My Quicksand of Forgetfulness

         I had a difficult day yesterday. I felt muddled, teary-eyed, and sad. How did I get diagnosed with memory loss? Why did the doctor say I have Alzheimer's? I am an educated retired teacher who is still substituting. I want to reverse it now and wake up from this shocking news. I am a young 68-year-old in good health, with four children and four grandchildren. I had an anxiety attack yesterday and am still processing this diagnosis. It's not my normal MO. I am usually calm, relaxed, and collected. I did have a few errands and got mixed up in the process. I went to the pharmacy and got so confused that I picked up my husband's medicine and forgot to pick up mine. I couldn't sleep last night due to worry and ended up watching TV instead. Today, I woke up with a positive attitude. I returned to the pharmacy and picked up the prescriptions that I forgot yesterday. I really don't have a memory loss. I am still driving, doing errands, talking to sales clerks, a...

                                                                                                   Have you read this book yet? It describes a fictional town struck by a plague of insomnia and the inhabitents' loss of 'the name and notion of things'. The main character Jose begins to label everything in sight in case no one remembers the names of familiar objects. This famous novel was written in 1967 and describes an actual clinical condition first recognized in 1975. Marquez records the progressive breakdown of semantic memory in this classic novel that takes place in the fictional town of Macondo.      What does this novel have to do with modern memory issues? There is now a scie...