Scope problems in if statement

So I'm creating a guessing game. Inside one of the if statement I created two other if statements and inside each I gave a value to a previously defined variable. However when I want to call it out of those if statements, the variable doesn't seem to have been redefined. Why ?

here are the variables defined in global scope :

let computerNumber = Math.floor(Math.random() * 10);
let pastGuesses = [];
let userGuess = Number(prompt("What number do you think it is?"));
let highOrLow = "";
let getting = "";

Here is the part where I redefine the value of "getting" and where I call it later in "userGuess", but the value is undefined out of the if statement :

 else {
  pastGuesses.push(userGuess);
  let showPastGuesses = pastGuesses.toString();
  if((computerNumber - pastGuesses[i]) < (computerNumber -  
  pastGuesses[i-1])){
  let getting = "getting hotter";
 console.log(`answer is ${getting}`);
} else if((computerNumber - pastGuesses[i]) > (computerNumber - 
pastGuesses[i-1])){
let getting = " getting colder";
console.log(`answer is ${getting}`);
}
  console.log(showPastGuesses);
  userGuess = Number(prompt(`too ${highOrLow}, you are ${getting} though,  
you have ${remainingGuesses} tries left. Your previous guesses were 
${showPastGuesses}`));
}

And here is the full code

let computerNumber = Math.floor(Math.random() * 10);
let pastGuesses = [];
let userGuess = Number(prompt("What number do you think it is?"));
let highOrLow = "";
let getting = "";

function showChoices() {
  console.log(`the computer chose ${computerNumber}`);
  console.log(`your number is ${userGuess}`);
};

for (var i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
  if (Number.isNaN(userGuess) || userGuess < 0) {
    userGuess = prompt("WHAT YOU DOIN, we said a number ...");
  } else if (userGuess < computerNumber) {
    let highOrLow = "low";
    let remainingGuesses = 10 - i;
    showChoices();
    if (pastGuesses[0] === undefined) {
      pastGuesses.push(userGuess);
      let showPastGuesses = pastGuesses.toString();
      userGuess = Number(prompt(`too ${highOrLow}, you have                                          
  ${remainingGuesses} tries left. Your previous guesses were   
  ${showPastGuesses}`));
    } else {
      pastGuesses.push(userGuess);
      let showPastGuesses = pastGuesses.toString();
      if ((computerNumber - pastGuesses[i]) < (computerNumber -
          pastGuesses[i - 1])) {
        let getting = "getting hotter";
        console.log(`answer is ${getting}`);
      } else if ((computerNumber - pastGuesses[i]) > (computerNumber -
          pastGuesses[i - 1])) {
        let getting = " getting colder";
        console.log(`answer is ${getting}`);
      }
      console.log(showPastGuesses);
      userGuess = Number(prompt(`too ${highOrLow}, you are ${getting} though,   
  you have ${remainingGuesses} tries left. Your previous guesses were  
  ${showPastGuesses}`));
    }
  } else if (userGuess > computerNumber) {
    let highOrLow = "high";
    let remainingGuesses = 10 - i;
    showChoices();
    if (pastGuesses[0] === undefined) {
      pastGuesses.push(userGuess);
      let showPastGuesses = pastGuesses.toString();
      userGuess = Number(prompt(`too ${highOrLow}, you have 
  ${remainingGuesses} tries left. Your previous guesses were 
  ${showPastGuesses}`));
    } else {
      pastGuesses.push(userGuess);
      let showPastGuesses = pastGuesses.toString();
      if ((computerNumber + pastGuesses[i]) < (computerNumber +
          pastGuesses[i - 1])) {
        let getting = "getting hotter";
        console.log(`answer is ${getting}`);
      } else if ((computerNumber + pastGuesses[i]) > (computerNumber +
          pastGuesses[i - 1])) {
        let getting = " getting colder";
        console.log(`answer is ${getting}`);
      }
      console.log(showPastGuesses);
      userGuess = Number(prompt(`too ${highOrLow},you are ${getting} though,   
  you have ${remainingGuesses} tries left. Your previous guesses were 
  ${showPastGuesses}`));
    }
  } else {
    showChoices();
    alert("Well done, that's the right number");
    break;
  }
}