Chemo brain wierdness - I have a lot of trouble typing these days,

[Contrary1]

8. I couldn't do simple math on paper...

It was very troublesome, as before I could do it in my head. (Thanks to the nuns at Holy Spirit Elementary).

Anyway, here is what I did: I forced myself to read entire newspaper articles. No easy trick, as my short-term memory was shot. Sometimes, I had to read it 3 or 4 times. I did crossword puzzles, Logic Problems, online word games. Anything that would challenge my memory.

After a few months, there was major improvement. I was almost back to where I was pre-chemo.

Brain exercises are essential to getting back to normal.

A short side-story: I could not for the life of me remember the little girl's name who lived across the street from me. She was probably about 5 years old, and would skip on over whenever she saw me working in the yard, and talk about her day.

I finally ended up telling her that the medication I was on caused me to forget a lot of things, and that was why I didn't address her by name. After that conversation, she would still skip across the street to greet me. But she would announce herself, "Hello, It's Elizabeth from across the street, how are you today?"

I will never forget that. This small child could understand what so many adults couldn't.