be aware this month

BE AWARE THIS MONTH

this month november is purple month
its alzheimers awareness month

unless you have had your head in the sand the
last few years
you have been hearing and reading a lot about
alzheimers disease

read this blog and you will read a lot about it
for sure
especially on fridays

the article that was in the statesman this last weekend
updating my story with possible alzheimers disease
came out at a good time to start the month off

here is my alzheimers awareness month schedule

today my wife she and i travel to dallas to ut southwestern
where i will have my annual mri of the brain for the
adni study that i am in
they put me in the mri scanner and put a marker on my
temple
they take extra closeups of the hypothalamus area
since thats where alzheimers starts
they then run it through a computer program that analyzes
the size of the hypothalamus comparing it to the previous
ones that i have had five i think
so subtle changes can be detected if the area has shrunken
as thats what happens with alzheimers disease the brain
shrinks like a grape turning into a raisin

now as i enter that mri all confined in that cylinder i
will be reminded of an article posted on the internet
about the lady who has some problems being confined
in that mri machine
warning there is bathroom humor in the article
if that offends you then
dont click here


then this weekend we will be doing the
walk to end alzheimers walk in little rock arkansas
walking with my family and friends on my brothers team
#joe nash
in honor of him and his familys fight with his long
journey with alzheimers
may he rip now


i will do five walks this year
3 i am on the organizing committees
but this one is the one
that bothers me the most when i do the walk


tomorrow sometime while im there
i will pause
and
have a moment of silence
thinking of him


then next monday i will be doing an hour and half
question and answer session on alzheimers to
a group in texas from 10-1130am at the cowan
auditorium in sun city georgetown texas
these i like to do as i let the audience decide what
questions and what direction the session goes

this month at www.austinregionalclinic.com
thats the clinic i use to work for
they will be doing an article for alzheimers awareness month
about me and with quotes from me on alzheimers disease
its not there now but it will be maybe next week

then later this month the texas capital chapter of the
alzheimers association will be posting at their website
and in the media and on social media
a video of myself and three other people affected by
alzheimers disease
when it appears i will post it here and on social media

so lets make this november
a good alzheimers disease awareness month
since
we are all affected in some way

the organicgreen doctor

arbor day

ARBOR DAY

i thought arbor day was arbor day
in april sometimes
then i got a message about arbor day in texas
yea you know since texas thinks its an independent
country
they had to have their own arbor day

well
its not the same day in a lot of states
eg
arkansas its the third monday in march
california its march 7-14
utah its the last friday in april
colorado its the third friday in april
and on it goes from state to state

but
in texas its the first friday in november
huh thats tomorrow
i am writing about it today since tomorrow is
alzheimers day on this blog
thats every friday here

so i am glad that arbor day is in november here
in texas
since this time of the year is the best time to plant
trees in texas

it allows the winter time for the root systems to grow
and allows the trees to get established before that
onslaught of our harsh dry hot summers
the death blow for a lot of trees around here

i have written recently about how to plant a tree
correctly
when i blogged about helping my friend plant his
humongous monterrey or mexican white oak tree
a back breaking event

so i went to www.arborday.org
the website for the arbor day foundation
found the texas site
again thank you arbor day for making this friday in november
texas day

i looked at the 10 trees they would send to you if you
opened a donation with them

thats a burr oak
planted 14 years ago
it will eventually cover all
the front yard




in the 10 oak selections
dont plant around here trees are red oaks pin oaks
scarlet oaks willow oaks
the only one that is a good one is the burr oak
remember we have oak wilt here and it wipes out
red oaks and live oaks

in the 10 tree selection the only one that i would plant
would be the redbud knowing though it would be gone in
15 years

that burr oak the only one i would plant of the group
will last forever

plus these things come as a little slither of a plant
like a twig stretched out long and thin
real fragile

once i ordered some cedars from the texas forest folks
i got about 20 of them little toothpicks
put them in  the ground 10+ years ago as a border in
my front pasture
now they are about 4 ft +- tall
wish now i would have just planted a plant from a pot
and got it all over with

now im glad the arbor day folks are encouraging folks to plant
trees
since we need them to suck all that extra co2 out of the
air
that some folks dont think is a problem
whatever is what i say

best tree choices in this area are
burr oak-got two of these
uh by the way these guys get real real big one day
monterrey or mexican white oak-got 6 of these
cedar elm-got probably 20+ of these
they seem to plant themselves

all are native here
all are disease free
all are drought tolerant
in fact i never water mine
they will outlast you and your kids and their kids

so my recommendation is to make a donation to
the arbor day foundation at www.arborday.org
if  they send you 10 trees
pick the 10 oak trees
chunk all of them but the two burr oaks
pot them up in a pot
and dont be in a hurry to put them in the ground
you have plenty of time to do that
a few years in fact

now i have planted about 20 trees on my 1 acre lot where my
house sits
most are oaks
not counting those cedar trees in the pastures

three things i have noticed are
there are a ton more birds and animal life around here now
my house stays much cooler in the summer
and
when i take a deep deep breath it just seems the air
is cleaner and more crisp
or
is that my imagination

plant a tree today

the organicgreen doctor

euthanasia

EUTHANASIA
euthanasia is ending a life intentionally to end pain
and suffering
we all know what it means

many of us have euthanized pets before
in some areas they simply use a gunshot to the head
but most probably use vet assisted euthanasia

and i think we all feel ok with pet euthanasia
it hard but we know the time has come when
the suffering outweighs the living
my wife she has held pets while they slowly
fall asleep
peacefully

like most of us want to go with family and friends
around us


amsj.com

in humans it seems to be more sensitive
i watched the story of brittany maynard closely
before she euthanized herself
or as it called assisted suicide
legal in oregon
but practiced everywhere else but its not ever really
discussed openly
if you are in the medical field and have been around
dying terminal cases you know what i am talking about

have i seen it probably
have i participated probably
after all there are different degrees of this
an elderly person debilitated and severely involved with a terminal
diseae like eg alzheimers disease
pneumonia is allowed to progress untreated
food and water is withdrawn
chemo is stopped
all meds are stopped

when i looked at brittany maynard and when i look at cases
like this
i picture her being my daughter my daughter in law my grand
daughter my niece
and then i say
what would i do or want done or what would i say if asked
should she have this done

there is a point of no return in diseases
that when its reached
then its time or its ok to let go or to help

the problem is when is that time
was she there
she thought so
she went out on her own terms

now ive seen these stories about euthanasia in the past
and
seen folks who euthanized themselves
and
to me they did not seem at that point

finding that point that sweet spot
is the essence of all of this
when it becomes a feel good thing the right thing
everyone involved feels ok with it
that may have been with brittanys case

i do think about this a lot
doing euthanasia
and
i have no problem with it personally

since if i have alzheimers disease then i have a terminal
illness that will eventually get to that sweet spot
but
will i be able to know when that time has arrived
will i be able to make that decision
i am afraid thats not the way this disease works
i dont want to go before i have eked out ever;y second
of being with my wife she my sons my daughterinlaws
my future granddaughter
but
when i have maxed out my time here
then
i want to go

i would if i could follow in the footsteps of brittany
and
want my family to feel good about it
feel good about the life i lead
ok sorry i fell asleep on yall all the time
but it could have done worse
but
i also dont want to put that burden that decision totally
on them
how to get prepared this far out is difficult
but
i dont want to wait too long
and
i want to be able to be involved
with finding that sweet spot
like finding that perfect sunrise or perfect sunset

for now
the best i can do is a living will with definite things written
like
no ivs
no feeding tube do that to me and i hope you rot in hades
no cpr no ventilation tubes again if you do that to me
i will haunt you for as long as you live
stop all my meds please
and
let me go since i want be able to make you stop doing those things
to me
or
lets just move to oregon

the organicgreen doctor