alzheimers news-this is the one

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-THIS IS THE ONE

as we were driving up to dallas from the country n
early on tuesday morning
on our way to do more testing for the
aducanumab study
i turned to my wife she
who is along with me on this journey
i said
this is the one for me there might not be another one

now
i keep up with all the research thats going on
let me tell you
there is a lot thats happening in alzheimers research
yes there should be more
we need more funding

for those of you who are programmed to get alzheimers disease
yes
soon
in the next few years whether or not you will get it
well
you will be able to be identified via testing most likely
blood tests
that will tell you
well you got it

however
if you are 50 or under there will be treatment available
to slow it down or stop it in its tracks
maybe

if we are lucky
this will happen sooner for those who are older than that

so for my younger relatives behind me
nephews nieces kids maybe siblings but definitely the grand ones
there will be something that can be done

now back to the present
for me
this study
the aducanumab study
is my hope for a treatment to slow it down or stop it

as i look back to whats happening in the research
i realize that for me there is not another one out there
that will be here now to help me
since
the clock is ticking

if this progresses too far there is and never will be anything
that will stop that amyloid and tau thats accumulated
and caused destruction
this all happens before symptoms worsen
so
when symptoms worsen
you know its really too late

so
thats where i am at
i am on the verge
i need something now to stop and slow its down

so
i underwent the next to last hurtle this tuesday
we spent 5 hour there again at the alzheimers research center
doing
memory tests
having my wife she interviewed again
then
getting an hour long mri of the brain
that follows the research protocol for this study

why
i asked why do i have to keep my eyes open for 30 minutes
oh he said
thats for a functional mri
opening the eyes
makes the brain to start working more
so the mri can look at the active brain
im sure they were concentrating on the hippocampal area
since thats where the disease starts
and
where it gets the worse first

now i wont get the official reading on any of these
all i will hear is
you passed
you failed

if i pass then i go to the amyvid pet scan which identifies the
bad beta amyloid that has accumualted up there
heres the link to tuesdays blog with the scan pictures from the
nature magazines article

if i flunk it ie i have something else going on up there like
a small stroke or tumor or mass or swelling etc
then im out
there for me will not be another chance to stop it this early

if i do progress to the amyvid pet scan
if its positive
i am in
thats bad news but also real good news

it also means i definitely have it
ie
alzheimers disease

if it is negative
well thats good news too
i dont have alzheimers disease

so if i make it to the amyvid pet scan
well
no matter what that one shows
it will be good news

so as we were leaving the radiology department
my wife she and i stood in front of this
chihuly statue that is two stories high
worth a million dollars
we were both thinking about all this
knowing
we are about to start the beginning of
a new journey together

for better or for worse

the organicgreen doctor

country n news-late winter plantings

COUNTRY N NEWS-LATE WINTER PLANTINGS

we just finished this week eating our onions from last year
we planted them in mid january 2016
we harvested them in late april 2016
we hung them like onion chimes in our garage
we ate them gradually over the months since

well
if you havent done it yet its time to plant them again
i planted ours about 2 weeks ago
sometimes i wait unitl the end of january
but since its been so warm mostly this winter
i planted them early this year

heck we just had our first peach bloom this week
not good
the blooms will probably freeze
one year i wrapped it good with row cover
put in a warming lamp
it kept them from freezing
even when we got down in the 20s
but
this year ive decided to put my efforts elsewhere

so for my onions
i prep my raised beds
making sure i dont plant where i dd the last 2 years
so
i rotate all my crops

i rake off all the mulch and debris on the bed
i add 3-4 inches of my country n compost
that our chickens make from the leaves some of
you give me
then
i use a garden fork
drive it into the bed
work in back and forth
this allows the compost and fertilizers to get a little deeper
then
i add an organic fertilizer
i use either ladybug 8-2-4 or medinas growing green
both are good ones to use
then
i add a dusting of cottonseed meal
which provides a quick access to nitrogen when the onions
start to grow
then
i add a slight dusting of stuff called rocket fuel
from gardenville
it has a lot of minerals etc the plants need
last year i planted purple hull peas in this spot
so i cut off the plants at the ground so they would
breakdown and leave the minerals stored in their roots
for the onions to use
then
i soaked the bed good with liquid molasses
which provides food for the good organisms in the soil
then
i covered the bed good with a layer of leaves for
mulch
this was allowed to sit for a few weeks to cure

so on onion planting day
i raked off all the leaves
the onions plants i use are 1015s
they well have an almost sweet taste
and
they dont burn my eyes when i cut them

i plant the onions down about an inch or two
one hook em horn sign apart which is about 6 inches
then
i water them in well

i fertilize them about once a month until they seem
to quit growing

we pull the smaller green onions as we need them

we harvest them in late april or may whenever there
stalks fall over

this produces some hand sized sweet tasting non eye burning
onions

then
its also time to plant your potatoes around here
i use red lasotas since they seem to grow well here
at the country n

i use the same bed prep as above for the onion bed
i dig an 8 inch deep trench
in our beds which are 3 ft wide
i make two rows about a foot or so apart
i use uncut potatoes
i never mess with cutting the potatoes and dusting with sulfur
its too much work
i just get the smaller ones and junk them in the hole
scattered 1 foot apart
i put down my organic fertilizer in the trench between the
potatoes
i cover the potatoes with just a few inches of dirt
then
as the plant grows out of the dirt
i keep it covered up
this mounding technique produces more potatoes

each potato will produce about 8-10 potatoes
i planted 22 potatoes
you can do the math

i fertilize them about once a month with my organic fertilizer

they are harvested in later april or may whenever the plants
above the ground start to die

we pick new potatoes when they are smaller
in fact i tend to harvest about a third of them this way
since like the green onions i just cant wait to eat them

then
yesterday i bought my tomatoes
warning dont even try to get tomatoes and plant them
around here right now

this year
i bought i gallon containers of tomatoes
i plan to transplant them to 3 or 5 gallon pots
keep them in my small greenhouse
putting them outside when the days are warm
otherwise keeping them in the greenhouse when
its cold running a heater with a thermostat

i plan on not planting them into the ground until late march
seeing if i can avoid that freeze that seems to kill mine
off each year

oh
for that first early tomato

the organicgreen doctor

vetting

VETTING
a few years ago when i first saw this word
i didnt know what it meant

i saw vetting
so i thought it was
about a group of folks usually guys that got together
as a club
a vet club ie a corvette club
that went on rides like in the hill country on the weekend
ie
vetting

like the bmw club does
riding their beamers across the hill country
i guess they are beaming

then i realized they were talking about
checking political candidates or appointees
to make sure they didnt have bad things in their past
that would keep them from serving

then
later i heard the word vetting in regards to immigrants
coming to the us

in fact
when we watched the movie brooklyn
she had to be vetted to come to the us
then
when she had to go through ellis island
even though she had all her paperwork done
she still was scrutinized on how she looked and acted

now
i dont know what extreme vetting is
i personally feel uncomfortable when i hear or read
that word
extreme
it means someone has gone too far


theatlantic.com

so a relative of mine which obviously i dont agree with
politically
did a posting about this
i never ever respond to views that i dont agree with
rarely in fact do i respond to views i do agree with
i dont usually even read either view in fact

however this person and their siblings we have a special affection
for which developed over the years
i have only responded a few time before to an opposite view posting

that was to ones that my best friends son posted
now my best friend and i dont agree on politics
nor does his son
but
we have a healthy respectful bantering back and forth
sometimes usually with some humor involved
it usually elicits a smile im sure in both of us

so this relative i responded to
i did only because of this affection and bantor respectful
i wanted to elicit

so back to vetting

i have no problem with vetting
i have no problem calling folks who we want to stop coming
to the us radical islamists or radical muslims
yes i dont mind being politically incorrect
they are muslims they are radical

now
in the us
we have radical christians
extreme there is that word again right wing radical folks
many christian in origin
the most well known is the group
ku klux klan

several years ago my grandfather
the relative i responded to that would be their great great grandfather
told the story
of the klu klux klan raiding a black family there in
southern arkansas
a nearby neighbor
burning their home
taking the head of the household
stringing him up and hanging him until he was dead

that is radical christianity at its worse

to me they and the radical islamist are the same

now my opinions were helped shaped by
having many of my patients be first and second generation
immigrants
most of them muslims
none of them radical muslims
all hard working and respectful
having worked side by side with colleagues who were in
the same category
we shared the same clinic we shared patients
having worked with these families through all kinds
of adversity like cancer heart attacks deaths
but
also good times like births graduations job promotions

so when you have a lot of exposure to these folks
you see what quality of folks we are letting come here
you dont fear or feel uncomfortable over the issue

so again back to vetting
i saw the picture of the planes crashing into the towers
yes
those folks were radical islamists
they were from saudia arabia
they obviously werent vetted correctly
blame that on previous republican and democratic administrations

they should have been vetted maybe not extremely
but aggressively i would agree
not based on their religion
but
on their ideology which they use religion incorrectly
as a basis for their beliefs
much like the radical christians did in the us

so vet them and vet them hard
then
let them in
like all our relatives were when they came to america
very few of us are not from immigrant countries

i would hope all of us would agree on this
no matter what our beliefs are

so
now back to that picture
if we the us government had vetted those folks correctly
this tragedy may not have happened

but
when you do it
you have to do it with compassion and make it legal
not base it on religion

that
folks
is protected by the constitution
it trumps all other laws

so when i banter with you
i am doing it out of affection
not for disrespect for your opinion

no
i dont agree with it
but
i do agree with your right to do so
and
would defend that right just like i would for those who
agree with my opinion

the organicgreen doctor