i wrote the blog below on christmas day 2010 after seeing the neurologist which i wrote about last week as i reviewed the blog from 2010 about that visit
i sort of knew what mild cognitive impairment was as i had been reading up on that diagnosis as well as alzheimers disease as well as how to evaluate someone for that diagnosis as well as what it means when you got labelled with that diagnosis
i knew what that diagnosis meant since i saw my mother wander through all the stages of alzheimers until she died from it
i would see my younger brother who at that time was in the middle stages maybe further with alzheimers diseases at that time
to sit with him at that time it was hard to have a conversation with him
i really really thought when i got my diagnosis that where he was in 2010 would be where i would be today june 12th 2019
but
im not there
im quite happy and feel quite honored to not be at that stage today
it doesnt matter to me why im not there yet
ill accept what i have and plan to enjoy each day since i know i may be beating the odds for awhile
this week i spent a few hours with mr h at his pediatric nephrology and kidney transplant office visit at cedar sinai in los angeles
its so sobering for me when i go
i know i probably will not be around when he may need my support the most in his teenage years
since
i know that my disease will take off sometime in the next few years
and
like my mother and brother the end result will always be the same
i feel honored today to have my memory back at the normal range for my age
i feel honored to have been involved in alzheimers research
i really feel that everything i have been doing has slowed this disease down for awhile
including getting the biogen aducanumab for almost 3 years
i dont plan to change anything i am doing
i want to be there when mr h needs me to be there as long as i cognitively can
so back to my diagnosis
mild cognitive impairment amnestic type the precursor to alzheimers disease
some neurologists think it is early alzheimers disease
i accepted it that day and my wife she and i have only looked forward
we continue doing that today
we enjoy each day being where we are with our lives
here below are my thoughts on my diagnosis written 8 1/2 years ago
as an aside
sometimes i have to make myself write these my story revisited blogs
i always get teary eyed and sometimes sob
maybe
its all therapeutic somehow
12-25-2010
MILD COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT(MCI) AMNESTIC TYPE
well thats my diagnosis
it is a precursor to full blown alzheimers
when i started this blog several months ago i had no idea i
would be at this point
i even blogged on mci back in september
at that time i had no thoughts that i would have that diagnosis
tagged on me
my goal with this blog was to over time tell stories of my life
and my familys life to provide a written record of some of
our history
i also wanted to cover medical topics that people might be
interested in
i also wanted to give people a peek into what its like to be
a practicing physician
i also wanted to let people know what illness was happening
in the area where i practice
i also wanted to let people know about cases i have dealt with
in the past
i also wanted to write about green living, organic gardening,
rainwater collection
(yes that limestone rock is still in my
water tank-its the source of calcium for my wife she),
solar power, and recycling
i also wanted to write about things i noticed that were funny
or different-why do they topics
now i will refocus this blog in a slightly different direction
i will continue all of the above that i can
some of the medical stuff will be discontinued related to practicing medicine
i will be blogging about myself and the disease that i have
inherited
i want people to be able to follow me as it progresses and see
what effect it can have on a persons life
and what its like to deal with the medical system and this
disease
i am lucky i guess as i will be getting studies and tests done on
me that are state of the art medicine and are not available to the
regular medical community but the stuff done to me will be
what will be done in the future to catch this disease earlier so
that maybe it can be treated or prevented
as i go along by having all this done i/we will know exactly
where i am as this disease progresses
please take this journey with me
thanks
the organicgreen doctor
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