doing it again

DOING IT AGAIN
tomorrow will be round 2 of 3 rounds of testing that
i have for the alzheimers disease neuroimaging initiative
i have to travel to dallas to have two more tests done
tomorrow
and of course i get to stop at the czech stop and bakery in
west
that town that most americans now know where its located
for the wrong reason
the explosion that killed all those people and injured over a
hundred people

i wont get my kolache tomorrow morning as i have to be fasting for
one of my tests
but
on the way back home to the country n ill be able to stop
and get an afternoon snack of that blueberry cream cheese
kolache
so it wont be too bad and the trip will be worth it then




the first test i have done is the mri scan of the brain
in the study they are interested in the underneath surface
of the brain where memory is located as thats where
alzheimers disease starts at before it takes off to the
rest of the brain later on in the disease process

they can measure the volume of this area to pick up
subtle changes that can occur earlier on in the disease

it is a potential test for detecting early changes and possibly
helping early diagnosis in the future
eg
an abnormal neuropsych test with normal labs and
an abnormal mri scan of that underneath surface of the brain
may be an accurate and cheaper way to diagnosis
alzheimers disease than using the spinal tap and the amyvid
beta amyloid pet scan

i get to get in that cylinder and with ear plugs listen to that whirling
noise that sounds like a freight train for a long time
then they put a red dot on my temple and do a special scan
where i have to keep my eyes open for 7 minutes
i cant help it i have to blink
this is where they are taking special views of that underneath part
of the brain
where they will measure the volume of this area

then the next test
the reason i cant have my morning west kolache
is called the glucose metabolism pet scan of the brain
i have to have a normal blood sugar for them to run the test
so i get a finger stick blood sugar
ouch those things always hurt more than an arm blood draw
if its ok then
they start an iv and infuse a radioactive labeled glucose that will go
to the brain and wherever the brain cells are using glucose
it will show up as reddened hot areas
if there are areas of alzheimers disease
where beta amyloid has accumulated tau protein destruction has occurred
plaques have formed and inflammation and oxidation has occurred then
the damaged brain cells and nerve cells cant utilize the glucose and
the scan will not show glucose uptake

here is an example of a normal brain on the left and a mild alzheimers
brain on the right
on the scan on the right see the areas on the sides where there is not
reddened areas
thats where there is alzheimers disease and none of the glucose
is being absorbed there

hope both my scans are normal
which very early in the disease process like mine they both may be normal

next thursday
the spinal tap for beta amyloid
followed by the beta amyloid pet scan of the brain the amyvid pet scan
then i get a break for a year

the organicgreen doctor