I'm in the same boat here. Only my surgery was 7 years ago. My husband and I joke about my short term memory issues only because we don't want to cry about it.
I too am back in school (took 4 years off to recover and have my children, went back 3 years ago) and even though I was a straight-A's-without-ever-having-to-study kind of student right before surgery/radiation, I now celebrate when I get A's and I have to study very very hard. Fill-in questions on tests destroy me as I cannot recall the words to save my life. Multiple choice are ok, because I can usually figure out the logical correct answer when I see it. Oddly enough, I do have a fairly easy time remembering numbers (telephone #s, student id#s, my husband and kids social security numbers, etc.) but I can never remember people's names or often even what they look like. And nevermind remembering what I needed to buy at the grocery store or even sometimes what I went into the next room for!
My hormones are also "borderline normal".... Ha! Normal by lab standards perhaps, but I know I don't feel normal.
Something interesting- Thursday night I turned on the local classical radio station and caught a very short but fascinating clip of "The Infinite Mind" (a radio show that many stations across the country carry). They were interviewing an actress who lost her short term memory (much more severely than what we're talking about here) after a brain operation to remove a tumor. Where was the damage from the operation that caused this memory loss? RIGHT BY THE PITUITARY GLAND!!
Hmmm......
Now that you've reminded me (see, I forgot all about hearing that on the radio!), I'm going to go to the Infinite Mind website to listen to the whole show (they have them to listen to online for free). The link is here: http://www.lcmedia.com/mind412.htm . The specific show I'm talking about is "Four Lives Part 2".
Maria Ramey
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From: "mypets0128" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
When I read what you had to say - I got goose pimples. I entered this site for this very reason. My surgery was in July of 2004 as well, and I have been concerned about my memory loss (which I feel is a basic reduction in my mental faculty).
After surgery, I knew that everything was not quite right with me as I would have to read and re-read the same things several times to understand them - then I would forget what I read about shortly after. My wife always said that I have an incredible memory, however despite trying to keep my concerns of reduced faculties to myself, she had made mention of this as well. This is really not good as I have put myself back into college and what used to be especially easy to me, has become difficult. I don't mean what was easy years ago, but rather up to the day prior to my surgery (I was in school the day before surgery, and returned as soon as I could).
My doctors first said that it will take awhile for everything to return to normal, and for all of my hormones to get in check. Now that some time has passed and my hormone levels are borderline "normal" (whatever that means), I still have a hard time with my memory. You definitely don't have to feel alone anymore, and neither do I.
I don't have any advice really (sorry), but I have boat loads of empathy. | 