The decision to write about memory loss…
I write this in the hopes that it helps someone out in dealing with their own family issues. While I fully realize credibility is often tied to identity, I’ve chosen to write this anonymously to protect the identity of privacy of my family members.
A member of our family was showing increased signs of memory loss. Our collective actions and reactions as individual family members were varied and and not very effective. One family member described the person suffering from memory loss as “out to lunch, changed, and not like they were.” Upon spending time with the person experiencing the memory loss, I realized their problems were alarming, but not quite as severe as described by other family members.
There was definitely short term memory loss. Its effects differed at various times of day and according to stress. Sometimes recall was flawless, and other times it was to the point of being unbearable to see this family member who I knew as a brilliant person to be unable to recall simple events.