Good afternoon @dougjanehaltom, @erikas Welcome to Connect. We are delighted to have you join us. And thank you Erica for introducing these folks to me. I hope you are getting excited about coming to Mayo in January for the MCI program. And it sounds like it couldn’t be soon enough. I think if I could have any gift for Christmas that I really want and need it would be to be able to cope with my MCI better and become a more organized and contented human.

How long have you been dealing with memory issues? And by the way....are you a male (Doug) or a female (Jane) or someone else? That will help me get everything in the right bucket. I need a little help every once in a while.

At this point in your journey you are working not only on your memory challenges, like appointments and “to do” lists, you are also fighting depression over the thought of becoming a burden to folks in your life.

I wonder if you have been sent any reading assignments or video offerings by Mayo. Perhaps not. If it were me, I would forget what I had read of course. I would need to experience it. It would also be helpful to know if any of your medications or other treatments affect your cognitive efforts. Sometimes just changing the time of day for your dosage can help with the items on your daily calendar or to do list. Foggy brain doesn’t reside here anymore.

Regarding being a burden ...... may I propose that you stay in the present, the here and now. I am fortunate that my life partner has been a therapist and knows all the soft kind reminder messages. He rarely, if ever, becomes agitated or perturbed with my....”I forgets”, “I don’t remembers” and “what did you say?” Sharing your experience with your significant other is a huge help.......my wonderful love goes to all my appointments and supports most of my efforts.

So what do you do right now? Here is what works for me......when I can’t remember why I have gotten up and walked to another room only to stand there dumbfounded I just try this.....quiet my mind and stand very still. If I breathe quietly and wait......all of a sudden it will pop into my brain...oh...yes check on the toothpaste supply. The same strategy also works when trying to remember what someone just said. Be quiet, do not talk, request a moment and wait for the other person’s words to return to your mind. It is really important to answer their question or comment as quickly as possible.

So...those are my prizes for today. I will leave you with this memory. My father had Alzheimer’s and my mother ran smack into cognitive decline. It is reassuring to know that my neuropsychologist has told me that I have skipped Alzheimer’s just by my age. Yippee! I am thankful. Have you had any of the tests? How did you do?

May you be content and at ease.
Chris

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