welcome, article, talk introduction

WELCOME
welcome to this blog if you are new or even if you are a returner
i began this blog about 15 months ago to write about organic
gardening and green living and to write about medical and
health issues
i also added some of the experiences i had in the office and
in previous practices

then 1 year ago my life changed when i was diagnosed with
mild cognitive impairment amnestic type possibly due to
alzheimers disease
i stopped practicing and have changed part of the focus of this
blog to educate people about alzheimers and to chronicle my
story as time goes on

if you would like to catch the essence of this experience read
some of my popular postings that are listed on the right side
of this blog
you can also look at the labels and look up blogs on the topics
listed also on the right side of this blog below the blog archives

follow me on this journey into the future
learn about alzheimers on the way
but also learn about organic green living and
other things that may make you smile or chuckle

welcome

ARTICLE
the article on the interview is suppose to be in the saturday
austin american-statesman
i will post the link when its published

TALK INTRODUCTION
i recently gave a talk to a group of about 50 family doctors last week
on my story and about alzheimers disease
here is the introduction

i want to thank you for allowing me to come here tonight and tell my
story of what happened to me and to talk to you about alzheimers
disease

how many of you have a family member who had or has alzheimers
disease (2/3 raised their hands) and how many of you treat a patient
with alzheimers disease (1/3 raised their hands)

i am coming you tonight from those two perspectives
i am coming to you as a family member whose parents
had alzheimers disease and whose younger brother a year younger than
me has alzheimers disease
i also am coming to you as a family physician who has actually treated
patients with alzheimers disease although i did not do a very good
job

i am also though coming to you tonight from another perspective
i am coming to you tonight as a patient
my diagnosis is mild cognitive impairment amnestic type possibly due
to alzheimers disease

alzheimers disease is a devastating progressive neurological disease
which is fatal and for which there is no cure
alzheimers disease is the 6th leading cause of death in the united states
of the top 10 leading causes of death it is the only one for which there
is no cure and for which the numbers are rapidly increasing

1 in 4 of the females in this room if you live long enough will get
alzheimers disease
1in 10 of the males in this room if you live long enough will get
alzheimers disease

the congress committee  is trying to trim 1.5 trillion dollars out of the
budget over the next 10 years
however
the new cases of alzheimers disease over the next 10 years will offset
that by costing medicare and medicaid 1.5 trillion dollars

there are going to be so many new cases that there will not be enough
neurologists, psychiatrists, memory clinics, and alzheimers research
centers to handle the numbers
so
you family physicians will have to be the ones to take care of  these
new patients
you need to learn to know how to evaluate and treat them
i only wish i could go back and practice again and i would take
care of more of these patients and do the evaluations and treatments
myself

my goal tonight is to tell my story of what has happened to me over the
last year and use that as a vehicle to tell you about alzheimers disease
how to evaluate a patient and what treatments are available
and what new things that i have had done to me that are going to be
available soon to your practices

remember
listen to your patients and their families
diagnose early and treat early
the goal of treatment is to change the angle of decline
dont forget the caretakers

the organicgreen doctor