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

Wednesday, July 1, 2020

my story revisited #48-it was a hard visit

MY STORY REVISITED #48-IT WAS A HARD VISIT
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ten years ago i wrote these words

what is disturbing is that i know that in ten years that there will be
medicine that can be used to stop or slow down this disease so that
he and maybe i wouldnt progress to point that he is now and
i might be in the future

that was long before i knew about the aducanumab infusions i would be put on 6 years later
if the covid 19 will allow those studies will be done to see if they really help to stop or slow this disease down

at the time i wrote them i didnt know about the aducanumab and the other antibody studies and other alzheimers drug treatments that were in their infancy 
i just knew they were on the way
i just didnt know i would get a chance to be part of those studies

do they work i dont know yet but im hoping they slow it down

on this road trip with my wife she and my historian brother we visited first my friend gf who was in the later stages of huntingtons disease
we had a good long visit with him
i patted his foot as he lay in his hospital bed in his bedroom 
said my byes
shed some tears as we left
that was the last time we saw him before he died

then
we drove to my younger brothers house to visit him
he was just at the stage where he was going to end his driving his car
he was somewhat communicative
we seemed or at least i did as we remembered things we had done when we were younger
we laughed
what he said didnt make sense to the others but i understood what he was trying to say since i was there with him when these things happened
we were like twins growing up being only one year apart

he progressed a lot after that visit over the next 2 years before his death in the final stages of alzheimers

it was a long sober drive home that weekend

yes
he and i were born not 10 years too early but maybe 20 years too early

here is hoping these meds help to slow it down for me and others
__________
12-20-2011
my younger brother
my wife she and my historian brother and i are going to visit
my younger brother today
he is the one that is in the late mid stages of alzheimers
he had changed a lot between the visit before last and the
last visit
a time span of just a few months
it was scary that this disease could travel that fast in a few months
made me think more about my situation and the
completion of all my ducks in a row

this visit will come just one day after i visit my friend gf who
has huntingtons disease
i know it will be a depressing ride home for us when we
drive back to texas tomorrow

what is disturbing is that i know that in ten years that there will be
medicine that can be used to stop or slow down this disease so that
he and maybe i wouldnt progress to point that he is now and
i might be in the future
just born ten years too early
i know that our kids and nephews and nieces will have something
available to help them

my historian brother will be disturbed by what he sees today as
he has not seen my younger brother in several months
i know i was disturbed as well as my rainwater brother 
when we visited last month
but this visit needs to be done
i know he will know who we are and will enjoy the visit with us

my brother
sorry youve got this sucky disease
lets enjoy our visit today
_________
a sobering visit it was that weekend

the organicgreen doctor

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