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, June 9, 2023

alzheimers news-i want to be the first

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-I WANT TO BE THE FIRST

that is me talking at our family reunion a few years ago
my mother had died a few years before this 
my younger brother was diagnosed not long before this 
he was in a long term care facility at that time but was always came to our family reunions
sadly most of those in the audience are at risk for developing alzheimers disease as they age
almost all 50 of them

how healthy they live their lives will determine if they have the same fate as my mother my younger brother probably my dad and me

however 
maybe someone out there in that audience that day could be the first survivor of alzheimers

with the advancements that are happening in possible treatments it will be reachable to those younger ones in my kinfolk audience that day

i would like it to be me
the first in my family 
and
then others could be 2nd 3rd 4th ...

at the walk to end alzheimers the last several years they have a white flower they show
i have to carry the blue one for those with the disease
although i could also carry the purple one for those who have a loved one with or who died from alzheimers  and the orange one for supporters of a world without alzheimers
yep i could hold a bouquet of those alzheimers flowers
the white one would make the bouquet look better

the white flower is for the first survivor of alzheimers
they usually have a child carry it during the opening ceremonies
once here in santa barbara they wanted ms b to carry it
at that time she was around 3
i wasnt sure i could handle her carrying that white flower around
i would cry while i was doing my talk the whole time she carried it

i joked i wanted to be the one to carry that flower
but they made sure i didnt

but
could i be that person
i seemed to have slowed it down by doing all the healthy stuff you are suppose to do and taking aricept or donepezil real early in my diagnosis and now taking aduhelm to remove all the amyloid in my brain
but is that enough to make me the first survivor

maybe i can dream right

i got my mri of the brain results back from my mri this week
since december my brain has shrank some
that usually means that the alzheimers is advancing faster 
however
they have found when you remove all the amyloid plaques from the brain
my amyloid plaques should all be gone now
the brain shrinks 
its like removing fat from you belly 
your belly size shrinks
so
maybe in my case thats not a bad thing

i wonder if my garden hat will still fit

ill have at least two more mris over the next year to compare it to

the mri is the only test i have done in the clinical trial that i get an official report on

below is a video put out by the alzheimers association on the first survivor
is the first one out there somewhere

i say yes
he is in santa barbara


i wish

the organicgreen doctor

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