Acceptance doesn’t just happen right after being diagnosed with a memory impairment

January 6, 2021 (Chapter 2 Acceptance and Denial in my book)

I accept that there are lots of memories that I have made with my granddaughters that I have soon forgotten. There is nothing that I can do to prevent that from happening. As they get older, they will hold many more memories of our time together. I accept that. I think that accepting a diagnosis of a memory impairment is something that I do on a daily basis. Originally when I was diagnosed fifteen years ago, I thought that acceptance only happened right after the diagnosis. It wasn’t until organizing and editing my blog entries for my book, that I realized that acceptance is ongoing. Sometimes it is something that I am doing because I am thinking about it and sometimes it is just happening and I am not as aware of it. In other words, you don’t just accept your diagnosis soon after getting it and forget about it. I don’t think that mindset really helps make the process of accepting the diagnosis work so well. I think that in order to be successful in accepting the diagnosis, it has to be something that you are still thinking about years later. It is something that you carry with you on this memory impairment journey!

Acceptance is definitely something that is very important after you get a diagnosis. Fifteen years after my diagnosis, I’m still accepting how my life has changed. I think that is something that I am always aware of and it is ongoing. I don’t think that you just accept a diagnosis and you are done with accepting it. I think that it just becomes a part of you.