Dear Abby - Woman seeks cure for fear of dying

DEAR ABBY: I'm a hypochondriac. I am currently waiting on the biopsy results for a mole I had removed. I'm worried and miserable. I feel guilty for what I'm putting my husband through. I want to get therapy, but doing that feels like admitting I'm too weak to handle my problems. My husband feels bad because he can't help me.

This isn't the first time I have worked myself up over a medical condition, and it won't be the last. How can I deal with my fear of dying from something horrible without damaging my relationship with my husband? -HYPOCHONDRIAC IN THE SOUTH

DEAR HYPOCHONDRIAC: It's a wise person who seeks help for a problem that's ruining the quality of his or her life. You should definitely discuss your fear of dying with a licensed mental health professional. To do that isn't "weak".

DEAR ABBY: My son is getting married in the fall and we're all looking forward to the celebration. My daughter will be in the wedding and the bridesmaids' dresses are strapless. She will look beautiful in the dress, but she adopted a "hippy lifestyle" a year ago and stopped shaving her armpits.

The bride asked me how to approach her to request that she remove her armpit hair for the wedding. Is there a way to approach this without offending my daughter? -UNSURE IN NEW JERSEY

DEAR UNSURE: Although every bride wants her wedding to be "perfect," there's a point at which she must realize there are some things she can't control. An example of where that boundary should be drawn would be at her bridesmaids' armpits. During a formal wedding ceremony, bridesmaids usually keep their arms down, so unless your daughter's "pit hair" is so long she can braid it, it should not distract attention from the bride.

P.S. If hairy armpits in the wedding pictures concern her, they can be Photoshopped off.

DEAR ABBY: My parents built a two-bedroom apartment for my brother and his wife when they were struggling financially. They decided to move out of state, so my single sister is now in the apartment.

It has been a year, and my brother and his wife are now expecting. They have moved back to the area because they want to raise the baby near family, and want the apartment back. My sister doesn't want to give it back. I feel she shouldn't have to.

I agree with my sister that my brother gave it up. But my brother feels my single sister doesn't need a two-bedroom apartment. My husband, my parents and I are in the middle. -SQUABBLING SIBLINGS

DEAR "SQUAB": Get out of the middle by stepping away. The apartment belongs to your parents, and it is up to them to decide who gets to use it. The more you involve yourself, the more one of your siblings is sure to resent you.