organicgreendoctor: the ultimate gift

organicgreendoctor: the ultimate gift: THE ULTIMATE GIFT this is mr hudson this is him on an excavator positioned in his backyard for his 3rd birthday about one year after he rece...

the ultimate gift

THE ULTIMATE GIFT

this is mr hudson
this is him on an excavator positioned in his backyard for his 3rd birthday
about one year after he received the ultimate gift 
a kidney
from his angel pf
who appeared out of nowhere to donate her kidney to save his life

a year ago we were in the middle of the pandemic 
the transplants were delayed because of it
this one for hudson was being threatened to be delayed had things worsened

luckily
through a lot of hard work by everyone involved
mr hudson got his kidney
when he got it he was about to go on dialysis
he was not talking not walking not eating well laying around sick looking not looking happy
most of his nutrition he got was from enteral feedings

now
one year later
he is a normal 3 year who loves trucks and construction equipment
he eats like crazy 
he talks all the time
he is quite the active 3 year old
he loves to swim ride his scooter run and jump and play go to the garden throw rocks play in the dirt and the sand
he only uses the enteral tube to keep his adult kidney hydrated since he cant drink enough water on his on
he is a happy normal appearing 3 year old 
thanks
to that
angel donor pf who saved his life

there are a lot hudsons out there in the world 
just waiting for someone to give them a second life
like angel pf did for mr hudson

there was a nice article linked here that i read about myths about donating organs while you are alive and of course when you die

when someone comes in the emergency room doa there is a good chance their organs can not be used for transplant
when the patient dies the organs start dying and cant be used

a live donor provides eg in mr hudsons case a live healthy kidney a live organ undamaged right into the recipients body
eg angel pf had her kidney removed while mr hudson was being readied to receive the life saving donation of her kidney 
in a multihour long surgery mr hudson received her healthy kidney 
these live organs tend to last longer and work better than one from someone that died

the first thing to do is make sure you have given your permission to be a donor 
i looked at my drivers license and it says donor on it
i just dont want anyone to get my eyes since i cant see worth a dang without glasses
otherwise they can take all they want
just my brain goes to ucla for research

this article covers 10 myths about organ donation

-will i become handicapped or damaged when you donate a live organ ie liver or kidney

no
angel pf stayed in the hospital for two days 
she stayed in santa barbara for 10 days then flew back to the east coast
she was back
to work in less than a month
a year later she is doing fine

-my religion doesnt permit me to donate an organ

yes it does

-i am too old to donate my organs

the rules for hudson prevented his grandparents from donating their organs
they are looking at raising the age for donating an organ

-an organ from a female cant be donated in a male

yes it can 
pf a mother donated to mr hudson

-if i donate an organ i am unable to have a family

yes you can

-i can buy a kidney or liver

no you cant in the us

-for a child we require organs from a child

nope again
pf a mom gave her kidney to a 2 year hudson
again she saved his life
how good must that feel huh

-organs can be harvested once a person dies

nope
once a person dies the organs cant be used
eg a brain dead person is kept alive then the organs are donated 
then the person is allowed to die

-after brain death only liver and kidneys are donated

nope again
kidneys heart liver intestines lungs pancreas can be donated
so one person can save seven peoples lives
a live person can only donate a kidney or part of their liver

so
give the gift of life
consider being a live donor

its the ultimate gift
life

just ask pf and mr hudson

the organicgreen donor

organicgreendoctor: covid 19-what a superspreader event looks like

organicgreendoctor: covid 19-what a superspreader event looks like: COVID 19-WHAT A SUPERSPREADER EVENT LOOKS LIKE a few weeks ago i predicted that the sturges south dakota bike rally would be a superspreader...

covid 19-what a superspreader event looks like

COVID 19-WHAT A SUPERSPREADER EVENT LOOKS LIKE

a few weeks ago i predicted that the sturges south dakota bike rally would be a superspreader event
why
it was last year
it would be again this year
it did become one this year

its predicted around 500,000 showed up for the rallies
no rules on masking or vaccination or well no rules
the price of freedom i guess

prior to the rally the positivity rates were in that area
1 month before at 6.1%
2 weeks before at 10+%
2 weeks afterwards at 38.8%
so right now 1 out of every 3 tests are positive

here in santa barbara our positivity rate is 7%

these bikers came from everywhere
the surrounding states have now also noticed an uptick in cases

each infected person can infect about 5-6 people
so start doing the math for 500,000 folks you can start to see how many folks could have gotten infected from this biker rally 
if only 1% got infected that would be 5,000
if they infected 5 people that would be 25,000
if they infected 5 people that would be 125,000
if they infected 5 people that would be 600,000 folks infected in about 1 month
these are spread out over several states

so despite what the state health officials say as they spin this 
the sturges biker rally was a super superspreader event

now multiple this by all those small and large events like weddings birthday parties receptions school sporting events college and professional sporting events concerts rallies and the list goes on and on
add to this the low vaccine rates across the us worst in some places better in others
add to this the overwhelming of the health care system in many states
the health care system in mississippi is about to have a total collapse
the hurricane may be the icing on the cake that does it in in missisippi

if you take the statistics from california texas and florida and line them up 
you can see stark differences it how each states is doing

why is california doing better than the other two 

now im going to be honest here and tell the truth 
its a democratic state who has less anitvaxxers in it than the others
there are pockets of the state that is doing as bad as the southern states
there is a lot in common in those areas
rural more conservative more antivaxxers
but overall 
california is doing better
we have a mask mandate for schools and businesses
we have a higher vaccine rate
we have more rules for large gatherings
we have more vaccine mandates happening

texas and florida dont have those
they are mostly conservative and linked to the antivax and antimask environment

so
how many kids and adults do these folks have to maim and kill before society says
thats enough
we need to suck it up and put our big boy pants on and do what needs to do
if we dont
im afraid
the maiming and killing and disruption of our lives will only continue

ive seen and read about a lot of tragic stories about folks and families dying from covid despite an easy treatment that will prevent this death
the vaccines
there is nothing else that comes close

our group is all vaccinated except for the kids
we plan to get our boosters when its available
our kids will get vaccinated when they become available soon i hope
sorry but we plan to stay away from you if you arent vaccinated and are not dong what needs to be done to protect all of us
we will stay masked 
we will do safe things
we will protect ourselves no matter what yall do

if everyone doesnt do this then ......
well
what can i say 

the organicgreen doctor

organicgreendoctor: alzheimers news-a tattoo on my brain

organicgreendoctor: alzheimers news-a tattoo on my brain: ALZHEIMERS NEWS-A TATTOO ON MY BRAIN he got a tattoo on his brain from taking aducanumab im hoping i dont get a tattoo on my brain from taki...

alzheimers news-a tattoo on my brain

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-A TATTOO ON MY BRAIN

he got a tattoo on his brain from taking aducanumab
im hoping i dont get a tattoo on my brain from taking aducanumab
i have an mri in a month to see if i have a tattoo on my brain forming
in the next two years i will have several mris for that reason 

whats a tattoo on my brain

dr daniel gibbs is a neurology researcher a practicing neurologist a medical school and neurology resident teacher a clinical trials participant in the aducanumab study a family member of someone who had alzheimers disease
and
finally a patient like me
with
the diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment due to alzheimers disease

he has a book linked here titled a tattoo on my brain and a blog linked here titled a tattoo on my brain
here is a link to his being patient interview

in his book he chronicles his journey with the disease
looking and writing about it from the eyes of a patient a researcher and a doctor
he has used these insights to give us an unique look at what its like to have this disease early on 

i must say our two cases are so eerily similar
slightly different but close

if you want to know what its like 
what i feel
read his book its all in there
i must add its all in my blog but its all scattered out in hundreds of different postings
most are labeled my story revisited and alzheimers news

like him i plan to write about this as long as i can 

if you are entering the alzheimers world or if you are in there now or if you think you will be there then you should read his book
all you need to know is in the book
its an easy read even for the nonmedical person 
there are a lot of references and links 
he has indexed the book also so you can find topics easy 

i really wish i had read it years ago especially when my mom and younger brother had it

i recommend you get his book and read it and use it as a reference
i recommend you read his blog to follow whats going on in the alzheimers world

if you want to know what your family member or friend was going through in the early stages of their disease then his book will tell you what its like

if you want to know what its like for me then read my blog and or read his book

so
whats a tattoo in the brain

the drug aduhelm (aducanumab) is a monoclonal antibody that binds to the amyloid thats deposited in the brain
as it attaches to the amyloid and tears it loose sometimes bleeding can occur that is usually asymptomatic
if its severe enough it can become symptomatic

in the aducanumab study this can happen but most people dont have symptoms 
if symptoms occur they do an mri and stop the meds until the symptoms resolve
then they restart the meds
if the symptoms are severe which is a rare event then the drug is stopped and like dr gibbs they are removed from the study

he has the homozygous apoe 4 gene which  puts you at risk for these bleeds
i also have the homozygous apoe 4 gene
if you have this gene you are more susceptible to these bleeds

his bleed occurred when they increased his dose
they go from 1 mg/kg for two months then 3 mg/kg for two months then 6 mg/kg for 2 months then 10 mg/kg
10 mg/kg is the dose that seems to work the best for removing amyloid from the brain

his bleed happened when he got the 6 mg/kg dose
in the previous study i made it to the 10 mg/kg before the study was stopped before the pandemic
when the study was restarted i had to start all over again on the 1 mg/kg dose
two weeks ago i go my 3mg/km dose
so far i have had no symptoms

if the bleed is severe enough the iron from the bleed causes a stain that shows up on an mri
dr gibbs calls it 
his tattoo on my brain

i think this mri is scheduled because a month ago i had an ocular migraine
with an ocular migraine you get wavy lines across your visual field in both eyes 
mine lasted 30 minutes with no symptoms initially
my vision was affected enough i couldnt read my computer screen or read my blood pressure readings
later i saw that it was elevated too high
after the vison returned to normal i felt fine
i even two hours later drove to trader joes and later worked in the garden that morning

i had one 3 months before i was diagnosed in 2010
that time i was in the office working 
it also resolved in 30 minutes and was associated with an elevation of my blood pressure

i also this time had a headache for a few days that required acetaminophen to control
i still went about my regular activities

back in 2010 i had an mri and a carotid ultrasound
i also saw a neurologist this time and had another carotid ultrasound
i had had an mri the few days before this episode
i reported this all to the research neurologist also

had i not had this before i would have immediately gone to the emergency room since this can be signs of a tia or transient ischemic attack

no treatment is indicated for me for this except
i control my cholesterol with medication
i monitor my blood pressure on a regular basis
since ive lost weight and was sick last year i have remained off blood pressure medications
i do take a baby aspirin each day per doctors recommendations
an aside dont just start aspirin unless you talk with your doctor
thats real important

so 
i think my mri in a month is to make sure i dont have
a tattoo on my brain

the organicgreeen doctor

organicgreendoctor: garden news-manage the garden

organicgreendoctor: garden news-manage the garden: GARDEN NEWS-MANAGE THE GARDEN several  months before we moved to santa barbara in 2017 i spent an hour with the person who along with others...

garden news-manage the garden

GARDEN NEWS-MANAGE THE GARDEN

several  months before we moved to santa barbara in 2017 i spent an hour with the person who along with others is the brains behind the establishment of this community garden several years ago
he gave me a long informative walking tour of the garden

what attracted me to this community garden vs the others in the area was 
the central part of the garden raised produce that was donated to needy charities and organizations
the produce a lot of produce is donated each week
i knew i wanted to be part of doing that

the areas around the perimeter is about 20 plots of 10 x 20 ft for individual gardeners

they had a phenomenal compost system that produces this great compost
you know the kind you could almost eat it looks and smells so good
no wonder the plants love it so much

i also after coming there buried in my two plots seven 5 gallon buckets with 3/8 inch holes on the bottom and sides for the worms to move back and forth through the holes
i deposit all our leftover produce and compost pile safe foods from our kitchen into these buckets
about twice a year i harvest this rich compost and put it on my eight 3x8 ft beds
so thats about 70 gallons of worm compost a year on my beds

when you come to the garden you can see the difference this compost makes
eg my mild tam jalapeno i grow from seeds is bout 3-4 feet tall and is loaded with peppers
i donated the same plant to the garden and its about half that size and is just now producing peppers
remember put a 5 cent plant in a 5 dollar hole

i volunteered initially once or twice a week for 3-4 hours each time 
when the pandemic hit i moved all my volunteering to the garden and now usually volunteer there at least 3 days a week sometimes more

early on i spent a lot of my time making my soil richer
now almost four years later i have it where i want it 
i just add my compost and organic fertilizer before planting
i have a drip system set up 
i mulch a lot so i dont have to weed much and to conserve water
so
the time spent in my garden has decreased some so i put the time doing stuff in the central part of the garden where the produce we donate is grown

i help the garden manager maintain the drip system and maintain and prep any new beds
over the last 4 years the soil has gotten richer and richer
so i pretty much care for most of this areas veggies

i transferred a lot of the skill and knowledge i accumulated from being at the country n and keeping up with organic gardening and rainwater harvesting and green living

recently our garden manager resigned 
this is our second one
we have been lucky to have two skilled and well educated managers
its a part time position
the two did it partially because of why i am at the garden
they both had garden plots there

its been hard to find a good candidate for the position since the pandemic
so
they approached me to be the garden manager
i know i would be good at doing it
but
as i told them i have enough to do in my life without this job
i dont need the money 
if i did it i would not accept any money 
but
i said i dont want to do all that they have to do 
so
i agreed this week to be sort of the interim garden manager without all the other responsibilities that comes with the job
those that i dont want to do has to been farmed to other volunteers to do
i think this will work until we get someone permanently 

i told them i will make sure the veggies get taken care of and get grown and harvested
a volunteer will plant them and grow them in our greenhouse
i decide what and when things get planted
i will take care of the hundreds of feet of drip lines and maintain all the beds
when a new bed becomes available i will prep them more like i do my beds

so i am sort of the interim manager but not really without all the political responsibilities and non gardening responsibilities and the garden education responsibilities

so far its working

ok so i was doing most of what they agreed for me to do anyway 

the organicgreen doctor

organicgreendoctor: my story revisited #99-my last memories of him

organicgreendoctor: my story revisited #99-my last memories of him: MY STORY REVISTED #99-MY LAST MEMORIES OF HIM i am reading a book by dr daniel gibbs a neurologist the books name is a tattoo on my brain it...

my story revisited #100-my last memories of him

MY STORY REVISTED #100-MY LAST MEMORIES OF HIM

i am reading a book by dr daniel gibbs a neurologist
the books name is a tattoo on my brain
its the story about his journey with the diagnosis of alzheimers disease
his story is eerily close to my experience
although he is slightly ahead of me in his disease

if you want to know what its like to go through this read his book
he does a good job of documenting his journey as a patient and as a physician
sounds familiar right

much of what he has experienced i have experienced
mine is just documented scattered throughout this 11 year old blog
his is confined to this book
plus he does lots of interviews and gives presentation

so do i but he does a lot more

he is gradually having to cut back on what he does
so far i havent had to do any of that
yet

the moca is a memory test that is used to follow your progress
a perfect score is 30
the normal score is 27-30
mci (mild cognitive impairment) score is 26 and below ie 19-26 with average mci being 22
mild alzheimers score is 11-21

when i was diagnosed mine was 25
mine now is 29-30
his runs around 25-26
he feels his is dropping some
i dont feel mine is dropping any 
yet

we both are in the aducanumab study 
we both got the placebo in the beginning
he developed aria or amyloid related imaging abnormalities on mri
these are microscopic bleeds as the drug removes amyloid from the brain
he developed significant symptoms
but has recovered now
i so far have not had any aria symptoms

we both are apoe 4 homozygous the late onset alzheimers gene

we both are on aricept (donepezil)
he started his later in his disease and saw an immediate effect
i started mine as soon as i was diagnosed
we both agree thats one of the reasons we are doing ok for now

we both were diagnosed earlier than most patients

we both were interviewed a few weeks apart by being patient
here is is link to his interview

reading his book and watching his interview and reading his interview i thought a lot about my younger brother wondering where he was in his live when he had my symptoms
my guess it was several years before his diagnosis

i caught mine because i volunteered to be a normal control study subject for the adni study 
otherwise it may have been months or years before mine was discovered

dr gibbs because of his specialty of taking care of dementia patients and lecturing students was acutely aware of real subtle things that dont show up on memory tests
he actually quit before his memory tests were abnormal
as he found out later he was right in what he did

so i thought of my brother a lot this week
the first old blog that showed up on my screen this morning was the one below where i am remembering him
all documented 8 years ago
these thoughts are captured in my story each week
im glad i have documented them

that would push his early subtle symptoms into his later 40s
more obvious symptoms in his early 50s

his moca if i was to guess when he was diagnosed would have been probably 11-12
the end of mild alzheimers headed into moderate alzheimers

reading this book 
a tatoo on my brain
he wrote he stopped practicing early when he noticed memory issues 
so did i
why
we didnt want to harm others
maybe thats why my brother retired in his 40s
maybe he knew something wasnt right
having gone through this myself 
you know
just like dr gibbs knew
__________
06-03-2013
HE DOESNT DESERVE THIS
my younger brother doesnt deserve having alzheimers disease
he is too young and in too good of health otherwise
he is too much of a good guy
for those who know me and dont know him if you like me
and like my approach to life trying to do whats right for people
then you would definitely like him too

we are different in many ways
he was an avid hunter i am not
but i did go hunting with him a few times
and enjoyed the time together

we usually didnt agree on political and religious views
and some social views
but it was interesting that sometimes our views ended up
being the same

but none of this ever became an issue with us
except for some good friendly bantering with each other

he was always respectful of how i felt and
i think i was of how he felt

looking  back i wish i had taken advantage of being with him when
i could more and enjoying the moments together

the last good time we had together he and his wife came to visit us
here in the austin area
he and i drove together just us to a nearby town to pick up a large
rainwater tank i had found at a real cheap rate which we later gave
to my wife shes high school to use in their new garden area

we enjoyed that two hours together talking
mostly he understood what
i was saying and he had not advanced so far so that i knew what
he was talking about
sometimes his words were stuck in there somewhere and would not
come out but mostly they usually did on that trip

that was really the last time we were together alone where we really had
a good meaningful interaction together before
this awful alzheimers disease progressed

his present status is that he is mostly wheelchair bound and has to
be fed and cared for
occasionally that smile of his youll see come out
i dont get to see him as much as i would like
but there is not a day i dont stop and think about him
__________
as i write this today i realized that he died about 2  months later
he probably knew he had it early on 
dr gibbs knew
i knew

if you know
then get evaluated early on

the organicgreendoctor

organicgreendoctor: theres too much there and not enough here

organicgreendoctor: theres too much there and not enough here: THERES TOO MUCH THERE AND NOT ENOUGH HERE this is a picture of six 50 gallon rainwater tanks that i hooked up at the school where i voluntee...

theres too much there and not enough here

THERES TOO MUCH THERE AND NOT ENOUGH HERE

this is a picture of six 50 gallon rainwater tanks that i hooked up at the school where i volunteered in the kindergarten garden
some were donated and i found a good price on the others
i used my rainwater tank knowledge gained from hooking up my own 30,000 gallon tanks system at the country n

i also later put in two 50 gallon tanks at the community garden to catch water off our chicken coop

so adding those together we can collect with an one inch rain a total of 400 gallons
thats 400 gallons that would have ran off mostly into the ocean eventually
now it stays locally in the gardens

the kids use the kindergarten rainwater to water their veggies 
the community garden uses its rainwater to hand water plants
i also rain the overflow pipe into my garden so it fills up trenches of mulch as a sort of holding basin
so a lot of water gets left in our gardens and not lost to run off

what if every house had to have a rainwater tank here
thats a lot of water that could be saved

we only get on average about 13 inches a year compared to the country n where we got on average about 33 inches a year

this year here we got a lot less
its showing up as wildfires 
i swear the wildfires seem worse every year ive lived here

next month in california water rationing will be instituted
not sure what that means
but
it usually starts as volunteer rationing
which we all know doesnt really work

lake mead where the colorado river runs into is the lowest its been since the damn was built
that triggers massive water rationing
agriculture will be hit hard
expect almonds if you can find them to be extremely expensive
california produces a lot of our food we eat in the us
its going to be severely affected

places like las vegas and los angeles and phoenix and other large cities get their water from the colorado river

add to that drought problem the problems of immigration limiting farm workers and the pandemic affecting the workers and the wildfires
you can see a disaster in the making

then 
you look back eastward
its just the opposite
hurricanes and flooding and tornados causing mass destruction
the hurricanes just seem to come in waves dont they 

they have way too much water
we dont have enough

i wish there was a way to get that water out this way 
tboone pickens knew what he was doing scooping up water rights didnt he

im not sure what the solution here is
conservation for us will be important
there are no other sources of water here
santa barbara does have a desalinating plant that provides some water from the ocean
they also have a good diversity of water sources to chose from 
but
they all have the potential to dry up except for the ocean sources

this may be where some infrastructure money could be spent to help 
how im not sure

sorry short of conservation and working on climate change 
i dont have a solution 

we do our part
we limit water use in our house
i use a drip system for my garden 
i water deep underground
i mulch my garden heavily 

i guess living where you only use rainwater for all your water needs teaches you how to conserve water
so you wont run out of water
i use the rainwater in those tanks in the garden as much as possible
i only occasionally wash my car

now
we just need to figure out how to get that water from back east out here to the west

the organicgreen doctor

organicgreendoctor: covid 19-is the future bleak or is there some ligh...

organicgreendoctor: covid 19-is the future bleak or is there some ligh...: COVID  19-IS THE FUTURE BLEAK OR IS THERE SOME LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL there may be some light peaking through in the dark covid 19 f...

covid 19-is the future bleak or is there some light at the end of the tunnel

COVID 19-IS THE FUTURE BLEAK OR
IS THERE SOME LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL

there may be some light peaking through in the dark covid 19 future

but first
some dark news

in orlando they use oxygen to help sterilize the water system
however so much oxygen is being used in the area hospitals that the oxygen for making the water drinkable and safe is being diverted to the hospitals 
area residents are being asked to reduce water consumption 
if they dont do this then the water will need to be boiled before its used to make it safe to drink

there are 1000 deaths a day now in the us
yes
almost all of them re unvaccinated
those that die who are vaccinated usually have some underlying health problem that lowers their immune system
so
close to 1000 folks who chose to be unvaccinated for whatever reason are now dead each day
all would be alive if they had been vaccinated

in a month if things dont change its estimated that in most places if not all the number of cases and hospitalizations and deaths will be twice what they are now
yes
even in places where it is bad now it will be twice as worse
sorry texas

all would have been preventable
but
what can i say 

these virus variants like delta and delta plus are highly contagious and highly transmitted
what you did and got by at the beginning will get you infected now

the horror will be if we get a variant thats worse than the delta and gets resistant to our vaccines
that will be a real horror story 
we will all then be at ground zero together again

there are 93 million unvaccinated folks who are keeping this virus going so it can infect more people 
unless most of them get vaccinated then we will never see the light at the end of the tunnel this year

at least 
until a lot of them get covid and end up in the hospital or die or get long term covid symptoms
also causing many of our breakthrough covid cases in those of us who did the right thing and got vaccinated 
luckily the vaccinated arent getting real sick and dying like the unvaxxed folks

fema as of last month has paid around $350,000,000 for covid funerals

in texas a study checking antibodies to covid in folks showed only 30% had antibodies to covid
that doesnt bode well for texas

now for maybe some good news

those who die from covid quit spreading the virus

the fda is expected to approve the pfizer vaccine for full approval today
that will be followed soon for moderna and johnson and johnson
folks for various reasons have been waiting for that approval to get vaccinated
so more folks will get vaxxed soon

because they will be approved then this allows governments and schools and business and events to mandate vaccines to participate
no vax no play

this will also now put these places with liability for exposure to the covid in these locations
look for the lawsuits to start
look for those tv ads to start by the lawyers
now they can sue

this will cause business folks et al  to mandate masks and mandate vaccinations
all about 8 months too late for thousands of dead americans that we paid millions to bury
all preventable i must add
but
what can i say

in later september to october the fda may approve the vaccine for school kids from 5-12
that along with the mandates will increase the vaccination rates
remember we need to be at 80-90%  to shut this down

then the only group left will be the under 5 year olds 
that approval may be late this year or early next year
thats when hudson and other young kids who are at risk can get theirs
we will definitely celebrate when that happens

a booster shot is now recommended for those who got their vaccines but are immunosuppressed
eg an acquaintance who has a connective tissue disease and is on an immunosuppressive drug will qualify for that booster
they plan to contact their specialist to be sure then get their vaccine this week
it will boost their antibody levels to covid to a higher amount to offer better protection

for those of us who are vaccinated it will soon be fda approved to get a third shot
eg my wife she and i will get ours in the first week of november 
this shot will boost our antibody levels high enough to protect us against the delta virus and probably any new variant that comes along

yes
i expect there will be a late winter or early spring booster against the delta virus
you betcha
my wife she and i will be first in line

breakthrough cases
if you are not immunosuppressed and you get covid then you probably wont get sick enough to be in the hospital
if you are over 65 years old and get a breakthrough case you are in the high risk category to get sicker

if you get a breakthrough case yes you can spread the virus even if you dont have symptoms
you should follow cdc recommendations for isolation
it should involve negative testing before you get out of isolation which can be 10-14 days
i would do two tests at least two days apart to be safe

if you are vaccinated and get exposed you should quarantine yourself and get a covid tests at day 5 and maybe seven to be sure you are negative
usually symptoms start 3-5 days after exposure but it can take up to 14 days

dont be responsible for making an at risk person sick

keep up with the cdc recommendations since these can change as more is learned about the delta virus

then finally 
wear a mask when you are indoors with anyone not in your immediate group
we mask with anyone whether family or not

if you are unvaxxed do your part for yourself your family and for society 
get vaxxed

encourage businesses schools events sports to mandate vaccinations
dont use these places if they dont

if you have a child that goes to school
make them wear a mask
have them change to a new mask mid day 
the masks get wet and dont work as well
wear the mask even when outside

the school should have a mandate for masks and vaccines for students and all school employees
on arrival home the student should change clothes and shower
when the vaccine becomes available get them vaccinated
test your child twice a week with the home kits
they can have the virus for a few days before symptoms start
if they are positive follow the cdc guidelines
do isolation and have negative tests before returning to school

some schools are doing the testing at school but most are not
many do it only on symptomatic kids but thats usually too late

here one elementary school already has had postive cases requiring home isolation of exposed students

schools that dont do all of these things will likely have to shut down this fall

but
if they
are aggressive in mitigation like masks distancing testing mandate staff vaccinations
get all the school kids vaccinated
then
the schools may be the safest place for the kids to be
this could happen within the next 6-8 weeks

be vigilant
be safe
wear your mask
get vaxxed up 
dont be a super spreader participant


the organicgreen doctor

organicgreendoctor: alzheimers news-staying ahead

organicgreendoctor: alzheimers news-staying ahead: ALZHEIMERS NEWS-STAYING AHEAD this link below on how to sign up for the ahead research study sponsored by the nih or national institute of h...

alzheimers news-staying ahead

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-STAYING AHEAD

this link below on how to sign up for the ahead research study sponsored by the nih or national institute of health floated across my alzheimers news feeds this week
the drug is biogens lecanemab or ban2401
its a first cousin to my drug aduhelm (aducanumab)
it most likely will work better than my drug

i wish that when i was 55 that this was available then i would have jumped at the chance to be in this alzheimers treatment study 

at 55 i was 5 years away from getting diagnosed 
accidently diagnosed as i described it
it was discovered when i entered an alzheimers study to be in the normal control group
during the neuropsychological memory testing it was found i had short term memory problems
this lead to my diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment found later to be due to alzheimers disease
based on memory testing and abnormal spinal fluid for amyloid and tau and a positive amyloid scan

so at 55 my mother was in the final stages of alzheimers disease
my younger brother was in the middle of his downward course for alzheimers
my dad had died of a heart attack but i think he also had alzheimers disease when he died
i knew it was going to happen to me
was i ever right

at 55 if i knew that i could start on a drug that could probably slow down cognitive decline by about 30%
man you know i would have jumped at the chance even though i was having no symptoms

the ahead study linked here is looking for patients
who have no memory issues
thats right no memory issues
who are 55-85 and in good health 
who may have risk factors for alzheimers like one apoe 4 gene and or a family history of alzheimers disease and or an abnormal amyloid pet scan 
a study partner that can go with you for the visits

remember if you are genetically linked to me you likely have apoe 4
also about 15% of you have the apoe 4
the apoe 4 gene is a risk factor for late onset alzheimers disease

basically if you are prealzheimers or another word for it is prodromal alzheimers you will qualify for this study 
which is diagnosed by finding normal memory with a positive biomarker like a spinal tap for amyloid and tap thats abnormal and or an amyvid amyloid pet scan

when i was 55 i most likely was prealzheimers and would have qualified for this study

for the ahead study you are screened first
well screened i must add
then
you will have memory testing
then
you will have a amyvid pet scan
some similar studies are using the new for research blood tests from amyloid and tau

if you are accepted when all the testing is done then you will receive every two week infusions or every month infusions of either a placebo or the real drug

remember if you get into the study that means you will know that you have already got alzheimers but you have a chance to get treatment that will likely slow down the disease
usually after a period of time the placebo folks are also given the real drug

i would have jumped at the chance to do that at 55
so 
now 16 years later at 71 i would have received 16 years of a drug that would slow down the alzheimers disease

the general consensus is that this drug will get approved eventually by the fda probably in about 5 years for use in treating alzheimers before you start showing symptoms and in the early part of the disease like i have

man
i wish it had been there for me
but
its there for yall who are going to need it 
its there now
it just takes
some time and effort to have it happen for you

eg in texas its being given in dallas and houston 
in california its being given in san diego and los angeles and san francisco
in arkansas you would have to go to dallas or another nearby state

the links below will show you where its being given now
ahead study link
clinical trials.gov link
the last link lists the criteria in more detail for the study

lillys drug donanemab is also similar to this one and is doing studies now
here is a link to its studies on early alzheimers disease
it will probably work the same if not better than the lecanemab
they also will probably do a study on prealzheimers patients

so
be proactive and get treatment now
or
wait until symptoms show up 
warning if you wait too long then it can be too late to use it for you

you have to be thinking ahead
to win in this game 

fyi 

here is the link to the transcript of my recent interview with being patient

also this week i had my 28th infusion in the aducanumab studies
the first 18 were placebo
the next 7 were the real drug aducanumab in the original study
the next 3 were the real drug aducanumab in the restart study
so now i have had 10 infusions of the real drug aducanumab

i do wish this was all happening 16 years ago

the organicgreen doctor

organicgreendoctor: my story revisited #98-spinal fluid donation

organicgreendoctor: my story revisited #98-spinal fluid donation: MY STORY REVISITED #98-SPINAL FLUID DONATION i had forgotten about this story with the second spinal tap i had to have with the adni (alzhei...

my story revisited #99-spinal fluid donation

MY STORY REVISITED #99-SPINAL FLUID DONATION

i had forgotten about this story with the second spinal tap i had to have with the adni (alzheimers disease neuroimaging initiative) 8 years ago

with my first spinal tap my wife she got woozy even though she wasnt in the room with me
she had to be laid out and monitored for awhile
i even had to drive over to the mri building after the mri since she was still woozy headed

so with this second one as described in the blog below we prepped here for my getting the spinal tap
we laid her out in a lounger and didnt talk about my spinal tap at all
she did ok with this one 

with the first spinal tap they gave me some of the spinal fluid and i sent it off for analysis for amyloid and tau proteins
my results were borderline for what you see with alzheimers disease

the plan was to send some of this spinal fluid off again i think this was a year or two after my first spinal tap
the reason to retest was to see if the results would have advanced into the alzheimers disease range
i was anxiously awaiting the results from sending this second spinal fluid sample off
my guess is the result would have been positive

but
a researcher there at ut southwestern desperately needed a spinal fluid sample for an important multiple sclerosis study 
i instead donated my spinal fluid results to the researcher
i never found out if my spinal fluid amyloid and tau level worsened

i opted out of my last spinal tap at the end of the study
i knew i would be getting an amyloid pet scan when i started the biogen aducanumab study so i opted out
my amyloid pet scan was positive in that study so i am sure my spinal fluid would have been positive


here is the link to the transcript of my resent interview with being patient

to the person who posted that i got access to this drug because i was a doctor
sorry you are wrong
i got access to this drug because i volunteered to be in the study
you or your loved ones no matter what your occupation is could have volunteered to be in this study
at not cost to you 
it just cost you some of your time
the advantage
you get access to treatment months before others do

do like i did
search clinicaltrials.gov for studies
or check with the alzhiemers association website www.alz.org for studies
thats all it takes 
is time and effort
__________
05-02-2013
OOOOUUUUUCCCCHHHHH
yesterday as i sat in my whitey tighty undies almost naked
in that massage chair with just my socks on
no i wasnt about to get a massage
i had that paper blue gown on
sorry former patients if ive ever had you put one of these on
how embarrassing

i was about to get my spinal tap

i right now publicly want to apologize to those of you on whom
i might have done a spinal tap in the past when i was in practice
i now would be a much more sensitive provider to your discomfort

granted most of you would now be in your 20s-40s
as most of the ones i did in my career were on infants toddlers or
young children
luckily for the majority your taps were normal
except for the unlucky child who did have advanced
meningitis from h.flu in the pre h.flu immunization days
he nowadays wouldnt have gotten the disease that disabled him
unless he was one of those whose family didnt believe in
immunizations
this patient is the reason i always was such an advocate of
childhood immunizations and why i had such an awareness of
the symptoms of possible meningitis in kids
 
anyway i apologize to the rest of you although probably none of
you have any recollection of the painful procedure

ouch thats what i said yesterday
i didnt say that last time i got the tap two years ago
but as i said during the procedure
so thats what sciatica feels like
as a doctor i knew that as the needle is inserted into that
small space where the fluid is that sometimes you do hit
the nerve root that travels down the leg
yep i also thought
so thats what it feels like when they zap those cattle with
that cattle prod
i know my wife she would have like to use one of those on
me sometimes
she would love to hit my nerve root when i make her angry

but yesterday we had her all prepped
we laid her down
covered her with a blanket
and did not talk about 'it" with her before or afterwards
yes she did well yesterday
we handled her with kid gloves

wait a minute
whos the patient here

my goal  yesterday was to get my spinal tap and
send fluid off to the private lab to get my beta amyloid and tau
remeasured
i made a decision and went a different direction

you are only allowed to draw out so much spinal fluid at a time
if i sent the fluid off to the private lab i would know if my
levels had reached that abnormal level on the graph i showed
on this blog two days ago
in the consistent with alzheimers disease portion in the right lower side
instead
i opted to donate that fluid to a researcher who desperately needed
spinal fluid from a patient without significant other disease for a
possibly new landmark study for another well known disease
so
i let them have my spinal fluid for that study
knowing that i probably would not ever know if my level became
abnormal over the last two years
as i may not be getting another tap again

then
my other goal was to do my beta amyloid number two yesterday
even though i wouldnt see the results
then i planned to later this month get an amyvid beta amyloid pet scan
here in austin to tell me if i have that beta amyloid in my brain
that hallmark of alzheimers disease was present
yes
those two tests would have been the two things that would have
probably solidified my quest for do i have it or dont i

but
i decided to forgo that test yesterday and to forgo the beta amyloid
pet scan later this month

why

there are several new studies that are starting up soon that actually
are evaluating new medicines that either remove or stop the production
of beta amyloid in the brain or stop the tau destruction in the brain
these studies if they work would possibly be new treatments for
preventing or slowing down the disease

for them to be effective really effective they have to be started early
or even before symptoms or labs become abnormal

many of these studies will reject you if you have had a beta amyloid
pet scan in the last 12 months

so no fluid sent off so i wont know
no scan as i want one of these new treatments
as for now all i can do is to live a healthy life and do those things i
mentioned in my lecture and have on my slide things you can do now

__________
so
yes my wife she did ok with that second spinal tap
she did much better than i did since i got my nerve hit with the needle

i hope my spinal fluid helped advance some the knowledge about the care of multiple sclerosis
i only had to wait 3 more years to find out my amyloid status

the organicgreen doctor

organicgreendoctor: immigration reform is needed

organicgreendoctor: immigration reform is needed: IMMIGRATION REFORM IS NEEDED forbes.com this is complicated i dont even try to say i understand all the issues i just know whatever we are d...

immigration reform is needed

IMMIGRATION REFORM IS NEEDED

forbes.com

this is complicated
i dont even try to say i understand all the issues
i just know whatever we are doing now no matter which party is in power doesnt work

if you listened to each side of the issue your eyes get all blurry eyed
its hard to understand it

i thought about this a lot yesterday when someone responded to a covid blog i wrote that the reason texas and florida had high covid rates was because of the covid cases in immigrants coming across the border
no i replied its due to low vaccination rates in texas and arkansas and the low vaccination rates in the surrounding states 

so why are all those immigrants flowing across the borders in the first place

that reason is what needs to be fixed

here is a review article from bloomberg on what should be done

most americans and probably most congress persons agree that daca folks the dreamers should be given permanent paths to citizenship maybe even fast track it

we in the united states need the immigrants to provide a workforce
just  ask the technology sectors who rely on same engineers from foreign countries to fill positions
just ask the medical field who needs doctors and nurses and other medical folks to fill medical positions especially in these covid times
just ask the agriculture industry who could not operate without these immigrants to keep their workforce filled

we have a lot depending on getting the immigration reform done in a nonpartisan way
like with the much needed 20 years + too late infrastructure bill just passed via the senate

its there the need
its there both sides say it needs to be done

there just needs to be a compromise done 

lets start with the daca kids first

we cant afford not to do this 

the organicgreen doctor