welcome to the organic green doctor blog

i am a family physician who was diagnosed with
early mild cognitive impairment(mci) amnestic type on december 21, 2010
this is a precursor to alzheimers disease
because of this diagnosis i have opted to stop practicing medicine
this blog will be about my journey with this disease
please feel free to follow me along this path
i will continue blogging on organic gardening, green living,
solar power, rainwater collection, and healthy living
i will blog on these plus other things noted to be interesting

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

more adni-2, road trip, bbbbbb

ADNI-2
well think i made it into the study
will know later this week
if labs are ok then should be a go for the study

get to start with a mri since its the hardest to get scheduled then
will follow up with a day of neuropsychological exams-thats the one
i dont like to do as its frustrating since some of the short term
memory parts i have trouble with
did a mini one yesterday and had some difficulties with some of
the short term parts again but did not seem worse than what i
had done in november of 2010
the next neuropsychological test will be more involved than the
sucky one i had to do that got me in this mess im in now

my wife has to go back with me when i have the spinal tap done
still would rather have that than the neuropsych test
she also has to be interviewed more extensively about me for this
study (hope she doesnt tell any family secrets)

then i go back again to have 2 pet scans done

these will be my baseline studies for this almost 5 year study
with the probability that it will last longer if funding is available

so my disease process will be monitored closely over this
period of time
feel lucky since my wife she and i wont have to be guessing
where i am with my disease as we will have objective data
to look at

my close relative with the disease has progressed over the last few
years
for him and his wife and his family and his doctors its harder to
know where he is with his disease and when to have him stop
driving and doing other things that could harm himself and others

with this study the evidence will be there for my wife she and i and
my family to see so we can make those decisions more easily

this study is an important national study that will probably define
how a patient gets evaluated and monitored for alzheimers

now if they could just find a prevention and a treatment of this
disease

have realized that once the diagnosis of alzhiemers is made the
treatment is easy as there is only a few choices and they dont
really affect the course of the disease they just slow down the
symptoms some
the biggest problem in treating alzheimers is a social one
that most people are not ready for
we werent with my mother

as i do each test although usually i may not get a full report i will
know how im doing i will blog on it each time

in late summer i will have back all my genetic and spinal fluid
results and will post them on this blog and will explain what it
all means

hopefully all of this will help someone when they or their family
members get this disease
it will affect you in some way eventually

ROAD TRIP
no its wasnt like the movie road trip
we didnt eat at any restaurants so did not have to worry about
making any waiters mad at me

tried to visit all my siblings except for one sister that ill catch at
another visit
at those visits tried to talk about alzheimers and how it may affect
them and their families
think most of them have had themselves screened since i was
diagnosed and another close relative was diagnosed and since
my mother was diagnosed

they were able to ask questions which i answered as well as i
could answer
feel like i am as up on this disease as anyone
wish i had been this knowledgeable when  i was in practice

the worst part of my visit was visiting a younger close relative
with the disease
it was surreal
i felt like i was looking into the future whenever i sat and looked
at him
just dont know how far behind him i am with my disease process and
when will i be where he is today

i want my wife she and i to be ready to handle this
she and i are trying to get ready

its the caretaker stupid
they are the real ones who suffer with this disease
my close relative and i wont know the difference

BBBBBB
bulls and heat won
think they will be the two to beat in the east
magic needs to win
celtics need to win tonight still think their age will do them in
mavericks dont slip up again

the organicgreen doctor

1 comment:

  1. Hang in there. Hope all of the testing is as easy as possible on you.

    ReplyDelete