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

Thursday, February 20, 2020

the stick

THE STICK
today i will go to the elementary school garden to volunteer with a kindergartner class
i call them kindergardeners
we will today eat some sweet peas from my garden
then
we will plant some sweet pea seeds into 6 packs
each kindergardener will get to plant their own sweet pea seed into the packs
then
in a few weeks they will get to transplant those sweet pea plants into the school garden

when they plant the seeds they pause and make a wish for the new plant
then
they water it in with the worm juice from our worm composter

after snacking on their sweet pea pod and planting their sweet pea they get to go play in their rustic play area

in that area are a lot of limbs and sticks to play with
youll see a kindergardener or two with those sticks digging in the ground or building something with them
being creative

actually they get to do what we got to do everyday when i was growing up

yesterday
my wife she and i took mr hudson on his mile walk he likes to take
we pop him into his little trycycle with the long extended handle out the back so we can push him along

along the route
he loves to touch the flowers
a neighbor has a tractor and well what we in the south call a bushhog some call it a shredder
he loves to stop and point at that tractor and loves to touch its big tires
also along the way we walk a bike path that runs along a stream for awhile
there is an area along the way thats overgrown with brush but he can get a glimpse of the water as it makes a noisy drop over some rocks
also at this point he can just see through the brush to a riding arena where he can see folks riding horses
he always wants to stop there and point and look for a second or two then wants to move on

further down the path is a larger riding arena which may have 2-3 riders doing jumps
he always loves to watch them
also he passes the school playground and loves seeing all the kids outside playing
at the end of the arena is usually two horses that will come up to the fence and put their noses down towards mr hudson

they seem to know him
i wonder if they have this innate sense that he has a health issue
they seem to be friendly with him
occasionally they will roll in the dirt and pop back up
that makes mr hudson giggle
sometimes they will fart and or snort and he gets a big laugh out of that
then
at the turn around point further down the path is a chicken coop where he can sit and watch the chickens cluck and scratch in the dirt

it all feels like being in the country on a farm

now to the stick thing
today as we were riding along i saw this stick sort of like one the kids would play with
and
like i played with as a kid
i bent over and picked it up
handed it to mr hudson
he seemed to know what to do with it

along the path are lots of leaves
so
he extended out the stick to rake those leaves with the stick as we rode along
then
later
he took the stick and put it along the back axle so it would rub on the bike path
making a noise
you know like if you got a branch or limb stuck under your garden
he seemed to like that sound
it brought back old memories to me of playing outside as a kid
then
as we got back into the housing area he would rake that sticks along the different fences to make a sound which reminded me of the sound that we use to make on our bikes growing up when we would clothespin a folding play card on the spokes
many of yall know that sound

im sure if there were dogs behind those fences it irritated them

then when we got back home
mr hudson wouldnt let that stick go
so
we walked up and down the driveway and over the yard and to the fence for some time with him with that death grip on that stick

what a simple thing
playing with a stick for an hour
entertaining himself as we went along

it was like old school play

maybe kids need more of that huh

mr hudson update
he goes in for gtube placement in 10 days so we can infuse extra nutrition into his little body to make him gain weight
they the transplant team want him to weigh a certain weight and more if possible to be sure that the new adult kidney will fit in his little belly

then in about 20 days he will have his big transplant office meeting where the decision will be made as to when it will be done

as of today its tentatively set for the end of april

his kidneys continue to fail
labs will be done in 10 days to see where he is at

im sure the renal failure is affecting his appetite a lot

if your renal functions were where his were you would feel awful
he is bumping up against numbers that would require dialysis before transplant

this gtube will be mainly used now for nutrition
after transplant it will be used to keep that adult kidney well hydrated
a small kid cant drink enough fluids to do that
eventually this gtube will be removed

after transplant his nutrition will be done mainly by what he eats and drinks himself

he will be off all of his meds but for the two anti rejection meds
he will be on no steroids
he will be off his two shots
he can eat whatever he wants after the transplant

he should start eating better and feeling much better after this all happens

so
that stick
yesterday
that was good for him to play with
he had over an hour of fun with no interruptions and was focused only on that stick

the organicgreen doctor

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