In a recent WSU Alumni Magazine, there was an interesting article on aging, memory loss, and dementia. All joking aside, it made me wonder about why I would walk into a room and totally forget why I did that. At the end of the article, there was a call for study participants.

I contacted the WSU Neuropsychology Lab, and they had me go through an initial 1-hour phone assessment.  Apparently, my answers to the memory questions were bad enough that I got in! 🤭

The study entailed two 3-hour Zoom testing sessions, filling out 20+ online surveys and wearing an Apple smart watch formatted for memory testing for two weeks. Between the immediate brain overload of having 3 hours of continuous memory testing on the Zoom calls and having to respond to 4 tests on the smart watch at random times each day, it was actually quite stressful!

I finished the testing and got my $100 stipend last week. Now, all I have to do is wait for my cognitive assessment in the mail. The one thing that gives me hope is that as a partner/spouse, Joel filled out some surveys about my memory. When he was done, he said he answered “No” to almost all the questions and wondered how I got in the study. Note that this glowing review comes from the guy who put the bag of cheese curds into the storage cabinet next to the refrigerator last week. I discovered them two days later.

After I participated in the study, I walked into a bookstore one day during my recent farmsitting job, and the first book I saw was this:

I started reading it, and within the first few pages, I was hooked…

It is not an easy book to read, so I am attacking it in small pieces. Hopefully, I’ll remember what I read!