alzheimers news-talk and walk

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-TALK AND WALK

this last week ended with an alzheimers weekend

it started with a talk to a group of about 20 people
i gave them a talk on
alzheimers disease
my story
clinical studies

this is an exciting time for alzheimers research
first the federal government looks like it will
pour in about 1 billion dollars a year into
alzheimers research

it costs $287,000 to care for an alzheimers patient in their
last 5 years
thats a lot of money for just one person
but
there are 5 million folks with the disease in the us
do the math on how much will be spent on these folks
it will be more than cancer patients and heart patients

so
a little money spent to help find effective treatments
seems like a good investment

i always tell
my personal story
and
my familys story with
alzheimers

putting a personal spin on these talks
seems to make the audience more tuned in to what i am
saying

i end my talks with what the new treatment studies are
that are going on
the new game changers in the fight to end alzheimers

yes
they might be here now
just months away from approval


i end my talk with all the healthy things a person should
be doing to fight this disease

then
i answer question after question from folks on alzheimers disease
they just want answers
but
like i say
sometimes sometimes there are no answers
just questions
but
i hope in my talks i am able to provide some answers
some comfort maybe

this weekend my wife she and i went to an alzheimers walk
in little rock arkansas
to walk with my younger brothers family
as they walk to remember him for his fight with this disease

i must say the opening ceremony
when each family raises one of these flowers in the air
the wind off the arkansas river spinning these flower petals
each petal sometimes with names on them
i know our family has too many petals on our flowers

as the flowers are raised
all spinning for those lost and those affected
lots of tears are shed
a moment of silence where you can hear
hundreds of these flowers
spinning
their petals
in rememberence of those lost

i felt chills go down my spine to my feet
tears just rolled down my cheek
but
i know that we are close to finding
a
treatment
maybe
a
cure

the organicgreen doctor

country n news-flare em

COUNTRY N NEWS-FLARE EM

when i do the landscape at the habitat for humanity houses
i try to do what i can to make trees better
make the landscape
well function for the homeowner the best i can
since i have limited funds to do the landscape
plus
i try to get to know the homeowner to decide how much
landscape do they want to manage

some want the minimal done to the landscape
so
thats usually based on the cities requirement
3-4 shrubs
at least one 4 inch approved tree like a cedar elm or oak
sod in the front

so
sometimes thats all we have money to do
so thats all we can do

on this house
the old house was burned
the remaining slab was removed

the fire damaged the 3 live oaks on the property
of
course building the houses are rough on trees that are
already on site

so
i protected them well with boards
so boards and machines wont be banging the bark and limbs
i also trimmed up the trees to open up the canopy
trying to predict which limbs would not interfere with
construction
and
be a source of nuisance for the new homeowner

i also removed any damaged limbs from the fire
it looks like even though the tree itself was damaged some
they will survive ok

i also went ahead and added a layer of compost
in the drip line as well as a sprinkling of
organic fertilizer to help these trees
neglected for years it looked like

during construciton a lot of soil was dug up
piled up
so i noticed that over the time of construction
that a lot of soil had piled up around the trunk
of the trees
a lot of it was there before construction started

so now that we are through with the outside construction
i removed all the protective barriers
gently raked off all the soil around the trees

there is a thing called a root flare that should be showing
on trees
planted too deep a tree will have its lower bark underground
which
allows it to rot and permanently damage the tree
stunting its growth
now
these poor old live oaks were already fighting a
battle from
having being fire damaged
having roots cut during construction
having its  drip line walked on and driven on
for weeks

they didnt need the added stress of having their
root flares all covered up

so i went to work
gently removing all the piled up dirt from the tree trunk
one tree had a foot of dirt piled up
yes there was some damage done to the bark
but
it should do ok
thank goodness

i added a thick 4 inch ring of mulch around the tree
leaving the root flare and roots exposed

here is what it should look like
if a tree is planted correctly
this allows for the maximum growing environment for
these trees

now take a look at the base of your trees
can you see the flare of the trunk as it enters the ground
or
does your tree look like a straight pencil in the ground

maybe you should consider gently digging out that flare
and roots
so your trees can breathe

flare em out i say


i will be the featured speaker today
at an alzheimers disease and dementia conference
at baylor scott and white sun city clinic
4945 williams drive georgetown texas
from 430-630 pm
i will speak for about 45 minutes then will answer questions
from the audience for the rest of the time
the public is invited

the organicgreen doctor

just do what is right

JUST DO WHAT IS RIGHT
when people complain
to me about the government
i say did you vote
if they say no
then
i say
talk to the hand

around here there is
a democratic county
and
a republican county
they sit side by side
its always for years been that way
of course demographics is changing that some

the amount of people who have early voted
is twice what it was so far than in previous elections

it looks like around here and in texas and around the country
i wont have to raise my hand much


each morning i read news headlines
spending almost an hour
reading articles on the news
sports politics medicine economics etc

so this morning
i spent about that hour looking for a good article
on this one topic
there was a lot of election stuff polling stuff entertainment stuff
sports finance medicine and health
but
nope
no where did i see an article on this story


cnn.com
so
i googled it
califronia national guard paying back bonuses

to me that was and should have been the top story
in the news
its a disgrace
its nonpartisan
at least it looks that way since both sides are ticked off about it
thank goodness its election time
so
they might do whats right

california national guard folks were promised bonuses
to reenlist or to make another tour to the middle east
bonuses of $20,000+-

they went
they served
some got purple hearts
some im sure got permanent injuries
serving our country

then they find out
we want the money back
pay up or well come and get it from you

some national guard folks illegally promised the bonuses
now uncle sam wants their money back

all i can say
is wrong
dont you dare do it
if they do we need to all join together as democrats republicans independents
to vote them out of office

it seems there is momentum growing to forgive the bonuses
sounds wrong doesnt it
forgive the bonuses

we and they need to just do whats right

now this is really whats wrong with our government

the organicgreen doctor

dear ms b-gma got beed

DEAR MS B-GMA GOT BEED

last may we harvested our first honey
during the harvest
a visiting dog got to meet a bee
right on his snout

here is the account of that encounter
titled
bouncer and the bee

i still smile and laugh reading it
remembering what it all looked like that day

well i guess i could have titled this blog
gma and the bees
thats bees not bee

we looked at our schedule for the next few weeks
so
i told my wife she thats gma
we had better do this today
since
we have too much going on to wait

we need to harvest the honey before it
gets too cold
we dont want to be opening up the beehive
in cold weather

ok
they told me in my class
dont open the hive
when its
windy
cloudy
when they all the bees are inside
cuz
they well they will get real teed off

all i can say
whad you learn

i got all dressed up ready to go
my assistant your gma
well she wouldnt answer the phone in the house
what the heck is she doing in there

finally out she came
she had put on vinyl gloves under her work gloves
last time
didnt she use those real good surgical gloves we were given
that are thick
you were rushing me she said

now last time a bee got up her sleeve
no it wasnt as funny as when the bee met bouncer
i finally sacrificed the bee that day

so this time
yes we used duct tape
to seal off her sleeves and her socks
no bees gonna get in there

gmas job was to stand away about 20 ft
as i harvested the honey
i would walk the honeycomb over
cut it off after brushing off the bees
dropping it in a plastic tub with a cover

simple
well its never simple

as i smoked the bees and started opening up the hives
they seemed loud
teed off loud

thank goodness i thought to myself
i am all protected

i looked over at gma
there she was in her bee suit jacket
with those red work gloves
sort of glowing against the white bee suit

next thing i know
all i can say is think
a human bouncer meets the bees

there was gma
sorry im laughing and crying so much i cant hardly
write anything

there was gma
all i can think of is
a baby bird flapping its small wings trying to fly
but not being able to get off the ground

those beed red wings of gma was aflapping aflapping
so fast they were a blur
i cant write what she said

she was fluttering around and around
well like a chicken with its head cut off
then
she just disappeared somewhere
leaving me
with all that honey to harvest

later she returned to
haul the wagon of honey back towards the house
still aflapping those red wings

she looked like that peanut character that has all
that dust blowing around him
except
gmas dust was all bees

now i didnt get stung at all
but
gma got stung a lot on her hands
lets just say can you say
lobster hands
she even had to take off her ring it was so tight

me
my hands look fine

however
as i was processing the honey inside
barefooted i was
a honey soaked bee fell on the top of my foot
zappo
she got me good

ok
so i tried to fly like gma it hurt so bad
like bouncer bounced that day

but
both gma and i both agree though

its all worth it

bee good today ms b
well get some of this rich dark honey to you

the organicgreen doctor

habitat for humanity gardening

HABITAT FOR HUMANITY GARDENING
over the last few years while volunteering
at the williamson county habitat for humanity house builds
i have put in an organic square foot raised garden
for the home owners interested in having a garden

not all of the owners expressed interest
but
if they do
as we build the houses i scrounge around
for left over boards that are appropriate
cedar ones are the best
sometimes i am able to accumulate enough concrete blocks
that i find left at the construction sites
or
sometimes they are just given to me to use


this is the first one i did on the first house i worked on
its a single mom with two kids
i wish i had a garden to grow fresh vegetables
well she spoke to the right person
luckily for her

i had left over cedar boards that i had saved
so
i built a frame
filled it with the best organic garden soil all ready to go
with everything in it like compost fertilizer minerals
ready to plant it is

in this one i added a central composter
i quit doing that since i found a lot of the folks
werent using it much
so it allows another plant to be planted
this garden has 16 one ft squares to plant in

now i give them a list of things to plant in the spring
and
then a list for the fall

all they have to do is add compost and an organic fertilizer
plant the garden
keep it watered


this is the next one i planted
again scrounging some cedar boards
adding a central composter
the owner is a single mom with 2 kiddos
her mother is a gardener so i knew the garden would be
in good hands


another one i did was for a single mom with a son
i had accumulated a lot of concrete blocks so i made
this one for her
i also was given two rainwater tanks for her to use
for water for the garden
she was proud and her young son was a happy camper
having never gardened before

then this last house
a fellow worker volunteer
said they sure would like a garden
so i asked the young couple with two kids
yes they seemed excited to get a garden

so
as we built the house
they had these two big ole 2x12 boards that were slightly warped
that couldnt be used on the house
so
i dug it out of the trash trailer
to make this
5 ft x 3 ft raised square foot garden
with
15 one foot squares
one i had already planted with a juliet tomato that i planted
in a pot back in early july
this juliet this weekend was loaded with green juliet tomatoes
if warm weather holds up this next month
they should get some fresh tomatoes

myself the husband the wife the two kiddos
then planted their garden this weekend
it was cold but the kiddos were out there all excited
to plant their garden
having never done this before

we planted
sweet peas  4 broccoli  4 strawberries
carrots  lettuce  spinach covering 6 one foot squares
i talked them into planting a swiss chard
since its an almost full proof plant for beginners
recommending they keep it cut back using smaller
leaves for their salads
leaving a few squares left for them to plant other
things or more lettuce or spinach

now i recommend they cut the spinach and lettuce
with scissors when they get larger
leaving a 2 inch or so stub so they will regrow
you can get weeks of lettuce and spinach this way

so
today
at the newest house
the owner said to me
wish i had a garden
so i will use concrete blocks that i have accumulated
over time
to build the frame of the garden

hopefully another habitat home owner will be able to
walk out their back door
to pull up fresh veggies

makes it worthwhile
it does

the organicgreen doctor

alzheimers news-it works on mice

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-IT WORKS ON MICE

yesterday i stood and answered questions from several folks
for about an hour and a half
this is the favorite presentation that i do
no slides
no handouts
no board to write on
just
me standing up there
telling briefly my story
getting the folks in the audience to ask me questions

i am surprised that folks arent aware more of
what causes alzheimers disease
what you can do to prevent or slow it down in your family
what exciting research is out there
that may bring us that treatment drug
finally

usually at these events there is usually a lot of wet eyes
as they talk or ask questions about alzheimers
and their loved ones

there just needs to be an education class
for folks when their family member gets diagnosed
you know like
when you get diagnosed with diabetes
you go to all those classes
explaining diabetes
esplaining what to eat how to exercise etc

well so should that be with alzheimers
an education class for alzheimers

maybe
ill start one

usually in the audience there is always at least one person
usually there are more
that is or is becoming an
isolated caregiver
looking sort of overwhelmed

there was one yesterday
she was linked up with caregiver groups
she was linked with the research center where i go
her husband probably qualifies for the study i am
trying to get into

yes
like my wife she says
education is a good thing

so we need it for alzheimers

i saw an article recently on this
can a cancer drug reverse parkinsons and dementia


there is a cancer drug that is used for leukemia
its approved by the fda already for it use

researchers at georgetown university gave it to mice who had alzheimers
yes mice get alzheimers
they the scientists put the alzheimers gene in the mices brains
it makes beta amyloid which accumulates
they all get alzheimers disease

the drug works by turning on the garbage cells in the brain
to clean up any rogue proteins in the brain
like beta amyloid thought to be the culprit in alzheimers disease

eg
the study i am trying to get in with the adu drug
aducanumab
was given to these mice
the beta amyloid a lot of it got cleared from the brain
the mice got better
next step
humans
it seemed to work in those first studied
next step
hopefully me

so these mice studies are important
the cancer drug is called
nilotinib

when given to parkinson patients they got better

now the georgetown researchers plan to give it to alzheimers patients
in a study

if it really works its already available legally
all will need to happen is to have a doctor order it

maybe hopefully it will work
im game

the organicgreen doctor

country n news-eat what you sow

COUNTRY N NEWS-EAT WHAT YOU SOW

thats what we do around here
in our country n garden

here is a dish of veggies that i grilled this last week
no i didnt got to the grocery store to buy them
there are no prepackaged treated veggies in here

all of these ingredients
all organically grown
sure to be chemical free
most just pulled from the country n garden
well except for the green beans onions garlic
the green beans were frozen from this springs harvest
otherwise
all fresh ingredients
true
farm to fork meal

ingredients
olive oil
ms dash original seasoning blend
some crushed pepper


onions from this springs garden
i have them in the onion chimes hanging in our garage

bell peppers i planted this spring
summered over
now exploding in production

jalopeno peppers and poblano peppers
summered over also

egg plant planted this spring
summered over now bursting with production

okra lots of okra
clemson spineless and red german okras

malibar spinach that grows on a vine
the hotter the weather the better it likes it
providing spinach for salads casseroles grilling
all summer and fall

garlic from the spring harvest
some i just replanted this last week
to be harvested next april

rosemary plucked from the plant by our front door

green and red tomatoes

from a juliet tomato that just popped up
when i planted my citrus tree this spring
that nature shes good
this plant has provided us months of fresh tomatoes

so
the country n
is
the farm to fork place

the organicgreen doctor

alzheimers news- much adu

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-MUCH ADU

i am hoping that the following is a
game changer
for myself my siblings
and
all those infected with alzheimers disease
for all those who will be infected with alzheimers

if you have not read my recent blog titled its time
then consider reading it first before preceding further

the amyloid theory for alzheimers is that beta amyloid
accumulation in the brain causes alzheimers disease
if you remove the beta amyloid
alzheimers is controlled or if we are lucky cured

now enter 2016
there are now drugs that do this are being studied right now
to see if they work

if they do
they could be approved by the fda in 2-3 years
maybe sooner

so
since i have mild cognitive impairment amnestic type
the precursor to alzheimers disease
i may be a good candidate for this drug

in theory
if i take one of these drugs
if it works
my disease will be stopped in its tracks
maybe prevented
maybe controlled

in the next 5 years we will know if this stuff really
does what it suppose to do

so
yesterday my wife she and i got up at 500 am
made the 3.5 hour drive to
the alzheimers disease center at the
university of texas southwestern medical school
to
do my annual evaluation there
but
also
to get more information about a new treatment study
on patients with my diagnosis
mild cognitive impairments amnestic type
and
those with positive amyvid pet scans showing the bad
bad beta amyloid in the brain
the hallmark of alzheimers disease

we met with the head of the department there
with the research director who is running this new study

this new drug is called aducanumab
for short i call it the adu drug

this is what i called an alzheimers vaccine
it is an antibody that will be given as a monthly infusion
lasting an hour for maybe up to 180 weeks

in theory it goes into the brain removing the beta amyloid
from the brain and spinal fluid
if this works two things would be noticed

one
the amount of beta amyloid in the brain gets decreased
so you can see on the amyvid pet scan the marked decrease

two
a persons memory gets better or stays the same
it doesnt worsen
im hoping for the gets better version

now
in phase 1 studies of the adu drug
thats what happened
the amyvid scans got better
folks memory improved

so the company biogene skipped over phase 2 studies
directly to phase 3 studies

after 18 months if this stuff seems to work
the company will apply for fda approval

alzheimers drugs like some cancer drugs get fast track approval
by the fda
it could be available for the general population in 2-5 years

so what i just wrote is
there is a drug that may treat actually treat alzheimers disease

not like aricept which only treats symptoms not the disease
its probably one of the reasons i am better
but i know that effect will eventually end

that this new drug may be available in two years

so pay attention if you are at risk for this disease
it probably will be used eventually in folks
that
do not have symptoms yet
like
my siblings and relatives
and
yours

at ut southwestern they will be signing up 20 people for this study
lucky for me is that i am the first person they will be signing up

so
yesterday
i did some of the initial medical history stuff
got a neurological history and physical by the head of the department
got a memory test

like i told the examiner the memory test i hate the most
not the scans not the blood draws not the spinal taps not the infusions

so
i was given the 25 page consent form to review
i decided there is nothing in that form that will prevent me from doing this
it will take 33 trips to ut southwestern over 180 weeks to get this all done

next
i will do more medical history stuff
do more memory testing
they draw 240 ml thats about 50 tsps of blood
then
thats all submitted

if i pass those tests
then i do a mri maybe another spinal tap
my previous mris are normal
my previous spinal tap shows a decreased beta amyloid with low tau protein
the hall mark sign of alzheimers disease
then
the test that i have been waiting for
the amyvid pet scan that will show if i have beta amyloid in the brain

if its positive
they only take positive folks
i am in

plus i finally will know for as sure as one can that i have it
alzheimers disease

now i dont get to see the scan
but
if i enter the study that means the scan was positive

then
i do the monthly infusions for 18 months
getting more mris and blood tests and memory tests along the way

i will either be in the treatment group
or
the placebo group

at the end of 18 months
all placebo folks and all who got the real stuff
have the option to go another 100 weeks of treatment with
aducanumab

hopefully by the end
this stuff will be on the market

if accepted
if this works
i will get close to 4-5 years of treatment with an iv infusion
that hopefully will stop my alzheimers disease in its tracks
or
will regress it significantly

a real life changer for myself   my wife she   and my family


if it works i could see my granddaughter ms b
graduate from
elementary
middle school
high school
college
get married
have kids
something
i never thought i would be thinking

i realize this is not a guarantee
there may be side effects that show up that shuts this drug down
so far this one and others are not showing much of these side effects
except high doses of it might cause problems

but
as i read the potential side effects
you know you see them on your pharmacy prescription sheets
see them on tv at the end of the commercials
nothing in there scares me enough
since
i realize the side effect of not doing anything is much worse

ive seen it in my mom and my,younger brother
sorry
thats not the way i want to end all this

now
when this comes on the market it is expected to cost
close to $20,000 a year
if i get in the study i will get $100,000 of free drug
and
may get it free even longer if it gets continued

so here at the country n
my wife she and i are excited to be considered for this
ground breaking possibly historical drug study

smiles do abound around here today

its much adu about a lot

for more info on this study and contact information
go to this link for the alzheimers center ut southwestern
yes thats me and my wife she in that video

or
this link for the study being done in other states

here is an article on this drug

the organicgreen doctor

insulin costs too much

INSULIN COSTS TOO MUCH
luckily most patients with diabetes now
dont have to take insulin
they can use diet and exercise
and
oral medications
some are generic which make cost as little as 31 cents a pill
some though arent generic
like some newer ones which are much more expensive


medscape.com

then some diabetics
have to take insulin
they have to have this stuff to survive
without it they will die

the price of insulin which as been around for years and years
has gone from
$4.34 per milliliter to $12.92 per milliliter over a recent 10 year period
thats $231 a patient a year to $736 a patient a year

so if you dont have a drug plan or like some medicare patients
if you hit that infamous donut hole
where you pay for all your drugs for awhile
thats a big price change

almost like air food and water
if you are dependent on insulin
you have to have it to live
without it you
either die quickly
or
you die real slowly

things like
blindness
kidney dialysis
amputations
heart attacks
strokes
alzheimers
are in your near future

those of us in the medical fields or those of you with family members
affected by this disease
have seen it up close
they we know what will happen

now medicare is not allowed to negotiate drug prices
yes
va can
your private insurance companies can and do
so
there is no incentive from the pharmaceutical companies
to lower their prices
think of the epipen folks
they have a dominant market on a drug that saves lives

yes i have saved lives injecting epipens in folks
to get one
if you dont pay the high price you dont get the drug

seems not fair
probably no other industrialized country operates this way
thats right
no other one does

so
in california
this year
there is a proposition that basically says

the state can not pay more for a drug than
what the va pays for it

you see
the va gets to negotiate prices with big pharma
like canada and other countries already do

this is a big proposition
since
what happens in california will spread across the country
hopefully
you can be sure the us congress wont do anything about this
why
big pharma money

it looks like big pharma and friends are spending close to
$87,000,000 to defeat it
the opposition to these guys are spending close to
$15,000,000

hopefully not like congress
the california voters will overwhelmingly vote
for this proposition
so
if you live in california
hopefully
what you pay for insulin will go back down
to where it should be
but
if you live elsewhere
well
if you are a diabetic on insulin
pay up or die
slowly

the organicgreen doctor

alzheimers news-its time

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-ITS TIME

briefly here is a quick version
of my story
with possible alzheimers disease

i had a normal memory test 8 years ago while applying for
long term care insurance
then
when i volunteered to be in the normal control group of
the large alzheimers study called adni
it was found that i had short term memory loss
diagnosed as mild cognitive impairment amnestic type
thought to be the precursor of alzheimers disease
some think it is early alzheimers disease

i quit work because of the diagnosis
and was placed on aricept (donepezil)

i reentered the adni alzheimers study in the
mild cognitive impairment group
finishing that study last year

since retirement i got aggressive with my health
controlling all my health parameters like sleep blood pressure
cholesterol changing to a 90% vegetarian diet
staying active physically and mentally
staying busy and happy

i was found to have low b12 and low vitamin d3
and high homocysteine
i take b12 and vit d3 and folate and b12 to correct these
abnormal labs respectively

so now after 5 years my memory is back to normal for my age

i also take 12 supplements a day based on a study from ucla
that showed folks got better on it
not proven yet in a larger study but not disproved either

so doing all this something made me better
maybe the aricept (donepezil)
maybe the supplements
maybe correcting my abnormal labs
maybe getting aggressive with my health

my opinion
it was all of these together

will it all keep me from getting full blown alzheimers disease
if i have it
probably not
its just delaying things for awhile
hopefully a long while

the things that make me think this may have been alzheimers
are
a normal memory test then 3 years later its not normal
a strong strong strong family history of alzheimers disease
both parents and two siblings
an apoe 4 double gene that increases the risk for getting alzhiemers disease
a spinal fluid analysis showing the bad beta amyloid level and the
tau protein levels are abnormal

so where am i in this quandary
do i or dont i

well
there is a test called
the amyvid pet scan
it will show if a person has the accumulation of beta amyloid in the brain
that is the hallmark of alzheimers disease

so if i have the scan done

if its normal
its not likely i have alzheimers disease
if its negative i will stop my aricept (donepezil) and move on with my life

if its positive
it doesnt mean i have alzheimers disease as other things can
cause the accumulation but usually its alzheimers disease
adding up all my other risk factors
basically
if its positive
i have alzheimers disease

so its time
next tuesday

i go up to the alzheimers disease center at ut southwestern
in dallas for my annual evaluation

also there are new studies all treatment ones that are starting up there
sadly to say
i probably will not qualify for them
i am either too normal or too abnormal for them
all of them do the amyvid pet scans
so if im in the study i will get a scan and unlike the adni study
i would get the scan results

my guess i will not qualify for them

another study about to start soon up there
is the ideas study sponsored by medicare
to determine if the amyvid scan is useful in private practice
i say yes
its used already in private practice all the time

when i look at the criteria for the study
it looks like i qualify
based on using the scan to determine
whether i need to be on medicine
and
how i need to plan my life if its positive

the problem is i have been waiting for all these studies
now for 3 years hoping i qualify for them to get an amyvid pet scan
for free
at the same time helping advance knowledge about the disease
and
if i qualified for a treatment study
actually getting treatment years before it got onto the market

so back to next tuesday

i will ask
do i qualify for a treatment study
no they say
then
i will ask
when is the ideas study starting
if its not before the end of the year
then
in my hand are two orders for the amyvid pet scan
one here in austin
the other at ut southwestern

all i have to do after tuesday
is schedule it
get the results not long after that
then
i will know where i am with all this
then
ill plan my life accordingly
stopping my aricept if its negative
but continuing everything else i am doing

i will look closely at my future
if its positive
continuing the aricept (donepezil)
then i and my wife she need to be more aggressive
about decisions for our future

yep
its time

the organicgreen doctor

no solar in the sunshine state

NO SOLAR IN THE SUNSHINE STATE

now thats me planking on the roof of our barn
in front of our solar panels

later well last year
we doubled our solar power by increasing our solar panels
noting the new system was more efficient that the one we
put in 15 years ago

so how this works in texas is
if you are grid tied
which most folks are
that means your solar system is hooked up to the power lines

as you produce electricity
if you need it
it goes to your house
if you dont need it right now
it goes up the lines into the electric grid

there is a meter on the light pole
that measures how much of your electricity goes up
into the grid

as you pull electricity back from the grid
like say at night
like say if you use more than you are producing at the time
like if a big ole cloud comes over to decrease your production
the meter measures how much you pulled back
from the grid

at the end of the month
the amount you produced that went up into the grid
is
subtracted from how much you pulled down
from the grid
giving you
the total that you get charged on
fair enough i guess

but
then they add a
connection fee for us its $21.50
thats added on to what we owe

so if i produce exactly what i use
my bill is $21.50

this month bill was $58.82
so we used $37.32 of the electric companies electricity
and
used a lot of our own electricity directly as it was produced
and
indirectly pulling from the grid the electricity we stored up there

so thats the way it should work
i dont like that $21.50 but everyone has to pay that

fair ok with me

i still pay much much less for our electric use each month
we havent had a bill over about $85 in a year
we use to have $250-300 bills in the cold winter and hot summer

so i cant complain

now in that sunshine state
florida
which stays sunny most of the year
well
you would think what a great place for solar

well
maybe not
enter the electric companies

now they did pass an amendment that caught florida up
with how texas does its solar

a lot of folks in florida with solar
lease the solar system from a company
the electric companies are trying to make those companies to
be the electric companies
so that instead of being able to sell what they produce
back to the electric companies
well
they wont be able to
financially the fees eat up all the gains

its like if the electricity that i produce now
that i dont use
that goes up into the grid
the electric company gets to keep
by adding fees and fees and fees that eat up any financial incentive
from generating your leased solar power

eg if they did this in texas
added all those fees
it would disincentive me from having solar
i might pay the same each month to the electric company
as
i did when i didnt have solar

seems fair
nope it doesnt

a vote is coming up in the sunshine state to determine what to do

so
the sunshine state with all that sunshine
with the largest source of solar energy
wont be able to access it financially
at least for many who elect to lease their systems

electric companies 1
solar collection 0

the organicgreen doctor

they are both survivors

THEY ARE BOTH SURVIVORS
i think of them frequently
whenever i see her postings on facebook
she reads my blog frequently
occasionally makes comments on it

i keep up via facebook on her family
the kids as they grow up


so
i saw this picture posted on her facebook page
with the accompaning story

may i post this on my blog and write a blog
about your story

yes she wrote back
any time to
educate
help
provide hope
im in

here is in her own words on what happened to her
from p&h services stories on their survival clients

I was diagnosed with breast cancer on December 4th, 2008. Just 5 days later, I found out I was pregnant. My oldest daughter was just 5 years old. Who knew? You can’t have a glass of wine while pregnant, but you can have chemo! So…. when I was 12 weeks along, I had surgery followed by 5 rounds of chemo while pregnant. I gave birth to a perfect and healthy baby girl on July 25th, 2009, and when she was a month old, I started back with 12 more rounds of chemo followed by 36 rounds of radiation. I feel truly blessed to have been pregnant while going through treatment. Not all my appointments were cancer. I got to see tiny fingers and toes and feel her precious spirit with me every day. Having my beautiful daughters to focus on instead of the cancer has been such an amazing gift.


here is a picture she sent me after delivery


here is the family today

sometimes as a doctor
ive noticed this after retiring
there are patients stories that will remain with you forever
this is one of them

i think about them 
what would we have done

knowing what i know
knowing how i feel about things
i will admit i would have wanted to go a different direction
however
had she asked me in the office what she should do 
i would have never told her what i would have done

this would be a difficult difficult decisions for all of us

i think her and her husband and daughters
should be listed as true heroes

she will always have my greatest respect
for the decision she made

i would not been able to do it

now
people say to me all the time
you are so brave to talk about your diagnosis and being involved
in research studies

no 
i would say to them
this 
folks
is true bravery

wishing her and her ;youngest daughter and her familythe best
for the future

rarely
can you tell the story 
of two people being cancer survivors together like this 

true hero she is

the organicgreen doctor