Brain fog – These Are My Scars

On October 13th, CBC Aired an interview Peter Mansbridge did with Gord Downie, I watched with anticipation, curious to see what he had to say after The Hip’s national broadcast on Aug 20th. I hoped it would reveal that he was in some miracle treatment, that things were going well and that he was the Gord we saw on stage. He was in some respects, he discribed with great passion his legacy project: The Chanie Wenjack Fund and his upcoming new album Secret Path, both fulfilling a promise he made to our First People’s. It is his hope that this Fund will help support reconciliation between Canada’s Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.

What was heart breaking was his admission that his memory, once great and vast has diminished. He had to write words on his hands to remind himself of things. For his epic perfomance that our nation watched, he needed 6 prompters to help him remember the word to the songs. Songs he once wrote.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/thenational/gord-downie-exclusive-interview-1.3804422

I know how it feels to forget. I do it too.

Since starting Lorlatinib, I have seen a sharp decline in my day to day memory. Despite what my cognitive tests show or test for. I have experienced Brain fog before, but never like this. It was like someone had hijacked my brain. I felt like I was losing my mind.

In the beginning I just didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t remember if I had fed the dogs, or where I left my shopping cart, whether I had spoken to someone or not, or what I was saying in conversation. It was traumatizing!

My solution was to just write it all down. So I literally had lists, lists everywhere. I have adapted over the last few months and am coping better. Now I’m using what Pintrest calls a Bullit Journal. I love it. Its like an agenda where you can journal if you want, but most entries are very succinct like a list. So now I can keep all my appointments, chores and important things to do straight, no excuses, no forgetting!

I still won’t be able to tell you what I did yesterday or last week, unless I look, but looking made me realise that I was busy in the last little while and although I feel like my days all meld into one, I’ve done a lot and time really has flown by.