HRT for me?

The transfusion people refused my offer - told me to come back when I get the results of all my tests. Apart from the bone scan, my GP had also sent me for blood tests on just about everything you could think of; partly as a result of my optician saying he thought I might have a thyroid problem and partly as a follow-up to the fracture.

Got the results of the bloods yesterday and everything is normal (eye 'problem' probably just due to tiredness), except that my FSH is through the roof, which apparently indicates that I may be a candidate for osteoporosis (bearing in mind that I am a 'lady of a certain age' as the French so politely put it). My Doctor spent 20 minutes explaining the pros and cons of HRT and other therapies. He is going to get the hospital to let him know the results of the bone scan in case it shows evidence of osteoporosis, to save me having to have other tests and told me that doing nothing is not an option - I have to decide whether to change my lifestyle (diet, more exercise and calcium supplements) or try HRT. He will accept my decision whichever way I choose.

I spent all evening on Google looking up osteoporosis, HRT, diet and exercise regimes and am better informed but still uncertain. If anyone is reading this who has had to make a similar choice, I would appreciate some feedback.

There will be 14 of us here on Christmas Day, so we have decided to keep presents within our main family groups and then have a Secret Santa for everyone. I have made the gift tags and now just have to envelope them up and write names on them at random. The 14 is made up of immediate and extended family plus son-in-law's parents. I love entertaining, so am really looking forward to it all. Each family group is going to bring a contribution to the meal, so it looks as if all I will have to do is cook the turkey and its trimmings. The only problem is going to be the size of our table - it really only seats 12 in comfort, so we may have to improvise. Chairs are OK as we have plenty in bedrooms and even in the loft.

I'm a bit of a squirrel and hate throwing away anything that might be useful, so our loft is somewhat overloaded. Camping gear, Christmas decorations, an old TV and two old computer monitors, boxes of children's toys - Lego, Beanie babies and other stuffed animals, books, magazines, school and university textbooks (mine as well as the children's) and even clothes that our adult children have left behind, not to mention the aforesaid chairs and two single beds. Actually one of the beds will be coming down to go into the spare room which currently only has one in it, although the second one was there originally when our daughters shared the room. The second daughter wanted the extra space so the bed went into the loft when her sister moved out. Now that second daughter has taken over her brother's room, that means her original room is now a spare - for the first time in 26 years we have a spare bedroom!!! Actually it's just over a year since our son got married, but the room has been a bit of a dumping ground in the interval.

We have bought some emulsion paint to re-decorate the spare room and want to get it done before Christmas in case son and daughter-in-law want to stay over and anyway it will look a lot better in a calming light sage green than it currently does in hot pink and mauve.