Last week, I was dropping my son off at school when a lady came up to me and started to talk to me in a familiar fashion. I don’t read cues all that well, so I stopped her and said, “Hi, I’m Meaghan.” She looked at me slightly horrified and replied, “I know. We’ve met before.” I had a choice to make. Do I tell her I’ve had a stroke and my short term memory has a 50/50 chance of failing me and that she was a case of my memory failing? I did my usual thing- I didn’t say anything. Part of me is tired of explaining myself because my experience of having a stroke brings up questions that for the most part I don’t want to answer. I end up finally saying, “Good news is that I’m alive and if my only remaining issue from having a stroke is terrible memory then yay me!”
Though lately my memory problem has gotten worse. It’s not uncommon for me to repeat a story or ask the same question more than three times. I have an appointment at the end of the month with my neurologist to see if there’s something I can do or if it’s the Risperdal I had to start taking six weeks ago. It feels like my psych meds really reek havoc on my poor brain.
Hopefully, there is something I can do but it’s probably permanent. My brain is not in the best shape anymore. Also, maybe I should get on top of having a cue reading ability and not say anything if the person I’m talking to seems to be acting like I should know what they are talking about. Good news though is that I’m alive and if my only remaining issue from having a stroke is terrible memory then yay me!
Gently Dented 
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