my story revisited #58-i knew then when i wrote that blog

MY STORY REVISITED #58-I KNEW THEN WHEN I WROTE THAT BLOG


last week i wrote the blog about going up for the adni study 
the visit that started my trip towards retirement
as i read the blog below that i wrote after the adni evaluation i can read between the lines
i didnt really say what i knew inside was the beginning of the end of my career
i remember like other mornings writing my blog about this that i shed a tear thinking a lot about my mother who died a few years earlier with alzheimers and my younger brother who was in last half of his jouney with the disease

even though i hadnt got that phone call yet when i wrote that blog
the caller the research director said dr nash you have memory loss greater than you should have based on your age and your degree of education
we think you should see a neurologist

those words changed my life our lives my patients lives my families lives

i wasnt surprised though when she said those words
i knew already
i knew the minute during the neuropsychological exam when i struggled to do part of the exam
i knew that my time had arrived

now when i do that part of the exam i dont struggle to do it

so what i did
i knew that once i got my official diagnosis from the neurologist then i was through so i planned the next 4-6 weeks to be ready for that day
as i wrote the blog below it would be about 2-3 weeks before i got that phone call
but i knew already

i began to slow down my practice
i stopped seeing new patients
i started refilling medications early so folks could have a few months buffer to find a new doctor
i had folks come in early for their well child exams and their physicals and their follow up visits
so when that day came when i had to stop i was as ready as i could be to stop practicing 

so there was no surprise really when i got that phone call
im sure why wife she was in some denial
but
i had already accepted what was coming
__________
11-18-2010
FOLLOWUP ON ADNI STUDY(ALZHEIMERS STUDY)
well i went to the center for the initial evaluation for the
adni study
good thing was that i did not have to do a lumbar puncture
yesterday
bad thing is that when i go back i have to get it done

but after going through 3 1/2 hours of psychological,
neurological, and neuropsychological evaluations the
lumbar puncture doesnt seem quite so bad

i was warned by testers that that is how most people
feel who go through the testing

after the complete evaluation is completed in a few weeks then
a decision will be made as to which arm of the study
i will be placed in
the bad thing is that for the adni study have to go through the
neuropsychological evaluation again

the mri scan and lab work will also be done after the followup
evaluation probably next month

no matter whether i am placed in the adni study
i will have labs and a mri scan and a neuropsychological
evaluation annually for as long as i live
i will be able to receive those results when they are done

if i am placed in the adni study i will get more evaluations
over a 2 year period
much of the labs and scans that are done in the adni study
are experimental and are not done outside of research
you cant go to a local xray place and get the
scans done or to the lab and get the genetic studies done
these results will never be given to me

the testing done outside of the adni study-routine labs, mris,
neuropsychological evaluations- though are results
that i will receive after they are done and can be used to
plan my future

overall i am glad that i went
hopefully i will be able to contribute a small bit of information
to fighting this disease

i will blog in the future  about each visit when i go
__________
if you notice i didnt say in that old blog that my neuropsychological exam was normal
like i wrote above i knew what it showed the minute i took it

the organicgreen doctor