Chemo Brain

I am doing well. I no longer have to take anything other than Lyrica for my peripheral neuropathy foot and leg pain. The fatigue has lessened and I rarely need to nap during the day any more. With this clarity, though, another issue has come to my attention. Chemo Brain.

This is a real side effect of chemotherapy.

Definition

By Mayo Clinic Staff

Chemo brain is a common term used by cancer survivors to describe thinking and memory problems that can occur after cancer treatment. Chemo brain can also be called chemo fog, chemotherapy-related cognitive impairment or cognitive dysfunction.

Signs and symptoms of chemo brain may include:

• Being unusually disorganized
• Confusion
• Difficulty concentrating
• Difficulty finding the right word
• Difficulty learning new skills
• Difficulty multitasking
• Fatigue
• Feeling of mental fogginess
• Short attention span
• Short-term memory problems
• Taking longer than usual to complete routine tasks
• Trouble with verbal memory, such as remembering a conversation
• Trouble with visual memory, such as recalling an image or list of words

So, I feel as dumb as a bag of hammers some days. Not always...but a lot of the time. It really sucks. As if peri-menopause didn't already mess with my head in the past few years...now this?!

So, on those days that I think, "Gee, wouldn't it be nice to collect a full paycheck again?", I realize that I could not go back to work. Not that I really want to anyway. As my life becomes more normal again, I have to remind myself of what I have been through and that I still need to give myself time to heal and to live a stress-free life-style to ensure a long remission period.

Some Myeloma patients consider themselves "cured" when they go into remission. I do feel victorious and am so, so pleased that I achieved a complete remission -- or complete absence of cancer -- after my stem cell transplant. The thing is that Multiple Myeloma does not get "cured". It goes to sleep - and sometimes for several years - but it will wake up again. So I feel that I am still battling cancer. Even though it is sleeping, I want to be as quiet as I can be so that I don't wake it up sooner. :)

When it does wake up, I have a whole slew of weapons ready in my arsenal. New ones are being added all the time. Of special significance is the work being done on virus therapy. This is really cool. Please take the time (43 minutes I think) to watch this video. If you, or a loved one is battling cancer, this should give you hope.

http://killingcancer.vice.com/?utm_source=vicenewsfb