lifespan, rain, wtea etal

LIFESPAN
we all want to know how long we will live
this website will calculate this for you after you answer a
few questions
tell the truth now
it takes about 5 minutes to do
click www.livingto100.com to do the calculation

did it this morning
first i answered all the questions correctly and honestly
honestly
am on medicine to control both my hdl and ldl so i was able to
answer that my hdl is over 45 and my ldl is lower than 100

when the calculations were done my calculated age is 91 years old
then i went back and changed my hdl and ldl to abnormal levels like
they use to be before i took medication and changed my diet and
increased my exercise
luckily for me i hope is that i did this 25 years ago
hopefully that will help me live longer

went back and changed my cholesterol levels to where they use to
be and some of the history of what i use to do with diet and exercise
and the calculation lost several years of life expectancy

was feeling good about all this until i realized that os i probably
have alzheimers disease which is going to mess up all the work
i have been doing to take care of my health over the years
alzheimers disease will probably shorten that life span by
15-20 years

maybe i should have just enjoyed those jalapeno cheeseburgers
with extra cheese and dripping greasy fries and said the heck
with it

(my medical school friend im sure remembers eating those at lunch
time when we rotated at the va hospital)

then realized that maintaining your weight to normal, getting
exercise, eating properly, controlling your blood pressure,
controlling your cholesterol levels, avoiding excessive stress,
getting adequate sleep, not smoking, moderation of alcohol
intake, etc may turn out to be a way to delay or slow down
the onset of alzhiemers and possibly prevent some causes of it

also doing these things may also slow down the progression of
the disease once you do get it

so maybe all that work over 20+ years may help after all
if not then ......

RAIN
ok now they did a rain tease on us here
we were looking at 30-40% rain for labor day weekend
now they threw in only 10% rain for this weekend
they sure know how to make a dry thirsty area feel bad
dont they
bet they threw that in just to make us not feel so bad

looks like hurricane katia is following irenes path
and  a new tropical storm may be headed into the gulf
or are they just teasing us with that one too

my nephew he the one who did not fall into my rainwater
tank going after the limestone rock i accidentally dropped
in there is coming back soon to work on another movie
in this area

(the one he worked on before bernie should be out this fall)

last time he was here we got torrential rains that dumped
10 inches of rain at one point at our house

maybe him coming this fall will be better than a rain dance
or seeding the clouds

have emptied that tank so maybe i can talk him into climbing
down there and getting that large rock out of there
at least he wont get wet doing it

WTEA
walk to end alzhiemers for the central texas area is
saturday october 15, 2011 at 800 am

we need team members and donations for my team
organicgreendoctor.com

click here http:.walktoendalz.kintera.org/austin/organicgreendoctor2
to donate and or join my team
everyone is welcome
donations are appreciated
help us reach our goal of 20 team members and $5000 in donations

the organicgreen doctor

weather, amoeba, faster

WEATHER
dang it was hot here again
it got to 105 degrees here and will be 108 degrees today
man im cooked

looks like the end of the week is looking better here with temps
possibly down in the low to mid 90s
wonder what that will feel like

at 300 am it is 87 degrees
thats really not a good sign for what will happen today when the
sun comes up


hopefully the predicted rain will come this weekend and we will
get some relief
or
we may become a desert here

AMOEBA
this is when it happens every year
the amoeba gets in the water
it occurs in stagnant water especially in lakes ponds rivers and
especially in coves where the water gets warm and stagnant
the e coli bacteria count gets high
the amoeba naegleria fowleri eats the e coli
the higher the e coli counts the higher the amoeba counts

the stories are all the same
some child jumps in this stagnant water and the amoeba enters
the nasal passages
then a few days later fever and headache and symptoms like
the flu occur with progression to a meningitis like picture

the diagnosis is difficult to make and is almost always fatal
it is usually too late when it is finally discovered

have had the misfortune of having one patient with this disease
the diagnosis wasnt made until after the patients death
it was a very tragic effect that was difficult to prevent
the patient eventually died at a tertiary hospital

be careful swimming and diving in these types of water in this
hot dry rainless summer

FASTER
now in texas we get to drive 70 instead of 65 at night
legally
we were all doing it any way
wonder what they will do with all of those thousands of
signs they will remove from the highway
hope they recycle them

my wife she got a warning ticket for driving 70 on the toll
road late at night near here
how come she always gets warning tickets and the men get
the real ticket
aint right

also they who ever they are are looking at allowing
speeds of up to 85 mph
texas autobahn here we come

know that the old farmers around here arent affected by this
law at all
just get behind them when you are in a hurry and youll find out
luckily in texas if there is a shoulder the farmer will usually move
over and let you pass
and give you the friendly country wave

the organicgreen doctor

hotternhell

HOTTERNHELL
well we have finally got there in this area
its hotternhell here now
this weekend it got to 110 degrees on saturday and  to 112 degrees
on sunday and it may get close to that today

when i walk in the pastures around here i feel like im walking on a
bunch of corn flake cereal-crunch, crunch, crunch
the holes in the pastures have now become small canyons

there was an article in the paper recently about these cracks
in the soil
apparently they occur as the soil gets real dry and pulls apart
from itself
then according to the article when the rains come if they ever do
the holes (canyons) fill up with water and as the soil absorbs the
moisture the soil expands and eventually closes itself off

am sure that first inch of rain we get will just disappear and well
never know it was here
heck it so dry that even if it hailed the soil would just absorb those
big rocks of hail and they would not show up at all on the ground
or they would just melt on the way down

a sad picture in the local paper this weekend was of a farmer
feeding a cow who was stuck in the mud of an almost dry
pond bed a bottle of water
despite all the heroic efforts the cow died

there is no hay around here at all
its been shipped from far away from states like nebraska and other
northern states sometimes at 2-3 times the regular price
farmers are selling off their horses and cattle at high rates

even a rare salamander in the local austin barton creek area is
starting to dwindle away and may become extinct
thanks to this salamander many developments that would have
adversely affected the recharging of this creek and the underground
water system that many cities depend on for water were not
allowed to happen
if it dies it has not died in vain and it has kept this water situation
here from being worse

its so hot here that the local fire department went to put out a fire
that starting burning near a neighbourhood and instead of
discovering a spark that ignited it or a chain scrapping on an
asphalt road or a cigarette butt or an arsonist setting the fire
(we know it wasnt lightning) they found that nature had started it

nature had ignited a compost pile that had heated up naturally then
aided by the extreme heat were having it just spontaneously
ignited and burned the area
whoa we could be in trouble if that starts happening with all of the
compost piles we have around here

however there may be some relief here later in the week as we
have a cool spell coming through
guess thats what its called
it will be only in the upper 90s for the end of the week and for
labor day weekend
cool spell who would have thought we would call upper 90s a
cool spell

then goodbye irene
sorry you didnt come this way
then look out jose is right behind you

then tropical depression 12 has formed and seems to be following
irenes path
maybe it can be sucked this way and hit our coast gently please
and dump some rain on us

there also is a forecast of some rain chances at the end of the week
hope they did not put that there to tease us
thats just cruel

we need about 15 inches here though
bet it would not do much as the earth here will just soak it all
up like a big sponge

rain dancers get busy
any help is needed

maybe we could just take that new oil pipeline that is being
built from canada to texas and just plug it into all that water they
have in the upper northern states
bet they could make as much off the water as they would the oil

the organicgreen doctor

big a, stages

BIG A

          x

         x x

        x   x

       x     x

      x       x

     x         x

    xxxxxxxx       

   x             x

  x               x

 x                 x

x                   x

the big a is now replacing the big c 

more americans are beginning to worry about getting 

the big a-alzhiemers than are worried about getting

the big c-cancer

as the big a is the only one of the top ten diseases that 

kills people that you cant do anything to prevent it

this is where the fight against cancer was several years ago

all the childhood leukemia is almost 100% curable now 

so many cancers are caught early now that they can be 

treated and cured or controlled

the awareness of signs and symptoms of cancer are
everywhere for people to read and think about

so the big a is in its infancy compared to the big c

a lot of research is going on to try to identify what really 

causes the big a and what you can do to prevent it

then a lot of research is being done to identify people 

at a younger age who are risk for the big a 

there is a lot of research being done to find treatments 

to prevent this disease and to treat this disease at 

earlier stages (like mine)

the study that i am in in dallas the alzheimers disease
nucleoimaging initiative (adni-2) is a study that is looking at tools
to identify people earlier by following people who dont have the
disease, people real early with the disease, people with slightly
more symptoms with the disease and people with
full blown alzhiemers

it looks at genetic tests, dna and rna analysis, spinal fluid analysis
for tau protein and beta amyloid, pet scans for glucose metabolism,

pet scans for beta amyloid, and neuropsychological exams over 

a period of 5 years

this study will provide a lot of useful data that can be used to 

catch people early and hopefully eventually do something about 

this terrible disease

lets erase or dim the big a 

support your local walk to end alzhiemers at www.alz.org

arkansas at this link

texas at this link

louisiana at this link

california at this link

utah at this link

organicgreendoctor team at this link

remember november is national azheimers month

STAGES
there are 7 stages of alzheimers disease
go to this link to read more

stage 1 is where those of us with the disease were when we had
no symptoms

stage 2 is where i am at
i notice symptoms but other people dont notice them

stage 3 is where pat summitt is at
many at this stage can function well with limitations

stage 4 is where glenn campbell is probably at or he may be late
stage 3
he is about to do a tour for his new album even though he has
the big a

stage 4-5 is where my close relative is at

stage7 is the final stage and is where my mother was at
when she died

these stages give you an idea where your friends or relatives are at
with their disease

be patient with them
help the caretakers

the organicgreen doctor

weather, we got next, lost medical records, fb musing

WEATHER
we have officially become the hottest summer on record
here in central texas
and there seems to be more coming as the next 7 days are
predicted to be 102 degrees or higher
dang 95 is going to seem like a cool spell when it finally
arrives here

have noticed some of the native trees and shrubs deemed the
toughest we have are starting to show the effects of the heat
and drought by yellowing its leaves
less tougher trees are dying much faster

there are fires everyday around here
luckily except for a few they have not been major ones
there is water rationing everywhere
its even stricter here at the country n

there are plans to start rolling power outages in this area soon
this will make things more uncomfortable than they already are

we need rain so

WE GOT NEXT
we got next
hurricane irene is going full blast now towards the east coast
and has little influence on our weather here
we could sure use some of its rain

there is a new tropical storm abrewing out east that may
become a storm in the next 1-2 days

we want that one please
send it our way but in a gentler form please
its our only hope to a break in this awful weather here

we got next

LOST MEDICAL RECORDS
recently a huge number of patients medical records were
accidentally released onto the internet for all to see
those may be lost forever
they are out there for everyone to access
possibly they may not be able to be totally retrieved even if
the breach is closed

in my dealings with the medical systems and insurance systems
over the last 8 months i have realized that my medical records
are zooming all over the internet from universities to research
centers to insurance companies-long term care, disability, and health

each of these companies seem to use other companies to handle
some of the data processing so multiple companies and
organizations are involved with my medical records
they are being mailed, faxed, emailed, and electronically transferred
to be permanently stored in lots of locations

one breach could release all my medical information to  the internet

thats all scary
even though most of what is happening to me medically im putting
in this blog for all to read however

most people dont want their medical information floating around
the internet for google to pick up from a search

FB MUSING
life is like a roll of toilet paper it spins faster as it gets near the end
thanks fb friend

the organicgreen doctor

pat summitt my buddy

PAT SUMMITT MY BUDDY
pat summitt and i have several things in common
we are both from rural areas in the deep south
we are both from poor families
we both have a love for basketball
she just made her living doing it for years

but now we share something we both probably wish
we do not share

alzheimers disease
she was diagnosed with early onset alzheimers disease

watch her video of her announcement on you tube then
read the interview she had
then read my comments

now click on this link and read
this washington post article on pat summitts diagnosis


my comments
when i left my practice i had a difficult time writing a letter to be sent
to all my patients and a letter that was read and given to my fellow
employees and physicians
i could not go there in person to discuss why i left work
even now when i gave my talk to a group about alzheimers i
got teary eyed and had a difficult time talking about it

after watching her video and reading the interview i have a lot of
respect for her in coming forward to discuss this
shes a tough lady and someone who could make this work

her diagnosis appears to be slightly ahead of my diagnosis
the term used for me is mild cognitive impairment amnestic type
hers is called early onset dementia alzheimers disease
there is only a slight difference between the two diagnosis
but not much

she is on medication and most likely that medicine is
aricept (donepezil) as its the medicine used initially when
the diagnosis is made
its the same medicine ive been on for 8 months

she saw dr ronald petersen a well known alzheimers expert at the
mayo clinic alzheimers research center who is one of the
investigators of the study (adni-2) that im enrolled in

she had a spinal tap and may have had spinal analysis for
tau protein and beta amyloid like i had done but hers would
probably be more positive than mine was

she had a neuropsychological exam (the sucky test) that
probably really showed where her deficits were
its a difficult and frustrating test to take if you have a
problem
am sure she was not a fun person to give it too
its a humbling test to have to take if you have a problem
ive been humbled 5 times this year and its the only part
of my evaluation and treatment that i dread

she is using medications and reading and memory games to
help
continuing to work may be one of the best things for her
to do as her job requires a lot of mental exercising to do it well
i think she can do it

she also should control her blood pressure, control her cholesterol,
get regular exercise 5 days a week, take aspirin every day, eat
a low fat mediterranean diet, get appropriate sleep, avoid excessive
stress (not a good job for that), and consider taking supplements
of omega 3 fish oil, folic acid, vitamin d and calcium

but remember the disease just marches on anyway but all this
may slow the symptoms some

if she was a physician like me she would not be able to work
because a lapse of memory could cause serious harm to someone
other occupations that should not work with this diagnosis would be
nurses, truck drivers, bus drivers, air traffic controllers, pilots,
presidents (although reagan im sure was in the early  stages during
his late presidency), or policemen (that was what my close relative
was doing when he was diagnosed)

however occupations such as coaches like pat summitt,  teachers,
professors, clerks, some supervisors, congressmen, construction
workers, landscapers, researchers, news reporters, or
salespersons could probably continue to work with this
early diagnosis

so its good that she plans to stick with it with her job and put a face
on this disease that will make people understand it better

hopefully she will do the walk to end alzheimers in knoxville
tennessee on september 18, 2011

good luck my friend
wish you the best this year
you are a tough lady

the organicgreen doctor

fall garden, tv shortens life

FALL GARDEN
the fall garden is the best time to garden here in central texas
timing is the secret to success
and rainfall

tomatoes, cucumber, squash ,okra, egg plants, peppers should
already be in-however the hot dry weather has made this a real
challenge even for the best gardeners
mine have really struggled so far

i summer my okra, egg plants, and peppers over from the spring
they take off in production as the fall cools off
these are the things you can plant in later september and october
for a successful fall garden
cole crops (usually early october) such as cabbage, broccoli,
brussels sprouts, kale, collards, kohirabi, then radishes, and beans

beets, swiss chard, lettuce, spinach, asian greens, garlic,
and pea can be planted in mid october

you can get quite an assortment of veggies planted in the fall and
they do well without having to battle the heat like we had in the
late spring this year

planting a 4 ft by 8 ft bed can produce quite a few crops for
you this fall

i look forward to planting my fall garden starting next month and
then extending planting into october
many of these will produce well up to the first frost in november
and the cole crops, lettuce, spinash, and beets will usually make it
through the winter here if protected during our cold spells

try the fall winter garden-just hope for cooler temps and rain
its usually the best time to garden here

TV SHORTENS LIVE
for every 60 minutes of tv watching (22 minutes is how many
minutes of commercials are in a 60 minute show) shortens the lifespan by 22
minutes

those who watch over 6 hours of tv a day live 5 years less than
those who dont

smoking one cigarrete  shortens your lifespan by 11 minutes

smoking and watching tv must really be bad for you

its not the tv watching that shortens the lifespan as much as
the lifestyle of some one who watches too much tv
they tend to have poorer eating habits, exercise less, and have
worse healthy lifestyles

wonder if you use a dvr and skip the commercials if it
would make your live longer
i sure hope so

irene irene, school starts, egg, boys

IRENE IRENE
looks like shes not going to come this way
we sure could use some of her moisture here
remember katrina happened about this time of year and
took the path irene is taking but moved across florida into
the gulf and intensified

we dont wont that to happen again we just want some
moisture to our southwest area

this week will be the hottest summer ever where we live
as we have had 60+ days of over 100 degree temperatures
add to that the fact we are about 18 inches behind on our
rain fall this year
we now have the worst drought in this area on record

dont like setting these kind of records

irene irene we need your moisture
maybe one of your siblings could swing our way and
gently drop some rain

SCHOOL STARTS
well the kids are all ready and most of the parents are ready for
school to start
except those with new kindergartners
except those teenagers as shown by their postings on facebook

please be careful driving around the school areas
dont text please or talk on the cell phone in school areas while
driving
here its a big fine and is usually a big embarrassment for you and
your kids-its like riding to school with uncle buck

teachers are ready well most of them
my wife she is ready and her room is ready
its been a good summer
now for a good school year for all
good luck

EGG
its so hot here the chickens have decreased their egg production
so i had to buy some eggs at the store
man i hate to do that
usually this happens only in the cold winter time
so i bought the cheapest eggs i could find
ate it with breakfast this morning
think it was made out of cardboard

now i appreciate all the hard work our girls do to produce those
white, brown or blue eggs
cant wait for fresh ones
now know why those eggs i bought were so cheap

BOYS
except for romos interception i saw a lot of good about the cowboys
granted the chargers looked pretty good themselves
know the boys lost but scores dont mean much in these games
win all the preseason games and youll probably do bad during
the regular season

am so ready for football to start
high school starts this week
college in two weeks
then the pros (mean the nfl not college) start after that

come on man
we need some football

the organicgreen doctor

post exam, storms, duct tape

POST EXAM
did my 8 hour exam yesterday to satisfy the disablility insurance
people even though i had a good evaluation done by a reputible
institution (university of texas medical center memory clinic and
alzheimers research center) which included even more work up
than most people would have been able to get
wasnt enough for them though so they just wanted to torture
me a little more

all if have to say is the exam sucked
especially on the parts i consistently have problems with
i already know what they are and its frustrating to take them
because you know youll not do well on them

the short term memory problems i have are pretty consistent through
all the tests i have done
i think the aricept may have helped some but it did not help 100%
also realize that the aricept is short lived in it effectiveness

(usually some one with mild cognitive impairment amnestic with the
apoe 4/apoe4 alzheimers genotype may have about 3 years of
good benefit before it starts to decline)

these short term memory tests that i have problems with are like
if you walk into a school exam totally unprepared and the material
you totally dont understand and you totally bomb the exam
thats what its like
except
you have to take several just like that
its why i call this the torture test
give me the spinal tap any time

i also did a mmpi tests where you answer over 500 questions
do you hate your mother
do you play with doll
do you hear voices
etc
it is a test for abnormal personality traits
the answer to all of the above questions is no except #2
as i did have 3 sisters so i did play with dolls some
think i probably came out ok on the mmpi test

overall i still noticed i had problems with short term memory that
has persisted over the last 8 months
some of the tests that were done were chosen to check out what i
had noticed as a problem
do realize i have lost a significant part of my math skills
much more than i thought
this may have been the most disturbing portion of the whole
8 hours of exams

now i am on my wife shes level when it comes to math

i now get a months break from all this stuff until mid september
when my wife she and i go up to the alzheimers research center to
do a demonstration video how how to do a mental status evaluation
it will be used for medical school and residency educational purposes

it probably should be shown to most primary care providers also

the funding for this project comes from donations from people
like you to the alzheimers research center

dont forget the walk to end alzhiemers at where you live or to the
walk to end alzhiemers that my team is doing in austin on saturday
october 15, 2011

you can make a general donation, donate to a particular team,
and or join one of the teams

every one is welcome to join my team and donations are appreciated
people have donated $5.00 up to $500
some kids are even donating their piggy banks and money they
have raised for the walk
$100 donation and joining the team gets you a walk to end
alzheimers t shirt

my team site organicgreendoctor.com can be found  at this link
or go to www.alz.org and click on the walk to end alzhiemers logo

cant do it without your help

STORMS
dang it tropical storm 8 is going west into southern mexico
there are two more storms abrewing out east and seem to be
headed our way a little more favourably
we just want one of them to head this way and dump some
rain on us so i can fill up the holes in my pastures and
fill up my rainwater tanks

DUCT TAPE
more uses for duct tape
use to wrap your ankles before sports if needed for support
use it on your finger nails instead of finger nail polish especially if
you want black nails (gothic look)
use it to remove finger nail polish
and this may be the best use ever



have a good weekend

the organicgreen doctor

post cut, the exam, planking doctor

POST CUT
survived the dermatology visit
wasnt too bad
a freeze here and a needle there with a swift swipe of
a razor blade and that ole skin cancer is gone

(my wife she got woozy again when i told her about this
hope she doesnt read this and get fainty again)

now back to those preventative measures
good sun screen
floppy hat to cover face and neck
long sleeve shirts
keep that beard
avoid the heat of the day when the sun rays are the
strongest
not a problem this summer for me
its too dang hot
watch for any new lesions cropping up
if they do get them zapped

dermatologists will always have business wont they

THE EXAM
the hardest part of all of these evaluations i have had and will
have in the future is not the mris or pet scans or the blood
draws or even the spinal tap
its the neuropsychological exams
ive had 4 now in the last year
its like taking an exam where no one can get a hundred
then the parts of the exam on short term memory frustrates me
as it reminds me that yes you do have a problem even though
you arent always noticing it

well today have to get an 8 hour one required by my disability
insurance
they want an independent neuropsychological exam
before they make a decision on my case
(my policy was written so that if i cant do my job as a
family physician then i should be covered)

dont look forward to doing it today but know it has to be done
i get to do another one for the research study in 2 months
then i will get a long break without having to do them

PLANKING DOCTOR
here is the organicgreen doctor planking in his garden

the organicgreen doctor

fires, skin cancer, rash

FIRES
lately around here because of the heat and lack of rain fires
seem to be a daily or weekly occurrence
when i drove to dallas this week there were quite a lot of
areas that had burned around here

when we got back from our wedding journey this summer and
after we heard the story of the fire that burned the peoples
house we stayed at during the wedding we mowed a large area
around our house as a protective barrier
one cigarette onto our pastures would burn all my property
we have had several old hackberry trees die from the drought
also and these would burn easily

the fire would go fast and probably couldnt be stopped before
the fire departments got there
luckily my house sits on a 1 acre enclosed area inside the middle
of my property
we have kept the grass cut low this summer on this 1 acre
(we only cut it once since it was dry as it all went dormant
it is all native grasses)
the rest of the pastures have been allowed since we have been
here to go completely la naturale
i have planted native grasses also in bare spots over the last
few years
so 90% of my property would burn rapidly
this is what use to happen on the prairie before we all got here

near here a fire broke out this week and burned 15 homes and
displaced quite a lot of people
luckily the fire departments acted fast to contain the fire
a few days before a few miles away hundreds of acres were
burned and was eventually contained
luckily no loss of life occurred

what we need is an end to this drought
on a recent walk i stuck my walking stick (thanks jr for the stick)
into one of the cracks in the pasture and the stick went down
3 feet into the ground
that first rain we get will probably disappear down all those
holes

in my pastures there are patches of green stuff growing
everything else is brown and dormant
as i went to a grass seminar recently on native grasses i was
able to identify the grass-it was switchgrass which is a native
grass that is good to have on your property
it got there when i planted the seeds a few years ago
maybe it will spread since the others arent seeding this year

a new storm is brewing in the caribbean
maybe it will head this way and give us some rain
lets go h-------- storm

SKIN CANCER
today i pay the price of sun worshipping a lot during my lifetime
i have a lesion that has popped up on my left cheek that
appears to be an actinic keratosis (a pre cancerous lesion) that
grows from too much sun exposure
if it is this ak (actinic keratosis) it willl be frozen off and be gone

if it has developed further as i have neglected to have it taken care
of for a few months (doctors make bad patients)
then it may have developed into a squamous cell cancer which
will have to be surgically removed
or
it may be a basal cell cancer which is also treated surgically
once it is removed it rarely returns

the one you dont want to get is melanoma
here is a picture of what it may look like



see the brown areas around the edges with the black
areas in the middles
thats what a melanoma looks like
if you have one of this dont sit around and watch it grow
it can metastasise to anywhere in the body
if caught early it can be cured as cured as cancer is cured
if caught later it becomes more difficult to treat

why did i get this lesion on my face
i worship the sun
i have always been an outside person all my life
and have not been a good sun screen person until the
last several years
a lot of damage got done when i was younger that now im
paying for
there probably will be more that will show up as i get older

note: most of the melanomas ive seen in my career were
in young people in their 20s and 30s

so wear a wide brimmed hat
wear long sleeves when possible
use a good suncreen that doesnt sweat off
reapply sunscreen when needed during the day
avoid going outside the hottest times of the day
wear sunglasses
if you get a lesion get it checked
dont do like i did and wait awhile before you get it
taken care of

RASH
videomedicine is the way of the future assisted by skyping
texting and emailing

(i recently was a participant as a patient in a videomedicine project
of the university of texas medical center in dallas using it to do
long distance videoconferencing of a neuropsychological exam
this will be used to do assessments at isolated clinics miles
away from the university)

my wet suitcase sisterinlaw is in central america with her family
something always happens to her every summer when she goes
there
last time she got a bad staph infection in her foot from stepping
on coral or something when surfing
she eventually recovered but was miserable for days with fever
and pain

now this time she got a kidney infection and was running fever
this started the same day she got zapped by a sting ray on the
heel which caused a great amount of pain

after two days of the antibiotic she developed a rash and felt
miserable (again)
so she texted my wife she and later emailed me so i could get
a better history without having to read all that text jargon some
of which i couldnt understand
rsh rd swln fvr nd yur hlp
so i got a good history from her by email
we tried skyping but the connection was bad and i needed a
finer picture to look at
so she texted me a picture of a body part that appeared to be
a thigh
it was the rash that you commonly see in a reaction to antibiotics
she was told to stop the offending antibiotic
take benadryl every 8 hours until she could get into the doctor
in a few hours
and to drink extra fluids to help flush her kidneys well

so this is how we may all communicate to get health care in
the future

i didnt mind doing it for her as i owed her for the wet suitcase story

she eventually went to the er there and got a shot (probably a
steroid shot) and got a new prescription for a new antibiotics
24 hours later she felt much better

austin texas october 15, 2011



the organicgreen doctor

follow up, post view, dry river

FOLLOW UP
met with the neurologist yesterday
reviewed all the testing ive had done
basically i have mild cognitive impairment amnestic type that likely
is from alzheimers disease
as ive written before you cant reach that 100% surety of this diagnosis
while a person is alive

when all my chips are put together the pile of chips imply that
this is what my diagnosis is
so i have to accept this with some degree of uncertainty and
just move on

i will stay on my aricept 10 mg for now and continue to monitor
my situation as we are doing

later this week i will have an 8 hour neuropsychological exam
for my disability insurance company
will blog about that experience on friday if im able to think
after doing all of that

next in september i am doing  a video interview that will be used
for physician education
in october i go back for my adni-2 research followup appointment
no scans or spinal taps this time
they also will reinterview my wife she again at that time

guess i have to be on good behaviour until then

i will continue to take my medications,  eat a good diet, exercise
daily, keep active mentally and keep advocating for alzhiemers
disease

POST VIEW
yesterday i had an interview about my situation (sounds like
tv words)and had pictures taken

these will be used by the university of texas medical center
alzheimers research center newsletter, website, and other
educational venues
will post them when they become available

hopefully some person will read it and become involved in the
research center like i did

good interviewer

DRY RIVER
this weekend i got to do something i will never get to do again
unless this drought we are in doesnt go away

we have a river a quarter of a mile away from us that since we
have lived here has not ever stopped flowing
well now it has stopped flowing

so i decided to walk up the river bed to the highway bridge over
the river
luckily for the remaining fish frogs snakes and animals there are
large pockets of water scattered over the 2 miles that i walked
the river bed
each of these holes had a concentrated number of fish in them
some of them were large
wanted to go home and get my fishing pole to catch some of those
big ones however
i realize that when the rains do come back that those remaining
fish will be the genetic restocking of the river until the next
drought occurs (last time was 50 years ago)
so i left them alone

walking down the river bed was like taking a slow canoe trip
down the river but without the water

you could see where the animals mainly raccoons and deer
had come to the water holes to drink and get food
did not see any hog or mountain lion tracks or human tracks

the bluffs were quite high in places
i did not realize they were that high around here on this river

as i looked up on the bluffs thought about the movie
deliverance
did not hear any banjo music and did not see any pig tracks

there were some places where i had to get off of the river bed
and walk on the banks because there was a full river bed

the water was deep in this area and looked like a small lake
i also realized how deep this river was in places when the
water is flowing

where our dogs usually swims is 5 feet deep
glad i did not wander over there with them
may have fallen into some of those holes

i also realized that there are a lot of good fishing holes
along this river that i should have been fishing

there was a cool breeze blowing down the river bed
cooled by the pools of water
there were birds singing along the way and there were
leaves rustling
along the way i just stopped and took it all in
wont get another chance in my lifetime

you have to seize the moment when it happens

remember that

the organicgreen doctor

recheck, interview, mri, more, almost

RECHECK
today is recheck day with the neurologist i see in dallas
its been 8 months since i started the aricept (donepezil)
i have done ok on this medication except for problems
with sleep
i wake up too early but besides that i am having no significant
side effect to the medication

is the medication working
i dont know but i havent gotten worse in the last 8 months
so if this is alzhiemers disease causing my problems then
the symptoms appear not to have progressed in the last 8 months

(remember aricept (donepezil) doesnt slow the alzhiemers disease
process it only slows the symptoms from the disease and it will
eventually quit working)

only time will tell for sure

INTERVIEW
today i get interviewed about my diagnosis and how i am
approaching this
they want to know about my blogging on this and my desire
to educate people about this disease and how this is all
affecting my wife she and me
the interview will be for the newsletter from the
alzheimers research center
if its available on the internet ill post the link when its available

i also may have an interview in the future with one of the local
tv station this month or next month
will post the link for that when its available also

MRI
didnt think i would get the results of this mri last week but i did
get the report so i can post it
this is the third one i have had in the last 8 months
this mri was normal as were the last 2 that i had done
thats better than abnormal
an mri usually will not be abnormal this early in alzhiemers disease

one of the things they are looking for in this study in a change in
volume of the hippocampus on the undersurface of the brain that
can occur early on in mild cognitive impairment amnestic type due
to alzheimers disease

will have more mris in the future as part of the adni-2 study that
im in over the next 5 years

more as it happens

MORE
this thursday i have to undergo a 8 hour neuropsychological exam
that is being required by the disability insurance company that was
suppose to start paying me in april of this year
(its not only health insurance companies that suck)

even though i have had at least 2 good neuropsychological exams
done in the last year by a reputable institution (university of texas
medical school alzheimers research center) that show i have
short term memory loss
and im seeing a board certified neurologist for this problem and
am on medicine (aricept-donepezil) to slow the disease
symptoms down
they still want an independent neuropsychological exam done

at least the person im seeing is a reputable well liked
neuropsychologist here in austin

will report the experience later
the 3-4 hour exams i had were torture so this 8 hour test will probably
fry my brain
may have to increase my aricept on friday

ALMOST
well we almost have had rain here the last several days
we finally did not have a 100 degree day
the rain gods though are messing with us
they are teasing us with the clouds and the storms just north of us

guess they want us to suffer a little longer
guess since i added underground lines connecting all of my
tanks together that now it wont rain so i can see if they work
or see if they are leaking

its like when if you finally wash your car then it will rain
or if you hang out clothes then it will rain or
if you leave your car windows down to keep the car cool
then it will rain

think its because i did all the work to my rainwater tanks
that the rain gods dont want it to rain

the organicgreen doctor

brain health diet, duct tape, football, wtea

BRAIN HEALTHY DIET
this is from www.alz.org the alzheimers website

the brain needs the right nutrients to function well
the diet that helps diabetes and cholesterol levels and that
increases the blood flow to the brain and is low fat and low
in cholesterol is the best

this combined with physical and mental activity and social
interactions improve brain health

maintain a normal weight
obese middle age people are twice as likely to develop dementia
those who had high cholesterol and high blood pressure have a
6 times increase in dementia

reduce foods high in fat and cholesterol
these foods can clog up your arteries and
is associated with a higher risk of alzheimers disease
a high hdl cholesterol may be protective against alzhiemers disease
use olive oil for cooking or other mono or poly unsaturated fats
bake or grill your food instead of frying it

eat more protective foods
these help lower the risk for heart attack or strokes and may
improve brain health

these dark skinned vegetables and fruits are good
vegetables such as kale beets alfalfa sprouts broccoli
brussel sprouts red bell pepper onion corn and egg plants
fruits such as blueberries (not blue bell ice cream) prunes raisins
black berries raspberries plums oranges red grapes and cherries

all of these are high in antioxidant properties

cold water fish high in omega 3 are holy mackerel, salmon, tuna
halibut and trout

nuts such as pecans peanuts and walnuts are high in vitamin a
an antioxidant

eating green leafy cruciferous vegetables may help also
eating foods high in vitamins e, c, b12 and folate may help to
reduce the risk of alzheimers disease
these food also have trace elements in them

we are like plants that are raised with an organic method of
cultivation as they have more nutrition in them than those
raised nonorganically
we get a greater benefit from getting our vitamins and elements
from eating the right foods than by trying to take supplements

so for alzheimers prevention possibly and for improving your
brain health as well as your blood pressure and cholesterol
and reducing your risk for stroke and heart attacks try following
the above recommendations

there is a genetic component to this alzheimers disease but it
is multifactorial ie has many causes and diet may be part
of the picture

DUCT TAPE
according to a face book friend you can use duct tape to remove
ticks especially seed ticks and chiggers
now there is a good use for duct tape

if you dont know what chiggers are then you are
not from the south or have never been there

FOOTBALL
what little we saw of the starters for the cowboys they
looked ok

dont like the new kick off rule
that needs to be changed quickly
boring boring boring boring

tebow has it
he made some good drives
he completed several good passes
he just looks like he wants to get it done
they need to give him the reins of the broncos and see
if he does have it

cant wait until the real games start

WTEA



october 15 2011 austin texas or your local walk www.alz.org/walk/
donate join a team and walk

the organicgreen doctor

dusty, planking, cowboys football

DUSTY
last week when i was driving back from dallas after getting
my mri i drove twice into an area where there was  a dust storm
with winds and dust that affected the visibility momentarily
can only imagine what a haboob would be like to drive in

wonder if this had anything to do with how dry it is here
some areas in texas have their cotton crop suffering from such
severe dry conditions that are like the dust bowl of the 1930s
maybe well all have to move back to california like they did
in the 1930s

have been collecting rainwater for 8 years now for our drinking
water and this is the first time we have completely ran out of
rainwater
part of that was my fault as i had some of my tanks unplugged from
my system twice when we got 10 inches of rain and when we got
6 inches of rain so if i had been plugged in i probably would not
be out now
live and learn

we did buy water
its cheaper than gas
and should have enough now until we get rain
have improved my guttering and collection system so hopefully this
wont happen again

am encouraged though that with the worst drought in our history
we probably would not have ran out of water if i had not had
things disconnected

just am glad we are not settlers 100 years ago
as so many ponds (tanks in texas) and streams and rivers have
completely dried up here

can see how whole communities could disappear back then

there are two areas forming off the coast of africa that could be
promising
we have a 10% chance of rain here for the next 2 days
they are just trying to make us feel good

PLANKING
this is a picture of the organicgreen doctor planking on the
entry way to our property

COWBOYS FOOTBALL
am so ready for football to start
look forward to the cowboy vs broncos tonight
think the starters on both sides may play a little longer
than in past years

maybe well get a look at tebow also for the broncos
play him or trade him please

the cowboys need to produce this year as last
year they sure didnt except in the end
maybe coach garrett has them all lined out to play well
this year
we went to a practice in the alamodome in san antonio
last week and they all looked pretty rusty
the defense blitzed a lot and was breaking through the
offenses line frequently
romo would have been creamed several time in a real game

hopefully they pull it all together

now bring on the real season and bring on college football
am ready
its too hot to do much else anyway

the organicgreen doctor

eat thin, aint right, fb musing

EAT THIN
from yahoo
here are 5 foods to keep you thin

apple-besides an apple a day keeps the doctor away
it apparently makes you feel full after eating it and has
a lot of fiber in it

almonds-they have a lot of protein and good fat and also
make you feel full after eating them

salmon-is low in calories and has high protein in it

eggs-have a lot of protein
eating them in the morning makes you feel full
of course here at the country n we eat free range organic eggs
which are even tastier and healthier

tomatoes-are tasty, have a lot of fiber, and can make you
fill full and have low calories in them

interesting
i have an apple a day to keep the doctor away, a fresh egg each
morning, a handful of nuts each morning, a tomato every day,
but dont eat that salmon often

guess 4 out of 5 is not bad

AINT RIGHT
this story aint right
its 2 weeks old but everytime i read about it it bothers me
i always think of the movie roadtrip where the guy sends his
waffles back to the kitchen because they did not taste right
that was a mistake
what happened to that waffle before it got back to him was
not pretty

in this area a grocery store chain noticed that their meat department
was missing a lot of meat that just disappeared
the police set up a sting operation and
yep if you watched that movie youll know where the thieves were
putting those packages of meat
yep they had put the packages in their package spot and
walked out of the store with it

the bad thing was they went to some local bbq places and sold
the meat to them at a discount

havent really wanted bbq since i read this story

then a local bbq critic for a magazine said i dont care about where
it came from i care about how they cook it

sorry hes wrong
guess he hasnt seen the movie

FB MUSINGS
i enjoy reading fb musings
people are so witty and some do it consistantly
maybe they should do a fb musing blog
here are some

i take back all those times when i was a kid and did not want
to take my afternoon naps
(benefit of retirement is that now you can take those afternoon naps)

love is when your children think of integrity and fairness they think
of you

how far you go in life depends on you being tender with the young,
compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and
tolerant of the weak and strong
because some day in your life you will be all of these

the organicgreen doctor

whoa, smartgarden, bye feathers, mri, musing

WHOA
whoa that wasnt exciting as the markets dropped down
over 600+ points
wonder what today will bring
hopefully this has scared the bajeevers out of the politicians
so they can start working together to improve things
gridlock in washington is no longer acceptable
next years elections should be interesting
there may be a lot of new faces if congress doesnt get to
work to fix this mess

SMARTGARDEN
have discovered a new website www.smartgardener.com where
you can use it to design plan and monitor your garden
you can design your garden eg i took my garden which is
raised 4ft x 12 ft beds and placed them on the design then
selected what plants to plant this fall and winter
the website then laid out where to plant them
the website also will tell you when to plant everything based on
where you live and
you can get reminders of a to do list for your garden

the choices of plants are from seed companies so i just
selected seeds even though i will use plants to transplant
that i will buy from the nursery eg
swiss chard spinach and lettuce
i have found its easier to plant them from the 4 in pots rather than
dealing with planting from seeds

i have just started playing with it but think i will use it to plan
my gardens over the next year
one thing i have noticed is that i can get more plants into my garden
if i follow their recommended planting design

time will tell if it will work for me

BYE FEATHERS
today we give away one of our roosters
one thing we have learned is that having two roosters will not work
they will eventually have a fight to the death
even though the two roosters we have red and feathers are gentle
roosters and are not not like our rooster larry
we had to use a rooster rake to protect ourselves from him

but one of them has to go so
since feathers is the youngest he has to be the one
he is black large with long feathers on his legs and feet so the name
feathers

i will sneak into the chicken coop when its dark and snatch him
the chickens never put up a fight when we do this
we hang him upside down and place him in a pet carrier
he will be still until we get him to his new destination

where is he going
to a preschool and kindergarten where they have animals and
chickens
feathers will be the only rooster and will have the chickens to
himself-lucky guy

now he wont have to sneak around to visit the girls when red is
not looking

good luck feathers
you lucky guy

MRI
got it done yesterday
thats the third one ive had in 7 mo
am sure my brain is magnetized by now
noticed my metal rimmed glasses now will stay on my face
better now
have to be careful and not get too close to nails and things
as they will attach themselves to my head

the mri was noisy but not too confining
glad i did not have a total body scan though
might have to have xanax for that

next mri in 3 mo

MUSING
a local weatherman posted he wanted his grass green
but just not flammable

the organicgreen doctor

happy anniversary, thanks congress, fb, mri

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY
today is the first anniversary of this blog
it was started one saturday afternoon after my wife she
watched a show on public tv about a women who started
blogging about her life as she was going through a bad time
in her life
her blog caught on and she has now over a million followers

i told my wife she that i had always wanted to do that
so i did my first blog that day
i originally wanted to do it on organic living, green living, medical
topics, life as a family doctor, and other things

little did i know things would change in a few months when i
added alzheimers disease to the list and did less on life as a
family doctor

i have had almost 50000 viewings of my blog in the first year
my most popular blogs have been about my story from last winter
and my most recent posting on the three part blog of my story
final answer

80% of my viewers are from the usa with 20% from foreign
countries with russia, england, germany, and japan as the most
visited from nations

thanks to you the readers of this blog for taking time to read it
at times i find this blog therapeutic to write and always enjoyable to
write

i hope to make you smile each day but also to educate you on
things in this blog

thanks again

THANKS CONGRESS
i also would like to thank congress for getting us into this big
mess that we are in now
we have been downgraded to aa from aaa by s & p
guess our fica scores dropped down also

from fb posting i found this entry if pro and con are opposites
then the opposite of progress is congress

this says it all

whats scary is that we are in much better shape than most
countries and that other countries are buying our bonds even
though they are barely paid any interest because they feel that
their money is safer here in the us than other countries

if they dont do something about this mess i plan to vote against
all incumbents in the next election-thatll show them huh

FB
am so ready for football
went to the cowboy camp on saturday
they didnt look very good
hope things get better
it was nice and cool in the alamodome though

exhibition games start this week
cant wait

MRI
have an mri of the brain today as part of the adni study
during the 5 years of this study i will have 4 of these done

this mri especially looks at the volume of the hippocampus
the hippocampus is on the undersurface of the brain and is
where short term memory occurs
changes in its size occurs in early alzheimers

the organicgreen doctor

the talk, walk to end, fb musings

THE TALK
one of the things i wanted to do when i was diagnosed with
mild cognitive impairment amnestic type was to eventually
start giving talks on alzhiemers disease using my story as
a vehicle to educate people about this alzheimers disease

i wanted to wait until i was stable on my medications and
was through with most of my testing that i needed to do

well now thats all done

i have the unique opportunity of being a family physician who
has treated people with the disease, of being a family member
of family that had or have the disease and now someone who
probably has the disease
(100 % diagnosis only at brain autopsy)

because of this i feel like a have a unique perspective on this
disease as i am and have seen it from all sides
none of it is enjoyable

i gave my first presentation last week
i hope to do more as i have a window of time that i will be able
to do this and communicate my story

i did an one hour skype presentation to a small group in
louisina
i did a 15 minute talk and then allowed the group to ask me
questions about alzheimers
i also threw in some discussion of organic living, green living,
rain water harvesting and solar but the majority of the time
was spent talking about alzhiemers disease
thanks to khh for setting this up

(the big A may be replacing the big C as the disease people
are worrying about
am i going to get it, or my parents or my kids)

i look forward to doing more of these
as i told my story and what happened to me
this allowed me to inform them about alzhiemers disease-
whats coming in the future, whats happening now, how to get
diagnosed, and where to get help

if you or someone you know would like me to give my talk
and answer questions i would be glad to do that
just contact me via facebook or this blog or email

WALK TO END

we need your contributions both financially and in person for the
walk to end alzhiemers locally at www.alz.org where you live or
my team, the organicgreendoctor.com team, in the austin event
in october at this site

please get involved

FB MUSINGS
you know you are from              when blue on white is understood
by all in town
you know you are from              when the store was the gathering
place after the date was over with and the guys all got together
you know you are from              when the boys club was the center
of the summer
you know you are from              when willie can be found sitting
at a table when you go into eat
you know you are from              when the motto is keep it weird
you know you are from              when there is no law enforcement
around or you would have been in trouble all the time

these are some of the places ive lived
some of you will identify the locations im sure

the organicgreen doctor

save water, poop paper, dead yard

SAVE WATER
this hot dry weather brings out the need to conserve our
water
the lakes are low and many cities are rationing the water

ways to save water
-use aerators on faucet heads-they make cut your water usage
from that faucet by 50%
-use shower heads with reduced flow
we added these on our showers that also have a shut off
switch which saves a lot of  water
-can do navy showers
-look for leaky faucets or toilets and replace or fix them
-use low water flush toilets or dual flush or practice-if it yellows
let it mellow if its .......
-wash full loads of laundry
-if buying a new washing machine consider getting one with a
side opening as they usually use less water per load
-fill the dishwasher full before running it and scrape the dishes
well before washing them
-dont run the water when brushing your teeth or shaving
-water your yard thoroughly but only as needed or why not
get rid of some of that grass
(first thing i did when we moved in our house was to kill off
all the saint augustine grass by covering it with black plastic and
replacing it with mulch and landscaping using native plants)
-use drip irrigation where possible
-collect rainwater from your roof (if we ever get rain again)

POOP PAPER
there is a company that makes paper from poo
they use elephant dung and mix it with banana leaves
they can make 25 pages with one dump
now thats recycling

their website is www.poopoopaper.com

DEAD YARD
if part of your yard has died form this heat and drought
use this opportunity to get rid of that grass permanently
why not add a raised square foot garden or do a raised
bed of native plants that are xeric and can almost survive
the drought without watering it at all

one of the toughest plants in my landscape that i never water
is the esperanza or yellow bell
it is a perennial native plant that is green with nice yellow
flowers right now
zexmenia is another one that is standing out in my landscape
again its has not been watered at all
of course there is always the agaves or cacti
no water no fertilizer little pests trouble free plants

the organicgreen doctor