5 SECOND BOB

I am not a “5 second bob”, but it’s my nickname. I was going to write this ha ,ha, oh so funny blog today about my family teasing me all the time about not remembering, but somehow it turned into something else.

You know writing is good for the soul.

What do you think it would be like if you woke up every morning and couldn’t remember anything from the day before? Or how about if you couldn’t retain things longer than a hour? I know, some of you are probably thinking this would be freakin awesome! However, anyone who has any memory issues knows what I’m talking about, and it’s not all sugar and spice and everything nice!

I’m not really talking about dementia in older ppl, though that sucks too. I’m mostly talking about younger ppl who have their whole lives ahead of them, but are handicapped in a way that the average person just doesn’t get.

I wanted to list a few things that are behind memory loss/short term memory loss:

- Emotional Stress-your brain may be focusing more on the emotional issue and less on being able to remember things, making it more difficult to recall memories


- Biological Issues-Dehydration can have a negative impact on your brain function and ability to remember, Low Blood Sugar, low vitamin b12, and menopause


- Other Conditions-Lupus, Infections of the Brain, Stroke, Alcoholism, some general anesthetics, chronic fatigue syndrome, Huntington disease, and lead poisoning. (this is not all of the “other” reasons for memory loss, just a little blurb)

Some of these are permanent, and some are easily remedied.

I know that I laugh about it daily with my family, and/or sometimes co workers. About how I can’t ever remember things. Cause you don’t want ppl to feel awkward, or feel sorry for you, or worse case get annoyed with you. I am not so bad that it affects my duties as a mom, or my performance at work. If you asked my kids they might disagree with me. I think they get a little frustrated with me when I repeat myself 10 times asking if they have brushed their teeth yet(my sons tells me that at least 1 of the times I was actually standing right there watching them brush) or the million flippin sticky notes I leave all around the house.

Don’t feel sad for my little darlings, they certainly have played it to their advantage as they were growing up. Like in the time of punishment, I wouldn’t remember by the next day that I had grounded one of them or in the times I fixed something for dinner that they didn’t particularly like but were required to try it at least once.(I’m not sure where the food really went, but somehow I don’t think it went in their mouths)

But honestly it really isn’t all that funny. I just don’t want them to see me as a weak person. It is so important for the parent to appear to be the strong one.

It would be a great story if said that my reason is I was dropped on my head as an infant (that happened a lot in the 70’s), or that I drank a lot in my 20’s, (I really did do a lot of serious drinking in my younger days). My issue is something a little more complicated, its because of my lupus. However I do not let it get me down.

We have a saying at home; just pretend “as if”. So I pretend “as if” I am just as healthy as the next person.

Now you know why I don’t normally stand and have any long drawn out conversations with anyone, or if I look like I am not paying attention, its cause I am repeating what I want to say when your freakin done talking. Well and also cause by tomorrow I won’t remember what we talked about anyways, unless I wrote it down somewhere.

Hence the nickname 5 second Bob,

which is actually from the movie “50 First Dates”.