My Travel Through Alzheimer's Disease #8 ROUND 1

ROUND 1 

Yesterday, June 9, 2025, I had my first infusion of Kisunla. Specifically:

donanemab-azbt (Kisunla) 700 mg in sodium chloride 150 mL IVPB

Last given at 4:46 PM for Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) due to Alzheimer's disease.

Stopped at 5:15 PM for Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) 

Due to Alzheimer's disease sodium chloride 0.9% flush 10 mL 

I FEEL LIKE I HAVE LESS CONFUSION IN MY BRAIN THAN I HAD YESTERDAY MORNING.

THANS FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT AND PRAYERS.

NEXT POST WILL BE WHAT I FIND OUT FROM THE SCHEDULED BRAIN MRI.

CURRENT SCORE:

donanemab-azbt (Kisunla) - 1 💥 ALZEHIMER DISEASE - 0

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Amazon's Author's Page: http://tinyurl.com/CRD-Author
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CRDowningAurhor?ref=hl

My Blogs

Life as I see it: Topics range from general interest to lovers of life: authors, teachers, etc,

http://crdowning-aurhot.blogspot.com/?alt=rss

My Christian Context: Periodic posts on Christianity

http://my christiancontext.bloggspot.com/

Website: www.crdowing.com

My Travel Through Alzheimer's Disease #7 My attack begins

MY ATTACK BEGINS! 

Today I made appointments for my infusions of PR INJ. DONANEMABAZBT, 2MG. I've been using the  name of Kisunla for the drug.

Treatments are once each month and are scheduled through December of 2025. Between each treatment is a brain MRI. If I understand why, the MRI's are to track the effectiveness of the treatment. 

If you want specifics...

https://kisunla.lilly.com/treatment#preparing-for-infusions

https://kisunla.lilly.com/patient-stories

Thank you for your concern and prayers.

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Amazon's Author's Page: http://tinyurl.com/CRD-Author
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CRDowningAurhor?ref=hl

My Blogs

Life as I see it: Topics range from general interest to lovers of life: authors, teachers, etc,

http://crdowning-aurhot.blogspot.com/?alt=rss

My Christian Context: Periodic posts on Christianity

http://my christiancontext.bloggspot.com/

Website: www.crdowing.com

Exploring My Updated Website - Part 3 - My Books (A)

 

https://www.crdowning.com/

Cover Photo by Damian Markutt on Unsplash

The TRAVELER'S HOT L Series

The original TRAVELER'S HOT L book contained eight short stories. It was a USA BEST BOOK AWARDS WINNER from the USABookNews.Com. The book was printed and sold by what the publisher called "CO-PUBLISHING." Since then the most common (and truthful) term is "VANITY PUBLISHING."

The total publicity I got from the publisher was to send me 10 copies of a very professional description of the book. That's all.

The author's name was wrong on the website, and no mention was made of the award.
Lesson learned: DO NOT SELF-(VANITY)- publish!  There are good independent publishers. There are also bad independent publishers.

I opted for KDP Publishing, part of the amazon mega family. Their service used to be more personal, but it still isn't bad. The have a strict policy on quality of writing. They also offer help with that. 

Amazon offers promotion packages. I have no experience with those.

Reality is, if you self/vanity/amazon publish, you won't get rich. There are many authors who make lots of money with amazon. But, there are more that don't.

Since I submitted TRAVELER'S HOT L, I've invested OVER TWENTY-THOUSAND DOLLARS in publishing. I've received a little over $1500 in royalties.

BUT I'M GOING TO KEEP WRITING.

A LOOK AT THE TRAVELER'S HOT L SERIES BOOKS ONE BY-BY-ONE.

THE TIME TRAVELER'S RESORT

TRAVELER'S HOT L - VOLUME 2

I can't type TRAVELER'S HOT L - VOLUME 3's title. You'll see why below.

This book is written the spirit of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, but with a twist by an evil entity known by many names. 

Talking, directions, and time all backwards in this antiparallel world.

Tempus, one of the keepers of life-strings in, is trapped in that space and must return to her real time and must convince those trapped there must "look now to the heavens." 

In the end, the name of the entity holding the group in the is revealed, and is not happy by that. 

 

 

Next Website Post: My Books (B)

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Amazon's Author's Page: http://tinyurl.com/CRD-Author
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CRDowningAurhor?ref=hl

My Blogs

Life as I see it: Topics range from general interest to lovers of life: authors, teachers, etc,

http://crdowning-aurhot.blogspot.com/?alt=rss

My Christian Context: Periodic posts on Christianity

http://my christiancontext.bloggspot.com/

Website: www.crdowing.com

Exploring My Updated Website - Part 2

 

https://www.crdowning.com/

Cover Photo by Damian Markutt on Unsplash

Part 1 of this series was an overview of the new website. 

This week I'll focus on ME. 😇

• About - the first section

Dr. Downing received several awards for his teaching. He was a "San Diego County Teacher of the Year," won the CIBA-GEIGY Award for Excellence in Science Teaching from NSTA, was a Christa McAuliffe Fellow in 1992.

In 1993, he won the prestigious Presidential Award for Excellence in Science Teaching.

Outside the classroom,Dr. Downing is a developer of curricula with six lab/activities marketed by Science Kit and Ward's Biological Supply. He's also authored three books of laboratory and creative activities that promote critical thinking and authored and edited a four-volume set of textbooks (Making Connections: Integrating the Science of 1) Water; 2) The Atmosphere; 3) The Human Body; 4) Energy) for a thematic-integrated science program. Each text was one semester of coursework.

• Betrayal in Blue  -  several short pre-publication reviews
• Book Reviews  - Betrayal in Blue's booklife review and Paul Wandson Blog: Time-To-Time-Travel's 5-star review of Pattern's on Pages.

From here on is not in the Website. 

Publisher's Weekly's review below is another review of Betrayal in Blue, by far the longest book I've written. It's thorough and said it was 

"Great for fans of JOSEPH WAMBAUGH and ED MCBAIN."

Next Website Post: My Books (A)

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Amazon's Author's Page: http://tinyurl.com/CRD-Author
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CRDowningAurhor?ref=hl

My Blogs

Life as I see it: Topics range from general interest to lovers of life: authors, teachers, etc,

http://crdowning-aurhot.blogspot.com/?alt=rss

My Christian Context: Periodic posts on Christianity

http://my christiancontext.bloggspot.com/

Website: www.crdowing.com

Exploring My Updated Website - Part 1

https://www.crdowning.com/

Cover Photo by Damian Markutt on Unsplash

My website was designed to showcase my writing. 

It worked out that way, but had too much "clever" pieces of writing and too few showcase pieces.

I think I've fixed it.

This first week of the exploration is an overview of the fixes. 

The photograph at the top of each post in the series was FREE on Unsplash. They ask that you give credit to the photographer. Although that's not mandatory, I always do it.

It all started in June of 2012 . . .

I retired from full-time teaching and decided to become a writer.

Since then I've authored a total of 20 books in five genres:

Science Fiction: The Traveler’s HOT L series - 6 books; INSECTICIDE; We Are The Observers; and Classics Malt Shop

Police Fiction: BETRAYAL IN BLUE - the story takes place 1980's

Miscellaneous Genres: Sir Isaac's Car (humor for all ages); Writing: Idea Farming and Book Creation

Medical Information: NICU - An Insider’s Guide

Christianity: Biblical Fiction: Who Leads the Shepherd?;

EXPRESSIONS OF FAITH Bible Studies: Hebrews & Acts

Action/Spy/Thriller: The Antidote Conspiracy - Book 1 of the Glitter & Leroy series

I co-authored a book for teachers of all ages:

TUNE UP YOUR TEACHING & TURN ON STUDENT LEARNING

I was a contributor to three books.

Science Fiction: Drop by Drop in MIND SCAPES UNIMAGINED and What Goes Around in A WORLD UNIMAGINED

Non Fiction: Let "You" Show Through inThe Making of a Presidential Mathematics and Science Educator

If you haven't read any of them, 😟.

If you haven't read all of them, 

You can fix that 😉.

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Amazon's Author's Page: http://tinyurl.com/CRD-Author
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CRDowningAurhor?ref=hl

My Blogs

Life as I see it: Topics range from general interest to lovers of life: authors, teachers, etc,

http://crdowning-aurhot.blogspot.com/?alt=rss

My Christian Context: Periodic posts on Christianity

http://my christiancontext.bloggspot.com/

Website: www.crdowing.com

My Travel Through Alzheimer's Disease #6 AN EPIPHANY OF SORTS

AN EPIPHANY OF SORTS  

My eyes still see long words, but my brain does no see the long words as one. When I focus on a long word by itself, my brain usually connects all the pieces I see into the whole word. However, that often requires looking away and focusing on empty space and looking again.

When I'm typing, all too often, my fingers don't go where I send them. This makes typing an ordeal. My fingers have been stiffing slowly or in bursts, too. 

So, Chuck, what's the epiphany?

Frustration is going to continue.
I need to "get over" a situation quicker.

I close on this:

I will be starting a treatment with Kisunla that has proven to be a game changer for people in early stages of Alzheimer's Disease.

More on that in my next blog.

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Amazon's Author's Page: http://tinyurl.com/CRD-Author
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CRDowningAurhor?ref=hl

My Blogs

Life as I see it: Topics range from general interest to lovers of life: authors, teachers, etc,

http://crdowning-aurhot.blogspot.com/?alt=rss

My Christian Context: Periodic posts on Christianity

http://my christiancontext.bloggspot.com/

Website: www.crdowing.com

My Travel Through Alzheimer's Disease #5

 

A TALE OF TWO IMAGES

IMAGAE 1: The opening of Chapter 2 of 
Mexico and Columbia vs. America, 
the book I'm writing.

IMAGAE 1: The opening of Chapter 2 of 
Mexico and Columbia vs. America, 
the book I'm writing AFTER GRAMMALY.

I wrote the first book in this series, "The Antidote Conspiracy," in 2016-17. Early title ideas included "The Drunk Gene." The book is now in print after final editing in 2025. That's TMI, but I want to make a point. 

I never had as many markups from Grammarly in an early draft in a part of that book as in the part of the opening to chapter 2 above from book #2 in the series.

Since the title of this series of blogs is My Travel Through Alzheimer's Disease, I'm using it to illustrate the changes in my ability to write at any speed. 

I pushed myself to get "The Antidote Conspiracy" and "Spotlight: Traveler's HOT L," printed ASAP. Both are now available on Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/3pb6mssc . 

It will be a long trip to the publishing of Mexico and Columbia vs. America.

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Over the last few weeks, I spent at least five hours working on the first segment of Chapter 2 in my next book. I thought this blog post's opening paragraphs were like any of my previous books. But, the number of highlighted items makes it clear that it wasn't as ready to go to Grammarly as I thought it was.

I was SHOCKED at the number of errors I missed, but I probably would have missed some of them in the past. 

Enough rambling on this topic. 

New Topic: My physical status.

I had an ANA (Antinuclear Antibody) Test. I have a list of 7 possible disorders that a positive test like mine might show up as a diagnosis after additional testing. Stay tuned  

I have a doctor's appointment secluded to see if I qualify for treatment with Kisunla for my Alzheimer's.

Kisunla was just cleared for sale.  

After 18 months in a clinical study, people treated with Kisunla showed a significant slowing of decline of 22%, on average, compared with placebo. 

and

In a clinical study, 17% of people were able to stop taking Kisunla at 6 months, 47% at 12 months, and 69% at 18 months if their amyloid plaques were reduced to a predefined level.

That's good news. You can google Kisunla for more positive results. 

I JUST FINISHED RUNNING THIS THROUGH GRAMMALY. I FOUND 12 THINGS I MISSED. BUMMER.

Thanks for reading this far.

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Amazon's Author's Page: http://tinyurl.com/CRD-Author
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CRDowningAurhor?ref=hl

My Blogs

Life as I see it: Topics range from general interest to lovers of life: authors, teachers, etc,

http://crdowning-aurhot.blogspot.com/?alt=rss

My Christian Context: Periodic posts on Christianity

http://my christiancontext.bloggspot.com/

Website: www.crdowing.com

My Travel Through Alzheimer's Disease #4

Four Updates

1. I was thrown out of my first Memory Loss Trial.

Less than two hours into the first day, I did so well on a memory test that I didn't fit their profile. The medicine they were testing was for people with less memory than I have.

2. I'm seriously considering the use of Donanemab.

One of the most often used treatments, Donanemab slows down the Alzheimer's progression. If I go with it, I'll still be looking for better options as they appear.

3. I found Kisunla and it's tempting.

"It's possible to significantly reduce amyloid plaques associated with early symptomatic Alzheimer's disease (A) when taking Kisunla" is one of the results of their testing.  

Both have issues. Doesn't everything?

4. My ANA (Antinuclear Antibody) Test 

My fingers have been stiffening and twisting off and on for several months. But it becam temporally debilitating recently. 

Family members researched possible causes and I started drinking Gatorade for the electrolytes. That had minimal effects. 

My last blood tests included an ANA test. The results were Positive/ABNORMAL. That result is an indicator for SEVEN possible disorders. Based on my history, the most probable is Rheumatoid Arthritis. Not good, but the other disorders are WAY WORSE. 

I'm suspect I'll be referred to a specialist soon.

More to report about 2, 3, and 4 as they become available.

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Amazon's Author's Page: http://tinyurl.com/CRD-Author
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CRDowningAurhor?ref=hl

My Blogs

Life as I see it: Topics range from general interest to lovers of life: authors, teachers, etc,

http://crdowning-aurhot.blogspot.com/?alt=rss

My Christian Context: Periodic posts on Christianity

http://my christiancontext.bloggspot.com/

Website: www.crdowing.com

 

My Travel Through Alzheimer's Disease #3

Today's Blog Title: 

My first session in "A Randomized, Double-Blinded Study to Evaluate the Efficacy and safety of Mevidalen in Patients with Alzheimer's Disease"

The study takes place in Carlsbad, California at Profound Research, LLC. It lasts around 8 months. The study involves 12 study visits and 2 virtual (telephone) visits.

Now my not so favorite sentence in their description.

It is hoped that the study drug will be of medical benefit to you, but this cannot be guaranteed.

More after my first visit.

First visit is over.

I've been pulled from those waiting for admission.

Seems like I'm not far enough down the Alzheimer the rabbit hole for what they are testing for.

I'm looking for another clinical study. . .

If you know of any such studies, email me, please.

CRD.Author@gmail.com

Chuck

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Amazon's Author's Page: http://tinyurl.com/CRD-Author
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CRDowningAurhor?ref=hl

My Blogs

Life as I see it: Topics range from general interest to lovers of life: authors, teachers, etc,

http://crdowning-aurhot.blogspot.com/?alt=rss

My Christian Context: Periodic posts on Christianity

http://my christiancontext.bloggspot.com/

Website: www.crdowing.com

My Travel Through Alzheimer's Disease #2

In theatrical jargon, 

what follows is  know as an aside.

You might prefer "down the rabbit hole."

I apologize for the weird font type and size changes. I can't figure out how to control them because they all look good now.

My first teaching assignment was a 3/4% contract at Monte Vista in 1973. I graduated from Monte Vista. While I was in college, I was a paid assistant in the Monte Vista science department while doing half of my Student-Teaching assignment there. At the end of the 1973 school year, the principal of Monte Vista wrote a note to the person in charge of hiring new teachers saying he wanted to hire me without a district interview. 

The first time I interviewed for a job in education was my hiring at Point Loma Nazarene University. I got that job.

 The only other job I interviewed for was Great Oak High School in Temecula in 2004. I got that job, too. I retired from high school science teaching from there in 2012.

I continued to teach extension courses in for Azusa Pacific University's teacher credential program in San Diego and Temecula until 2019. 

I worked part-time, teaching the required upper-division writing class for PLNU's School Of Nursing, until I had a lacunar stroke on December 31, 201 at 3:30 PM 9. I stopped teaching for Azusa Pacific at the same time.

The hardest result of the lacunar stroke to live with is the feeling that there is a constriction brace on my right foot and ankle. 

I began writing stories when I worked at Monte Vista. One story won an award in a competition for teacher-writers. I kept writing when I was at Point Loma Nazarene University. A different story was published in a book produced by the PLNU. I also had different stories published in anthologies of science fiction stories in 2018 and 2019.

What's your point, Chuck?

I like to write. 

I'm going to continue to write as long as possible. I'm hoping it's a long time. That hope is based on the massive amount of research being done on Alzheimer's disease. Some of the work now in clinical trials is getting dramatically positive results.

I was accepted into a study whose main purpose is to determine how safe the study drug is and the degree to which it works to alleviate symptoms when given to people with mild to moderates Alzheimer's disease. 

I start the study on April 2, 2025. 

BTY: I chose the symptom "social isolation" referred to last week. That's what I've found myself doing over the past two years. It's not social isolation from me by those around me.

More about Alzheimer's disease next week.   

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Amazon's Author's Page: http://tinyurl.com/CRD-Author
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CRDowningAurhor?ref=hl

My Blogs

Life as I see it: Topics range from general interest to lovers of life: authors, teachers, etc,

http://crdowning-aurhot.blogspot.com/?alt=rss

My Christian Context: Periodic posts on Christianity

http://my christiancontext.bloggspot.com/

Website: www.crdowing.com

My Travel Through Alzheimer #1

 

Figure 1. The physiological structure of the brain and neurons in (

a) healthy brain and (b) Alzheimer’s disease (AD)

https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/25/24/5789 brain 

Two of my father's brothers and several cousins on that side of the family died of Alzheimer. 

I wasn't worried. After all, my father was fine. 

I'm not fine.

What is Alzheimer?

Alzheimer’s first damages the parts of the brain involved in memory. It later affects areas responsible for language, reasoning, and social behavior. Eventually, the disease damages many other areas of the brain.

A hallmark feature of Alzheimer’s is the buildup of abnormal clumps of protein. These Amyloids form plaques, piles of proteins, held together by Tue tangles, think of it as a glue. These disrupt the usual functions of brain cells.

The loss of connections between nerve cells (neurons) is another change that happens with the disease. Neurons send messages between different parts of the brain, and from the brain to muscles and organs in the body. With Alzheimer’s, many neurons stop functioning properly, lose connections with other neurons, and eventually die. Many other complex brain changes are thought to play a role in the disease as well.

What causes it?

Lists like these abound.

• High blood pressure after the age of 40
• High cholesterol after the age of 40
• Obesity
• Diabetes
• Lack of exercise
• Lack of sleep or poor sleep quality
• Excessive alcohol consumption
• Smoking and secondhand smoke
• Air pollution
• Traumatic brain injury
• Depression
• Lower levels of education
• Social isolation
• Untreated hearing loss
• Untreated vision loss

The two in red are the only ones that apply to me. I marked social isolation, but I don't think so. Some I know disagree, hence their inclusion in my list.

Enough for today. I think is a good start.

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Amazon's Author's Page: http://tinyurl.com/CRD-Author
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CRDowningAurhor?ref=hl

My Blogs

Life as I see it: Topics range from general interest to lovers of life: authors, teachers, etc,

http://crdowning-aurhot.blogspot.com/?alt=rss

My Christian Context: Periodic posts on Christianity

http://my christiancontext.bloggspot.com/

Website: www.crdowing.com