my story revisited #195-last day revisited

MY STORY REVISITED #195-LAST DAY REVISITED

each year about this time i go back and read what i wrote that day 13 years ago
a month before i wrote it i knew i was done 
i had volunteered to be in the adni 2 alzheimers study in the normal control group
i had mild short term memory loss that showed up on the memory testing that lead them to a recommendation i see a neurologist
i wrote this the day i went to see her
i knew i was done

i got my official diagnosis when i saw her and a prescription for the alzheimers drug aricept or donepezil

i spent the last month of my practice getting ready to have to stop after i saw the neurologist
i knew i would be done for good
i was right

yesterday i saw the picture of the last patient i saw in my practice
an employees child a 2 year old who needed his 2 year check up
he is now a high school handsome teenager

i must say we had a grim christmas that year

i knew what that diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment due to alzheimers disease meant having seen my mother and my younger brother go through the final stage of the disease 
my father probably had it when he died

but here i am 13 years later
writing this blog
playing with my grandkids and knowing it and enjoying it
managing a large community garden as the volunteer garden manager
blogging on a regular basis
still doing all our business and financial stuff 
doing all the shopping
i am a cheaper shopper than my wife she
i follow a list and she doesnt

in 2016 i was accepted in the biogen aduhelm study where i received over 50 infusions 
the first 18 were placebo then the last 34 or so were the real drug

the drug should have removed all the measurable amyloid plaque from my brain
that should slow down the disease some for me
hopefully it will slow down the tau migration in my brain and some of the inflammation

i am after more time arent we all right
i feel like i have been granted that extra time
im thankful everyday that i have
__________
12/22/2010

LAST DAY-THANKS 
this my last day to work as a physician
always considered myself lucky to have been able to
do in life what i wanted to do since i was a middle schooler

in high school i was able to work in a local hospital in the
summer on weekends and during holidays
our family was poor so not only did i get financial benefit from
working but i also was exposed to a lot in the hospital setting
it made me know that i wanted to be a family physician

during college i worked as a emergency room technician
on weekends, weeknights, and holidays
this also gave me financial support but also exposed me to
different doctors and different emergency situations

i was accepted to medical school but never wavered on what
kind of doctor i wanted to be
a family physician

i was accepted to a family practice residency
after completing my residency i owed the federal government
three years to work at an approved federal underserved area

i was able to create with some help a site in  the small
town near where i grew up       i  worked there for three years
although traumatic at times it was a learning experience that i
carried through out my career

after fulfilling my three year obligation and after sustaining a
large financial hit from my involvement with the local clinic
i was recruited to the area where i am working now
thanks to my medical school friend for helping me out in
my time of need

i have worked for 25 years as a family physician
i always wanted to be one

now it is time i have to quit not because i want to but
because a genetic health problem has risen its nasty head
and because of this will have to discontinue what i like to do

i do not ever dread going to work every day
feel like i have now just gotten good at what i do

realize that patients dont necessarily need all of the new
medications we have, the new tests we can do or need
the newest treatments available

they do better if you just listen to them, pat them on the
shoulder, be kind to them and be their advocate when
they need it

i have honed my skills in taking care of kids over my career so
that many of the kids have felt comfortable seeing me and look
forward to seeing me to get a sticker or sucker, hear my
duck voice, or have me joke with them
that part i will miss a lot

thanks to all my patients in the past for allowing me to fulfill
my dream of being a family physician
i hope i have done you a good job

thanks to my wife she for putting up with me during
my quest for my career
know she found hers

love yall
the organicgreen doctor
__________
little did i know when i wrote this 13 years ago that i would be sitting here writing this today
for that
thats the best christmas gift i could ever receive

the organicgreen doctor