My Alzheimer's Journey

Part 20 - Fascinating Research

Happy Friday!

I am finally feeling good - three days after the infusion. A Duke physician called me yesterday and confirmed that muscle pain is an infusion side effect. She said they have seen it fairly often. She called in a prescription for Dexamethasone. Powerful drug! My prescription only contained three pills.

Looking forward to a pain-free day.

I am sending you a link to an article NPR published yesterday. The article is about research underway that could lead to a cure for many cancers and Alzheimer’s disease. Yes, I said a cure.

One of the scientists involved in this research is Dr. Douglas Green at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. In the NPR article, he says, “If they’re right, these efforts are going to cure a lot of diseases that we associate with aging and inflammation.”

That would be awesome.

There is a likely funding issue with this research, though. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital depends on grants from the National Institute of Health to fund much of the research it does. The White House has cut about $78.1 million from the NIH grants awarded to St. Jude. Another research organization involved in this cell research is the Stowers Institute. Most of their funding is private (American Century Investments); although they received $5.1 million from NIH last year. At this point, they do not how much their funding may be cut.

From where I sit, as a person dying from Alzheimer’s, I want research funding to be increased, not decreased. Maybe I should organize a peaceful march in Washington.