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

Monday, June 3, 2013

he doesnt deserve this, results

HE DOESNT DESERVE THIS
my younger brother doesnt deserve having alzheimers disease
he is too young and in too good of health otherwise
he is too much of a good guy
for those who know me and dont know him if you like me
and like my approach to life trying to do whats right for people
then you would definitely like him too

we are different in many ways
he was an avid hunter i am not
but i did go hunting with him a few times
and enjoyed the time together

we usually didnt agree on political and religious views
and some social views
but it was interesting that sometimes our views ended up
being the same

but none of this ever became an issue with us
except for some good friendly bantering with each other

he was always respectful of how i felt and
i think i was of how he felt

looking  back i wish i had taken advantage of being with him when
i could more and enjoying the moments together

the last good time we had together he and his wife came to visit us
here in the austin area
he and i drove together just us to a nearby town to pick up a large
rainwater tank i had found at a real cheap rate which we later gave
to my wife shes high school to use in their new garden area

we enjoyed that two hours together talking
mostly he understood what
i was saying and he had not advanced so far so that i knew what
he was talking about
sometimes his words were stuck in there somewhere and would not
come out but mostly they usually did on that trip

that was really the last time we were together alone where we really had
a good meaningful interaction together before
this awful alzheimers disease progressed

his present status is that he is mostly wheelchair bound and has to
be fed and cared for
occasionally that smile of his youll see come out
i dont get to see him as much as i would like
but there is not a day i dont stop and think about him


this year the area where he lives in southern arkansas is having their first
walk to end alzheimers saturday november 2 2013 in el dorado arkansas
interesting is that the walk is very close to where he stays now

he has a team called
#joe nash

if you live in that area and have been donating to my team please change
the donation to his team
his team is honoring his life but also my mothers who had the disease
my father who probably did and possibly me

we have a lot of kinfolk in that area whose parents have had the disease also
and are hoping they will donate and join this team also
there are also friends of my brothers and our family who also have had
the disease hit them and
we are hoping they will join with us to honor joe our families and theirs

its easy to join the team just go to this site and click join the team
(join the team whether you will be able to walk or not)

follow the directions and make your donation then or you can do the
actual donation later
remember a $1.00 donation is just as meaningful as a $100 donation

you can also do a paper donation if you need to

the familys goal is to of course honor him and our family and our friends families
and to show a large support for this fight against this disease

also be sure and sign up your kids for the walk
since they are really the ones who will benefit from all of this since they
not like us will be able to treat the disease some day  and prevent it from occurring
in their generation
this really should be a youth walk since they are the ones that really going to
benefit from all the research

thanks for the support
my local teams here in the austin area  will be starting soon and ill do a post on
friday about them

THE RESULTS
well the mri results are in now
no hematoma or cyst from that ooooouucccchhhhhh  spinal tap from the
research study

just a herniated disk that is pressing on the opening the nerve goes through
and is pressing on the nerve
the goal is to eventually over time have it shrink back up some which will
take the pressure off and relieve the pain
with a tapering course of oral steroids over 2-3 weeks
possible steroid injections if needed later
pain meds as needed right now its hydrocodone but i hope to change
to naprosyn once i get off my oral steroids
since the naprosyn at higher levels worked just as well as the hydrocodone
when i had my wisdom teeth removed
and i tolerate it ok

i then have been thinking a lot about proper back mechanics and ways i
probably have not been watching my lifting etc that i was doing
like lifting heavy boulders by myself etc

i also plan to go through a good back exercise regimen and make it
part of my daily routine for the future

my goal is to be pain free eventually and to avoid surgery
a 10% chance that will have to be done

the organicgreen doctor

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