Friday, January 25, 2013

The Yips

I'm a little worried about myself, like any self-respecting hypochondriac always is. But this time, instead of thinking I have some rare cancer or previously-thought vanquished disease like trench foot, I think I am losing my mind.  The mind is a very important thing to a hypochondriac.  How am I supposed to worry about every little thing if I can't even remember what I'm supposed to be worried about? 

Here's why I think I'm losing it:  I forgot my debit card PIN number.  I have had the same card and the same number for five or six years. (I can't remember how long I've had the card. (OMG.))  I have used this card for almost every purchase I have made for years and the other day when I gave the card to Sam to buy some gas, I tried to remember the number to tell him and it wouldn't come to me.  I had to go in the gas station with him to make the purchase myself because I thought that once I was faced with the keypad the number would come to me.  It didn't.  Then I thought that I had just psyched myself out and I would remember it when I was not under pressure.  I didn't.  Then a few days later, I FORGOT THAT I FORGOT THE NUMBER and went to the grocery store and after everything was rung up, I had to punch in my code and I still didn't know it.  I tried several combinations and they were all wrong.  "Ho-ly SHIT!" I thought to myself.  I had to write a check for my groceries.  A CHECK.

Then on Monday I was supposed to go to the dentist.  I like my dentist, he's cute and he's nice to me.  I was kind of looking forward to it.  I had a 9:20 appointment.  The previous Friday the dental office called me to confirm the appointment.  And they texted me.  And it was on my calendar in my phone.  Monday morning I totally spaced it out and forgot to go.  At 9:30 the receptionist called me to see if I was on my way.  "My way to what?" I said.  "Um, your appointment," she said.  "Crap," I said. 

At this point I was feeling like maybe Mitch should start looking into nursing homes for me.  Early-onset Alzheimer's is tragic and I didn't want him to have to deal with it.  I told him that when I got really bad and couldn't remember my children or him, he should kill me.  He said, "Why wait?"  That's when I decided to fight it.  The first thing I would do is find out my damn PIN number so I can buy stuff.  I looked in my file cabinet and didn't find it.  Then I remembered that when I first got the card I wrote the PIN on the top right corner of the back of a check register.  Then I remembered where I put that particular check register and found the number!  That's a pretty amazing feat for someone with Alzheimer's!  I found the check register and recovered my number (which still isn't even vaguely familiar. Yikes.) and committed it to memory.  I still haven't tried to use it because I'm scared it won't work. 

What do you think?  Should I be worried?  Has this kind of memory lapse happened to any of you?

7 comments:

  1. I was so afraid I would forget my pin number I made up a name that I wouldn't forget, maybe with the bank's name as the last name (like Carl Chase) and used my pin number as the street address and put it in my phone book (do people still have phone books?) I didn't add a phone number. It works for me. You might try that.

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  2. Sometimes when I'm driving I completely forget where/what I'm going to do. It scares me.

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  3. Well, I tried the number tonite. PIN did not work. The number I found must be for a previous card and honestly, I don't remember ever switching cards. This is BAFFLING to me. I'm getting more worried.

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  4. This is the third time you've written this post, nut bag

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  5. Forgetting your debit card pin number is not a symptom of Alzheimer's; forgetting what your debit card is for could be!

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  6. Crap, I feel like I'm losing my mind too. I sent my husband to the grocery store last week and he bought some apples. I knew this because I put the groceries away. The next day I sent him to the grocery store AGAIN because I forgot some things but I made a list. When he came home, he had bought more apples and I thought "hmm he must want to start eating apples" because I have never seen him eat an apple as long as I've known him. I asked him about it and he said it was on the list. He showed me the list and I DID put it on the list again even though I had unpacked them yesterday. He thought it was weird but didn't want to question the boss. I've also forgotten my PIN number. My bank has a number you can call to reset your pin number to something that would be more familiar. I've also forgotten the code to our keyless entry on our vehicle. L

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