I think I am having less trouble with the Chemo Brain side effects: slow speech, forgetfulness, and trouble remembering people places and things. I still blank on names of historical people, artists, etc but not as much as I did before.
I spend less time starting a sentence with “hey have you seen the…” and then pause for ten seconds while my brain tries to connect the cerebral placeholder for the metal thing you hit nails with with the word… “hammer.”
And I forget peoples’ names less frequently. Towards the very end of my IFN I transposed one friend’s name and another friend of his I was just meeting, calling the new friend the old friend’s name. It was awkward and I immediately went into full explanation mode, but he was quite offended and would not let it rest. It hurt and I felt like a failure.
That was.a semi regular experience for a while. But it has only happened once recently. I mispronounced someone’s name, confusing two vowel sounds. I immediately corrected myself and then explained why that had happened, and everyone was very understanding. So much for the assumption that everyone in Portland is nicer than everyone in NYC. There are always exceptions.
On the other hand I have had increased dysesthesia in this last week. I think it is due to a slight increase in temperature, and a general tiredness. I am really tired. I have been pushing myself too hard, which will ease off at the end of this week. I get a week of breathing room, then go back to teaching.
