Ask Joan – Weekly Q and A Column

Q.  My mother-in-law has been losing weight in the last year or so. She has always been very slim, but lately it seems she is hardly eating anything. Her doctor plans to do some tests and mentioned to her that it could be something called anorexia of aging. I thought that was only for teenagers….

Q. I’ve been trying to do some organizing in my home and I recently found a bunch of letters that I saved from my junior high school pen pal. I remember being so excited when I would find a letter from her in the mailbox! I loved reminiscing, but it’s made me sad that I never…

Q. My 72-year-old sister suffered a heart attack this past fall. She is recovering, thank goodness, but we are all still in shock that it happened. When her symptoms started, she thought she had the flu. Is it true that the signs of a heart attack are different for women and men? A.   I’m so…

Q. My wife was diagnosed with dementia about a year ago and an incident over the holidays has me worried. We were both looking forward to having my daughter and her family visit, but while they were here, my wife tried to get in the car and leave. She gave up driving long ago, so…