Its official: Chemo brain is contagious

Yesterday I was out with a bunch of friend and we were talking about how we forget things. One of them said 'I'm getting Caroline's chemo brain'. But the real question is how much is chemo brain and how much is normal stressors and how much is normal aging vs. how much is left over chemo brain? Hmmm... No real way to tell but we'll take it instead of a sign of getting old or something.

Four of us got together to celebrate a friend's birthday. Three of us conspired to get a birthday cake and have it after we went out for lunch (I had the ploughman's plate with home made branston pickle if you must know). I got the cake from a local bakery - it was perfect with little purple violets and a Happy Birthday message on top - and carefully put it on the floor of the car and drove carefully. I spoke with the birthday girl on the way and realized I would get there before her so I could smuggle in the cake. The cake and I arrived safely and I reached over to pick it up and it slipped out of my hand and flipped over LANDING UPSIDE DOWN on the floor of the car. I righted it and grabbed it and ran in where my other friend performed cake CPR. It wasn't perfect but it came out pretty good in the end. Now was this chemo brain in action or just stupidity?

It was also another day of back pain - now there's a surprise. My back is being surprisingly uncooperative these days. I have notes and lists to take with me to the doctor on Tuesday. In the meantime, I have lots of drugs. Now turning to substance abuse? No. I take my pills as directed. But sometimes I admit to sitting there trying to figure out how long until I can take more.

Last weekend we did get a new memory foam mattress topper. Walter remarked this morning how he has been sleeping really well with it. I think the cat likes it too because he now sleeps with us every night. And takes day time naps on it. On the other hand, my back has been very uncooperative these last few days. Is it due to the mattress topper? I hope not. I was actually thinking that the mattress topper was helping earlier in the week. I probably did something stupid (like stood up for too long) that caused this current bout.

At any rate, the problem is now that I can't do lots of things these days because of my back. For example, today we were going to go for a walk and then meet friends for brunch and then have my parents over for dinner. I think we will not meet friends just so that I can actually spend a few hours sitting around doing a fat (that's me these days) lot of nothing and relax for a while. Two more days until the doctor performs his magic. Grr, grr, grr.

In the meantime, I am getting concerned about kitty. He is back to the demanding food and water all the time which are bad signs for diabetic cats. His right eye seems to be very cloudy and I think he has problems seeing out of it. He drools which makes me think teeth problems. Both eyes seem to be seeping. And he's losing weight even though he is eating all the time. I think I'll call the vet tomorrow and get him back in for a check up. More medical magic.