i did new years resolutions after i was diagnosed a couple weeks earlier
this diagnosis sure made me look at my life much closer
it was interesting to read through these resolutions and i realized that doing some of them may be some of the reasons that now almost 9 years later i am doing better
that plus taking aricept (donepezil)
an aside here i read an article about how aricept (donepezil) can cause brain cells to rejuvenate in the hippocampal area and that it has antiinflammatory effects also
the hippocampal area is where alzheimers starts and where the first shrinkage occurs that can be detected on scans
i also had my first study mri after my diagnosis
these are called functional mris that are able to measure how the hippocampal area is functioning
now somehow i would get a copy of my mri report while i was in the study even though i dont think i was suppose to get them
mine have always been normal
early on in mild cognitive impairment due to alzheimers my diagnosis the mri can be normal
my mother and younger brother had abnormal scans when they were diagnosed
later
the scans i had done the amyvid pet scans for the amyloid in the brain were positive
so
this morning i read over my mri blog then read over my blog on my new years resolution
it was sobering
yes we did our hwy one trip along the california coast from san francisco to santa barbara
our oldest son got married and now has two kiddos ms b and mr h
our youngest son is now married
so i gained two daughterinlaws
all of these i was afraid i would miss
when i was diagnosed 9 years ago i really didnt think i would be doing this well
yes i got my long term disability from my disability insurance which gave me 5 more years of income plus i was placed on medicare after the first year after my diagnosis and added a medicare supplement and drug plan to it
i must say its the best health insurance combo ive ever had
so
i really had a lot going on in our life the first month after my diagnosis
so far
i am pleased how its all turned out
01-04-2011
MRI
i had an an mri of the brain that was normal
thats good news and bad news
the good news is that there were not any changes of alzheimers seen on the mri-i did not expect any
when changes are noted usually there are more cognitive problems than what i have
the bad news is that there is not another treatable cause found for my problem
i am trying to find out what other patients that i know with alzheimers had on their mris when they were first diagnosed
i know my mom had cerebral atrophy and increased ventricle size on her ct scan early on in her diagnosis
(means the brain shrinks)
i will have a pet scan later on that may tell me more
01-11-2011
NEW YEAR RESOLUTION
my wife she and i did not sit down and do any new years
resolutions this year on january 1, 2011
we were just 2 weeks from receiving my diagnosis and
my starting medication
the previous week before new years was when we
did what is equivalent to new years resolutions
we decided to change our diets and eat better
we already generally ate an american heart association diet
but tweaked it with a mediterranean version
(except of course i have added chocolate and snickers)
we decided to start exercising every day
i do ranch aerobics every day at the country n
but now i added long walks 2-3 miles to my daily exercise
i will commonly take the dogs with us to the river so they
can swim as it is only 5 minutes away
it is so quiet and relaxing
you can just stand there watching the dogs in the river,
hear the birds, hear the wind blowing through the trees
with no outside noises
its sometimes hard to turn back to go back home
we drink a glass of red wine each night
that helps to raise the good hdl (mine was low) cholesterol
and may help with cognitive decline but i was already doing that
relax relax
that may be one of the most important ones of all
i am at peace with everything
i have accepted what may be in the future
at least my mind may go first before my body goes
i am lucky if it happens this way
although this would be worse on my wife she
we resolved to get all our paperwork in order for our living wills,
will, durable power of attorney, power of attorney for health care,
(i will get no cpr tattooed across my chest) and other paper work
together
we will sit down and discuss all this together and
will discuss with our sons so every one knows what we want
actually everyone should do this anyway
we are lucky that we can do this now together
dont wait
we also are getting our financial house in order
i am retiring 3-5 years before i planned
but we despite making a good income for several years we have
always lived frugally and have been able to do the things we
want to do when we want to do them
this may change some
i have to do an exit interview with the clinic i work for so will
know more about the future regards sick pay, fmla (i didnt think
i would have to deal with that personally-wish i had been better
about doing these for patients), malpractice coverage for the rest of
my life, health care (now i know all about cobra-thanks to obama
care i can now extend it to about 2 1/2 years), and work on
what to do with my 401k
i may be able to get long term disability (i have long term
disability insurance) as i can not practice medicine again
my wife she and i want to spend more time with our families
and to do some traveling to areas we have not been
(google hwy one california trip to the right of this blog)
i dont want to be traveling to those places later if i dont know im
there
we also are in the middle of a wedding journey with our son
and his finance
so we should have a busy year
so we had a busy week before new years
maybe 1-1- 2012 we will do new years resolutions
i just hope that both our health stays the same
i am much better today than i thought i would be when i wrote all this
the organicgreen doctor
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