alzheimers news-dont wait too long

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-DONT WAIT TOO LONG

as a person advances with alzheimers disease
they can become a handful to deal with
a single caregiver can have a difficult time
doing it by themselves
it make take a village to care for them both
many caregivers develop poor health and get burned out

today i will be giving a talk at the alzheimers symposium
on clinical trials and my story with alzheimers
every time i give these talks
some caregiver will come up to me and ask
i dont know what to do
my loved one has advanced
so that i cant leave them along anymore
i have no family around
they all live miles away states away
i wish that i would have moved back to where our
relatives are and our kids are

i wished that i would have done it sooner
when my loved one could help me make all these
decisions

yes
i agree it would have been good to move
but since you didnt
if it was me i said knowing how i feel about things
i would do it even now before things gets worse

i am sure i will get a question like this today

now i am as sure as a person can be that i have
the early stages of alzheimers disease
the official diagnosis
is
mild cognitive impairment due to alzheimers disease

i am doing all i can to slow things down
living healthy
taking aricept (donepezil)
being in a new treatment trial the aducanumab study that has great
promise to slow things down or if we are all lucky
stop the disease
i realize that after doing this study that it may not work
you just dont know what will happen when the larger studies
get done on these promising drugs

so
if 2-5 years i could be progressed like i would had i not got treatment
or
if this stuff works i will be better or heck ill take where i am now
i dont know
so
as my wife she and i look into the future
there is no crystal ball to find answers

i just know
if i stay here at the country n we will both enjoy every day we live
here and probably wont regret staying
however
if i worsen
living out here away from support mainly for my wife she
she will probably get isolated and overwhelmed like all those
spouses that come up and ask me what to do

i decided that we are not going to let that happen to us

so
we are looking to sell our lovely peaceful country n place
with it being just like we envisioned 15 years ago
to move to the next stage of our lives
we plan to never look back
but
will look forward to the next chapter in our lives

my wife shes family all live in southern california
sisters mother our two sons our niece and most important
our granddaughter
when the time comes
there will be folks around that can give her support
when she needs it
now lucky we have long term care insurance to cover costs
but
its that emotional care for her thats the most important

also
her mom if you know this spunk of energy
is in early early 80s
as i told her
you will never regret spending the last years of her life
with your mom

now
we have been thinking and planning all this for months
not rushing into the decision
we spent several weeks there looking at places
looking at what will keep me especially busy
so
i have found the same things i do here
volunteering at meals on wheels and habitat for humanity
and school and youth gardens and the alzheimers movement
i will have two large garden plots in community gardens
i will continue to give my alzheimers talks like the one i will
do in a few hours from now
answering questions and hopefully giving them much needed
answers
i will also continue doing this blog like i am doing now
on the same topics

so
please continue to join us on our new life adventure

our country n place will be going on the market soon
probably next week
for some lucky person to have and enjoy what we have
i will post the link when it does

one of the biggest things we will miss
something we cant duplicate in southern california
is
drinking rainwater
it will be missed
as
will all of our friends we have made over the years

now
i will be commuting back to dallas every month for my
infusions for the next 18 months to 4.5 years
so
we will be around this area off and on for months to come

thanks
yes we will miss this place
but
we are at peace with our decision



the alzheimers texas symposium in temple starts today
at the mayborn center
it starts at 900 am with my talk
there will be 3 others after that
there will be lunch provided
walk ups are usually welcomed

thanks for all the support the last 6 years

the organicgreen doctor