im sorry

IM SORRY

i would like to apologize personally to any of you who
ever had a problem getting forms completed at my office
prescriptions refilled questions answered appointments made
referrals done

you see ive gone to the other side
no i didnt change political parties
since im now a patient i have now entered your world
and its not fun sometimes

i think that all medical schools and residency programs
should make all their students and residents become
patients for awhile so they would develop some sensitivity
as to what its like to be one
not fun at times

when i was a resident they did a sensitivity training where all the
male residents had to lay on a exam table and put our legs in
stirrups with the exam door open and stay that way while
people walked by and looked in at you
yes we had our clothes on
it worked though
i did develop a sensitivity for that part of a females experience

wish we had done one to be a patient though and all it entails

again i repeat im sorry

heres the story
one good thing since ive retired and i dont know if its my diagnosis
or if its my medication aricept (donepezil) that i take for possibly
having alzheimers disease i dont ever get mad at anyone or anything
anymore
well i do get mad at the cowboys longhorns and razorbacks

since im on medical disability from my diagnosis i have to get
annual paperwork completed by my neurologist to maintain
my coverage
thats when i enter your world now my world

first let me say that i sent my forms to my neurologist
it took longer for the us mail to get them to dallas than
it did for the neurologist to take the forms complete them
and send them to my insurance company
she did her job and did it well

i will admit that i use to hate doing forms
in fact my nurse did most of them for me
i reviewed them and then signed them

i do regret not having more sensitivity to those patients
especially those with disability insurance claims both short term
and long term that affected their livelihood
the sports form i usually would do fairly quickly

im sorry though to the rest of you

i think thats why i suffered through a 3 hour ordeal yesterday
trying to track down my forms

first i sat down and reviewed all my paperwork to make sure i
had sent it all in correct
and had completed my part

usually i receive a phone call in a few days and a copy back
to me but this time it didnt happen

so phone call to neurology office
push one for english and two for spanish
done
listen to our menu for it may have changed
if this is an emergency call 911
heck i almost called 911 before this was all over with
listen to 4 choices
now which one is the right one for me so i just stayed on the line
some one answered what do you need told her then was put
on hold for 4 minutes listening to good music but it had a
bad scratching sound like a finger down a chalkboard
that was a long 4 minutes

then a person finally came on the line who im sure had a line of
people waiting to talk to her
told her my story
no she said they must have not received it if they had it would
be entered
you need to just send them back in to us again
no way you can kma if im doing that again

she was going to end it there but i was persistent and got her
to agree to send a message to the nurse to call me back

yep should have played my doctor card but i didnt

sure hated to do that leave a nurse message as i knew how
that worked
they only call when you are napping are on the toilet or someway
stepped away from the phone no matter how short of time it is
then you call back and you get to do this all over again

finally i called medical records
had to do all this over again
push 1 or 2 for language of choice
listen to our menu blah blah blah
punched one and punched one
told him my story and he said yes we have your stuff but
its from the insurance company and they have to pay $45 to send
the stuff off
i knew then that something was wrong
bet he wishes he had not answered my call
so after 15 minutes with him he admits he has all 6 pieces of paper
and the neurologist filled them out not soon after she got them
again she did her job well

well sir you have to sign a special roi thats release of information from
us as we cant accept the insurances roi and well need our money
first to get it release
and your insurance is responsible for paying that
but they have to pay us first
not good that took 3 months last year and a trip to dallas to
get this all straightened out

so the plan was i had to fill out this form and fax it to them
then i could call and give them credit card info and they will
mail it to the company
i   would not ever see that money for sure refunded
and i have 2 days to get all this to nebraska

what a mess this is
it shouldnt be this hard now days with our electronic medical record
and emails and texting and tweeting

now after two hours on the phone most of it on hold
i called the agent who handles my claims
you got it
push 1 or 2 for your language
listen to the menu as it may have changed
blah blah blah
if you know your parties extension push it now or listen to our menu
of extension numbers
pushed that one and then theres everyones voice mail came on one
at a time
luckily for me my guys name started with a c and was number 10
what happen to nice friendly operators anyway

yep got a voice mail
ive stepped away from the desk so please leave me a detailed message
i did but didnt say what i wanted to say
you &%^$# &^(*@)(*%$##)@!$% cant you do any of this right

WARNING DONT WATCH VIDEO IF YOU ARE SENSITIVE

but i didnt as i thought of that movie where the guy sent back his 
pancakes because they werent cooked right
oh the things that was done to those pancakes before he got
them back with a big smile
yep when i want to go off on someone i always remember that

you always wait until you get what you want then go off on them

finally after 3 hours i get a phone call from the agent
yes we have your forms and your claim has been continued
into the future

so yes the neurologist got them and sent them off
yes they are in my record
how they ended up in medical records is  mystery to all involved
why the insurance company has to pay for the forms is not known
they dont and i dont

what a waste of my time and everyone involved

yes im sorry
they my office may have put you through all this in the past

sometimes i dont like the other side very much

the organicgreen doctor

road trip the storm the rapture dirt house garden, bb

ROAD TRIP
my white on white relative and i took a road trip to
southern arkansas to visit siblings
we started in the southern part of the ouachita mountains
(yes thats spelled right its ou nor qu)
and worked our way across the state visiting our 5 siblings
that live there and ended up in eastern southern arkansas
near the delta

this is pretty country
with all the greenery trees contrasted to the drier less
treey(made that word up) central texas where we live

we got to listen to cicadas and their continuous sounds that
sound like a sawmill running 24/7
was glad my sisters house is well insulated
this is all part of the life cycle (supposedly they come out every
13 years in mass quantities) but if the sound bothers you then
it will be a long 2 months

we also visited a family that is thinking of building an earth house
(wish i could do that)
if oriented correctly and built correctly there is very little expense
for heating and cooling as it maintains a constant temperature all
year round
add solar power and rain water then life is good
wish them luck in their endeavors
wish it was my she and i that was doing that
(dont think in central texas where we live you could dig a hole
in a hill that deep)

we also visited two relatives that are in the caretaker role
if you have a relative or friend in a caretaker role please think
of them often and give them some relief
remember your time may come also

we also have a relative with alzheimers that seems stable right
now but it is hard to visit as we know and remember how he
was before this all struck him
what a terrible disease it is
remember if you are reading this you will be affected by this disease
in some way
1 of 6 of you will get the disease
(my alzheimers entry of the day)
help them out if you can

most of my sibings are or were school teachers or married to
one
the job security issues with the schools and colleges and state
budgets all seem to be universal everywhere right now
its the economy stupid and  education is part of the answer to the
economy-dont destroy our educational system please
hope those state legislatures understand that but doubt that
they do

overall we had a good road trip
my white on white relative and i solved a lot of problems of
the world as we traveled across east texas and southern arkansas
now if the politicians would just listen to us then the problems would
all be solved

THE STORM
while we were gone we missed the storm that came through
we got probably 3 inches of rain which was much needed
my garden grew like crazy with the rain while i was gone
my maters are now 6 feet tall and just producing like crazy
just need all those green ones to turn red
my wife she is bad about breaking the rule of not picking
the first green tomatoes before they turn red

while in the hills of arkansas got a text from someone in texas
are you alright
yes why
all those storm you are getting
no im in arkansas
is your wife she ok
texted her
she was attached to the wall near our solid brick shower
(thats her storm cellar) as the storms possibly two tornadoes
split and went just north and south of where we live
apparently the wind rain and hail was extremely undnervng
as the storms went by
when my white on white relative and i got home we found
claw marks on the wall going to the storm cellar shower

our dog a mixed breed dog predicts storms hours before they
arrive
apparently he found his spot between the hot tub and a water
tank on our front porch earlier in the day and refused to move
my wife she  knew it was going to be a bad one as the dog
always predicts them right

i know one day as he gets older he is going to die of a heart
attack when those storms come through

the rapture did not happen on saturday but i think my wife she
and our storm dog he sure thought it was happening that night
they survived ok

BB
heat won
chris bosh came through
they need to speed all this up some

the organicgreen doctor

more adni-2, road trip, bbbbbb

ADNI-2
well think i made it into the study
will know later this week
if labs are ok then should be a go for the study

get to start with a mri since its the hardest to get scheduled then
will follow up with a day of neuropsychological exams-thats the one
i dont like to do as its frustrating since some of the short term
memory parts i have trouble with
did a mini one yesterday and had some difficulties with some of
the short term parts again but did not seem worse than what i
had done in november of 2010
the next neuropsychological test will be more involved than the
sucky one i had to do that got me in this mess im in now

my wife has to go back with me when i have the spinal tap done
still would rather have that than the neuropsych test
she also has to be interviewed more extensively about me for this
study (hope she doesnt tell any family secrets)

then i go back again to have 2 pet scans done

these will be my baseline studies for this almost 5 year study
with the probability that it will last longer if funding is available

so my disease process will be monitored closely over this
period of time
feel lucky since my wife she and i wont have to be guessing
where i am with my disease as we will have objective data
to look at

my close relative with the disease has progressed over the last few
years
for him and his wife and his family and his doctors its harder to
know where he is with his disease and when to have him stop
driving and doing other things that could harm himself and others

with this study the evidence will be there for my wife she and i and
my family to see so we can make those decisions more easily

this study is an important national study that will probably define
how a patient gets evaluated and monitored for alzheimers

now if they could just find a prevention and a treatment of this
disease

have realized that once the diagnosis of alzhiemers is made the
treatment is easy as there is only a few choices and they dont
really affect the course of the disease they just slow down the
symptoms some
the biggest problem in treating alzheimers is a social one
that most people are not ready for
we werent with my mother

as i do each test although usually i may not get a full report i will
know how im doing i will blog on it each time

in late summer i will have back all my genetic and spinal fluid
results and will post them on this blog and will explain what it
all means

hopefully all of this will help someone when they or their family
members get this disease
it will affect you in some way eventually

ROAD TRIP
no its wasnt like the movie road trip
we didnt eat at any restaurants so did not have to worry about
making any waiters mad at me

tried to visit all my siblings except for one sister that ill catch at
another visit
at those visits tried to talk about alzheimers and how it may affect
them and their families
think most of them have had themselves screened since i was
diagnosed and another close relative was diagnosed and since
my mother was diagnosed

they were able to ask questions which i answered as well as i
could answer
feel like i am as up on this disease as anyone
wish i had been this knowledgeable when  i was in practice

the worst part of my visit was visiting a younger close relative
with the disease
it was surreal
i felt like i was looking into the future whenever i sat and looked
at him
just dont know how far behind him i am with my disease process and
when will i be where he is today

i want my wife she and i to be ready to handle this
she and i are trying to get ready

its the caretaker stupid
they are the real ones who suffer with this disease
my close relative and i wont know the difference

BBBBBB
bulls and heat won
think they will be the two to beat in the east
magic needs to win
celtics need to win tonight still think their age will do them in
mavericks dont slip up again

the organicgreen doctor