Re: Re: Neuropsychology Testing-carol

[Guest guest]

Carol,

I just read your message to perry about a conversation

you had with Rob and him not remembering it. I have

been calling these episodes short term memory

problems. So this is the working memory? Glad to know

there is a difference. My sister was here who I had

not seen for a year and with just the two of us

together she found this out the hard way. At first

she was upset thinking i was ignoring her. After a

day or two and many talks with my mother she finally

understood I had no control over what conversations I

remembered and what I did not. As far as patients go,

this is very frustrating to us also. hehe people keep

saying you said this and I have no idea if I did or

not. Now I just say it is a womans proagitive(sp) to

forget or change my mind.

Thanks for the info

wanda

--- Carol Langer carol.langer@...> wrote:

> ,

>

> I'm glad you found my notes helpful. I think of

> working memory like RAM on

> a computer. In MSA patients, the RAM is limited and

> causes slower

> processing. When too much input comes in at once,

> the RAM can't handle it

> and basically shuts down. Rob does have problems

> with working memory and

> it's very frustrating for all of us. For example:

>

> My mother (age 86) has blood pressure problems and

> is seeing a specialist.

> I like to accompany her to her appointments when I

> can. One day recently

> she had an appointment and Rob had an appointment on

> the same day. (Of

> course they were in totally different locations.) In

> order to be with them

> both Rob had to accompany me to the hospital where

> my mother had her

> appointment. We had discussed all this the day

> before and he had agreed

> this was the best plan.

>

> When we arrived at the hospital where my mother had

> her appointment he

> looked at me and said, " Why are we here? " My

> response was, " to be with my

> mom for her appointment. " But my thoughts were

> along the lines of " how can

> you not remember the conversation we had

> yesterday!? " and " Oh my God, he

> doesn't remember the conversation we had just hours

> ago! "

>

> The cognitive stuff is the most difficult for me to

> handle. I lose patience

> then I'm horrified that I've snapped at Rob because

> he can't help it. It

> scares me. It was comforting to hear Dr. Press'

> talk because he noted that

> the severity does not necessarily get worse as the

> disease progresses, and

> he very clearly noted that it is NOT dementia.

>

> As far as the tapes are concerned, I have some news

> -- I FINALLY got hold of

> the guy who taped the conference and I will meet

> with him next week to get

> the editing equipment and learn how to use it. I

> will then listen to the

> original tapes (which I have right here on my desk)

> and note which segments

> are to be excluded (that will only be long pauses

> and unintelligible stuff)

> and give the whole mess back to him to create a

> master. That will then be

> duplicated so the tapes will be available to the

> group. My best guess is

> that they will be available in 4 to 6 weeks, but I'm

> not really sure.

>

> Carol & Rob

> Lexington, MA

>

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