I met with my neurologist last week and we reviewed everything. As I said previously, my diagnosis is mild neurocognitive disorder. I did learn there’s no difference between that term and mild cognitive impairment.

I had normal MRI for age. So some age-appropriate level of atrophy. Tests for pertinent genes show I have APOE3 and APOE4. That increases the likelihood I develop Alzheimer’s dementia. The Tao blood levels show I have Alzheimer indications already. It’s coming.

Net-net I am not that interesting to my neurologist any more. Risks of New meds outweigh the benefit for you he says (and I agree). See you in a year.

So where does that leave me?

Today, I struggle most with
* word retrieval
* name recall
* blanking
Blanking is my term for when I suddenly blank on what I'm trying to do. I may be about to google something and i have my phone in my hands and either can’t remember what I want to lookup, or I look at my phone and am not sure what to do next. It’s fleeting - but the most concerning of my journey so far.

*’depression
I have had depression most of my life and take an anti-depressant. But the character is different now. Theres an overtone of futility about it that makes inertia difficult. The Neuropsychologist recommended talk therapy. The Neurologist didn't even respond to that. I guess I will ask my Primary if he knows how to identify options.
* sedentary. Since the surgery for lung cancer I'm on a moving sidewalk between CT scans and pulmonary function tests and my normal RA and my GI doc.. and I tend to just sit down and read. It’s a non productive escape. And I’ve gained 20 pounds in a year - which is certainly not helping anything.

So thats my roller coaster. And I share with all of you to confirm you aren't on a strange island called cognitive disorder by yourself.

Every week i declare this will be the week I will grab this by the horns and crawl out of the abyss - and maybe it will be!