This is all so fascinating to read. Some really interesting contributions. An English teacher who can no longer spell, the number 7 missing, weird dreams of plant pots with hands growing out of them clapping. How bizarre... and yet for the person experiencing it, it probably all feels so real. 

[@MrsRTeacher]‍ the reply that wouldn't post, maybe it's not chemo brain, it may just be technology also doing weird things sometimes :D

Lucie

I honestly thought I was getting dementia after chemo ended because I got muddled up mid sentence with words, forgot the names for things, literally lost my train of thought ALL the time and couldn't remember even the most simple names for things!  I'm now 3 years post treatment and can honestly say that for the past year this has steadily got better BUT I did have to do constant brain training exercises, puzzles, jigsaws and word searches.  I'm not sure if that helped but I'm so thankful that I'm not the gibbering wreck I was a few years ago!

My last chemo for BC was end of May 2019. During chemo I felt half drunk (in an unpleasant way) for most of the time - I didn't trust myself to drive for about 2 weeks after each treatment - and also had the strangest dreams and middle of the night delusions, for example, that my stomach was actually a large wooden plant pot full of soil with a tall growing out of it up into my oesophagus or that my brain was made of sugar and that everytime I went to the loo (about 10 times a night!) it was leaking out with my urine! All of that stopped when chemo stopped.

BUT after chemo, I have noticed other ongoing issues. Before chemo I had a good memory for small details, seldom made spelling mistakes, had no problem picking up new information, could work very quickly and efficiently and was good at thinking on my feet. I now have a problem with all of those things. I have always been somewhat disorganised. Now I am SUPER disorganised and lose track of time easily. I forget to do the small but improtant things, I make mistakes without realising it - I think I have done well on a task at work, even after checking over it straight afterwards, but when I check over it on another day, I discover that it is full of mistakes!?? Don't understand that one.

Not to mention the tiredness - At the end of every week (sometimes sooner) I feel like I very occasioanlly used to, right at the end of a whole busy term, that had involved lots of late night marking, after school meetings and parents evenings. I am also a teacher - in a secondary school. All of the above gets worse when I am tired. I don't trust anything I try to do on Friday afternoons.

Almost all of the information I have read, the back-to-work guidelines, etc, seems to advise that "it can take up to six months to return to normal." Ha ha. It is now well into March, 9 months later and not much has improved. My workload is now heavier - my colleagues were very sympathetic when I first returned to work gradually in September, after my last round of surgery but I was expected to be back on my full schedule in January and I don't feel that I can ride the "chemo effects" excuse any more, even though the problems are very real, which worries me. We are all under a lot of pressure and I hate the though of adding to my colleagues' workload. I joke about my lack of organisation although it really frustrates me and seldom mention my tiredness (when I do, the response is usually  "Oh my, Yes, I feel the same!") I wish I could swop brains with some of my colleagues for just a few minutes so that they can get an idea of how I really feel.  

Oh and I still occasionally have word lapses, for example a lorry becomes a "trolley" for almost a whole day without me realising it! :D

Hi, hope you realise today is Friday 13th.

Sometimes I'm talking about something specific and the wrong word comes out, as soon as I've said it i know but keep getting it wrong nomatter how many times i try. 

Also noticed my hands don't always work right I'll pick something up and just drop it even it it's something light my hand just seems to open on its own. And shake when I'm trying to do something delicate or just trying to cut my nails. Anyway good luck to anyone having or had cemotherapy and cemo prain(brain) wants to be registered (very lucky for spell check just then) that word would have taken ages.

Good luck to all and best wishes for the future.. 

Billy

P.s I've been over 4 years now no improvement hurrah for spell check again.!! 

I think I am currently feeling it, I finished my chemotherapy in September 2020, ever since I've had this mental numbness feeling, some days I wake and I get confused easy. I have trouble remember and thinking, it makes me feel like I'm almost stupid, does it ever get any easier? Cause I hate feeling like this

I finished chemo two years ago and I am still experiencing the worst chemo brain'! I end up in tears at work, I simply can't take in the information Nd process it, I can no longer read for pleasure, I have no clue to time line events of recent years, my short term memory is a blur, holding a conversation is impossible as I draw a blank half way through or can't remember words needed in my sentence... Please someone tell me what or who to go to for help.. 

I have to work as I have a family to support and have had same job for twenty years, so don't know what else I could do. Could my doctor help in any way?? 

I finished my treatment early 2019 and I'm still struggling immensely, I find it so upsetting and frustrating. I hope you start to feel better very soon and I'm pleased your treatment is complete for you