My thoughts

(Chapter 24 My Thoughts and Feelings in my book)

Sometimes I have problems finding the right words and problems with comprehension. It can become so overwhelming and confusing sometimes, but I just try to stay positive. Staying positive is one way that I accept my diagnosis. I think that I have always had a bad memory because I can remember when I was growing up that my dad would try to teach me tricks on how to help me remember things. Now I wonder if he also had memory problems. He would help me memorize historical facts and dates. Unfortunately, his help didn't work because I think that I failed history in school almost every quarter.

I think that I started noticing problems with my memory in the fall of 1999. That means that I was only forty-one years old when I started noticing problems with my memory. I was diagnosed in July 2005 at age forty-seven. I am now fifty-nine and am very grateful that it has not progressed to dementia.

I try to focus on what I can still be successful at, rather than the things that I fail miserably at! Luckily, most of the time, that is easy because I forget.