organicgreendoctor: it depends

organicgreendoctor: it depends: IT DEPENDS four years ago my wife she and a friend took this flight way up in the sky then jumped down out of the airplane we watched from b...

it depends

IT DEPENDS
four years ago my wife she and a friend took this flight way up in the sky then jumped down out of the airplane
we watched from below as someone screamed from the time they jumped or should i say was pushed from the plane until they safely landed in the soft sandy soil of the river bed
neither would admit to being that screaming person

no
never again my wife she said yesterday
been there
done that

here below is the blog i wrote of the account of that adventure
__________
02-27-2018
THE EAGLE HAS LANDED
in 1969 neil armstrong said that famous quote
as his spacecraft landed on the moon

well
this weekend i repeated those words in a tweet
to family members and friend
while standing on the edge of a sandy river bed
near lompoc califronia

i texted
the eagles have landed

who are the eagles
well
its my wife she and her teacher friend from austin
it was a birthday celebration for the teacher
but i wont say which one
but i will say that most folks have a lot of grey hair
at this age and are real close to retirement

so she contacted my wife she
who sometimes is always available for irrational adventures
its my xx birthday and someone wants to give me a gift
to do something i have always wanted to do

when i heard what it was
i thought
ive always wanted to do that too
well
i always wanted to watch someone else
scream as they did it

somehow someway my wife she went from
im not going to do it
those are my famous words all the time to my wife she
im not going to do it
well she went to
ok ill do it

so on that fateful day
we loaded up for the hour drive to a well known skydive
place here
as we were driving
a lot of joking went on
i felt a lot of nervousness in the car

so
we arrived
they isolated the two
made them sign papers
you know those liability ones lawyers make you sign

there on the first page
in bold large letters
you can die doing this

drop the mike i would have
im out of here is what i would have said
done
aint gonna do it

they persisted

after a long long time
they got dressed
after watching a video on things to do
and not to do

as they stood on the tarmac area
on the back of their jump suits
was this big ole danger sign
i never read what it said
i stopped at danger

then they got all their gear on
walked out to the plane to board
wait was what was said
a bird hit the plane
they had to get a ladder to get fragments off the wing

thats when i would have backed out the
second time

then off they went
way way up into the blue clear sky
where we couldnt see them
i wonder if they closed that open door

they apparently were asked
are you scared
well yeah they said

i thought
at least they got those depend things on like
the astronauts wear
so that wouldnt be an issue

then these little specks appeared way up in the sky
i think somewhere around 13000 feet up
or was it 1300
it doesnt matter
either is too high for me

as one jumped out they screamed the whole time
i thought
that has to be my wife she
she screamed as she twisted and floated down
then landed
thats when the screaming stopped
i looked real close
on thats not her

later i asked my wife she did she scream
she said
no no words would come out

finally they floated close enough i could identify her bright
colored leggings she had on
no at least she aint screaming
maybe shes all passed out or something

nope
as she neared the landing sight
she waved real big with those big ole micky mouse gloves
they had to wear
bam
right on her booty

then i could hear her and her friend as they were all excited
as they got their voices back

later i showed them the sign on the fence where they landed

were you scared
yes

did you jump
no the tandem jumper thats behind you just falls out of the plane
since you are attached you just fall with them
no backing out it was

were you cold
yes it was real cold

was it beautiful
it was aaaaammmmmaaazzzzing
my wife she said

are you glad you did it
you betcha

would you do it again
no never

so afterwards i drove the rescue car to pick them
up after their fateful flight
no broken wings
oh
i made up the depends story
___________

the organicgreen doctor
  

organicgreendoctor: alzheimers news-i registered my brain this morning...

organicgreendoctor: alzheimers news-i registered my brain this morning...: ALZHEIMERS NEWS-I REGISTERED MY BRAIN THIS MORNING SO CAN YOU when i had been in the adni2 or alzheimers disease neuroimaging study for awhi...

alzheimers news-i registered my brain this morning so can you

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-I REGISTERED MY BRAIN THIS MORNING
SO CAN YOU

when i had been in the adni2 or alzheimers disease neuroimaging study for awhile i got a nice letter from dr weiner from ucsf universtity of california san francisco thanking me for being a volunteer for this most important alzheimers research study ever done

he was the director of the study in the united states

now he along with several other well known researchers have set up a website called the brain health registry

it does two things
it provides a reservoir of much needed volunteer alzheimers research subjects across the united states

it allows folks to be in a long term alzheimers research study 

the idea is too start monitoring folks now even if they are young starting at 18 years old and have no memory or neurological issues
they could sign up and be evaluated online every 6 months until they would need to be in a research study

the data on ones progress is collected over time

their goal is to accumulate 100,000 folks in their brain registry

i have tried similar things before but was rejected since i was in research studies
now
i am ok to be in this one

so
i signed up
i answered all the questions
i did all the memory tests
then
in 6 months i will repeat it until i decide to not do it any longer

if you are having a drop off of memory it will start to show on this brain registry updates 

they are looking at alzheimers parkinsonism brain injury and other brain problems

its a way to do your part for alzheimers research through the privacy of your computer

if you would like to register your brain you have to be at least 18 years old

it took me about an hour to do it
i dont mind donating my time to this brain health registry if it helps the alzheimers cause

here is the link to the brain health registry so you can sign up to be followed long term

do your part to advance the research

the organicgreen doctor

organicgreendoctor: peaceful sleeping in pieces

organicgreendoctor: peaceful sleeping in pieces: PEACEFUL SLEEPING IN PIECES sciencefriday.com in december 2010 when i was diagnosed with what now is officially mild cognitive impairment or...

peaceful sleeping in pieces

PEACEFUL SLEEPING IN PIECES

sciencefriday.com
in december 2010 when i was diagnosed with what now is officially mild cognitive impairment or mci thats due to alzheimers
i had a good sleep pattern
i would go to bed around 9pm and wake up around 5am
then
i was put on aricept or donepezil for my diagnosis

aricept or donepezil slows down the symptoms of alzheimers 
the earlier you start it like i did the longer you get benefit from taking it

i expect one day that i will reach the end of its effectiveness for me and i will start to show more rapid symptoms of alzheimers

so for now im seizing the moment of enjoying this long stretch of normality
hoping
that the aduhelm or aducanumab infusions i am on that is removing the amyloid plaque will have an effect in slowing down the disease itself

aricept or donepezil has several side effects
most are temporary for a few weeks or you become use to them
early on its nausea abdominal pain dizziness blurred vision hyperactivity 
those usually dissipate over the first few weeks
making taking the medicine more tolerable

then
for me i have had leg cramps since beginning it
they are usually in the feet and calves
occasionally in the hamstrings
they are worse after i have done some strenuous activity 

i also have fasciculations of the calf muscle 
if you look at my calves sometimes it looks like worms are crawling around under my skin
these are the results of the effects aricept or donepezil has on the acetylcholine levels in the nerve endings
in the brain it makes the brain cells work better
in the calves it causes overactivity in the muscle
ie
leg cramps and fasciculations

but
the worst and most bothersome effect for me is its effect on my sleep 

since starting it
i go to sleep ok but i wake like wide awake about 4-5 hours later
and
cant not go back to sleep
i feel like i drank a couple cups of coffee

now my mother and my younger brother took aricept of donepezil for several years and it seemed to have no effect on sleep
my older brother was on it for a period of time and it had no effect on his sleep

i take mine in the morning
if i take it before bed time i cant go to sleep 
it seems to stimulate me

the reason its recommended to take it at night is that those bothersome side effects i mentioned above happen while you are asleep
that doesnt work for me since it wont let me sleep if i take it at night
so
i even tried multiple otc meds and prescription meds to get more sleep
they either made me wide awake or made me like a zombie the next day

two years ago when i was sick with what we think was covid i had to go off all my meds since i couldnt even tolerate any of them much less food

during that time i was off aricept or donepezil my sleep started returning to normal
and
i noticed though they i started noticing some slippage on my memory
so
as soon as i could tolerate it i restarted it
i also had to go through those initial side effects again 

once i got settled in my regular morning dosing of aricept or donepezil my sleep hours returned to just 4-5 hours at night

since im retired i have the luxury of taking an afternoon nap
its usually 1-2 hours but sometimes if i havent had much sleep the night before i will sleep 3 hours

recently i noticed my blood pressure started to climb since i have gained back 30 of my 50 lbs i lost and i had returned to my regular coffee regimen of 1-2 cups a day

so
i stopped my caffeinated coffee and switched to decaf coffee
thats 90 mg caffeine vs 2 mg caffeine

my blood pressure has returned to normal
my sleep has improved some
i also sometimes will take a second nap pf 1-2 hours after being up for 3 hours
thats when i would usually drink my first cup of coffee before
i realized the caffeine was also contributing to my sleep issues

but
the major one affecting my sleep is the aricept or donepezil

i also have found i am quite alert and do my best reading and writing at this time
plus its a nice peaceful solitude at this time
when the weather is warmer i open our door so i can hear the birds and the early morning sounds
i feel like they are all just for me to enjoy
its actually very peaceful

ive tried several sleep regimens and now realize i cant ever just go to bed and sleep for 7-8 hours

so 
i have just accepted this is the way that my life will be for the future
ive adapted to it
ive accepted it
i feel rested most of the time

i also know that some of this may be the alzheimers progressing in my brain affecting my sleep patterns
i know that part will not ever get better
it will only worsen

heres hoping removing all that amyloid plaque from my brain will help some
in 6 months or so most of it will be gone thanks to the aduhelm or aducanumab
but will it be in time

recently my wife she sent me this article on segmental sleeping

this segmental way of sleeping has increased during the covid pandemic

it sort of told me
togd 
its ok
if you do it this way
its ok
we do it too

so
i am at peace
with my pieceful sleeping

the organicgreen doctor

organicgreendoctor: my story revisited #125-stay busy stay informed

organicgreendoctor: my story revisited #125-stay busy stay informed: MY STORY REVISITED #125-STAY BUSY STAY INFORMED when i retired abruptly about 3 years before i wrote the blog below i looked around to make ...

my story revisited #125-stay busy stay informed

MY STORY REVISITED #125-STAY BUSY STAY INFORMED

when i retired abruptly about 3 years before i wrote the blog below i looked around to make sure i stayed busy
below in the blog are the things i eventually got involved in
lucky for me we had moved to the country n north of austin from our house in austin
we went from a home with the typical front yard and backyard to 10 acres with a barn and a house and great potential for keeping one busy

i
put in a 1000 sq ft garden with fencing
redid my 1200 sq ft barn with metal roofing
put in a 30,000+ gallon rainwater system
repaired a lot of fencing
planted over 100 shrubs and trees
sowed lots of wildflowers and native grasses
maintained the property 
and
did all those other things listed below

i also was in the adni2 or alzheimers disease neuroimaging imitative study on alzheimers disease for 5 years
i also started doing several Alzheimer's presentations and q and a sessions with groups

it was about this time i started looking at studies to replace the adni2 study 
i wanted a treatment study

the one i was looking as i mentioned below i didnt qualify since i needed to be 65 and my memory was not normal so i didnt qualify 
it was about this time that the studies on aducanumab now called aduhelm started showing up 
i put that drug in my sights as one i might want to be on

eventually i qualified for the study and have now gotten 32 infusions in the aduhelm studies
18 of them were placebo

the person mentioned below eventually hooked up her rainwater tanks and used it to water her horses and her vegetable garden
__________
02-07-2014
MY THINGS
since i have retired i have my things that i like to
be involved in and promote
like
habitat for humanity volunteering
meals on wheels delivery
blogging
giving advise-doing this one is cheap-
on medicine
gardening
organic of course
rainwater collection
xeric gardening
solar power
setting up a small garden
recycling things
sports especially football and basketball
and
alzheimers disease
anything that will promote awareness of this disease

so this weekend i get to do three of these things

this am if the ice doesnt cancel it
i will be representing the alzheimers association at a volunteers fair
at sun city in georgetown texas
i get to wear purple and talk about alzheimers research
alzheimers programs available in this area
the walks to end alzheimers and more

this is a subject i can talk on all day long if someone will listen


then on saturday morning my wife she and i go to an
annual conference luncheon in dallas at ut southwestern
for those of us who volunteer our bodies to be researched on
there we get to hear whats going on at the research center
and whats going on nationally

i usually know most of whats going on since i keep up
with all the alzheimers research nationally

one of the upcoming research studies involves giving one of
the new alzheimers vaccine that removes the bad gooey
beta amyloid from the brain
it starts soon
im one year too young but attempts are being made to
get me into this one

the secret in the future will be to start treatment as early as possible
even before symptoms start
those studies are going on now here in the us and elsewhere

i usually learn something since the researchers are all there
talking about their research studies

then
i go slightly south of dallas and meet with a professor at
a large university who is putting a rainwater collection
system on her barn
the water to be used in her garden and maybe to water her horses
and trees
she has access to water but its restricted because of
water restrictions in the area

i do look forward to infecting her with the rainwater
collection virus
she may not know how contagious it is even though she
is a biologist
there is no vaccine or cure known so far

she has 3 tanks to hook up
ive warned her that she needs to plan for more since
those tanks will fill up real fast

its hard for a rainwaterer to sit and watch the water
run over out of the tanks or over the gutters
for
you see
there is only one cure
more tanks

hopefully with these three events this weekend
i can spread the word
to
end alzheimers now
save the rain
__________
now most if not all my volunteering is at the community garden
i changed my volunteer hours to there once the pandemic hit
it was much safer i felt since it was outside and the volunteers were scattered over 2-3 acres

you also need to be proactive when it comes to getting your medical care and if you have to seek care like i did in a clinical trial

so 
my motto
stay busy
stay informed

the organicgreendoctor