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

Friday, September 28, 2018

alzheimers news-to answer their questions

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-TO ANSWER THEIR QUESTIONS
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in the morning my wife she and i will hop in our car and make the pleasant trip down to santa monica as i am on a panel of people with early memory loss at the ucla medical center in santa monica for the early memory loss conference sponsored by the alzheimers greater los angeles and the mary easton center for alzheimers research center at ucla 

the conference will run from 9am to 3pm
here is the link to the conference 

on the panel i am on there will be 4 people with early memory loss
some will have their wives with them
as you hear them answer questions you can easily tell they need their partners there to help them answer and remember what to say

last time i did this
it was obvious when comparing me to the other 3 people that my symptoms are mild and early
really not obvious to others
thats not the case with the other folks on the panel

ive never seen a panel like this where patients answered the questions from the moderator and from the audience
many of the answers came from deep inside
they were answers that you dont hear from those affected with this disease very often
why
well no one asked

all said treat me like a regular person
dont talk down to me

here are some of the questions that will be asked of us by the moderator
the best questions though come from the audience
folks want answers to questions that arent getting answered
these questions from the audience go on until the moderate stops them due to time limitations
last time we ran over 30 minutes because of the audience questions

i will provide a shortened version of my answers to the moderators questions

what were your early symptoms
i did not know i was having symptoms until i had my memory tests
after it was abnormal i did a look back and realized i was having trouble with my memory
it was things i noticed but not others

did you have difficulty getting a diagnosis
no i volunteered for a research study and the memory testing showed i had memory issues

what was your initial response to the diagnosis
did you tell others
i felt overwhelmed when i realized that my moment had arrived
yes i told everyone i could
my wife was with me when i was tested 
i later told my two sons
i did a lot of crying since i had seen my mother and my younger brother struggle with alzheimers
i knew what was coming for me
8 years ago when i was diagnosed i really didnt think i would be able to sit here today and write the answers much less be on a panel talking about it or giving talks on alzheimers disease to groups

what in your life was impacted the most
i went from seeing 30 +- patients a day to not working
to needing to find things to do
luckily we had moved to the country n and i had the 10 acres and the property to care for
i entered a research study and began volunteering 

Image result for organicgreendoctor
deseret news article on my story

what changes did you make in your life
i began to do healthy things more aggressively
like controlling my blood pressure my cholesterol my weight exercising more eating better learned to relax and stayed busy mentally and physically and socially

where do you find support
what helps you cope with the new changes
my family
my gardening and other volunteering efforts like the school garden and the alzheimers organizations and doing seminars like this one and other alzheimers talks

have there been positives
i know what i have so i can deal with it
knowing early has allowed me to be aggressive with my health
my wife she and i have been able to plan out our financial and legal documents
my family knows whats going on and we can just move forward to enjoy our lives while we can

do you have any advice to professionals working with early memory loss patients
yes
listen to your patients

usually on the way back to santa barbara we drive the highway one through malibu and along the coast until it meets the hwy 101 below santa barbara

its a beautiful relaxing drive that im sure tomorrow i will be doing a lot of reflections on my story and what was said at the conference
and
yes i will cry some on the way home

Image result for organicgreendoctor
here is the information on our team for the walk to end alzheimers next month

my team in the santa barbara walk to end alzheimers on saturday november 3rd is called
organicgreendoctor

click the link above and donate and or walk with us

the organicgreen doctor


Thursday, September 27, 2018

its time to do it

ITS TIME TO DO IT
Image result for cdc flu shots
cdc.gov

look in the mirror
if you have gray hair
then you need a flu shot
you are probably in a hi risk group
the elderly

elderly folks dont do well when they get the flu
may die from it

now if you are a female
look down at your tummy
if you are pregnant
you need a flu shot

if you are pregnant
your husband and your other kids and your parents and in laws all need to get a flu shot

if you have kids they need a flu shot
if they are over 6 months old
they are at risk your kids by going to school playing sports doing things kids do with other kids

if you have an under 6 months old baby
everyone who comes in contact with those little babies need a flu shot
everyone
miss one and you can have a little sick one on your hands this year

do you or your loved ones have a chronic disease like heart disease asthma copd diabetes or are they on some immunocompromising drug or are they immunocompromised
they all need a flu shot that person and whoever is around them

yes
if you are a school teacher you definitely need one
you know how germy those classrooms are

lets see we are getting to where we can say
eveyone needs one

i wouldnt get the nasal spray since the old ones didnt work well
they say the new one does
but
i dont know about that
also
the nasal spray is a live virus so you have to be careful who gets it and who they are around
like a immunocompromised person or a pregnant person eg

a little needle prick aint going to hurt you
too much

over 80,000 people died from the flu last year
the largest in a long time
they are trying to prevent that from happening again
if we all got the flu shot then that number will drop

this last year was the worse since the 1976 season
in 1918 over 500,000 folks died in the us from the flu

now
i will get mine next month
since i get those monthly infusions i have just a few days a month that i can get immunizations
my day is around october 16 +- a day

i want to protect mr h and ms b also
sorry ms b you gotta get one also

so
be sure and get your flu shot this fall
your life and others lives may depend on it

the organicgreen doctor

Wednesday, September 26, 2018

this nauseates me

THIS NAUSEATES ME
Image result for opioids nih
nih.gov

i read an article this morning about a nurse mom whose two sons twins went out graduation night to a party
they were both honor students and good athletes
never been in trouble

they apparently had drinks at the party and pills were passed around which they took
no they werent drug users
the pills turned out to be oxycontin

the next morning mom was washing clothes
she went in to check on one son
he was dead
she ran downstairs to check on the other one
he was dead

two sons lost from the use of oxycontin and alcohol

its these opioid prescription drugs that have triggered our national disaster
the opioid crisis

enter a company called purdue that in 2007 was charged with lying and cheating to patients pharmacies and doctors about how safe they were
the company is mainly owned by one family
they have made billions off our grief
they have ruined many a family in the us

so what did they do
since the purdue oxycontin brand was being attack justifiably in the media and the courts and in congress
they have millions of dollars of law suits against them by families and government agencies

what did they do
well they went out and bought a new generic company to make generic versions of the opioids
the companys name is rhodes
never heard of them right

they even made a lot of the drugs in the purdue factories
just slapping the rhode generic labels on the drugs

cha ching the family is making billions again off us

it doesnt matter where you live
you have opioid overdoses happening in your neighborhood
some die
usually young like the nurses two sons

what a tragedy

this crisis the opioid one should be up close to the top of the issues that congress is talking about

just look at the top news stories this week
none of those stories are about things that will make our lives better

healthcare
good jobs
good pay for work done
opioids
equality
immigration
those should be the headlines everyday until the election

this all makes me sick that this is and has been allowed to happen
we have lost a lot of our young adults to this tragedy

the organicgreen doctor

Tuesday, September 25, 2018

its best for them and him

ITS BEST FOR THEM AND HIM
i can remember there was a point in time when not many moms breastfed their new babies
it was almost looked down on at one time
then
i think out of the 60s and the womens movement that came out of that time that more and more women started to breastfeed
so
that now there are more women breastfeeding than not breastfeeding

i have my own idea why there was this push to bottle feed formula
it involves the companies that make the formula
pushing it in hospitals and in doctors office
some even getting hospitals to designate their formula as the formula of choice
eventually
the push came to change breast milk to the feeding of choice

it was almost standard to ask a new mom
what formula do you want to feed your baby
not here lets help you breast feed your baby

all of us in medicine know that breast milk is the best for babies
sorry formula companies you cant duplicate what moms bodies can make for their babies

so when mr h was born
the nephrologist said are you going to breastfeed
we sure hope so
since
breast milk is the best thing for him to use
otherwise if you formula feed you have to use this special formula
called pm 60/40 low iron that used for babies with kidney issues

we prefer breast milk since it has what mr h needs

i looked up the cost of a can of that stuff
its $26 a can
i looked up the cost of mr hs moms breast milk
well
it was $0 a can

let see
its free
its better for him even preferred by the nephrology folks

which should mom feed mr h

yep
mr h gets breast milk
and
he loves every drop
except
when they put those nasty meds in it

i even got the nurses to let me taste his meds
my ranking worse tasting to yummy tasting

#1 vitamins with iron taste awful
he has to have the iron until one day he gets a transplant
to keep his blood counts to normal
he also gets a weekly shot to keep his blood counts up
the one his relative gets who is undergoing chemotherapy
when he gets transplanted that shot will be stopped

#2 saline solution
its like eating salt a lot it in a small amount of water
he dont like it but he takes it

#3 calcium
he seems to be ok with it

#4 blood pressure med
he also likes that one

#5 his antibiotic
he loves that one

once he is transplanted one day he will go off these meds

its the breast milk thats the vehicle for him to take all these meds
plus
he seems to just suck all that breast milk right down

sorry similac you seemed to have lost a customer

now its found in a recent study that babies who are directly breast fed seem to be the less likely to grow up and be obese
second best is when there are bottle fed breast milk
which mr h has to do a lot since he had so many tubes in his lungs and in his nose and ivs and monitors and at one point catheters and central lines

so the difference between breastfeeding directly and bottle feeding breast milk is not that great
but
those fed the formulas are more likely to be obese when they grow up

now sometime babies just have to be fed formula for various reasons

the recommended regimen for mr h and all babies is to breast feed as long as possible
starting some foods around 6 months with breast milk until around 2 yrs old
do that
and
you are more likely to have a healthy toddler and a child who is not obese

mother nature just seems to know whats right for those babies

we are excited since mr h has one foot out of the nicu door
he will be tubeless soon if not already
its so nice to see him without all those tubes
smiling
wide eyed
looking around

now the long road starts
a transplant is in the card for mr h

ive decided to add to my causes i am advocating
add
kidney transplant
national kidney foundation

the organicgreen doctor

Monday, September 24, 2018

where did they go

WHERE DID THEY GO

one thing we had to learn when we moved to the country n was to coexist with insects bugs yes even spiders
the house we moved into hadnt been really lived in much over the last few years before we arrived
so
all those bugs had become well established

more than once i heard my wife she scream as she got zapped by a scorpion

no i didnt resort to poisons or to non organic approaches

after consulting with my rainwater brother here is what i did
i put two rings of stuff around our house

one ring was diatomaceous earth not the kind you use in swimming pool but the organic gardening kind
this stuff works by cutting the bellies of insects as they crawl across them

the second ring was boric acid
this stuff is sold as a product called roach pruff
its also obtained from borax or borate like what you use in your clothes
it works by stopping up their air holes as they crawl over the boric acid

insects cant get resistant to these two products like they can the poisons

so as you approached our front door you could see this two rings going around our house
and
at the front door was a line of white stuff

if a bug crawled across the line
well it usually died

another ring i added a few times was  pyrethrum which is obtained from chrysanthemum flowers
it kills bugs but it also may zap the butterflies bees etc
so i used it only occasionally
some organic folks wont use this stuff

so we had a 2-3 ring of stuff around the house
then
inside behind all our appliance we dusted the diatomaceous earth and boric acid generously
we means i as my wife she says i overdid it some
then
i had to tear out at least three walls for water damage so when i replaced the walls i added a thick layer of this stuff on the base 4 x 4

over time all this stuff started reducing the amount of bugs that appeared in our house
also getting a couple of cats also may have helped

once we got a infestation of fleas from probably a cat or dog in our house
using the organic technique
i dusted all the floors and up 4 ft on the walls with this concoction of diatomaceous earth and boric acid
our whole house looked like a kitchen or a bakery

my wife she wasnt happy
she still whines about that what she jokingly called cocaine powder i threw all over the place

when we returned a week later
i swept up and vacuumed up all the powder
we never had fleas after that
although
we did have to buy a new vacuum cleaner since sucking up all that powder ruined our old one


so we solved or controlled the bugs in our house
but
we didnt contaminate or poison the environment
although my wife she isnt sure about that after seeing our white powdered house

sometimes in the spring when we would get home after driving from town
our car windshields would be covered with squished bugs

since arriving here one thing i noticed is
i dont see bugs very often
it is nice to get a reprieve from getting eaten up by mosquitoes
or
getting bitten by those painful fire ant bites

i rarely if ever see an insect in our house
maybe an occasional wolf spider which i just leave alone

now it seems
our insects are disappearing from the world
in some areas folks cars dont get zapped by all those insects
i know here we dont at all


it appears that the bad bugs arent declining
just the good ones
like
ladybugs and bees and mayflies and butterflies and moths and fireflies

why
insecticides and climate change and loss of habitat and use of non native plants and light pollution and highway traffic and one crop agriculture

our dead zone lawns dont attract insects

insects and bugs we have to have to grow our food
our lives depend on keeping these guys alive

we do what we can
we grow our food organically
we dont bomb our place with chemicals
i have always allowed inscets a few to just be around
i just never tell my wife she i let them escape

if we get a spider or wasp or bug we dont like inside
my wife she is good about scooping it up and transferring it outside

in the south one noticeable decline was the fireflies
a joy in my youth was to chase them and collect them in jars

it was only right before we moved from the country n that we had the fireflies return to our place

so
be careful what you use in your house and in your yard
be careful of spraying or placing all those poisons in your home
to kill the bugs
many who wont harm you or your home

we accept some or tolerate them
maybe
thats what we all should be doing

look at that list of why they are disappearing
try to fix those things that are wiping them out at your home

our food chain may depend on it

the organicgreen doctor

Friday, September 21, 2018

alzheimers news-here comes round two

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-HERE COMES ROUND TWO
Image result for organicgreendoctor
i am preparing for two presentations over the next 3 weeks
one an alzheimers panel that i will be on answering questions about having mild cognitive impairment from a moderator and the audience at ucla medical center in santa monica
then
another doing a 20 minute presentation on telling my story with my diagnosis followed by questions from the audience at the valle verde facility in santa barbara
then
a usc professor wants to interview me about being diagnosed while i was practicing medicine

then
yesterday and the day before i started the long term extension that will last another two years and maybe longer of the biogen aducanumab study
this time i will either get the 3 mg dose or the 6 mg dose of the aducanumab

since i have the apoe 4 apoe4 gene i cant get the larger 10 mg dose since apoe 4 folks run the risk of having brain bleeds on that dose
the 10 mgm dose is the dose in the phase one study that worked the best
it cleared all the amyloid out that showed on the original amyvid scan in the phase one study
my two doses that i might get still cleared most of the amyloid but not all of it

in the first part of this phase three study im in now i either got the placebo or the other two doses
if i got the real stuff then they leave me on that dose
if i got the placebo then i get randomly the 3 mg or  6 mg dose
i want the 6 mg dose
well actually i want the 10 mg since i dont mind a little brain bleed
since
the option of doing nothing
well
that option is a hell of a lot worse than a little brain bleed
especially since most folks recover from the brain bleeds without effects
in fact if you get a bleed they just lower the dose then work the dose back up to the original one

i am so glad to get rid of the placebo cloud
have i lost ground by being on the placebo or have i wiped some of that bad stuff outa there

so all this alzheimers stuff plus getting ready for the alzheimers walk in november
see below
i feel almost like i have ptsd
i had to rethink about all thats happened in the last 10 or so years re alzheimers in my life
most if it is not good
my mother died
my brother died
my older brother was diagnosed
i was diagnosed
i had to quit work
i have made it my mission to go out there and talk about it freely
you ask me ill talk about it
i can see how ptsd folks do better being in the open and talking about their issues

i worry about not seeing my grandkids graduate from high school
i especially worry about not being around when mr h will need a lot of help
i worry about my wife she when she has to be a caregiver
i worry abut my two sons
i worry about my other siblings
i dont want any of them to have to deal with this
i think about my dad dying of a heart attack
i know he was headed down the alzheimers journey
man he spared himself and all of us a lot
i think about my mom and brother going down that alzheimer path to the end

when i do all these alzheimers things i do
sometimes its hard to make myself do them
i feel sad but no im not depressed
dont worry i get screened 4 times a year for depression
i cry sometimes as i practice my presentations or write my blogs
but
it really is therapeutic for me

i really hope that others can learn from what has happened to me
especially
the caregivers
please please take care of yourself


so
off i went yesterday afternoon
i had my amyvid pet scan that shows that bad amyloid upstairs in  my brain
thats the one that on me looked like this 18 months ago

they gave me the radioactive stuff in an iv then waited 30 minutes then into the pet scanner i went
with it whirling whirling sounding like a washing machine spinning a load of clothes
when its over
what i would give to just take a look the screen

since then i would know
did it work did it work
or
did i get the placebo
ill never know

for now im looking forward way out into the future as far as i can see
im never looking back
only forward

im doing all i can to slow this down
but
will all im doing work

donate and or walk with you local alzheimers walk

my younger brothers team in the south arkansas walk to end alzheimers on saturday september 22nd is called
#joe nash
click above to see his team page

his course with alzheimers bothered and bothers me a lot
we were a year apart
he died not long after i was diagnosed
when i looked at him as he worsened i felt like i was looking in a mirror
i really thought when i was diagnosed that today i would be where he was when he was first diagnosed

if you live in south arkansas and know his family show up tomorrow and support them
and the fight against this disease

it means a lot to them

my team in the santa barbara walk to end alzheimers on saturday november 3rd is called
organicgreendoctor

click the link above and donate and or walk with us

the organicgreen doctor

Thursday, September 20, 2018

the grey pot

THE GREY POT
this is about the graying of america
or
is it greying of america

which is it
so
to find the truth on whats correct
what you do is
google it

so i did
its ok to use both
however
usually in the us its called grey

so
being somewhat a nonconformist at times
i plan on interchanging the grays greys since both are ok

my hair is gray
for me using this color spelling just seems right

i feel gray today seems right

now greyhound is the correct spelling not grayhound

today
ill use both

last month we were down in the los angeles area staying in west hollywood and also in one of the beach cities nearby while we were visiting mr h in the nicu at cedars sinai

near where we were staying was one of the new pot shops that is now legal in california
as we drove by the pot shop there would be at times lines out the door

i looked at the line of folks expecting some hippie types in the line
what i saw was millennial types and generation x folks and a lot of gray haired folks
those would be my generation the grey headed baby boomers

why would those grays be in line for some pot
must be old hippies from the 60s and 70s i guess

well some probably are
but
many are seeking treatment for different things
anxiety
sleep
aches and pains
alzheimers risk
neuromuscular issues
nausea
appetite improvement
some to just feel better

those things listed above i have read or heard doctors tell patients to take pot
either thc or thc cbd or cbd version to help

now
i was never a pot smoker or user
i probably tried it once in my youth
since it was illegal i stayed away from it

now since its legal
since im grey headed
i have tried it a few times

for sleep
for its antiinflammatory effects mainly the cbd that may help with slowing down alzheimers disease
inflammation is part of the process that happens as alzheimers disease causes damage in the brain
using antiinflammatory products or drugs could potentially help slow it down
now thats not proven but its suspected to maybe help
research is ongoing on cbd and other products now to see if it does

so
us gray folks
could pot makes our lives better
maybe
maybe not

i recently started taking cbd for the possibility of it attacking the inflammation in the brain that i have ongoing now
its part of the triad of things that probably causes alzheimers
deposition of amyloid resulting in brain damage
unraveling of tau protein in damaged cells which when it is released causes more brain damage
then
the inflammation that the body causes to attack all that damage that has occurred
when all three starts happening the snowball rolls down the brain hill and just gets bigger and bigger

can cbd slow down this third leg
maybe
hopefully we will know soon

now i had to discontinue the cbd since i developed these awful awful dreams that i could not tolerate
it may be the combination of the cbd with my aricept or donepezil

so
gray headed folks
this pot stuff
may help all your grey headed ailments
or
may not help

the greening of americas baby boomers

the organicgreendoctor

Monday, September 17, 2018

i may be on to something

I MAY BE ON TO SOMETHING
it all starts with this container
in to it goes anything we can put in
so i looked in there this morning
theres egg shells and coffee grounds and veggies like lettuce caulflower broccoli carrots tomatoes peppers beans peas bread chips swiss chard pea shells avocado seed and peelings and coffee filters etc
now its been sitting there for a few days
so
when you open the lid it smells a little
theres this juice in the bottom
im sure this is reaming with lots of bacteria


this stuff is dumped into a 5 gallon bucket with about 30 holes in it
that is buried in my garden walkway
i dump all this stuff from my kitchen composter into this bucket
spread at different levels are layers of newspapers
i try to keep it all wet
all through this stuff is lots of wiggling compost worms
eating and pooping
its the worm poop that im after
its the richest compost to use on your garden
i cover it with a concrete block

inside this finished compost forms
which looks just like coffee beans that have been ground to a fine powder

it smells good
im sure it tastes good
ok
i admit
it does taste good
just ask me and ms b
we did a taste test
:) :)

so this is where this story starts
with the compost

it is full of all these good bacteria and fungi that the plants love to have in the soil
put them in the soil and the plant grows better

so it is with humans
we need lots of good bacteria in our gut

things like taking antibiotics and eating the wrong diet and over cleaning things in our house
all this wipes out or changes our normal gut flora or bacteria

each of us have a unique gut bacteria that lives in us

it can determine how healthy we are
like
obesity
inflammatory diseases
it maybe even influences alzheimers

so
as i go to visit mr h in the nicu
i have to take off my watch and alzheimers bracelet
i try to take off my ring but it wont come off sometimes
i wet my hands
i squirt this stuff with disinfectant on my hands
scrub for several minutes
then rinse if off
then i add a squirt of this disinfectant stuff onto my hands
i looked to see what it has in it
it has chlor hexi mega sgrol sigma delta killer stuff in it
and
booze i mean ethyl alcohol or ethanol 140 proof

i am sure if you culture my hands and arms that nothing will grow now

i guess thats the way you want it so mr h wont get any viruses or bad germs

its noted here the biggest risks to patients are from the staff and from germs inside the hospital
the real bad ones that are resistant to all our antibiotics live there

so i look at my nails
sometimes i have been working in my garden playing in my soil and my compost
i go home and shower good
i use only good ole regular soap like grandma use to make
i use ivory soap
but
sometimes when i look at my nails i see some residual compost and garden soil under my nails

dont do it i say
dont do it i say
even though those germs will be good for him
if added to his repertoire of gut flora
so
i rinse well and move on
without breaking any rules

when you are 3 like ms b is now is about when you have developed your unique gut bacteria
that will help determine your future health

thank goodness ms b got inoculated before her third birthday
it actually started when she was a toddler while visiting the country n
she manged to taste some good compost and garden soil
i felt better after that

dont worry mr h well take care of you
well give you the good germs one day
your sister and i will

so
i take the time to clean my nails real good
then
off to hold and visit mr h
knowing he would do better if i broke the rule

it seems that all that cleaning we do at home is not real good for us
its changing up our normal gut flora or bacteria that we should have

a bacteria family is increasing inside of us that is related to eg childhood obesity
plus
some of those chemicals
well they cant be good for you

maybe instead of the 5 second rule we should all change to the alternative
count to 10 real slow rule

we only use soap
regular soap and cleaners with vinegar or ammonia with lemon or lime or orange in them

so
we dont kill too many germs and we dont kill ourself with all those ingredients we cant spell or pronounce

we now know why farmers and ranchers and their families tend to be so healthy
they have less allergies and less asthma also

the organicgreen doctor

Friday, September 14, 2018

alzheimers news-youre on

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-YOURE ON
Image result for organicgreendoctor
thats their life once it starts
youre on
24/7

it doesnt ease up until things get worse
or
something bad happens

bad happens like
a fall that breaks a hip or cracks a wrist or bruises a brain
or
they wonder off somewhere and they cant be found

last year we did the pier to pier walk from hermosa beach to manhattan beach
in the introduction ceremony the story was told of a family whose mom and wife wandered away from her home
never to be found

i think of caregiving for a person with dementia or memory loss
like taking care of an adult 2 or 3 year old

you have to be on 24/7
feeding
cleaning
toiletting
dressing
watching alertly for all the things they can get into
like a 2 year old will

youre on 24/7

over the last year ive watched in our condo complex a couple
he was a oil engineer that traveled the world
we only met him last year when he was in the alzheimers world

i found him wandering off multiple times
once down the street at the bus stop trying to get into someones car
that was locked
so
i walked up to him
hey how are you doing
lets go for a walk around the condos
i knew he really liked that
so he mumbled his scrambling words that came out of his old engineer brain that was all miswired and short circuited from the alzheimers
he tired to tell me something but the words got all scrambled up inside and came out as gibberish
if you have had an alzheimers loved one you know what im talking about

he shuffled his feet
wearing his old disheveled clothes that didnt match
with the shirt tail half in and half out
his zipper down
he had that homeless look
he had a home though
he just didnt know where it was
he wouldnt bathe
he wouldnt eat much
he wouldnt change clothes
she his wife was 24/7
she had become not only 24/7 on but 24/7 fatigued and sleep deprived

our condo courtyard is undergoing an extensive update to the electrical
sewer and water lines that has the place looking like some canal city
with all of its trenches
trenches that were just waiting on him for his next escape
which eventually wouldnt end well

this danger plus the marked fatigue and burnout of the caregiver and
his more decline to that final trip down into the alzheimers abyss
well it all added up
forced them to move him into a facility to help care for him

he is safe now
he is probably happy
she can get rest
she visits him everyday

there is this point where that decision is made
its a hard one i know

for me
ive asked my wife she to make that decision early
to not wait too long

for those caregivers
look for help
there are lots of caregivers groups
hospice can be used early
organizations like the alzheimers association and alzheimers groups have
information on all this
go to a caregiver meeting
youll see a lot of others in your situation
youre not alone
but
you may feel that way

when its time to let go of them to the care of others
freely do it with no guilt
just know
that usually its better for you and for them

donate and or walk with you local alzheimers walk

my younger brothers team in the south arkansas walk to end alzheimers on saturday september 22nd is called
#joe nash


my team in the santa barbara walk to end alzheimers on saturday november 3rd is called
organicgreendoctor

click and donate and or walk with us

the organicgreen doctor

Thursday, September 13, 2018

i hate those dang phone calls

I HATE THOSE DANG PHONE CALLS
when we had a landline at the country n we eventually let it become our junk call phone
if it rang we always let it go to voicemail
it got to the point where the only calls we got was from junk calls
so
we cut the cord and dropped the landline

now
before i retired i rarely got junk calls since i rarely gave out my number
but
after cutting the cord i had to give my cell number to folks
then
here came the junk calls
tons of them
it came like a storm as soon as i started giving it out to businesses
so
i used a federal site that blocked some of the calls
but
they just find ways to get around the rules

since moving here
we still get those junk calls
at least once a day if not more

when we first moved i got a lot of calls i didnt recognize
i think i blocked a few folks i didnt mean to block
sorry if that was you

my solution is like many of you
just let any number i dont recognize go to voicemail
a reasonable person will recognize the message if its junk
like
they keep wanting me to borrow 200000  bucks since ive been approved
or
i need to call them the irs since i owe them money
funny they just sent me a refund
heck
the state sent me a refund for a dollar

i do worry if i am too quick on the trigger to block numbers that i may block important ones
i certainly have almost done that several times

here is my solution
if they dont leave a message they get blocked
if the message is fake they get blocked
sometimes  im not sure
i do like kim komando.com recommends
i google the number
then look at the first three listings that pop up

eg
i just googled my number and nothing really came up
i googled one of my junk numbers 17742147984
it was easily identified as a junk call
wanting me to borrow money
then i googled another one 13153814298
yep theres another junk one
it was the irs wink wink saying i needed to call right now....

i have used this google search and found that it was the dentist office
and another time the doctors office

so be careful what you do
its important not to answer those junk calls
they gotcha if you do

here is kim komandos explanation of what to do
but its basically what ive written

cant they do something about all this

the organicgreen doctor

Wednesday, September 12, 2018

there are nine

THERE ARE NINE
Image result for pluto
i have never wavered
ask me
i say
there are nine
i dont care what the experts say

now
i am a big believer in science
in science the truth eventually comes out
in the end it dont lie

i believe in the evolutionary process
thats the way nature changes things
gradually i grant you
but it does change things up
sometimes for the betterment of us humans
sometimes not

i believe in climate change
how can you ignore it
its real
just look at all that ice melting on both ends of our earth
its no doubt getting warmer just plug you location in the link
i put on yesterdays blog
cities like miami are worrying about being under water one day
no its real
what people are arguing about is what causes it
i have no doubt that humans are a big factor in this warming effect

i think about this sometimes as i sit and watch the cars zooming around
everywhere dumping stuff into the air
there has to be a point where our earth we have only one
can not clear up all that stuff

then
the nine thing
i was shocked dismayed i decided that i was not going to accept the
scientific finding
that
pluto was not a planet
nope
never will accept it

i learned in school and remember making a paper mache of the solar system
way out there on the edge was pluto
the smallest planet
yes
i wrote planet

if you ask me
how many planets are they
ill say
9 not 8

sometimes you have to buck science things
it seems they just have to change things to show their power
nope
there are 9 of those things spinning around the sun with the earth
in our solar system
that pluto
its the last one way out there
it will always be a planet in my heart and mind

now
they are starting to rethink maybe making pluto a planet again
no problem for me
it pluto always was one in my heart and soul

it seems new scientific evidence shows it may meet the criteria for a planet

you go pluto

show them whats right

the organicgreen doctor

Tuesday, September 11, 2018

its a lot hotter here and there now

ITS A LOT HOTTER HERE AND THERE NOW
Image result for national hurricane center florence today
my wife she is always sending me emails of articles
i just read them and smile
but
sometimes they trigger an idea for a blog
like this one
since ive been thinking about the weather
as the whole united states seems surrounded by hurricanes or tropical storms
just look at the weather maps of our hemisphere
yep
were surrounded

she sent this link to me about how hot is it getting where you live
you will find the link below

i know we moved here over a year ago looking for this paradise weather
that we have heard about and experienced as visited here over the years
so
we moved here
it seemed like the texas heat just followed us at times

now i dont know how many 90+ days we have had since we moved
it was a lot
last october here was one of the hottest october on record
it use to rain in october now it doesnt

so i clicked on the link to see how much hotter it was here since i was born
sorry it only goes back to 1960

in santa barbara in 1960 there was 1 day of 90 degree weather
in talking to locals that lived here for years many since birth
they definitely see a difference
most folks here dont have air conditioning

so i checked spots where i lived at this link
i looked at 1960 2017 and whats expected in 2050 when ms b will be 35
and mr h will be 32

santa barbara     1    2     3     somehow that dont seem right since we had a lot last year
unless maybe the temp gauge is near the beach
                                 1960 2017 2050
southern arkansas    72     85     110
little rock arkansas    66    80     102
high desert ca            97   114   118
near los angeles        33    51     68
austin texas               101  112   134

you can see no matter probably what city or town you put it
its getting hotter everywhere
call it what you want

i call it
climate change
why
my opinion its
a man made heating up
and
from the cyclic thing that happened in this world for thousands of years

one we cant do anything about
one we can

hopefully we can slow this down some
if not
it wont end well for all of us
just
ask the dinosaurs

the organicgreen docor

Monday, September 10, 2018

oh serena

OH SERENA

i never watch tennis unless serena williams is playing
i watched all her matches in this years us open
yes
i watched every minute of the finals match
so
i dont have to watch some news reports on what happened in the match
i watched it myself
since it was dvred i even rewatched parts of it
so
i wasnt there at the match
but
i got the second best look of the whole event
now
i would have loved to have been there
to
hear exactly how loud the fans were
i bet those stands were moving like in an earthquake

now
i think even though i wasnt there
i got a better look and feel for what was really happening
since i heard the commentators and saw lots of replays

so
my opinion
serena is the greatest womens tennis player ever
there are only a few elite athletes in the world right now
like lebron james or tom brady or maybe now aaron rogers
serena is up there i think with lebron james


bbc
on this day this weekend
she wasnt the best player that day on the court
it was the 20 year old
naomi osaka
hands down the best
now im not a tennis expert
but
i could see she had more power
was more mobile
had more accuracy
she was the best that day
she will be i think the next serena
well
she already is the next young serena

i foresee watching her and putting her on my to watch list
of course with serena
since like with lebron james or tom brady or nolan ryan
you want to see as much of their playing as you can since you know
the end is coming
like with michael jordan now

now the controversey
i saw it all and heard lots of comments when it had just happened

the coach thing is never ever called
even naomis coach was coaching
its like traveling in basketball in the nba
they dont ever call it especially on the elite players
that call shouldnt have been made

she slammed her racket on the court
no doubt on that
you could really see her power she had by how crunched that racket was

then
the abuse of the ref
referees should not decide a game or a match if they can help it
eg
in basketball and football at the end of games you see a lot of penalties
and fouls that are not called
they let them play
we all know that
players know that
referees know that

this referee who every one admits is one of the top refs in tennis
should not have potentially decided who won

serena should have been told like the nba referees do
warned her dont do that again or you get a penalty

he didnt
she didnt stop
she lost a game
it may have cost her the match

now i agree with serena about the abuse ive seen in the mens games and some womens games
but especially the mens games
oh the abuse those guys gives those referees
i use to watch it and wonder why dont they give them a penalty
never did that i saw

could she have come back even with the loss of that game and that point
maybe
she was noted for doing that
coming back when down
but
theese penalties made that comeback less likely

it would have been nice if he had warned here
naomi could have won completely based on her ability and skill that day
and
this cloud woulnt have been over her first us open win
the first of several probably she will win

i must say
serena was classy the way she handled it
calming the crowd down
allowing the shy naomi to have her moment

serena in that moment was a true champion

good job naomi osaki
we look forward to watching you play more and winning more in the future
you are now on my dvr list with lebron serena tom and aaron

the organicgreen doctor

Friday, September 7, 2018

alzheimers news-am done but just getting started

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-AM DONE BUT JUST GETTING STARTED
Image result for organicgreendoctor
eight years ago when i was first diagnosed the stats were

someone developed alzheimers every 69 seconds
now its every 65 seconds

its the 6th leading cause of death in the us
some think its now the 3rd leading cause of death

the cost of alzheimers care in the us is 277 billion a year
by 2050 it will be over a trillion dollars a year

there are 5+ million folks with alzheimers in the us
soon by 2050 there will be 14 million folks with the diease

1 in 3 seniors will develop alzheimers

those are the stats
we have to do something to slow this down

so
well im trying to do my part

here i am lying in the bed yesterday at the ucla infusion center receiving my last infusion in the biogens aducanumab or it may be the placebo study

for those who dont know
the aducanumab removes the bad beta amyloid from the brain
the beta amyloid is thought to be what starts the alzheimers train arolling in the brain
the hope is that removing this stuff will improve memory and slow down the disease process

in about two years the results will be out as to whether this stuff worked
somewhere in those results will be my data
my memory tests
my pet scan called amyvid pet scan that shows whether or not it worked on me
if i got the real stuff

deep inside i feel like i have been getting the real drug
i had a 67% chance of getting the real drug

in two weeks i go back to get my final pet scan or amyvid scan to see if there is still that bad stuff up there
my original scan looked like those scans in the first row below
no i didnt get to see it but you cant get in the study unless your scan is abnormal

if i got the higher dose it will be all gone
if i got the lower doses most of it will be gone
if i got the placebo the amyloid train will have marched on over the last 18 months unstopped

oh how i wish i could take a peak in two weeks as i walk out of the pet scannner
to look and see if my scan looked like this

the red stuff is amyloid
the first row is at the beginning
yes mine looked like these

the last row is after a year of aducanumab or placebo

im shooting for that last one
all that red stuff needs to be gone

now
in two weeks i also enter the long term extension part of this study
i will 100% for sure get the real stuff
but im not sure at what dose

im hoping for the higher dose
yes please

this part will last for at least 18 months but will most likely go on for a longer period of time
if it looks like its working


the other thing im doing is donating to folks alzheimers walk teams

that money raised
some of it goes to the research that needs to be done
some goes for local and national educational and support programs
these walks are the main reasons money is available to push alzheimers awareness and research forward towards treatments and a cure

Image result for alzheimer's white flower
there is a white flower that is reserved for the alzheimers persons who are found to be cured
i want to one day be able to hold up that white flower at an alzheimers walk
and
say
im one of the first

if you live in south arkansas
donate and or walk with my younger brothers team who many of you know died from alzheimers

here is the link to his team
#team joe nash
saturday september 22nd

here is the link to my walk to end alzheimers team at the santa barbara walk
organicgreendoctor
saturday november 3rd

or
donate to and or walk with your local alzheimers walk event

we are getting closer
help us get there

the organicgreen doctor

Wednesday, September 5, 2018

and more infections

AND MORE INFECTIONS
Image result for honey smacks salmonella
now its kelloggs sugar smacks i mean honey smacks doing it
causing folks to get salmonella
the ones hurt the worse are younger kids whose immune systems havent kicked in yet
and
older folks whose immune systems are starting to wane and fade

so i looked at the package real close
i realized that when you look at a microscopic view of salmonella
well
it looks just like those sugar i mean honey smacks

just yesterday i started to make a salad
i looked at my bag of prewashed three times lettuce spring herb mix
i wonder i thought do i need to wash this stuff myself

then
i took out my bag of prewashed broccoli and caulflower
i thought
do i need to rewash this stuff

then
i grabbed my green beans i had just picked from the garden
popped it into my mouth and ate it
i did the same with that juicy red tomato
and
the same with that banana pepper

the thought of getting salmonella from my garden
well it never crossed my mind
but
i hesitated
for a while on the lettuce and the broccoli mix package

ok
no i didnt wash it again
i chose to live dangerously

im not worried about the sugar smacks since its been years since i ate cereals

then
on to another area where infections have increased
its those dont talk about it but sure dont want to get it
its those stds

if you dont know what that means
well im not going to tell you
you just figure it out for yourself
while you are at it fiugure out how you can keep from getting them

the three major stds are
gonorrohea
chlamydia
syphillis

all three are on the uptick in incidence
the first one is climbing in the older population also
those baby boomers reliving their youth

what damage can these cause
blindness
pneumonia
meniningitis
joint infections
damage to reproductive system
conjuntivitis
oral cancer
brain damage
genital ulcers
death

the hpv virus can cause cervical cancer and oral cancer and throat cancer
mostly preventable with the hpv vaccine
and
the use of condoms

the use of condoms are the best preventative method for these diseases
of course abstinence theoretically would be 100% effective
but
well we know that dont work

the lack of funding for public health is a big real big factor in this uprising in stds

gonorrhea is becoming resistant to rocephin or ceftrioxine and to the zpack or zithromax
the last two drugs left that works

a few cases of this antibiotic resistance has been found
there is nothing else available

then theres hiv which is increasing some
folks are not as scared about getting it now
but they should be

what are we going to do about this increase in
food borne illness
sexually transmitted diseases
vaccines for communicable diseases that work if folks would take them

it will take eduation
it will take funding
it will take things to get worse
im afraid
before something gets done

sorry
compost wont fix these infections

the organicgreen doctor