organicgreendoctor: happy 15th anniversary

organicgreendoctor: happy 15th anniversary: HAPPY 15TH ANNIVERSARY this picture was taken the year i retired i retired at 60 on december 22 2010 because i was diagnosed with mild cogni...

happy 15th anniversary

HAPPY 15TH ANNIVERSARY

this picture was taken the year i retired
i retired at 60 on december 22 2010 because i was diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment that is due to alzheimers proved over time with diagnostic tests and memory tests
i cried and was sad for a period of time
however
today on my 15th anniversary of having to retire because of my diagnosis and having to stop doing what i was lucky to do for my career
well
today 15 years later i am having a happy anniversary 

why
i am still alive
my last several memory tests are normal
i see and feel no decline today minus what is expected of a 75 year old

15 years ago if you had asked me where would i be in 2025 i would say i would be dead now from alzheimers after spending some time in a long term care facility
but
i didnt and im alive 

so
i am happy today on my anniversary

the blog i wrote below was to my patients when i retired
__________
12/22/2010

LAST DAY-THANKS 
this my last day to work as a physician
always considered myself lucky to have been able to
do in life what i wanted to do since i was a middle schooler

in high school i was able to work in a local hospital in the
summer on weekends and during holidays
our family was poor so not only did i get financial benefit from
working but i also was exposed to a lot in the hospital setting
it made me know that i wanted to be a family physician

during college i worked as a emergency room technician
on weekends, weeknights, and holidays
this also gave me financial support but also exposed me to
different doctors and different emergency situations

i was accepted to medical school but never wavered on what
kind of doctor i wanted to be
a family physician

i was accepted to a family practice residency
after completing my residency i owed the federal government
three years to work at an approved federal underserved area

i was able to create with some help a site in  the small
town near where i grew up       i  worked there for three years
although traumatic at times it was a learning experience that i
carried through out my career

after fulfilling my three year obligation and after sustaining a
large financial hit from my involvement with the local clinic
i was recruited to the area where i am working now
thanks to my medical school friend for helping me out in
my time of need

i have worked for 25 years as a family physician
i always wanted to be one

now it is time i have to quit not because i want to but
because a genetic health problem has risen its nasty head
and because of this will have to discontinue what i like to do

i do not ever dread going to work every day
feel like i have now just gotten good at what i do

realize that patients dont necessarily need all of the new
medications we have, the new tests we can do or need
the newest treatments available

they do better if you just listen to them, pat them on the
shoulder, be kind to them and be their advocate when
they need it

i have honed my skills in taking care of kids over my career so
that many of the kids have felt comfortable seeing me and look
forward to seeing me to get a sticker or sucker, hear my
duck voice, or have me joke with them
that part i will miss a lot

thanks to all my patients in the past for allowing me to fulfill
my dream of being a family physician
i hope i have done you a good job

thanks to my wife she for putting up with me during
my quest for my career
know she found hers

love yall
the organicgreen doctor
__________

this last week i have responded to two people who reached out about their memories

one was a younger person with memory issues

another was a 70 year old with early alzheimers who wanted to know more about early diagnosis and ask for my thoughts on her evaluation and treatment
i spent an hour and a half with her and her husband

one thing i did was tell them my story using it as vehicle to talk about alzheimers and its treatment and their future

when i got home after talking with the couple i thought a lot about my story

here is a short version

in 2019 i applied for long term care insurance and passed a 30 minute memory interview having answered all the nurses questions correct
i would say it was close to the moca memory test

i received my long term care policy
luckily i bought the best i could buy with a cost of living adjustment
if i had waited a year i would not have received my long term care insurance because of my diagnosis

when i turned 60 i volunteered for the adni 2 or alzheimers disease neuroimaging initiative 2 to be in the normal control group
i wanted to be monitored annually and if i developed problems i would stop practicing medicine

my mother and younger brother died from alzheimers and my father probably had it when he died
multiple grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins had it

when i took the neuropsychological exam for memory it was found i had memory loss greater than it should be for my age and degree of education
i felt the abnormalities when i was taking the exam
i cried later

i saw a neurologist who put me on aricept or donepezil which i have taken for 15 years
i stopped practicing the day i saw the neurologist

my initial moca test score was a 25 which is in the mild cognitive impairment range
it now is in the normal range of  29-30 for the last several years

as part of my evaluation i had a spinal tap for amyloid and tau that was compatible with alzheimers
i later had one of several amyloid pet scans tor amyloid that were positive for amyloid
my last one a year ago after treatment was negative for measurable amyloid plague
my genetic test was positive for the apoe4 apoe4 gene
the late onset alzheimers gene
it puts you at a 10+ times increase for getting alzheimers
luckily you can overcome that if you control your lipids blood pressure sugar weight eat correctly the mind diet and do other healthy things such as stay active mentally physically and socially get adequate sleep control any mental health issues such as stress anxiety or depression avoid alcohol abuse and dont smoke

my vitamin b12 was below normal as well as my vitamin d3
i take supplements to correct these
my homocysteine level was elevated so i take supplements to correct this
my cholesterol and blood pressure was elevated so i take meds to control this 
my moca memory test was low at 24 but gradually over a few years it returned to normal

why
the aricept and all the healthy things i was doing and maybe the aduhelm infusions mentioned below and some good luck

the adni study is the most important alzheimers study ever done
its all diagnostic studies
sadly you dont usually get the results since its a blind study 

around 2017 i was accepted in the aduhelm clinical trial
i took 52 monthly infusions
the first 18 were placebo and the last 34 were the real drug aduhelm
aduhelm is a moncolonal antibody against amyloid 
my initial amyloid pet scan was positive for amyloid plaque
i was given that result before i started the study 
my final amyloid pet scan showed no measurable amyloid plaque 

so the aduhelm did its job it removed the amyloid plaque

it was take off the market since its manufacturer also makes leqembi which does the same thing but better

i have had multiple amyloid pet scans and tau pet scans and the new alzheimers blood test
except for the first and the last amyloid pet scan i didnt get the results

i wish i had them since they would be usefully in planning my future care

It will take 5-10 years for the amyloid to reaccumulate so i will probably need to receive treatment with a drug like leqembi to keep the amyloid from reaccumulating
and
wait for new drugs that are in clinical trials now

my kids and grandkids and nephews and nieces will have access to these drugs probably before alzheimers starts up

we have come a long way in 15 years

another thing i did was i freely talk about my diagnosis with anyone that will listen to me

i have been interviewed by the new york times washington post the financial times bloomberg and local newspapers in the austin area and here in california

i have been on alzheimers panels at ucla usc texas state greater alzheimers los angles the local alzheimers association and numerous churches and  memory centers
my favorite is to do q and a with the audiences

i seem to be able to give them answers they cant seem to get 

so 
today 
on my 15th anniversary 
it will be a happy one

the organicgreen doctor

organicgreendoctor: GARDEN NEWS-MORE ONION CHIMESthese are what my oni...

organicgreendoctor: GARDEN NEWS-MORE ONION CHIMESthese are what my oni...: GARDEN NEWS-MORE ONION CHIMES these are what my onions looked like when we lived in texas after i harvested them and hung them up in our gar...

GARDEN NEWS-MORE ONION CHIMES

these are what my onions looked like when we lived in texas after i harvested them and hung them up in our garage using panty hose

as we needed an onion we just cut off an onion
they would last months this way

i have tried it like this here in santa barbara but at harvest time the weather is overcast all the time and the humidity is high
when i did my onion chimes they would rot

so
now here i just harvest the onions when they are big like in the photo and process them in our food processor and freeze them in zip lock bags

we are still using onions we grew last season


when i first moved to santa barbara i was looking for onions to plant
i looked at a popular seed company from southern California
they advertised onion plants so i checked them out
when i read they would not be available for a few months i looked at the place they ordered onion plants

it was dixondale farms from south texas
the same place that many nurseries in texas get theirs
i bought mine in texas every year at a local nursery but they came originally from dixondale farms
they ship to most of the states

i order mine now direct from dixondale
its cheaper also

we order the texas early white  and 1015 texas super sweet yellow onions and creole red onions
you can look at the dixondale website at some good pictures of them
they form a nice large bulb
that is if the weather is right here in the spring

some years we have to pick them early so they wont rot
in texas it never was a problem



we prepped this bed 3 months ago by adding 4 inches of compost plus a sprinkling of an organic fertilizer
this was all forked in with a broadfork
then the bed was raked out smooth
the 3 rows of drip tape was added
then the bed was covered with straw until we were ready to plant

the plants are shipped via fedex or usps and arrive in a couple of days
we always receive them the week after thanksgiving
they are short day varieties

to plant them we raked off the straw
and planted each plant 6 inches apart
fish emulsion with seaweed was used to water them in after they were all planted

we now have 300 onions planted in this one bed


i planted 70 in my garden in this 3 ft x 7 ft bed
that concrete block in the pathway sits on top of a 5 gallon bucket with holes in the sides and bottom
i put in my food scraps in the bucket and the worms enter the holes 
i get 5 gallons of worm made compost 
i have 7 of these in my garden
they fill up twice a year

doing the math thats 70 gallons of worm made compost i make each year
sorry landfill thats your loss

in late may or early june when the bulbs get large and the stalks start falling over we will harvest them to donate to those in need

we also harvest green onions every week during the growing season to the groups we donate vegetables to by picking every other green ones

in my garden i harvest every other one as we need green onions then harvest the remaining ones when they bulb up
we then process them and freeze them for soups stews and with beans


we planted them 5 across the bed and this is what they look like now

next in few weeks we will have leeks to plant
we will plant them the same way as we do the onions

in our garden we know have growing lettuce chard peas beets onions broccoli cauliflower cabbage celery cilantro parsley dino kale curly kale and soon potatoes
we always have a few collard trees growing all year round

i hear those onion chimes ringing now

we started our year ending fundraiser for the community garden which i manage and have my garden plot
feel free to make a donation to help us reach our goal

read our story at the seedmoney.org fundraiser site for our community garden

donate.seedmoney.org/11939/trinity-gardens

the organicgreen doctor

organicgreendoctor: alzheimers news-what she said

organicgreendoctor: alzheimers news-what she said: ALZHEIMERS NEWS-WHAT SHE SAID my wife she wrote this blog entry for the local alzheimers association telling my story sorry but she uses pun...

alzheimers news-what she said

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-WHAT SHE SAID

my wife she wrote this blog entry for the local alzheimers association telling my story
sorry but she uses punctuations and capitals

the picture above is from 2020 in the middle of the covid pandemic
it was cold that day and the walk was postponed but a short ceremony was held at the santa barbara mission
i was about 45 lbs lighter than i am now due to what they thought was covid affecting my appetite

i thought at the time that i was going to go from covid instead of alzheimers

We missed one walk to end alzheimers in 15 years

thats my goal what is on the back of her jacket
_________

1 December 2025 

Dear California Central Coast Alzheimer's Association, 

We’ve walked for 15 years - at least one walk per year and sometimes 2 or 3 in different towns.  

My partner was a beloved family practice doc in Austin Texas.  ALZ came for his beloved family: his preacher dad, Charles W; his nurse mom, Nell; his fireman & sheriff baby brother, Joe.  Seeing the writing on the wall, my husband, Dr Nash signed up to be in an ALZ study in Dallas.  “Sorry,” they said when he was tested, “You don’t qualify to be in the control group as planned… you already have Mild Cognitive Impairment.”  On December 20, 2010, one of the last prescriptions Dr Nash wrote as a practicing physician?  Aricept for one of his ALZ patients.  24 hours later in Dallas, his new neurologist was handing over a script for Aricept to my husband.  To say our family was devastated was an understatement.   

My Santa Barbara sister immediately shared a book, Zen Shorts, with us. The story within, The Farmer’s Luck. (See insert below.)

This diagnosis, an ALZ precursor? Such bad luck? Maybe.  

But my husband dedicated his new life to one ALZ study and then another and another.  He became a vocal advocate for the Alzheimer's Association (including a daily blog),  https://www.organicgreendoctor.com/2025/11/organicgreendoctor-alzheimers-news-do.html

a deliverer of Meals on Wheels,and a home builder with Habitat With Humanity.  When we moved to Santa Barbara in 2017 to be close to family support, he dedicated his volunteer work as a community gardener.  In addition to doing all the preventative things he could possibly do to buy us precious time, he also began clinical trials of Aduhelm at UCLA.  State-of-the-art brain pet scans confirmed the naughty amyloid plaques had indeed deposited in his brain.  Bad luck? Nope.  Good luck that qualified him for the maybe magic bullet Aduhelm.  After 34 monthly infusions, the amyloid plaques were gone.  Gone! Gone! Gone!

We, including my healthy hubby/perhaps survivor of ALZ, will walk Saturday Dec 6, 2025 in sunny Santa Barbara surrounded by donors, advocates, patients, care-givers, friends and family,  including our FOUR precious grandchildren. Good luck, indeed.    

As Samuel L Jackson says in his ads for The Alzheimer's Association, “Enough is enough!  Alzheimer’s, you came for my family. Now I’m coming for you.” 

Jo Nash & Dewayne Nash https://act.alz.org/site/TR/Walk2025/CA-CaliforniaCentralCoast?team_id=1004923&pg=team&fr_id=18431

       all i have to say is such bad luck maybe

such good luck maybe plus what she said the oganicgreen doctor