[logn]

I don't know anything about this medical condition, but if I were looking to rebuild my brain/skills, I'd go here:

http://projecteuler.net/problems

You can do the problems in whatever language you want. That would help you re-learn both the language and programmatic thinking. After that it's just re-learning APIs and design patterns right?

[venomsnake]

Project euler is awesome. Maybe the OP should try learning something close but not quite to her original skills - like FP or golang in hope that the new stuff will help unearth and reconcile with the old.

All my best wishes for her.

Talking about patterns - yesterday I saw the phrase "strong track record with MVC" in a job listing. My head almost explode ...

[logn]

> Talking about patterns - yesterday I saw the phrase "strong track record with MVC" in a job listing. My head almost explode

Ha, I hesitated mentioning design patterns. So much of it is bogus and overblown, but there's definitely some skill at organizing an application that must be learned.

Also, I vote for learning JavaScript. I think your point on learning slightly different skills is great. It might be like trying to re-read a book you started and stopped and have no idea where you left off. Why not pick up a new book?

[Tabula_Rasa]

That is a really cool idea. Is there anything similar for submitting solutions to more general programming problems, like the kinds of things they ask you to in interviews with hashing/sorting/etc? I can't figure out how the assignments are "graded" as such without logging in, it's just looking for a correct output regardless of sloppy code, or what?

[toast0]

You might try TopCoder algorithm competitions? (Especially the practice rooms with previous problems). Many of the problems are kind of interesting, but everything is expected to be solved within a limited amount of time, so you won't spend a lot of time on it. (TopCoder algorithm competitions are graded on correct output, within a limited execution time)