HT taking more of a toll cognitively

The HT is slowly and surely doing a number on me. I am having more and more cognitive problems. It is pretty much what they call chemo brain.
Some examples might amuse you; they distress and yet humor me.

1) The other day, I needed to take some pills at lunchtime. I left my pill case by the door, planning to put in the pills and take it to work.
At lunch time, I reached in my pocket and had the trusty pill case...but forgot to put pills in them.

2) In preparation for Pam and Scott's visit, Cheryl wrote a long shopping list for me. So, on Friday after work, I took the list and went to our neighborhood Meijers Supermarket. I got half the stuff on my list and was continuing to shop. I looked in my hand, and the list was gone. Panic! I ended up retracing my steps and after 15 minutes found the list on a shelf. I have no idea how it got there. Obviously, I put it there for a minute. Not a good feeling. I did NOT want to call Cheryl and say "do you remember what was on the list?"

3) It was a review day at work for an upcoming test. I normally have some transparencies to go over the topics and I bring a blank test so I can add comments, do typical problems, etc. I have never forgotten anything for my review lessons. So, I go into class. I had the transparencies. Then I am looking in my folder. No blank test. Now, we all have ways of compensating. I asked the class, "...say, I got an idea, would you like me to get a blank test copy so I can be more specific." Of course, the kids say absolutely yes. They had no idea that I totally forgot to bring it. They just thought another excellent idea from their wonderful Prof. Compiler! My office is about 100 feet away, so I got the test.

4) I am still struggling with some names. I have a Jeremiah James, a John James, and a Jim Joyce Jr. all in the same row. I also have 4 Smiths in that same class. I still botch the names. That may not be HT-related. But it is taking me much longer to associate names/faces.

Anyway, these things are happening more and more. In fact, pretty much every day. Again, my math skills/knowledge are not impacted at all. As I told you, I just got another article published in a refereed journal. But the short-term memory issues are very disturbing. Incidentally, this is EXACTLY the kind of cognitive impairment that typifies HT (not really Alzheimer's, fortunately!). At least, I THINK SO.

As I said, it is both distressing and funny.


Mel

All those things sound normal to me. You are likely preoccupied a bit with your cancer problem and when these minor lapses occur it is easy to use the medication as the cause. I took two rounds of two years each on lupron and had similar lapses whether on or off.

Don

I just had my 3rd 4-month shot and if tests remain good, I will get a (hopefully) long break from it.

Yes, it is funny and my sense of humor has really come in handy.

Mel

You can add that to my list of VERY recent happenings. This is just not right, and frustrating. But it would be a lot MORE frustrating and less humorous if I was not on HT. At least I know why this is happening.

IT'S NOT FUNNY!

oh..wait...it is

Mel

The point on the top of my head is still very sharp! <g>

Again, unless someone experiences this, it is hard to convey what is happening. It is ONLY my (very) short term memory that is askew.

Incidentally, I think I mentioned it elsewhere, but it is like having blank spots (totally) appearing on my short term memory screen. My wife has mentioned things we did recently (say a few weeks ago) and I cannot remember it at all, even with hints/details that she provides. Some events are total blanks. There is the old joke about the husband conveniently forgetting this and that. But, for me, this is really happening.

Fortunately, everything else is fine. I teach, and my subject matter knowledge is just fine. The impact at work is more organizational and so far I've easily made adjustments.

Here's another example (again, I may have mentioned this, but I don't remember if I did -- that's probably normal memory selectivity rather than HT).

Usually, when I am in the shower in the morning before work, I will go over in my head what I am going to do in class that day. I can't do that on some days because I don't remember what I covered in class last time. But that isn't a problem. When I go into work, I just pull out my lesson plans. It takes about 15 seconds or less for me to get back up to speed ("oh, sure, THAT'S what I covered!").

It's annoying, but only in a small way. The greater part of me finds this fascinating!

Mel

Hang in there, bro

Yeah, I use transparencies. We actually have one of the old fashioned projectors. I like that because I can use a TI-83+ Viewscreen. It has a long cord and allows me to walk around while demonstrating certain mathematical concepts via the calculator. We do have modern technology. I have the computer and remote projection unit and there is a TI-simulator I can use, but this actually works better. Sometimes, the old technology works just fine.

Now, I need to go polish my abacus

Mel