Did I remember that right…?

Monday was cataract removal day for my second eye. The first one was a mere two months ago, and I was supremely confident the memories of that experience were clear in my mind. And some of them were…

But – as you’ll likely gather from the ellipses above – not all of them.

The boring mundane bit was largely the same, except that being determined to keep my blood pressure down after the spike I experienced last time, I kept my eyes closed and focused on my breathing. Did it work? I wish I could tell you, but – frustratingly – they were having trouble with the blood pressure machine and decided I sounded just fine, so sent me home without a reading.

Having one fully working eye this time round, I could actually see the operating theatre instead of a big blur. Of particular interest was the bed, which had made me feel so uncomfortable last time. Turns out it wasn’t a bed, but an articulating chair. It’s a silly thing, but I felt both more comfortable and secure knowing where and on what I was placing my behind 😉

A good thing too, for I was on it for ages as they unexpectedly had to change a part on one of the machines while I lay there – tilted almost upside down I might add. The other significant difference is that this time I heard the whirr of a tiny piece of electrical equipment which moved in a circular motion around my eye, and caught no glimpse whatsoever of anything scalpel like.

It was a different surgeon, so I was thinking maybe they used different techniques. What I got from the nurse I engaged with afterwards was: yes, most people find their memory of the first occasion is different to their experience on the second.

I pride myself on my elephant-like memory, but I decided this was neither the time nor the place to argue, plus there’s all that evidence on how people remember shared experiences differently. I also reminded myself what I know about brains and how they deal with that constant rush of incoming data, and decided to accept the truth of what the nurse said.

So, I could tell anyone interested in what the experience might be like – for them – two rather different tales of my own. But the takeaway is – your experience might be like one of mine were…. or it could be entirely different again.

How’s your memory? Is it elephant like (as I claim mine to be 😉 )? Is it better at remembering certain things? Do you have any unusual memory related tales to tell?

© Debs Carey, 2024