losing it?

I think I am beginning to lose it. My immediate memory (aka working memory) is going in the tank.You may recall that my regular doc suggested that I might expect this as a delayed consequence of chemo. (Not delayed enough, I suspect.) Lately, I have been searching (memory) for names and been unable to find them. This is a well known outcome of aging, I know; but mine seems to me a little precipitous. So much so that I am able to notice it happening--unlike the frog in warm water that gets hotter and hotter.

Here are some other manifestations. Those of you who are of a certain age--you know who you are!--may relate. I will be listening to a friend's story and, half way through, will think of something to add to it, or of a tangent that follows from it. Now, by the time he has finished with his story, what I wanted to say is lost to me. Sometimes it may come to me in a few seconds later, other times not. 

Related seems to be the case where I start to tell a story, and I go to a tangent that is appropriate to the story and by the time I finish with the tangent, I have forgotten what the main story is. Didn't used to happen. Sometimes I simply say, what was I talking about? This is good feedback particularly if they say, we haven't a clue. Again, the point may eventually come back to me a few minutes later, or not at all.

I believe that one of the tests for senility (ie, among other things the loss of working memory) goes something like the following: The neurologist recites a string of 5-7 numbers. (Without tricks, these many numbers are about what the average person can recall.) You repeat them and are asked to remember them. He then asks you to do a(n) (interfering) task, that requires some computation. Then a few minutes later you are asked to recite the number string. Normal people can do this, easy, peasy. I am afraid to have this test done.

To repeat: I would like to think that this is normal aging--for our society--but it may not be. (I say for our society because the death of brain cells may be hastened by our lifestyle.)  Martini anyone?