It is so difficult to make decisions while living with a memory impairment

(Chapter 18 Problem Solving and Making Decisions in my book)

Today I took a drive from NH to ME. I went to a beach that also has a very cool lighthouse. It is a very popular place and I know that I have been there several times. After I left the lighthouse, I set the navigation system to an address of a candy store in a different city in ME, but was on my way home. I don’t really know if I have been there before. I was going there to get my mom some candy that she loves! My navigation system didn’t take me to the candy shop. I decided to look on the system and I found a store that should be on the same road. Luckily, I was able to find the candy shop.

My next obstacle was finding the candy that my mom had described to me. I remembered that she said that it looked like watermelon slices. I went into the store and saw something that resembled that but it was coconut flavored. Then I found some other fruit slices. Now I was confused so I used my cell phone to call my mom. She didn’t pick up her phone, so it went to her answering machine. I asked her to call me back on my cell phone. I told her that I didn’t know my new cell phone number so I asked her to just hit redial. I know that I have shown her how to do that on her phone, but she is eighty-four so I was unsure if she would remember how to do it. I decided to look at my phone contacts. I remembered that after I moved five months ago, I made a contact titled “me”. It contains my new home phone number and address, plus my new cell phone number. So far, I have managed to memorize my new home address and telephone number, but not my cell phone number. I looked at the “me” contact and I tried to remember my cell phone number. Then I called my mom back and she answered the phone. She said that she had been taking a nap but had woken up and listened to my message but she didn’t know how to redial. I described the two choices of candy that I found and she thought that the watermelon that was flavored with coconut was the correct one.

I asked her how many containers she wanted me to buy and she said two or three. We talked a little bit longer. Then I said that I needed an exact amount from her because otherwise I would be thinking about this forever! She said just two would be good. I know that before I started having symptoms of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) that this wasn’t a problem, but now it is.