.

The answers to my predicament as I see them are:

* Tell my son he can't bring anyone else;

* Make some strict ground rules for while he is here;

* Tell him that if he breaks the rules, he will have to find somewhere else to stay;

* After each court day, he will no doubt be upset with the day's procedings, so meet him at the pub to cool off rather     than go home angry and upset.

* Take care of my daughter's needs by not allowing him to go home until he has settled down. 

What do you think?

please help me

grannyjack

PLEASE EVERYONE READ NEW DRUGS IN SCHOOL AND LIBBYLINCOLN'S BLOG They are important.

Well, it's been over a week since I came back from New England,and my first logon since then, but I am delighted to report that the weekend with my son and his family was beyond wonderful. Adam and Deb live in a very small town - school population 21, and have an ideal lifestyle.

We arrived there about 4pm on ANZAC Day, to be greeted by Deb, Adam and 5 of their six children. Adam met us at the edge of the dirt road, having given us directions on how to get there. He said "if you're not there in two hours, I'll come looking for you." Much to his surprise, we got to the dirt road before he did, and he guided us through the maze of dirt tracks to his house.

Deb's eldest son lives with his aunt, and is working towards becomming a Police Officer. The children at home range in age from thirteen years old to eight weeks, and they are the best behaved group of kids I have ever met. The eldest is quiet and introspective, with a very quick wit, who really does help out with the younger kids.

The next eldest is six, and her dad hasn't ever seen her. I said to her you know how I am Grandma to two of your brothers, well, I'd like to be your Grandma too if you would like that. She grabbed me and gave me a huge hug, and started crying, she was so happy. When I sent a Thankyou letter to Adam and Deb, I enclosed a special letter to her, and just today, I have sent her a tooth fairy box - she has a loose tooth, her first, and I hope the tooth lasts till Thursday, which is when I expect her to get the parcel.

Next comes my three year old grandson. When I saw him I almost cried, it was like going back in time thirty years, he is the image of his father at that age. I still have trouble believing he is not Adam, I have his photo as my desktop background, and I stare at him several times a day, and count my blessings. I am so fortunate to have all these people in my life.

Two year old Tahlia is next. She was very shy with me, but she has the most beautiful big brown eyes, and is gorgeous. She is going through the terrible twos, and threw a few tantys while we were there. She sure is going to be a beauty.

And last but not least is my youngest grandson, Brock, who is a very good baby, full of smiles (not wind) very happy and contented. He is a great sleeper, but Adam and Deb take it in turns to attend to Brock each night.

Adam works on a property owned by Tahlia's grandfather, and he loves it! Mustering, branding, all the work he does. It's a perfect job for Adam, he loves the bush,

From the minute we arrived, we were made to feel like honoured guests, and very much at home. They even dragged out the electric blanket for me. Deb had prepared a special meal for us for dinner, which we gobbled up (on the second night she cooked roast pork with perfect crackling)! Deb, particularly, spoiled us so much, and my new granddaughter gave up her bedroom for us.

The next morning, Adam took to the wheel of our four wheel drive to show us the property. We took three of the kids with us,, and proceeded along some very bumpy tracks. My daughter, Jodii sat in the front, and I was surprised how well she took to driving in the bush. Her only stipulation was that we only go on tracks, and we did, but some of the tracks had only been made the day before!  We kept a lookout for kangaroos; wombats and echidnas, to no avail, but we did see dozens of ant hills, some two metres high! We drove through areas thick with Gum trees, both alive and dead, many so close to the car that we wouldn't have been able to open the doors.

All too soon, monday morning came, and after spending the morning with the family, we reluctently headed home. I made sure that I had a committment back home on Tuesday, because we didn't want to outstay our welcome, but Deb was most upset that we had to leave, and said we are welcome anytime. We will take her up on that too, after the weather warms up again. Because of it's isolation - there is only one house in sight, and a loaf of bread is a forty five minute drive away, the family have to have harmony in the house, and they do. It's not as if Adam can go to the pub for a drink if there is an upset, they have to live very much in each other's pockets.

I admire Deb more than words can express. She is a wonderful mother, her children's behaviour attests to that, and a great partner for my son. All in all, despite the cold, it was a fantastic weekend, and I can't wait to go again.