are we there yet, silent auction

ARE WE THERE YET

as many of you know i am in an alzheimers research study
at the university of texas southwestern alzheimers research
center
in this study i receive a lot of testing
some not available yet to the general public
some that are available but not readily available to the
general public
i dont get to see the results of the tests but when i take
the neuropsychological test i know how im doing when i
take the test

but
there is no treatment part to the study
just monitoring
this all helps progress the knowledge base of what happens
in alzheimers disease as it progresses
but
nothing is offered or really available to slow it down except
for managing my health and taking aricept (donepezil) to slow
down any symptoms

but
im at the point where i know that i have a window of time
maybe 5 years maybe 10 years or
maybe im too late already

as this disease starts years before any symptoms start
so that the time to attack this disease eg in me would have been
20 years ago when i first moved to texas in 1989

so im monitoring new developments and i keep a close eye
on new possible treatments

here are a few

the alzheimers vaccine
they give you a vaccine that ends up inducing antibodies that
attack the beta amyloid in the brain by binding it up and preventing
it from accumulating or binds it and removes it from the brain

it seems the time to do this is years before symptoms start

a new study will be doing that
it appears that i may qualify for this study later this year
if so i will get a beta amyloid pet scan of the brain called amyvid
and if its positive i will either get the vaccine for 3 years or get
a placebo
i plan on doing this study if nothing else shows up

if im in the treatment group i will get the vaccine for 3 years
if it helps ive benefited from the treatment
ill take what i can get
if im in the placebo then im not worse than i am now
since im on nothing already

keeping my fingers crossed on this one

several anitcancer drugs some new ones and at least one old generic
anticancer drug are starting or are in studies now
the bexarotene study is starting soon
its an old one that is available now since its fda approved already
there are reports that some people are already taking it by getting
a prescription from their doctors

my thoughts on this
is whattheheck
there is nothing to lose by taking it
the end result of doing nothing is not a good one

my problem with the bexarotene study is that im not far advanced
enough to qualify for the studies

another new drug is an enzyme that was discovered in a group of
people in iceland that do not get alzheimers disease
this enzyme inhibits the production of beta amyloid
thought to be the culprit in alzheimers disease

i hope to qualify for this study when it gets started

there is a study thats starting where a drug is given that prevents
the destruction of tau protein that occurs in alzheimers disease
ive applied for this study and again im not far enough
advanced to qualify

this all seems cruel somehow
they are treating people in some of these studies who may not
benefit as much even though they are early in the disease
since the treatment may turn out to work better if you start it
before the symptoms occur

so are we there yet
no
but we are getting closer to treatments that will work
maybe not for my generation but for the generations behind me
my kids my future grandkids my nieces and nephews

SILENT AUCTION
the organicgreendoctor team in the walk to end alzheimers has decided
to have a silent auction to raise money this year
we plan to have just 5 good items

two of the items have already sparked interest

one is a 4 foot square organic garden that is 4 ft x 4 ft x 1 ft
that will be built by this organicgreen doctor
all good organic soil will be used and will be obtain from a well
known local organic garden place
the garden will be built and placed on the buyers property by
the organicgreen doctor
he will also assist the new owner in planting their fall/winter garden
using a gift certificate to a local nursery for the plants

if youve ever wanted one of these and didnt know how to do it
nows your chance

more details of the silent auction will be posted here and on my
facebook page in the next few weeks
we may even take online bids

the other is an alzheimers quilt being hand made by one of my
medical school classmates who is a plastic surgeon who does
knitting and quilting for a hobby
folks you can imagine what fantastic work she must do
she also has a blog called
sutured for a living

today her post will be on making the quilt for us to sell
at our silent auction
those flowers on the quilt are forget me nots which are
the official flower of the alzheimers association


ive talked to several quilt  people and im amazed at how
much this quilt will be worth
there are already people who plan on bidding on this
quilt

read her blog today to find out more about this
alzheimers quilt

support us by bidding on these or the other items
more later

the organicgreen doctor

the p word

THE P WORD
whenever we get stuff out of our garden and i post
a picure here on this blog or
send it to my rainwater brother
i call it my garden p0eren
thats not a misprint

if i type in the real word
my blog gets overran with p0eren website searches
so i decided to call my garden produce
garden p0eren
hopefully to keep them from flooding my blog with perverts
looking for bad pictures

lets see if that works

remember the fall and the winter is the best time to garden
here in central texas
probably not so in the northern climates

this winter especially its been a good winter
since its so warm
we just need more rain

one problem is that the spinach broccoli and lettuce are starting
to bolt
which i never mind since the flowers on them produce a source
for bees and butterflies
my wife shes garden at her school is loaded with both

this is a broccoli from our garden
we eat it raw usually by itself or in a salad
the purple bracelet i have on is one
from the alzheimers association
advocating for their support

one benefit of this warm winter is that the asparagus is starting
to come up early
if youve never eaten asparagus organic of course right out of the
garden
you dont know how great a flavor it has
we almost never cook ours since it tastes so good
rarely does ours make it inside the house
this one didnt
the reason its so small is i ate the other half

this is a picture of my garden p0eren that we will be eating on for a few days
this is about 3ft x 3ft of produce
from left to right is
cabbage  asian greens  kale  rainbow swiss chard asian cabbage  and
yellow swiss chard

swiss chard and kale are two of the most nutritious veggies to plant
in your garden and may be the easiest to grow

these minus the cabbage will be rolled up like a cigar and trimmed
placed in a crockpot with chopped onions chopped garlic some salt and
pepper vinegar and brown sugar
its cooked for 6 hours on low
then served with cornbread and pepper sauce
that makes gardening worth it

this will make about 3 pots of greens which we will do on different days
the cabbage will be cooked separately

tomatoes grown in an organic garden especially heirloom varieties
have flavors that you cant get even if you buy organic ones at the store

the natural gardeners john dramgole and klbj 590 garden show host this
weekend talked about how to jump start their growth by 2 months

usually we start tomatoes in late march hoping to dodge the last frost
which always seems to get my tomatoes
then we are left with a short growing season before the hot summer
shuts down tomato production

here what he does at his place with a tweaking done by the ogd

i took cardboard cut the height of a 3 gallon garden container
a tomato plant
a hole dug the depth of the cardboard
a garden of rich soil amended with compost

the tomato is planted in the bottom of the hole surrounded
by the cardboard
then as the plant grows the cardboard is pulled up gradually
and more soil is added around the tomato plant
eventually the tomato after a few weeks will reach the surface of the
soil and the card board can be removed

then a 3 gallon garden container is used to sit over the tomato
plant and cardboard if cold weather arrives
this is covered with the white row cover or blanket or sheet
to protect it from freezing
when its warmer the container and row cover is removed

there are three cardboard tomatoes in this picture
one is covered with the container

the small black container thats buried in the ground
will be filled with compost water every two weeks during the
growing season
the compost water is made by putting good compost in a sock or
pillow case and soaking it in a 5 gallon bucket for two days
then its poured in the buried container
one is buried for every two tomatoes and are spaced 1.5 feet
from each plant

so thats how to get early ripe tomatoes in this strange central texas
weather we have

thats also how to produce good garden p0eren

the organicgreen doctor

bracelet, amyvid, wtea, tour

BRACELET

lance has his yellow one
susan has her pink one
i wear my purple one
its the alzheimers awareness bracelet
i wear it in memory of my mother my father and my younger brother
and i guess maybe myself
here is the link to order a 5 pack of them

AMYVID

here is the alzheimers associations statement on the new fda approval
of the florbetapir pet scan amyvid by eli lilly

i wrote a blog on this recently
their statement i totally agree with
its a beginning for diagnostic tests that may help define the
cause of a persons dementia

for me
i have short term memory loss showed on multiple neuropsych exams
i had a normal evaluation two years before they became abnormal
i have normal labs looking for other causes
i have had 3 normal mris
i have had one normal glucose metabolism pet scan
i have a strong family history of alzheimers-mother father brother and
distant relatives
i carry the apoe 4 double allele gene thats associated with an increased
chance of developing alzheimers disease
i have a borderline spinal fluid analysis for tau protein and beta amyloid

i have had a beta amyloid pet scan like the amyvid last year and will have
one next year but i cant get those results as they are part of the
alzheimers disease neuroimaging initiative adni-2

if i had the amyvid beta amyloid pet scan done and it was completely
negative them there would be some reassurance that what i have
is not due to alzheimers
if the scan is positive for beta amyloid plaques then it would be more
information added to the other that says that i probably have
alzheimers disease

so will i have the test
yes
i plan on doing it as i want to know as much as i can about whats
going on with me so ill know where im at

not everyone will benefit as well as i will to have this test done
estimated cost $6600 non covered by insurance

WTEA

the walk to end alzheimers is the major fundraiser for the
alzheimers association
you can go to the alzheimers website to find your local walk
or
donate and sign up on my team the organicgreendoctor.com

TOUR

the hill country chicken tour is tomorrow 1000 am to 400 pm
here is the link to their website www.hillcountrychickencooptour.blogspot.com

on saturday go to the cedar park farms to market at lakeline mall
to pick up your map to see the selected coops

the organicgreendoctor.com