November 10, 2024 • 16 mins
Join Dr. Choctaw in this in-depth session where he unpacks how aging affects memory and cognition, along with the ways each of us can support our brain health. Listeners will gain insights into lifestyle habits, nutrition, and mind-strengthening activities that are proven to support memory over time.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Coming up on this episode of theHealthy, Wealthy, and Wise podcast.
One of the things that always comesup with, well, how can you sort of
prevent stuff that it always has todo with healthy eating and exercise,
avoiding alcohol, um, um, doing things,coming to masterclasses, learning new
(00:20):
stuff, reading new stuff, listeningto podcasts, whatever works for you.
That's all good.
Going back to, what are the part aboutthe The, the patients to come in and
bring it in and mom and dad, at somepoint, one of the issues that comes up.
Welcome to the healthy, wealthy,and wise podcast with Dr.
William T.
Choctaw, MD, JD.
(00:42):
This podcast will provide you withtools and actionable information
you can use to help live a morehealthy, wealthy, and wise life.
It's powered by the over 50 years ofmedical experience of this Yale university
medical school trained surgeon, who isalso a Western state law school trained.
With executive experience being a formermayor of Walnut, California, as well as
(01:07):
the current chairman of the nonprofitServants Arms and as president of
Choctaw Medical Group, Incorporated.
This is the Leadership MasterclassEdition, already in progress.
And remember, Alzheimer's is
a degenerative disease.
disease of the brain.
Like it's, it's gradually getting worse.
(01:28):
Now that could be a huge time.
And again, it takes us back to thefact that, uh, we're all different.
That the time it takes for me toget to a certain stage, uh, may
be different from the time that itmight take you to get to that stage.
And that's why it's difficult to say,well, I, I saw one person with blah,
blah, blah, so now I know how everybody isgoing to be, how everybody is going to do.
(01:51):
Uh, and that just does not work.
The middle stage of Alzheimer's isstage two, uh, disability occurs.
Uh, distant pasts may berecalled, but recent events
become difficult to remember.
Um, uh, folks may start inventingwords because they can't
remember the right words to use.
Um, you may not recognize peoplethat you know or used to know, um,
(02:14):
which then really becomes disturbing.
Um, and it certainly becomesdisturbing for your family or your
caregivers and that sort of thing.
And you say, but, but, but dad,this, this is your, this is your
daughter, your second daughter.
This is Mary.
You don't know Mary?
You know, that, that sort of thing,and, and so that's obvious, right?
I mean, you, you cantell when that happens.
(02:35):
And then the third and the finalstage, which is even more obvious,
um, uh, where, uh, people, patientsjust become less responsive.
They don't want to get out of bed.
They don't get out of bed.
Um, unable to recognize anyone, unableto recognize anyone, uh, wife, husband,
family member, whatever, whatever.
(02:55):
Um, um, loss of, of, of, uh, Uh, bladdercontrol, loss of normal activity, uh, type
thing, uh, and then can ultimately die.
Uh, people go through that, uh, peopledo it, um, um, and this reminds me to
bring up a quick category, caregiver.
(03:17):
If you are a caregiver, or if you'veever been a caregiver, and I'm talking
about caregivers can be for yourkids, all the way to your parents.
You know how difficult this is becauseone of the challenges with caregivers have
to face is that when you're dealing withthat adult, uh, person with dementia or
Alzheimer's, um, they are difficult totake care of because they keep changing.
(03:43):
They keep, they keep changing that,that loving wife or that loving
husband or that loving mother orthat loving father is changing.
It's changing and it's frustrating.
I would have patients come into, whenI was in practice, uh, to my office
and bring in their, uh, I'll say theirmom or their dad, and they would be
very frustrated and they would saysomething like, I don't know what to
(04:04):
do, I don't know what to do, um, um,uh, she yells at me, I try to, um, um,
help her to do this and she does that.
blah, blah, blah.
Um, and what happens withcaregivers is they're human, right?
They get hurt likeeverybody else gets hurt.
Um, and sometimes they yell back andwhen they yell back, they feel horrible.
(04:28):
They said, Oh my God, I'm yelling at mymother or my father or my husband or my
wife or whatever, whatever, whatever.
So what's my point?
My point is You caregiversgot to take care of yourself.
You got to get out, go take a walk inthe park, go, I don't know, go to church
twice a day instead of once a day.
(04:48):
You got to get out, right?
Because you're human.
And, and, and we humans have our limits.
We do.
We may tell ourselves we'reSuperman and Superwoman, right?
You know, I, I know I've been superman.
I tell myself a long time,but we're human, right?
Right?
And so my point is Um, you,you, you, you've got to take
(05:11):
care of yourself frequently.
The scenario I would see patientcomes into my office, um, and bring
in their parent, blah, blah, blah.
And usually the other siblings inthe family, but there's usually
only one sibling that does the work.
The other brothers and sisters,and they're the ones on the phone.
Well, how is so and so did you do this?
(05:32):
Did you take her to this?
You miss that appointment?
How could you do that?
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,blah, you know, because they
don't have a clue to what you dobecause you've got your own kids.
You've got your own job.
You've got your own health issueson and on and on and on and on.
Nobody knows your world.
They do not.
They do not understand.
(05:53):
And even if you tell them theydon't, they wouldn't believe you.
They say, Oh, come on, come on, come on.
It can't be that man.
It is a lot of times.
It is.
I've seen it.
I know it exists.
So what's my point?
My point is, um, number one, caregivers,you got to take care of yourself.
Whatever that means for you.
(06:14):
And it means differentthings for different people.
That's okay.
But because if you can't takecare of you, how are you going
to take care of him or her?
Right?
Because you're it.
That, that, that's why you're there.
Those, those other siblings,those brothers and sisters of
yours, they are going to suddenlycome in and say, you know what?
Chill.
I got this.
(06:34):
I got this.
You, you go and take a tripto Hawaii or the Bahamas.
I'll take care of mom forthe next three months.
They're not going to do that.
They're not.
If so, they would have done it already.
And they're not going to do that.
So my point is that these are realities.
Uh, that we didn't create, but we have toadapt to, we have to adjust to, and, and
(06:59):
it is possible to adjust to these things.
One of the things that always comes upwith, with how can you sort of prevent
stuff, it always has to do with healthyeating and exercise, avoiding alcohol.
Um, um, uh, doing things, coming tomasterclasses, learning new stuff,
(07:19):
reading new stuff, listening topodcasts, whatever works for you.
That's all good.
Going back to, what, what are the partabout the, the patients to come in
and bring it in, mom or dad, at somepoint, one of the issues that comes up.
That's always very difficult.
Um, usually with parents, um, is do Ineed to put mom or dad in a facility?
(07:45):
to take care of them?
Uh, am I, am I able to adequatelytake care of them by myself or myself?
Most of the times, what, what makesthat decision tends to be safety.
Safety.
Example.
Let's say mom has Alzheimer's, and you'redoing your best, you're taking care
(08:05):
of her, and that's working out okay,but mom tends to, um, go sleepwalking.
So while you're asleep, mom gets up,unlocks the door, and leaves the house.
Or mom, mom can drive a car.
Uh, and she tends to get inthe car and just goes out and
you don't know where she is.
Most of the times, and, and mostpeople hate even considering that,
(08:30):
but usually it ends up being safety.
Um, mom or dad tries to cook, butthey don't remember how, how to
turn the flame this way or whatto do with the match or whatever.
And so then you're concerned about,um, um, you know, them harming
themselves, burning down the house.
You have other children.
In the house, little kids, you know,so my point is that if you move or
(08:55):
movement in that direction, most of thetimes it has to do with safety, safety
of the person of the patient, mom, dad,whoever it is safety of everybody else.
Okay, so just, just sortof keep that in mind.
Again, cognition as wetalk about is thinking.
Function is what you can do.
(09:17):
Now with dementia, you probably won'tsee as much problem with function,
um, like going out and not takinga bath and whatever, whatever, but
you will see it with Alzheimer's.
Because remember, Alzheimer's a moreadvanced, uh, part of this problem.
Um, what are the, one of the typesof abnormalities that can come up
(09:38):
with dementia and or Alzheimer'sis what we call hallucination.
Well, what is a hallucination?
A hallucination is something somebodyexperiences that is not true.
Now it's true to them.
I see little green menwalking in the room.
That, that's my visual hallucination.
Now, there are no little greenmen in the room, but I see
(10:01):
them and they're real to me.
So my point is, well, what do you dowhen that person with dementia and
or Alzheimer's has hallucinations?
It's it's it makes iteven more challenging.
It is best to try to workwith them as much as you can.
And what do I mean by that?
You don't want to, you don't want to saythere are no low grade men in the room.
(10:25):
Your mom stopped saying that.
They, there's nothing there.
And she said, but I see them over there,and there are two of them, and they're
walking around, and you say, mom, they,you know, don't do, don't get into that.
Don't do that.
Don't do that.
You are going to change her mind.
She sees them because she has dementiaand, or, and, or maybe Alzheimer's.
(10:46):
So you're not going to change her mind.
by yelling at her or getting upset.
So my point is, you needto calm down, right?
Uh, and I'll tell you, as a surgeon,and I learned this, I've been in
situations where people yell andscream and throw stuff and call people
names and all that sort of stuff.
(11:07):
Um, um, and this is particular at Yaleand this is in the 70s and 80s, uh, and
what I learned, what I, as a physician,what I learned is things really don't go
well when you do that, not, not really.
And when I said things go well, thepatient does not necessarily benefit.
Now, my specialty was surgery, uh, morespecifically trauma surgery, uh, which
(11:30):
means at three o'clock in the morningwhen somebody's been shot ten times and
run over by five cars, they call me in.
All right?
I get out of bed, drive my car intothe whatever, whatever, uh, at three in
the morning and I say, what do we got?
And they start talking, Dr.
Chalk, we got a 45 year old malewho's blah blah blah blah blah, and
(11:51):
I'm not talking, I'm just listening.
And they go on and go on and go onand go on, and then I say, okay,
you do this, you do this, youdo this, you do that, let's go.
And we go, we go.
What I have learned is, you,you, you have to understand that
everybody's a little different.
Now, if, if I get to the OR and I'vegot a nurse or PA who's, who's freaking
(12:12):
out because of the blood or whatever,whatever, I kick them out of my room.
I do.
I do.
I said, they don't havetime for you right now.
I love you, but you gotta go.
Because I need everybodyfocused on the patient.
We got one job is to get this guyor this woman off the table alive.
That's our job.
(12:33):
Um, and, and so what, what I've learnedis that you have to understand that
you have to be focused on the mostimportant person and that is your loved
one who has dementia and Alzheimer's.
They will do and say stuffthat will drive you crazy.
They will say stuff toyou that will drive you.
Why are you so mean to me?
(12:55):
You've never been, I never likedyou and I always liked your
sister better than I did you.
I was like, you know, but I mean,they'll go down those roads.
You can't let that bother you.
You got to say, I'm the caregiver.
I'm the caregiver.
God put me here for a reason.
I'm going to do my job.
I'm going to do my job.
Now you can do whatever you needto do, but I'm going to do my job.
(13:16):
And I can tell you, someone who'sbeen through, uh, particularly in
terms of the job thing, it works.
It works.
And not only does it work if you'vegot other people helping you and
you're respectful to them, you don'tyell and scream and call them names.
I do the very opposite.
You know, when we go into the operatingroom and we put the patient on the
(13:36):
bed and the blood hits the ceiling.
You know, first we cover it up, we putsomething over it, and then I said,
okay, I want everybody to calm down.
And then we talked two or three minutes.
I said, I'm going to do this,I'm going to do this, you do
this, you do this, you do that.
Okay, everybody ready?
And they said, yes, sir.
Then we do it, and weget it taken care of.
As compared to, give me this!
(13:56):
No, I don't want that!
Give me this!
Oh, no!
Throwing stuff on the floor, becausewhen you throw stuff on the floor,
as a surgeon, they have to clean it!
They can't pick it upand give it back to you.
So what have you done now?
That's your favorite, I don't know, stall.
You threw it on the floor becauseyou didn't like the way it felt,
uh, and now all you've done isdelay the surgery even more.
(14:18):
So, you know, my point isvery simply, stuff will happen
that you have no control over.
You don't.
Uh, because this is not aboutyou, quite honestly, it's
about her or it's about him.
Your job is to be the caregiver.
Your job is to get themthere, to get them there.
And then if you need to go out and hugsomebody else, or hug your neighbor, or
(14:40):
say a prayer, or go to church, you dowhat you need to do to take care of you.
And you must take care of you.
Because if you don't make it,if you're not capable, you
can't take care of her or him.
Right?
Does that make sense?
Okay.
Oh, let me also say there is a specialtyin healthcare called gerontology.
Gerontology, we don't talk a lot about it.
(15:01):
Gerontology are doctors whoonly deal with elderly patients.
They do exist.
That is a specialty.
Uh, you can put into yoursearch engine gerontologist
near me or something like that.
But I would suggest firststart with your primary doctor.
Um, and say I, I want us tohave a plan to deal with blah,
(15:22):
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Start there.
Um, and then, then, then move on.
Now is medication available?
I won't spend a lot oftime on it for Alzheimer's.
And for, um, um, uh, dementia and therapy.
Um, uh, the drugs are effectivedepending on which drugs that are used.
All of this, and this goes back tous being independent and individual,
(15:46):
everybody's a little different.
Everybody's a little different.
And this is where, uh, the good examand the tests that have been done
can sort of help you with stuff.
Thank you for listening to the Healthy,wealthy, and Wise Podcast with Dr.
William t Choctaw, MDJD.
You can listen again to this andany of the previous episodes.
Leave a comment or pose questions tothe doctor by going to www.thwwp.com.
(16:14):
That's www.th wwp.com and you've got it.
It's also available whereveryou get your podcasts.
Be sure to follow likes.
and subscribe if you haven'talready, then tune in for the
next episode of the healthy,wealthy, and wise podcast with Dr.
William T.
Choctaw, MD, JD, a production ofChangemakers Communications, LLC.
Coming up on this episode of theHealthy, Wealthy, and Wise podcast.
One of the things that always comesup with, well, how can you sort of
prevent stuff that it always has todo with healthy eating and exercise,
avoiding alcohol, um, um, doing things,coming to masterclasses, learning new
(00:20):
stuff, reading new stuff, listeningto podcasts, whatever works for you.
That's all good.
Going back to, what are the part aboutthe The, the patients to come in and
bring it in and mom and dad, at somepoint, one of the issues that comes up.
Welcome to the healthy, wealthy,and wise podcast with Dr.
William T.
Choctaw, MD, JD.
(00:42):
This podcast will provide you withtools and actionable information
you can use to help live a morehealthy, wealthy, and wise life.
It's powered by the over 50 years ofmedical experience of this Yale university
medical school trained surgeon, who isalso a Western state law school trained.
With executive experience being a formermayor of Walnut, California, as well as
(01:07):
the current chairman of the nonprofitServants Arms and as president of
Choctaw Medical Group, Incorporated.
This is the Leadership MasterclassEdition, already in progress.
And remember, Alzheimer's is
a degenerative disease.
disease of the brain.
Like it's, it's gradually getting worse.
(01:28):
Now that could be a huge time.
And again, it takes us back to thefact that, uh, we're all different.
That the time it takes for me toget to a certain stage, uh, may
be different from the time that itmight take you to get to that stage.
And that's why it's difficult to say,well, I, I saw one person with blah,
blah, blah, so now I know how everybody isgoing to be, how everybody is going to do.
(01:51):
Uh, and that just does not work.
The middle stage of Alzheimer's isstage two, uh, disability occurs.
Uh, distant pasts may berecalled, but recent events
become difficult to remember.
Um, uh, folks may start inventingwords because they can't
remember the right words to use.
Um, you may not recognize peoplethat you know or used to know, um,
(02:14):
which then really becomes disturbing.
Um, and it certainly becomesdisturbing for your family or your
caregivers and that sort of thing.
And you say, but, but, but dad,this, this is your, this is your
daughter, your second daughter.
This is Mary.
You don't know Mary?
You know, that, that sort of thing,and, and so that's obvious, right?
I mean, you, you cantell when that happens.
(02:35):
And then the third and the finalstage, which is even more obvious,
um, uh, where, uh, people, patientsjust become less responsive.
They don't want to get out of bed.
They don't get out of bed.
Um, unable to recognize anyone, unableto recognize anyone, uh, wife, husband,
family member, whatever, whatever.
(02:55):
Um, um, loss of, of, of, uh, Uh, bladdercontrol, loss of normal activity, uh, type
thing, uh, and then can ultimately die.
Uh, people go through that, uh, peopledo it, um, um, and this reminds me to
bring up a quick category, caregiver.
(03:17):
If you are a caregiver, or if you'veever been a caregiver, and I'm talking
about caregivers can be for yourkids, all the way to your parents.
You know how difficult this is becauseone of the challenges with caregivers have
to face is that when you're dealing withthat adult, uh, person with dementia or
Alzheimer's, um, they are difficult totake care of because they keep changing.
(03:43):
They keep, they keep changing that,that loving wife or that loving
husband or that loving mother orthat loving father is changing.
It's changing and it's frustrating.
I would have patients come into, whenI was in practice, uh, to my office
and bring in their, uh, I'll say theirmom or their dad, and they would be
very frustrated and they would saysomething like, I don't know what to
(04:04):
do, I don't know what to do, um, um,uh, she yells at me, I try to, um, um,
help her to do this and she does that.
blah, blah, blah.
Um, and what happens withcaregivers is they're human, right?
They get hurt likeeverybody else gets hurt.
Um, and sometimes they yell back andwhen they yell back, they feel horrible.
(04:28):
They said, Oh my God, I'm yelling at mymother or my father or my husband or my
wife or whatever, whatever, whatever.
So what's my point?
My point is You caregiversgot to take care of yourself.
You got to get out, go take a walk inthe park, go, I don't know, go to church
twice a day instead of once a day.
(04:48):
You got to get out, right?
Because you're human.
And, and, and we humans have our limits.
We do.
We may tell ourselves we'reSuperman and Superwoman, right?
You know, I, I know I've been superman.
I tell myself a long time,but we're human, right?
Right?
And so my point is Um, you,you, you, you've got to take
(05:11):
care of yourself frequently.
The scenario I would see patientcomes into my office, um, and bring
in their parent, blah, blah, blah.
And usually the other siblings inthe family, but there's usually
only one sibling that does the work.
The other brothers and sisters,and they're the ones on the phone.
Well, how is so and so did you do this?
(05:32):
Did you take her to this?
You miss that appointment?
How could you do that?
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,blah, you know, because they
don't have a clue to what you dobecause you've got your own kids.
You've got your own job.
You've got your own health issueson and on and on and on and on.
Nobody knows your world.
They do not.
They do not understand.
(05:53):
And even if you tell them theydon't, they wouldn't believe you.
They say, Oh, come on, come on, come on.
It can't be that man.
It is a lot of times.
It is.
I've seen it.
I know it exists.
So what's my point?
My point is, um, number one, caregivers,you got to take care of yourself.
Whatever that means for you.
(06:14):
And it means differentthings for different people.
That's okay.
But because if you can't takecare of you, how are you going
to take care of him or her?
Right?
Because you're it.
That, that, that's why you're there.
Those, those other siblings,those brothers and sisters of
yours, they are going to suddenlycome in and say, you know what?
Chill.
I got this.
(06:34):
I got this.
You, you go and take a tripto Hawaii or the Bahamas.
I'll take care of mom forthe next three months.
They're not going to do that.
They're not.
If so, they would have done it already.
And they're not going to do that.
So my point is that these are realities.
Uh, that we didn't create, but we have toadapt to, we have to adjust to, and, and
(06:59):
it is possible to adjust to these things.
One of the things that always comes upwith, with how can you sort of prevent
stuff, it always has to do with healthyeating and exercise, avoiding alcohol.
Um, um, uh, doing things, coming tomasterclasses, learning new stuff,
(07:19):
reading new stuff, listening topodcasts, whatever works for you.
That's all good.
Going back to, what, what are the partabout the, the patients to come in
and bring it in, mom or dad, at somepoint, one of the issues that comes up.
That's always very difficult.
Um, usually with parents, um, is do Ineed to put mom or dad in a facility?
(07:45):
to take care of them?
Uh, am I, am I able to adequatelytake care of them by myself or myself?
Most of the times, what, what makesthat decision tends to be safety.
Safety.
Example.
Let's say mom has Alzheimer's, and you'redoing your best, you're taking care
(08:05):
of her, and that's working out okay,but mom tends to, um, go sleepwalking.
So while you're asleep, mom gets up,unlocks the door, and leaves the house.
Or mom, mom can drive a car.
Uh, and she tends to get inthe car and just goes out and
you don't know where she is.
Most of the times, and, and mostpeople hate even considering that,
(08:30):
but usually it ends up being safety.
Um, mom or dad tries to cook, butthey don't remember how, how to
turn the flame this way or whatto do with the match or whatever.
And so then you're concerned about,um, um, you know, them harming
themselves, burning down the house.
You have other children.
In the house, little kids, you know,so my point is that if you move or
(08:55):
movement in that direction, most of thetimes it has to do with safety, safety
of the person of the patient, mom, dad,whoever it is safety of everybody else.
Okay, so just, just sortof keep that in mind.
Again, cognition as wetalk about is thinking.
Function is what you can do.
(09:17):
Now with dementia, you probably won'tsee as much problem with function,
um, like going out and not takinga bath and whatever, whatever, but
you will see it with Alzheimer's.
Because remember, Alzheimer's a moreadvanced, uh, part of this problem.
Um, what are the, one of the typesof abnormalities that can come up
(09:38):
with dementia and or Alzheimer'sis what we call hallucination.
Well, what is a hallucination?
A hallucination is something somebodyexperiences that is not true.
Now it's true to them.
I see little green menwalking in the room.
That, that's my visual hallucination.
Now, there are no little greenmen in the room, but I see
(10:01):
them and they're real to me.
So my point is, well, what do you dowhen that person with dementia and
or Alzheimer's has hallucinations?
It's it's it makes iteven more challenging.
It is best to try to workwith them as much as you can.
And what do I mean by that?
You don't want to, you don't want to saythere are no low grade men in the room.
(10:25):
Your mom stopped saying that.
They, there's nothing there.
And she said, but I see them over there,and there are two of them, and they're
walking around, and you say, mom, they,you know, don't do, don't get into that.
Don't do that.
Don't do that.
You are going to change her mind.
She sees them because she has dementiaand, or, and, or maybe Alzheimer's.
(10:46):
So you're not going to change her mind.
by yelling at her or getting upset.
So my point is, you needto calm down, right?
Uh, and I'll tell you, as a surgeon,and I learned this, I've been in
situations where people yell andscream and throw stuff and call people
names and all that sort of stuff.
(11:07):
Um, um, and this is particular at Yaleand this is in the 70s and 80s, uh, and
what I learned, what I, as a physician,what I learned is things really don't go
well when you do that, not, not really.
And when I said things go well, thepatient does not necessarily benefit.
Now, my specialty was surgery, uh, morespecifically trauma surgery, uh, which
(11:30):
means at three o'clock in the morningwhen somebody's been shot ten times and
run over by five cars, they call me in.
All right?
I get out of bed, drive my car intothe whatever, whatever, uh, at three in
the morning and I say, what do we got?
And they start talking, Dr.
Chalk, we got a 45 year old malewho's blah blah blah blah blah, and
(11:51):
I'm not talking, I'm just listening.
And they go on and go on and go onand go on, and then I say, okay,
you do this, you do this, youdo this, you do that, let's go.
And we go, we go.
What I have learned is, you,you, you have to understand that
everybody's a little different.
Now, if, if I get to the OR and I'vegot a nurse or PA who's, who's freaking
(12:12):
out because of the blood or whatever,whatever, I kick them out of my room.
I do.
I do.
I said, they don't havetime for you right now.
I love you, but you gotta go.
Because I need everybodyfocused on the patient.
We got one job is to get this guyor this woman off the table alive.
That's our job.
(12:33):
Um, and, and so what, what I've learnedis that you have to understand that
you have to be focused on the mostimportant person and that is your loved
one who has dementia and Alzheimer's.
They will do and say stuffthat will drive you crazy.
They will say stuff toyou that will drive you.
Why are you so mean to me?
(12:55):
You've never been, I never likedyou and I always liked your
sister better than I did you.
I was like, you know, but I mean,they'll go down those roads.
You can't let that bother you.
You got to say, I'm the caregiver.
I'm the caregiver.
God put me here for a reason.
I'm going to do my job.
I'm going to do my job.
Now you can do whatever you needto do, but I'm going to do my job.
(13:16):
And I can tell you, someone who'sbeen through, uh, particularly in
terms of the job thing, it works.
It works.
And not only does it work if you'vegot other people helping you and
you're respectful to them, you don'tyell and scream and call them names.
I do the very opposite.
You know, when we go into the operatingroom and we put the patient on the
(13:36):
bed and the blood hits the ceiling.
You know, first we cover it up, we putsomething over it, and then I said,
okay, I want everybody to calm down.
And then we talked two or three minutes.
I said, I'm going to do this,I'm going to do this, you do
this, you do this, you do that.
Okay, everybody ready?
And they said, yes, sir.
Then we do it, and weget it taken care of.
As compared to, give me this!
(13:56):
No, I don't want that!
Give me this!
Oh, no!
Throwing stuff on the floor, becausewhen you throw stuff on the floor,
as a surgeon, they have to clean it!
They can't pick it upand give it back to you.
So what have you done now?
That's your favorite, I don't know, stall.
You threw it on the floor becauseyou didn't like the way it felt,
uh, and now all you've done isdelay the surgery even more.
(14:18):
So, you know, my point isvery simply, stuff will happen
that you have no control over.
You don't.
Uh, because this is not aboutyou, quite honestly, it's
about her or it's about him.
Your job is to be the caregiver.
Your job is to get themthere, to get them there.
And then if you need to go out and hugsomebody else, or hug your neighbor, or
(14:40):
say a prayer, or go to church, you dowhat you need to do to take care of you.
And you must take care of you.
Because if you don't make it,if you're not capable, you
can't take care of her or him.
Right?
Does that make sense?
Okay.
Oh, let me also say there is a specialtyin healthcare called gerontology.
Gerontology, we don't talk a lot about it.
(15:01):
Gerontology are doctors whoonly deal with elderly patients.
They do exist.
That is a specialty.
Uh, you can put into yoursearch engine gerontologist
near me or something like that.
But I would suggest firststart with your primary doctor.
Um, and say I, I want us tohave a plan to deal with blah,
(15:22):
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Start there.
Um, and then, then, then move on.
Now is medication available?
I won't spend a lot oftime on it for Alzheimer's.
And for, um, um, uh, dementia and therapy.
Um, uh, the drugs are effectivedepending on which drugs that are used.
All of this, and this goes back tous being independent and individual,
(15:46):
everybody's a little different.
Everybody's a little different.
And this is where, uh, the good examand the tests that have been done
can sort of help you with stuff.
Thank you for listening to the Healthy,wealthy, and Wise Podcast with Dr.
William t Choctaw, MDJD.
You can listen again to this andany of the previous episodes.
Leave a comment or pose questions tothe doctor by going to www.thwwp.com.
(16:14):
That's www.th wwp.com and you've got it.
It's also available whereveryou get your podcasts.
Be sure to follow likes.
and subscribe if you haven'talready, then tune in for the
next episode of the healthy,wealthy, and wise podcast with Dr.
William T.
Choctaw, MD, JD, a production ofChangemakers Communications, LLC.
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