Our Medical Assault On Alzheimer's

What do we do first?

Well, he needs to go to our primary care doctor for starters.

Doesn't sound that complicated, but I managed 

to make it so.

I had not mentioned my suspicions to Jack, and

he was plenty sharp enough to pick up on

any special appointments or secretive
exchanges with the doctor at this point.

I desperately did not want him to think I was

going "behind his back." 

It's strange to me how I agonized over this because... 

It ended up being no big deal.

We always had our check-ups on the same day, 
one after the other.
Although my suspicions began in 2000,
our appoinments were not until March 29, 2001.
I don't know how, but I waited.  
I think I asked the doctor if I could be first when the
day finally came.

That way I could tell him of my suspicions about Jack.

He gave Jack the "I'm going to tell you three items

and ask you later what they are" test.

Jack remembered two out of three.

Then he had Jack count backward from 100 by 7's.

The doctor finally had to have him quit--

He couldn't keep up with Jack!

Nevertheless, he either felt the evidence strong enough

or took my word that there was a problem.

He sent us to a neurologist.

(All my efforts for secrecy seemed
 to have been unnecessary.
I don't recall his ever questioning me
about any of the initial appointments.)

The neurologist did four things. 

#1

He sent us to Harris Hospital for psychometric testing.

This was heart breaking.

Jack couldn't do very well on the quite long test, 
and he was very aware that he wasn't.

It was humiliating for him. 
I wish we hadn't done it.  I already knew.

#2

He ordered a blood test to determine if Jack carried

an ApoE4 gene, an indicator of AD possibility.

 #3

He ordered an MRI to determine if Jack had

suffered a stroke.

#4

At some point, he prescribed Aricept.

The results of the psychometric testing were dismal.

The MRI showed no stroke.

But...

About a month after the blood work, the nurse from the neurologist's office called to tell me:

"The results were 'positive'."

And I replied, "Positive for what?"

"Alzheimer's."

I was extremely upset.

I knew that AD can be determined

with certainty only at autopsy.

This made me angry but also further
rocked my world.

As it turned out, she should have said,

"Positive for ApoE4 genes."

Jack carried not one but two--

one from his mother, one from his father.

His mother had died at age 76 from

complications of AD.

His father had died of cancer when Jack was 12,

but we learned that AD was rampant in his family.

This was only the beginning of my

dissatisfaction with our neurologist.

In all subsequent visits, he did absolutely nothing

but ask me how Jack was doing.

N.o.t.h.i.n.g.

When Namenda first began appearing in the news,

Susan and I were both on it.

The doctor?  He had never heard of it!

I broke the news to him!

I wrote a letter for him to sign prescribing Namenda and

was able to order it from Austria before it became

available in the U.S.

This dissatisfaction led me to ask a trusted doctor

in Dallas for a referral to a different neurologist.

He recommended a female doctor at UT Southwestern.

Remember when I told you about Bozo HERE?

Well, this referral definitely ended up
knocking Bozo (and me) flat.

She talked only to me as though Jack was not sitting

right there.

I'm not sure now whether he noticed or not,

but I certainly did.

She was the first to administer the old

"draw a clock" test.

When we returned for the test results, I did

not take him into her office with me.  I left him

sitting in the waiting room and told the doctor exactly why.

The test results were not good.

I'll never forget the pitiful clock drawn by 

neat, precise, perfectionist

Jack Stovall.

But after all this, she had no new ideas--no real help.
  We never returned.

 Instead, back to "Dr. Do Nothing."

At least he could write prescriptions.

I wanted to shout to these doctors:

"You just don't understand!

This is a very smart, honorable, refined gentleman who deserves to be treated with respect

even if he does have this insidious disease!

He's very important to a lot of people!

His is a unique case!"

But then...they all are.