Forgetting
An overview of what day-to-day forgetting typically looks like in the sixties and seventies, and how to separate it from changes that deserve a closer look.
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Mild cognitive impairment
MCI is not a diagnosis that should be feared. It is a term that describes a change in memory or thinking that is noticeable but not severe enough to interfere with daily life. I have seen many people at the senior centre who worry about it, and I have seen many who have it and…
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Memory loss at 60
Sunday morning, eight o’clock, and I am at my kitchen table filling the little plastic boxes for the week. Walt has taken the dog out. The paper calendar by the phone says it is March, which I knew, and that Bev’s walking group meets Tuesday, which I had forgotten. This is the hour when people…
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Memory lapses that are normal
A man at the senior centre on Elm Street stopped me last Thursday with his hand on my arm. He said, Diane, I stood in my garage for a full minute this morning and I could not tell you why I went out there. He said it the way you’d confess a small crime. Why…
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How to improve memory
The radiator was knocking again—Tuesday morning at the senior centre on Elm Street. Ruth had brought her sister’s pill bottles in a grocery sack, and I had my notebook open to a fresh page. She said her sister could not hold a name for five minutes. I said let’s see what she’s swallowing first. That…
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Ordinary forgetting at sixty
Last Tuesday I stood in the hallway with my reading glasses in my hand, looking for my reading glasses. Walt found them. He said nothing, which is worse than saying something. He just handed me a grape from the bowl on the counter and went back to his chair. Why memory slips after sixtyThe video…