Odd

[poliphilo]

She reaches for her pill box and starts rootling through it.

I remove it gently. "You've had your pills for this morning," I say.

She puts on a spoiled little girl voice and says, "But I want more!"

Then laughs.

Her memory is almost entirely shot to pieces but at times her reactions are still quick and funny. Isn't that odd!

Comments

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

It's been found and it was our own experience that certain memories are the last to go- often the earliest. First in, last out. Very odd and intriguing.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I don't like to embarrass my mother by testing her memories so I'm not sure if she still reembers her childgood but we did discover the other day that she has no memory of the house my sister and I grew up in- and in which she spent 15 years of her life.

[wyrmwwd.livejournal.com]

There is no reason to "test her". You know she is losing her memory, and, as you say, testing her would only add stress.

My Favorite Pilgrim still remembers, vividly, how to be a minister. She still gets up every morning and "goes to work". "Work" for her, means that she spends hours going through email, and then drafting VERY CAREFULLY worded responses. Everything she writes, she writes as if it is either going to be published, or spoken aloud to a congregation. She pays very close attention to what is going on in the lives of the people around her. She always remembers to ask me how my last sermon went, or how is My Partner doing in school. She always remembers to be a caring, reassuring presence.

However, she CAN'T remember that a telephone has two cords... a power cord, and a phone line, nor what do to if random pop-up window appears on her computer. These things will stop her cold for days unless I am there to help.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I have problems with random pop-ups too. If in doubt I ask Ailz to deal with them.

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

It is odd, those flashes of a sense of humour. It all doesn't shut down at once and thank goodness for that.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I suppose we must be looking at different parts of the brain.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Intelligence and wit just don't seem connected to memory. Sure, having more understanding of what's going on helps you come up with clever bon mots, but even without it, the mind's still there.

I've heard of cases where a parent and a child had had a hugely troubled interaction throughout their life. Then the parent's memories started going, and he or she forgot about all the trouble they'd had, and the child was able to let it go, and the child got to see the parent's actual personality, and started actually LIKING their parent for the first time. At least during those times when the parent didn't know who they were.

Weird, right?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I don't know about weird, but it puts things in perspective. The things we fall out over are rarely very important.