organicgreendoctor: why live in a smaller home

organicgreendoctor: why live in a smaller home: WHY LIVE IN A SMALLER HOME this is a picture above of a representative of the condos that are in our complex there are 50 of them the condo ...

why live in a smaller home

WHY LIVE IN A SMALLER HOME

this is a picture above of a representative of the condos that are in our complex
there are 50 of them
the condo complex next to us has another 50
the condo complex a couple of blocks away has another 50
they are at the smallest about 1000 square feet

when we lived at the country n we lived in an approximately 3000 square foot house with a detached garage that was about 400 square feet
our barn was 1200 square feet

yes all that space was filled with stuff

we had 10 acres which 9 acres were left to nature
i planted several trees on those 9 acres of the property and a lot of native grasses
the house sat on 1 acre with a 7 foot fence around it

inside that 1 acre i planted a lot of trees and a lot of native perennials
ok it was 100+ of them
what grass was exposed was mainly whatever was there when we moved in
i also planted several fruit trees

i did all the maintenance on the property doing things like replacing the barn roof rebuilding the garage redoing some of the walls inside the house putting in a 30000 gallon rainwater system

i did all the yard maintenance
i had a 1000 square foot garden of raised beds
we had a large chicken coop with usually around 15 chickens

it took a lot of work to maintain it
all of which i enjoyed doing

today i saw this posting on facebook of a lone small house on a large lot
here is the writing underneath it
thanks to kz

small homes make
wallets fatter
material possessions fewer
relationships stronger
conversations easier
laughing times louder
cleaning times shorter
and 
fun times longer

yep 
i said
thats the things we thought about when we decided to move to santa barbara

we decided to make our move while we were both healthy 
knowing what would happen to me in some unknown time in the future

we notified our kids and family that they needed to come get anything that was theirs or that they wanted
they did and what they didnt want was unloaded

friends and neighbors wanted some of our stuff 
we had a large moving sale and unloaded what was left
then
what was left after that got donated

we left our country n with only our two cars full of what we thought was important
i did bring my 30 yr old multiplying onions and a couple of small malabar  spinach sprouts i had for 15 years in a ziplock bag and a small branch off a cactus plant my wife gave me 30 years ago
all of them are now growing here in santa barbara

it was interesting what we considered important

then
we moved eventually into this 1 bedroom condo that is about 1000 square foot 
we filled with it with good furniture over a period of a few months using the monies from our moving sale

its easy to keep clean
we can talk to each other from one end to the other but we can get privacy for oneself easily
we had to get use to the different noises here
we were use to birds and coyotes and frogs
but
we can walk to our doctor and dental appointments the pharmacy the hospital the grocery store and to restaurants

sometimes we even walk to the downtown area and the farmers market
should we ever need to the bus stop is 1 block away

my wife shes mom lives about a quarter mile away well within walking distance
our grandkids are about 2 miles away and about an hour away

we are about a mile and a half from the beach and a couple of miles to the foothills and mountains

i dont mow grass or water the lawn or trim hedges or do any gardening outside our condo
i do no outside repairs
inside i do some maintenance but leave the electric stuff to a electrician and the more complicated plumbing to the plumber
i use a handy man to do some of the inside repairs that i cant do or dont wont to do anymore

almost everyday i am out the door early to work in my garden plot or i volunteer in our 3 acre community garden doing whatever needs to be done

most of my volunteer work is with the community garden now 
i moved my volunteer hours there during the pandemic since it felt safer

i go to ucla for my infusions once a month 
that trip takes up about 8-10 hours
some months i have to go extra days for mri scans or amyloid pet scans or tau pet scans or memory testing and labs

we usually use those trips to also see our grandkids who leave near ucla

my wife she stays busy grandkidding which she loves to do
she is a known thrifter which she enjoys doing with her mom
she also gets to spend a lot of time with her mom which she has enjoyed since living here

we have not done any trips since the pandemic but we have managed to be busy everyday

we are glad we downsized and prioritized how we are spending our time
we do what we both enjoy doing

sometimes i believe we would all be better off if we all lived in a smaller home

the organicgreen doctor

organicgreendoctor: alzheimers news-why donanemab didnt get approval

organicgreendoctor: alzheimers news-why donanemab didnt get approval: ALZHEIMERS NEWS-WHY DONANEMAB DIDNT GET APPROVAL alzheimers disease starts with amyloid accumulating in the brain the theory is if you remov...

alzheimers news-why donanemab didnt get approval

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-WHY DONANEMAB DIDNT GET APPROVAL

alzheimers disease starts with amyloid accumulating in the brain
the theory is if you remove the amyloid plaques early enough in the disease you can alter the course of the disease

enter the antiamyloid monoclonal antibodies that bind to amyloid or the amyloid plaques and removes it from the brain
hoping doing so will make a difference

there are now 3 monoclonal antiamyloid antibodies in the running for treatment of alzheimers disease
these drugs will not cure alzheimers but it may slow down the symptoms

first is my drug aduhelm or aducanumab
it was approved for use in early alzheimers disease although the approval process was sketchy
the fda approved it but the medicare medicaid folks called cms wont pay for it unless its used in clinical research
they also have required them to do a longer clinical trial to prove if it really works

my study is called the embark study where i have received around 25 monthly infusions of aduhelm or aducanumab after18 months of placebo 
it will report out in 2 years
it  probably will show that it reduces memory decline by about 22% but will have higher aria or microbleeds than the other two
it also is slower in removing the amyloid than the other two

my guess is that my drug aduhelm or aducanumab will not be the one to use even though it does the job

second is leqembi or lecanemab which was just approved by the fda for use in early alzheimers disease
it removes the amyloid faster than aduhelm does
it reduces memory decline by about 27%
slightly more than aduhelm does
it also has the side effect of microbleeds or aria but not as much as aduhelm does
medicare medicaid or cms has not made a determination if they will pay for it
some think it will approve paying for it 
its given as a twice a month infusion

now third is lillys drug donanemab
the fda has decided not to approve it use early until more studies are completed
its expected to give its full approval later this year 

why
donanemab worked too good at removing amyloid
around 100 or so folks were given donanemab but before the full year was up the measurable amyloid seen on amyloid pet scans wqs all gone
so the donanemab was stopped
the fda said they didnt have enough folks complete the year long study
however
later this year they will have enough data to please the fda

it is given as a monthly infusion
its side effect profile is similar to leqembi or lecanemab

seems odd doesnt it that it worked too good so the fda woulnt approve it

its felt the fda will give full approval and that medicare medicaid will likely approve it also
its given as a monthly infusion

so eventually we will have 3 drugs that are antiamyloid monoclonal antibodies to chose from

they all will cost about the same 
a lot of money around $20,000+ a year
about 2-3 months cost to be in a nursing home or memory center

so
right now 
which would i chose to take

probably donanemab
it works better than aduhelm or aducanumab and maybe better than leqembi or lecanemab
the plans are to give it intermittently based on the amyloid load in the brain
lecanemab has to be given every two weeks while the other two are given monthly
aducanumab has worse aria or microbleeds

so
i would probably chose donanemab then leqembi or lecanemab then aduhelm or aducanumab

all 3 of these are doing clinical trials in folks who are prealzheimers or prodromal alzheimers
that means those who have amyloid plaques in the brain on amyloid pet scans but have no memory issues yet
maybe attacking the disease before symptoms start will allow these 3 drugs to be more effective

the fact that i will have 3 drugs to chose from in a couple of years shows we are making progress

the organicgreen doctor

follow me on twitter
follow my blog facebook page

 

 

organicgreendoctor: my story revisited #165-thanks revisited

organicgreendoctor: my story revisited #165-thanks revisited: MY STORY REVISITED #165-THANKS REVISITED that is me talking for a few minutes at the last walk to end alzheimers in santa barbara yes i crie...

my story revisited #165-thanks revisited

MY STORY REVISITED #165-THANKS REVISITED

that is me talking for a few minutes at the last walk to end alzheimers in santa barbara
yes i cried
the picture below in my old blog is me talking at our family reunion it 2014
i dont remember crying when i was talking but a lot of ny relatives cried that day
it was about a year after my younger brother died in the final stages of alzheimers
he died in a hospice center surrounded by family and friends
thats how i want to go when my time comes

i did get to see him a month before he died
i knew when i left that day i would not ever see him again

this blog below i described what all i was doing to slow down the disease
some of the things i dont do anymore
most are the various supplements i took
i was taking around 17+- a day
some i stopped because of side effects like the ashwaghandha which gave me nightmares
the resveratrol didnt show it helped so i stopped it

there are some new studies coming out about multivitamin use in helping 
if those show it may help i might add a multivitamin to my regimen
until those come out i dont plan on adding those

i also was put on aricept or donepezil early on when i was diagnosed
studies show that my help slow down symptoms 

i really didnt envision that my memory would be intact and in the normal range now 8+ years later

i also had forgotten that i was reinterviewed by the austin american statesman about how i was doing
here is the link to that article
it was a follow up to the larger article done 3 years before also linked here

at the time i wrote this blog below i had not had my amyvid pet scan result
i now have had about 4 or 5
i have lost count
one i got just prior to my starting aduhelm or aducanumab study in 2017 i was told it was positive for amyloid
a requirement to get into the study

when i wrote the blog i was waiting to get into the solanezumab study
i wasnt accepted for one study because my memory test was not normal
the other one i wasnt accepted for i wasnt abnormal enough

looking back i am glad i didnt get into these studies since the results are showing the solanezumab isnt really working

the alzheimers blood test is now here
i have had it for the study i am in
it is used now as a screening tests for these alzheimers clinical trials
soon it will be available in private clinics

one drug for blood pressure that was shown in europe to maybe help was nilvadepene
a med not approved for use in the usa

now its shown that controlling your blood pressure with meds like ace inhibitors like lisinopril and its cousins or arb like valsartan or its cousins helps as well as other blood pressure meds

also controlling your cholesterol with meds like statins eg lipitor or atorvastatin or their cousins help 
as does all those healthy things i listed below

this next week i go in for my #26 infusion of aduhelm or aducanumab at ucla
can you say amyloid be gone
__________

11-03-2014
THANKS

thanks to the hundreds of you who read this article from the
austin american statesman yesterday
doctor keeps alzheimers at bay
and
responded with your kind words

why i may have alzheimers
i had a normal mental status evaluation that changed in 3 years to
being abnormal
i personally noticed those changes
my parents and younger brother had alzheimers disease
i carry the apoe4/apoe4 gene that carries up to a 20x increased risk
of getting alzheimers disease
the levels of beta amyloid and tau protein in my spinal fluid are
abnormal
the pet scan for beta amyloid or amyvid will be done soon

for those who asked
here are the studies i am in

the alzheimers disease neuroimaging initiative or adni study
the largest most important alzheimers study ever done
i get lots of blood drawn neuropsych tests mri scans pet scans for
glucose metabolism pet scans for beta amyloid or amyvid and
spinal taps for beta amyloid and tau protein

a study of the new alzheimers blood test which may be 90%
accurate in predicting if you will get alzheimers disease
it probably will be available in 5 years

then hopefully in december
a study of solanezumab an alzheimers vaccine infusion that may
remove beta amyloid from the brain


first
i am not doing anything different really than thousands
of americans who volunteer to help other folks every day
i know at the habitat builds and the meals on wheels there are
those dedicated folks who are always there doing their part

there are many ways to volunteer
even helping an older neighbor or friend
a disabled one
or
someone temporarily in need

do volunteer
i can speak from experience now after 4 years
the one that benefits the most from volunteering
is that person in the mirror
you

what i am doing to ward off alzheimers disease is not some
secret treatment
its been researched and documented and written about
for years
its mainstream medicine

now one thing to remember is that
in my opinion this doesnt really stop alzheimers disease
once it get rolling
its going to win eventually
but
it slows it down a lot and hopefully makes the symptoms
that you see in people less severe
kinda like
a snowball going down a hill that hits against obstructions
along the way to slow it down
but
eventually it will get to the bottom of the hill
but
it will not be as big

i do think that if a person can start all this preventative stuff
when they are young
even when they are babies and infants and toddlers and
little kiddos and teenagers and young adults
they can maybe prevent themselves from getting alzheimers disease
or
slow it down so much that they will die from something else
when they get real old

eat a heart healthy diet or mediterranean diet
or
if you  are so inclined a gluten free diet sorry i cant do that one
or be a vegetarian or vegan

dont do excesses in your life like eat too much gain weight
drink too much smoke at all use drugs

exercise

get an adequate sleep each day
this one is turning out to be important

control diabetes blood pressure cholesterol

be happy stay mentally active stay socially active

do this and we are talking about a lot of disease prevention
besides alzheimers disease

i have also got a lot of questions about this vitamin and supplement
thing im doing

if you arent going to do this stuff above then dont worry about the
supplement and vitamin thing

i first read the article on the research that was done
here is the full article
then
i discussed this with my primary care doctor and my neurologist
then i had screening labs done looking for problems

i found a low vit d and low b12 which i wasnt expecting
and am taking replacements for them
had my levels not been low i wouldnt have taken those supplements

my homocysteine level was quite elevated
it may be associated with an increased risk of alzheimers disease
its not definitely proven but i as i have said before i dont have
time to wait for it to be proven
so im taking folate  b12 vit b6 each day to lower that number

since i know that i have abnormal levels of beta amyloid in my
spinal fluid and will soon know if my amyloid pet scan is positive
i have elected to take stuff that may lower beta amyloid levels

remember this isnt proven these supplements do this yet
but in animal studies they do

one resveratrol was used in a big study whose results will be out
later this year or next year which will say yes or now if this works
this is the stuff from grapes
it takes tons of grapes to get enough for a daily dose so  thats why
its been put in a pill
if its disproved with this study i will probably stop taking it

some of the supplements i cant tolerate like melatonin
and ashwaganda which may lower beta amyloid and help
some with sleep
i got these god awful disturbing dreams with it

there are 7 things to do that we all should be doing anyway
like those mentioned earlier

so i didnt just start taking this stuff without looking at each
one individually as to whether it fit my circumstance
i look at the side effects and interactions with my medications
like my blood pressure medication or cholesterol medication

if i could access nilvadipine for my blood pressure i would
change to that drug
see last fridays blog

plus
remember there are not many options right now for me
except to do these things
if im wrong this may help then i havent lost much
if im right this may help then ive done myself and my family
some good

please do not just start taking this stuff without looking
at each one closely discussing it with your medical providers
remember these are as much medicines as those prescriptions
you are taking

and also remember this is not a cure for alzheimers disease
its like aricept (donepezil) it slows down the symptoms
but probably doesnt stop the disease

so what do i notice
i feel better
i feel more alert
i have gained more sleep
i dont get leg cramps like i did ( a side effect from the aricept)
i dont feel as tired later in the day
i have less morning nausea

so something is helping in this regimen
im not sure what it is
but its enough i plan to keep on taking it

so again i say
thanks for the interest
dont worry if a cure comes i will be overposting about it
_________
as i sit here i wonder what i will be like in 8 years
i would be 80
i guess if im still writing my blog then that would mean that all that healthy stuff worked and that the aduhelm or aducanumab slowed down the decline some or some other drug that comes along that treats this disease

if on 1-26-2031 i write a blog then ill be happy

the organicgreen doctor

organicgreendoctor: medical interpreter

organicgreendoctor: medical interpreter: MEDICAL INTERPRETER she reached out to me when she heard about the flooding here in santa barbara during our conversation i said i was being...

medical interpreter

MEDICAL INTERPRETER

she reached out to me when she heard about the flooding here in santa barbara
during our conversation i said i was being a medical interpreter

i told her that mr hudson had gotten severely dehydrated and had to be admitted to icu at cedar sinai
this all happened during the flooding and rain two weeks

she being a former colleague of mine

we mentioned being medical advocates for our kids and in my case my grandkids
she told a story of how her son who had a lot of health issues as a child was severely ill and it took her advocacy to get him properly diagnosed
his illness resulted in a 2 months hospitalization but could have ended up much worse

i told her mr hudsons story and how i acted as a medical interpreter for his parents 

i am not sure how mr hudsons illness would have turned out without some medical advocacy or medical interpretation on my part and his parents advocacy

in medicine as a physician you learn early on in medicine to take a good history as it usually tells you whats wrong with the patient and then you lay your hands on the patient to do an exam
you also watch them while you talk to them and exam them
you also watch those who are with them
you have to learn to read people

i find it hard to believe that some medical providers took such poor history and never laid hands on him or if they did they did just a cursory exam
this is basic medicine that reaps rewards in caring for a patient

i was there in the icu room 24/7 for over 3 days so i didnt miss much

luckily i was able to read up on his medical issues
he had gotten a virus called sapovirus a cousin to the norovirus we all hear about
it waxes and wains sometimes in its presentation it can sort of smolder 
this is what happened and he got severely dehydrated

some providers didnt pay attention to him but his family and i did
i shudder to think what would have happened if it was not for this attention
the outcome would have been worse

what would have happened if his parents and his granddad had not been observant enough and aggressive enough and knowledgeable enough to get him care

what would have happened to a more passive family
i again shudder to think what would have happened

now mr hudson got great care and his outcome turned out to be ok but it could have went the other way
im sure similar cases didnt end so good

i was able to research his diagnosis and treatment and explain it to his parents so they could understand
what would parents do if they didnt have that person

my friend told of an employees child who was seen and sent home from the emergency room with a similar condition
the medical folks didnt not recognize the gravity of the childs illness
it did not turn out well

she said that when she retires she thinks she will be a patient advocate to help patients get through the medical system

thats what i did with mr hudson
it served him well

today he looks his normal self and is gaining all his weight back
he is eating like he is two or three people
he had lost 10% of his weight

i have folks reach out to me frequently for medical advice
not on treatment since i try not to give that type of medical advice 
but on how to work their way through the system

my last three were folks who were having memory issues
they live in three different states
one i know one is a former patients spouse and one was someone who reached out after reading my blog and seeing my interview on being patient

the first person i gave advise on what to do to be ready for their appointment 
the second i reviewed the spouses medical history and recommended they get their spouse a full memory evaluation which they hadnt had
the third was someone with memory loss that was seeking getting the infusions that i am on

i use my medical knowledge and medical experience to help folks get the care they need
they just need to know whats going on and what kind of evaluation should be done
eg one of those persons is getting delayed care i think because their medicare advantage plan is slow in doing their evaluation

i feel good about the recommendations i made to these three people 
all three were appreciative of my involvement
i hope it helps them get the care they need

for mr hudson it helped his family to understand what was happening or not happening with his care
now with mr hudson i sit back and dont say much but at the end of a visit if i feel like something needs to be added i bring it up
i have usually prepared the family for whats going on before the visit happens or in his case the daily rounds of providers
it also helps to have parents who are strong advocates which his parents are

it helps to understand whats going on and to have someone to interpret for them

yes
add medical interpreter to my repertoire

the organicgreen doctor

organicgreendoctor: alzheimers news-does hrt slow down alzheimers

organicgreendoctor: alzheimers news-does hrt slow down alzheimers: ALZHEIMERS NEWS-DOES HRT SLOW DOWN ALZHEIMERS maybe hrt stands for hormone replacement therapy if you have ever been perimenopausal and got ...

alzheimers news-does hrt slow down alzheimers

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-DOES HRT SLOW DOWN ALZHEIMERS

maybe
hrt stands for hormone replacement therapy
if you have ever been perimenopausal and got relief from taking the female hormones then you know what hrt stands for
relief

most women who take it take it just during the perimenopausal time period

now it also may have prevented you from getting alzheimers
if you have the apoe 4 gene

thats the late onset alzheimers gene 
if you have one apoe 4 gene your alzheimers risk is increased 5x if you have two apoe 4 genes ie apoe 4 apoe 4 then your risk is 10-20x

its potential benefits are described in this review of the research article

hrt works best when started in the perimenopausal time
ive never had perimenopausal but i lived with it

it was described as a miracle drug by it user

it also may work best to slow down alzheimers in those who have the apoe 4 gene

maybe by affecting cortisol levels in the brain
cortisol is our steroid we make ourselves
high levels have been associated with cognitive decline or memory loss

women who had the apoe 4 gene who took hrt had improvement in memory and cognition and had larger brain volumes

men dont get menopause but i do wonder why they call it menopause
maybe because it makes men pause at what they say to their wives
why not call it femaleopause

now we understand the fog that some women complain of
not all women are affected by the perimenopause
but when they do
they want some relief

women tend to get alzheimers more than men
it may the lack of estrogen that does this 
estrogen affects lipids glucose cortisol levels and neuroinflammation in the brain

of course
they always say
more research needs to be done

for now
consider hrt for perimenopausal symptoms
especially if you know you have the apoe 4 gene
there may be long term benefits
one may be your memory 
discuss with your medical provider

the organicgreen doctor

organicgreendoctor: garden news-planting cabbage

organicgreendoctor: garden news-planting cabbage: GARDEN NEWS-PLANTING CABBAGE each winter we plant cabbage in our community garden the organic soup kitchen which we donate a lot of produce ...

garden news-planting cabbage

GARDEN NEWS-PLANTING CABBAGE

each winter we plant cabbage in our community garden
the organic soup kitchen which we donate a lot of produce to uses it in their soups
the soup kitchen provides soups full of nutrition to the elderly cancer patients and others needing nutritious meals
as i wrote before 3 years ago i lived on these organic soup kitchen soups when i couldnt tolerate food and was starving to death

this bed above is actually a planted leek bed i wrote about recently
since i didnt photo my unplanted cabbage bed ill use this picture
it looks just like the cabbage bed prior to planting minus the leek plants of course

we
rake the bed smooth to remove any debris
add a good generous layer of compost we make ourselves
add a layer of organic fertilizer at the recommended rate on the bed
fork all this in with a broad fork
dont till our soil
rake this out smooth

this leaves a bed like in the picture with compost and fertilizer scattered deep in the soil
the tines on the broad fork are about 10 inches long


then we use the shovel in the picture below the rake
it is 2 ft long so thats how far apart we dig the hole for the cabbage plants
in each hole we sprinkle some worm compost about a tbsp plus 
this is worked into the bottom of the hole
we stagger the holes as is shown in the picture


we plant the cabbage plants which we started from seed two months ago to the soil line of the plant
we water it in with a fish emulsion seaweed molasses mixture
we feed them this mixture twice a month

we planted about 30 in this row
earlier this winter we planted another row of 30 cabbage

the cabbage is a variety called copenhagen
it does well here 
we grew this variety the last two seasons
we donate most of them to the organic soup kitchen
some go to shelters food kitchens etc

i like to eat them raw or in a salad
they taste so good fresh from the garden

i also make a cabbage soup with them
i also eat then steamed

we also have a row of red cabbage growing in the garden
these were donated to us from a local organic gardener
we planted a row of these of about 30 plants
these will be donated also 

cabbage fresh out of the garden does not taste the same as the ones you buy at the store
these we grow taste so much better

try cabbage in your garden

the organicgreen doctor

organicgreendoctor: my story revisited #164-yes they are better

organicgreendoctor: my story revisited #164-yes they are better: MY STORY REVISITED #164-YES THEY ARE BETTER i still remember sitting there over 12 years ago staring at those pictures they might as well be...

my story revisited #164-yes they are better

MY STORY REVISITED #164-YES THEY ARE BETTER

i still remember sitting there over 12 years ago staring at those pictures
they might as well been blank pieces of paper
i knew those pictures but i couldnt remember what they were
it made a me break out in a sweat
i had just a few minutes before not been able to remember those words they read to me
i got about half of the words right
2 years prior to this i remembered all the words read to me
3 years later when i saw those pictures on the neuropsych exam i knew them
but i couldnt recall them that day

those pictures were of a
sphinx
hammock
pelican
pretzel
and others i couldnt remember

when i repeated the neuropsych exam each year in the adni study i use to just chuckle and smile remembering how i couldnt remember them before as i now identified each one correctly

today 13 years later my memory tests my moca test and mmse test are all in the normal range
i usually dont miss any questions
you can miss 3 and still be normal on the moca

they had let me review my moca scores so i could see how i had dropped off initially then leveled back off to a low normal range

i score better now then when i wrote that blog
i notice the difference also

now i do have issues that is normal for my age
it use to bother me 
but 
now
i just let it pass knowing its normal to not remember something like a word

i attribute this to the aricept or donepezil and healthy living and maybe the aduhelm infusions

you should maximize your health also 
it may
prevent or slow down memory loss
prevent a heart attack or stroke
prevent cancer
make you feel better
control you diabetes
control your blood pressure
control your weight

its always interesting when i reread my old blogs
its like reading my diary sometimes
_________
10-24-2014

ARE THINGS BETTER

almost 4 years ago i took a neuropsychological examination
at the alzheimers center at ut southwestern in dallas

there was a portion of the test where i had to identify pictures
for some reason there were several pictures that i knew what
they were but i couldnt remember their names
sphinx hammock pretzel pelican eg
this is one of the items that gave me a low score on the initial
exam
now since ive taken this test 8 times in the last 4 years
i have learned the test
so that i get all those pictures correctly
in fact on the last test a few weeks ago i was 100% correct

was it because i learned the test or i am improving

my guess i learned the test i know thats the major part of the
reason
but i do think my memory is stable

there are lots of other parts of the test that you cant learn
as the answers are randomly changed each time
so
i still have short term memory problems but they dont seem
to have gotten worse

i was recently able to review my scores over the last few years
you can see the numbers improve from test to test then
they leveled off
still off slightly like a level where the bubble is
not quite in the lines

this week i got my official letter from the study
saying that my short term memory tests had improved
but i realize part of that was from learning the test
__________
so to answer the title of the blog
i would say
yes
i am better
why
i dont know for sure
but
ill take it

the organicgreen doctor

organicgreendoctor: flooding here and there

organicgreendoctor: flooding here and there: FLOODING HERE AND THERE   when we lived at the country n near austin when it rained it tended to rain in bunches we lived about a quarter of...

flooding here and there

FLOODING HERE AND THERE
 
when we lived at the country n near austin when it rained it tended to rain in bunches
we lived about a quarter of a mile from a river 
we simply walked a path along the fence line in our neighbors pasture down to the river

when it was during the dry season like the summer the water flow slowed a lot
where we wanted to we could on low water days walk across the river

once during the severe drought the river slowed to a trickle but it never completely dried up
during that time i walked the river bed from our entry point to a bridge that was about 3 hours walking distance on a mostly dry bed
there were deep pools of water along the way some had large fish swimming around in them

it was a beautiful solitary walk i wish i could duplicate
no sounds just birds and squirrels

that was the last time in the 17 years we lived there that i was able to walk the river bed
the bluffs were beautiful

when we would get a gully washer rain that river would become a raging river that would go over some of the high banks 


the highway in front of our house was about a half a mile to a low water crossing near an old country church
if the water got high enough it would flood the roadway
you can see it in that picture above flooded
there is in the upper left of that picture a water mark post that i think went to 4 feet
i saw it at 4 feet more than once
it usually flooded the church when that happened

folks have got washed off the road there before
once a caseworker with several kids got washed off the road and floated down the stream about hundreds of feet away 
they managed to get on the roof top before they were rescued

once when i was going to work early before the sun came up
i didnt know we had a heavy rain that early morning
i was driving a small light car
as i hit the water which i never saw rushing across the roadway i could feel the car floating
then
luckily 
i felt the momentum of my car push it far enough that the tires got traction and pulled me from the water
i might have been on the evening news if i had not got through

when we got heavy rain we would get flooded in so we couldnt leave until the water rescinded 

in the central texas area we are used to driving in rain and gulley washers
you dont drive fast
you dont drive too close to others
you dont go through flooded streets or highways
its best to stay home

ive noticed here when it floods folks arent as safe

santa barbara is sandwiched between the mountains and the ocean
our beaches face south
our mountains are mostly north
the water runs down hill

if you are on a bicycle in northern santa barbara you can almost coast from the foothills to the beaches without ever pedaling
so does the rain flow that way

it also rains more in the foothills and mountains than it does where we live in the middle of the city

there are creeks and rivers that flow from the mountains to the ocean
they are shaped like a y
as the water goes down hill it gets higher and faster

we have a creek about a block away that was a raging river even before the rain got worse
luckily it never came over its banks where we lived
but
it did as it got closer to the ocean
some of the pictures on the national news of the santa barbara flood is from our creek flooding down there

then in montecito where oprah and ellen and william live they always seem to get hit the hardest
the 101 freeway that runs through this area was shut down for a few days in the montecito area

luckily all this rain has filled up the reservoir lakes here
one the biggest is almost to the point where they will have to release water into the river below the dam
look out encampments on the river bed down stream

i feel comfortable driving around here during the rains
it makes me feel at home
locals dont always feel comfortable here during the rain

it makes me think of central texas when it snows
folks sort of go crazy driving 
folks who have lived in the northern climates they say oh this is nothing

luckily no one died here from the flooding that i know of
im surprised
i must say the local fire departments and police departments and road departments do a good job of preparing for the flooding before it happens

i dont like the flooding here vs the country n
there i knew what to do
here it just feels unsafe i guess cause that mountain sits up there above us and it could send lots of rain rock and debris on us 

of course 90%+ of the time the weather here is just perfect

im glad i lived in texas so i know how to survive in flooding

the organicgreen doctor