5/1/26 Friday 5 pm

I set myself up for this because I said I would update friends, family, and old clients on Susan’s condition after her Monday appointment. I have not addressed that yet, as I said I would.

We never made it to the appointment. Her “good” windows are shrinking. I confirmed the appointment on Friday. Monday morning, she went south at 7 am.

6 months ago, it never started until 2 pm. I am making progress in reducing some heavy meds. Unnecessary. I am by no means a Doctor/Scientist, but I know what works and what makes her worse. I have spent 56% of my life (entire life) with her, nearly 24/7, so I notice changes. The time she called me over to the curtains, and wanted to take pictures of “the fence people”. Yep, got rid of that pill. No more hallucinations.  There have been others. I have just gone back to treating the disease the best anyone knows, with the Carbo/Levo.

I really appreciate feedback from everyone who has gone through similar experiences under this whole “neurological disorder” umbrella. The Parkinsons, Dementia, Alzheimer’s afflictions.

To make it more complicated, it is likely CBD (Corticobasal Degeneration). This really explains the aphasia. In my opinion, I don’t know if any of these afflictions can be professionally diagnosed. This is not a point against any Doctors who targeted this specialty to help people. It is shit that we just don’t know enough about it yet. Not at all.

This is what aphasia with PBA sounds like in real life. It sounds strange to say, but I feel blessed when these episodes (storms) only last 3 hours a day. 10 hours is a struggle because, as a caretaker, I can’t shut down that quickly and still get sleep afterwards.

This was pretty mild. But I guess I get a little numb, because I know she won’t remember it, and I have to stay strong.

Sorry, did not want to “blindside ” anyone. I just want you to know I will get an update out in the morning.

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4/30/26 Thursday 6 am

There is a better chance of light afternoon showers the next couple of days as low pressure churns over the west coast. Nothing significant, but if it pops up over your area, it will be enough to get wet.  Precipitation will be snow at or above 10,000 feet. As we saw with the last system, the angle of the sun turns the snow to slush fairly quickly during the daylight hours.

The GFS model is trying to sniff out more widespread precipitation for the Sunday-Monday period. For folks traveling east, the precipitation will likely become significant on the eastern slope. Heavy snow could fall, making the 285 corridor tricky for travel.

It is highly likely my next post will be on Saturday.

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4/26/26 Sunday

According to all of the models, the snow in the mountains is just getting started.

Here is the NWS blended model (NBM). This shows additional snow between 6 am this morning and 6 am Monday.

NBM

The best chance of thunderstorms today will be after 12 pm. Light rain and snow showers will redevelop on Monday.

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4/24/26 Holy crap

So I was trying to send out an update. I pulled up the template, and all of the links were red. So I gave Gemini permission to fix it from red to green. Then it sent it that last post with no information. Sorry

I was about to talk about ways anyone can use AI to help them. I use specific threads (conversations) to keep conversations focused on the topic I need information on.

And I still will. I opened this convo at the end of December and have been feeding videos to Gemini Pro, mostly PBA and Apraxia events. I asked the AI to summarize the discussions so I could email the doc prior to the appointment.

Here it was.  I think well done. I am wondering what my Doc followers think. There was a time when Docs hated “the search.” Not so sure that is the case anymore, would love to hear from Docs about this. I understand. But I would hope that because the Neuro Doc spends 4 hours a year on the Patient, they should welcome the feedback.

SO here was the summary: Too short in my opinion.

Patient Observation Summary: Sus
**Date Range:** Late 2025 – April 24, 2026
**Primary Caretaker:** Jeff Givens

### 1. Medication Adjustments & Recent Observations
* **Donepezil Taper:** Successfully tapered Donepezil due to suspected conflict with Levodopa.
* **Finding:** Observed that Donepezil appeared to trigger **aphasia** first, followed by severe **PBA (Pseudobulbar Affect)**, which then cascaded into **respiratory apraxia**.
* **Current Status:** Since tapering, the “It hurts!” (gastric distress/stomach acid) reports have significantly decreased.
* **Levodopa (Immediate Release):** Transitioning to a clearer focus on LD efficiency.
* **Absorption Issues:** Previously noted erratic absorption; recent reduction in gastric “friction” (less stomach acid/gastric juices) seems to be allowing the IR dose to hit more effectively.

### 2. Symptom Presentation & Breakthroughs
* **PBA & OCD Loops:** Episodes often present as sudden “stumbles” into emotional dysregulation, even after stable periods.
* **Recent Success (4/24/26):** Navigated the difficult 2:00 PM window with no PBA or OCD flares, indicating a more stable dopamine baseline.
* **Physical Symptoms:** Ongoing management of rigidity (noted in her non-dominant arm) and apraxia during high-stress episodes.

### 3. Caretaker Notes for Monday Appointment
* **The “Acid Tax”:** Requesting the doctor’s perspective on the interaction between cholinesterase inhibitors (Donepezil) and gastric acid levels interfering with Levodopa absorption.
* **The “Afternoon Shadow”:** Observations on late-day fatigue triggering PBA outbreaks even when morning/midday doses are effective.

So that is what I will share, but Doc should (hopefully) use her own observations.

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4/24/26 Friday 6:oo am

I am very pleased with how everything is coming together for our next precipitation event. The West Coast storm will approach our area on Saturday night, bringing abundant moisture (175% of normal).

Showers may start as early as Saturday evening, but the main event waits until Sunday morning. Initial snow levels look to be 9,500 feet. There are some indications that snow levels will drop, but I will try to make that call tomorrow morning or afternoon.

If this were the dead of winter, we would be talking about pass-level snow of 1 1/2 – 2 feet. The “strength” (angle) of the sun this time of year will limit accumulations during the day.

Up to 3/4 of an inch of rain is possible across the mid elevations, with 1/2 of an inch likely the norm in most lower-elevation areas. As always, expect anomalies. It’s also worth mentioning that with all of these high-conviction storms we have had, the models underpredicted precipitation amounts. To clarify, by “high-conviction” I mean the consensus of multiple models across all parameters.

Here are the European model’s maps in motion.

Map Guide

European

GFS

Canadian

German

I don’t expect major changes in the models this morning, but if there are. I will jump back on early afternoon. Otherwise, my next update will be Saturday morning.

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4/21/26 Tuesday 5 am

Well, this week’s not going to turn out as wet as I was seeing on the models last week, but next week looks good according to the European. I hear you. Why is it always next week? A variety of reasons, including historical and seasonal. It’s frustrating, I know.

We will have to see how this evolves over the coming days. For this week, there are just a couple of chances for light pop-up showers today and Thursday. The higher elevations will be favored.

The Euro shows a pattern change beginning Saturday night. and continuing into early May. It looks great, but I remain cautious about getting too attached to that solution because the European is the only model that shows it so deliberately.

This means either the European is right, and the other models have not sniffed it out. Or, it means the European is wrong. I would expect this to be answered in the next 48 hours.

All models show decent precipitation totals between now and May 1st, mostly in the mountains, which is fine; they just get there differently (right for the wrong reasons).

In short, I don’t have any big storms to talk about, but I am starting to get “Are you Ok?” emails. So I thought I better post.

Now is not the time, but I will update everyone on Susan’s condition after her Neuro appointment on Monday.

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4/15/26 Wednesday 9 am

Sorry for my absence. It has been very challenging lately. I had a moment of peace, so I thought I would let you know that we are far from done with precipitation this month. Multiple chances are coming next week. The little Friday storm will be mostly a miss. Red Mountain and Telluride have the best chances of getting 1 to 3 inches of snow.

I think April will be our wettest month since last October. The next best chance of widespread showers is Monday and Wednesday next week. As we get closer, I will keep you updated.

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