I know this is cheating, but pretty tired ... copy of Dr. M's and my boss' note
Dear Dr. M., and Sr. Tess,It's only 6:40 pm here, but I'm exhausted. We spent the entire day 8 1/2 hours at the U getting our memory checked. Pshwoo that was a lot of work. They put me through about 20 tests. All kinds, but a good deal of memory. Some of the tests were like thinking tests (but, not intelligence). The memory tests were terrible! Was near tears at one point, just felt so down for all the blank walls, we were coming up against. He would say patiently, "Is there anything else you can remember?" That's when I thought I wasn't doing very good. He'd give me lists of words like 20 deep and I'd remember 4 names. :( I did better on the thinking tests. Shoot, and they threw in that MN Multiphasic Personality Test. 567 questions! Lordy!
He told me which one was the hardest test ahead of time ... It was a simple board with pegs graduated in size to fit one bead, two beads and three beads. Like all the tests, you never do them just once ... YEEKS! He would start on the 3-bead peg by placing a green and red bead, and on the 2-bead peg was a blue bead. He gave me about 10 rounds. He had another board and beads identical and he would move them around in patterns. I would have to imitate his copy, but I could move only one bead at a time and try to make the fewest moves as possible. Although I hate these kind of games, he said I beat the test! He said my results showed actual learning and he said that is unusual. I think that test was to test planning, which he said was a frontal brain activity.
So many tests. I did terrible on recall, but better in drawing shapes from memory. I think I am going to have nightmares tonight! But the tester was a young guy with lots of energy and humor, so the day was well in the endurable range.
They kept me busy every moment from 8-4:30 with 20-25 minute lunch. The tester worked through his lunch. Pretty good regime. There was also a 12 page intake assessment, and silly stuff like defining 40 words from scratch, and connecting dots and making different patterns in each, or tapping zinging letters on a computer for 15 minutes. A doctor, Dr. James Reilly, introduced Justin the tester and he came back afterward to let me know what was going to come next. They are going to need about 2 weeks (after the New Year) to score all the tests and there will be a long appr. 8 page document with all the results and discussion. They say most often they either recommend medicine of some sort, or recommendations on how to better do things according to my strengths and deficits. But, there is no magic pill to take away whatever poor memory I have. He said he would give the results to you, and if I had more questions I was to make another appointment with him to go over things. I will probably do that just to get the most out of it. So, that's about it.
It's about 7 pm now and I'm headed for bed!
us
posted by Ann Marie @ 12/13/2005 06:59:00 PM
Comments: 3
