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I suffered a heart attack on December 16 2007 leaving me with "anoxic brain injury" I have all my past memory but cannot remember minute to minute new information. Does anyone have positive feedback on this condition..?? Any cures???
Thank you
Hi Royal,
First, try and remember ;) to be patient. Less than two months post-ABI is pretty recent. If you're living with equally frustrated family members, I encourage you ALL to work with what you've got now and avoid the assumption that if you only "try harder" your brain will get fixed and be just like it used to be. You're a new man whose challenges in life have changed.
Second, I suggest you have some neurological testing done to determine the "good neurons" vs. the "dead neurons". That information will help you and a rehab specialist track the successful neurological paths you now have in your brain.
Thirdly, team up with a loved one on tracking what's working and what's not. Do you remember what's been "said" more effectively than what's been "read"? Step back and try to recognize the "always reliable" systems that used to work but don't anymore. Post SCA/ABI, I was drowning in post-it notes until I learned to severely limit my "information sites". I learned that my "magnetic refrigerator calendar" was a good, reliable post-ABI system. When I complained that I couldn't fit ALL my information on that calendar my rehab (speech) therapist taught me to go out and buy a BIG desktop calendar, attach magnetic tape to its back and put THAT on my refrigerator. (Office Max/Office Depot are good sites for those purchases)
And Voila! Things started getting better!
I learned to draw "to-do boxes" in front of tasks that needed to be done and I can't drop that task from my calendar until the box has been "checked" when "done".
I had to learn to check that big calendar every morning and work to collaborate info on that calendar with the small one I carry in my purse. But establishing that big calendar as "one sacred site" changed everything. Sometimes if I'm away from home and make a commitment "on the fly" and realize I may be at risk for forgetting it, I just use my cell phone to call home and leave a message for myself. Then when I get home I hear it and go to the kitchen calendar and make the entry.
Fourthly, when I use a post-it note now, I usually put it at the "in-your-face" level of my bathroom mirror or else on the outside cover of my wallet.
Years ago it was explained to me that the reason the short term memory neurons go "first" in anoxia is that the brain starts working down a "priorities" list when neurons are at risk. "Who we are" is much more clearly defined by our childhood experiences, the person we married, gave birth to, etc. (longterm memory) than what we ate for breakfast today (short term memory). That explanation helped me get over my grief, anger and frustration about my short-term memory issues because I had to admit that I agree with the brain's decisions!
So Royal, I hope this helps and we're all glad you're still "here"!
Mary Lyons
SCA 7/16/87 age 35 while playing softball with friends in Seattle.
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