Chemo Brain is worse than ‘baby brain’. Anyone who has ever been pregnant will
back me up here, right from the moment that little embryo starts growing and
developing your mind power isn’t quite what it was before, and this is
magnified once your dear little one arrives and you don’t have a decent nights
sleep (in some cases, ever again!).
You start doing silly things like loading the washing machine but not
turning it on, putting the car keys in the fridge, leaving your car unlocked
even though you checked it twice by pressing the key fob button or driving off
with your purse on the roof!
Well in my experience having chemotherapy treatment is very
similar. Yesterday I
put a dishwasher tablet in the washing machine drawer! I frequently forget
people’s names, including my own children’s. And anything can happen when I'm required to concentrate fully on a task, like cooking a dinner!!
My BF likened the whole of my breast cancer treatment to a
bad pregnancy, and I can see she was right. It is about 9 months of feeling nauseous, tired, bloated,
gaining weight, having a bad taste in your mouth, broken sleep and suffering
aches and pains. You
get stuck with needles every few weeks, tested for this that and the other and
told not to eat certain foods (when neutropenic you should avoid ALL uncooked
food). Of course the main
difference is what you get at the end of those hellish 9 months. But are they so different? On the one hand you get a beautiful
baby, a new life. A reason to
celebrate. Something to love and
cherish, nurture and watch grow.
On the other, I will get… a new life, my own. Hopefully and if I do the job right, I will feel healthier
than I have ever before. A fresh
start, something to celebrate, love, cherish, nurture and watch grow. Looking at it like that, its worth the
shitty 9 months and is actually quite exciting!
I owe a lot to my BF for putting me in this positive mindset
– thank you Mrs A, I Do Love You! x
