Where's My Remote?
Hi--I read on the tail end of the April thread--I think-- that one of us forgot how to make a fried egg sandwich. I keep losing the TV remote. Last night I spent 45 minutes searching for it and finally found it atop my wall telephone. I turned on the TV and the phone rang--YADA YADA, but DO YOU THINK I remembered that? NOPE!! Here's my best example of Chemo Brain--I looked for over an hour for my right breast one day last month. I usually put it in the foamy box that it came in because that's supposed to be the best way to care for it. I had been thinking of other things the night before and hadn't put it in the box. So I retraced all my steps over and over and over and was just getting ready to just give up and go to work with a big sloppy shirt on when LO & BEHOLD I found it in the laundry basket. Don't ask::I have NO idea why I tossed it in there but I've been very careful to not do that again. When I first read about Chemo Brain, I laughed and used to make jokes about it, but I have to admit that I do some of the silliest things these days. My friends assure me that they do the same stuff and at least I have an excuse for my forgetfulness. It's nice to have friends!! I'm heading up to the hospital for Herceptin #24 tomorrow. Hope everyone has a GREAT last week of April. Smiles--NancyLee
Comments
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Nancy, I can relate! There is a remote that I lost (we know cuz I was the only one using it when it disappeared) and we had to buy another one from the cable company to replace it. How do things just totally disappear?? what weird things are we doing with them? I always forget to get clothes out of the dryer, or worse, forget to put the wet clothes from the washer into the dryer. When you find them days later, it's really nasty smelling. And have you noticed that the missing things suddenly REAPPEAR out of nowhere, in the very place they were supposed to be? which happens to be the same place I looked a hundred times and insisted my DH look too! I would swear someone is trying to gas light us, if I didn't know better. I think going back to work has helped me with my memory some, cuz I am forced to remember who needs what on our busy unit. And seems like the longer it gets past the last dose of Taxol, the better my memory is too. I have ruined my checking accounts so many times it ain't funny. Right now, I am $1000 overdrawn between the two accounts, and I was pretty stressed out over it when I discovered the mess yesterday. Wish I could just forget all about that, but that's what got me in this mess in the first place.
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LOL!
I was at my friends house this this winter and we were exchanging Christmas presents. I packed up all my gifts that they gave me and went home. I left the bag by the front door for a couple of days- and the next time I spoke to my friend she told me that she was going crazy trying to find her remote and they had to go to the cable company to get a new one. A few more days went by and lazy me decided to unpack the bag with the presents in it and there was their remote! I was so embarrassed! I didn't know what to do because I couldn't tell them I was so thrilled with their gifts I waited a week to unpack them! And they ALREADY BOUGHT A NEW REMOTE.... so I never fessed up to it! The next time I went there I put it in the sofa cushion when no one was looking! I know- I am bad. -
My daughter was recently in a parade, so of course I took my digital camera to take pictures.After the parade, I never gave my camera another thought, until 2 days later when I wanted to take pictures of grandbaby, I couldn't remember what I did with it, Talk about chemo brain, I called all my friends asking them if they remembered what I did with my camera. I looked in a backpack thatI normally take with me, no camera, kept checking it to see if it might magically reappear, lol. Two weeks later while going through another backpack I found my camera! I don't even remember taking that particular backpack with me! LOL
Then there are the times I ask hubby a question, he answers me then I come back asking him the same question again. Now I walk away repeating what he answered.
I do remember what the book I read yesterday was about, so there must be some improvement.
TammyR -
Hi--About half an hour after I made this post, my mom called and asked me what I did with her remote. I was out at her house in the country today and used the remote. I thought "Oh, God, now I've managed to lose her remote too!" She called back about 5 minutes later and said she'd found it after looking in several places I suggested. SIGH. I too remember the last book I read, but that's another thing that I keep losing. I read paperbacks and have a nasty habit of laying them down and forgetting where I put them. Due to this, I usually end up reading several at once. The current book has notes on the back page (it has 3 blank back pages!) about things I'm supposed to do when I go to the big city for my Herceptin tomorrow so I'm keeping pretty close track of that one. It's already sitting in my Amusement Bag that I take with me along with the crossword puzzles, mints, bottled water, magazines, etc. Thanks for answering this post. It's nice to know that I'm not the only one who's experiencing this fun little side effect. Smiles--NancyLee
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Boy, can I relate to this topic!! I have been going through a series of radiation and chemo for about a year now, and in that time, I have lost two credit cards (eventually found them long after having them replaced), camera (finally found in a place I would swear I had looked several times), cell phone charger (it was right in front of me for two days, but I never saw it), and some other stuff that I can't remember right now . The number of times I have lost the remote are too many to count.
It really is un-nerving! I am returning to work tomorrow, a very high pressure job, and I have never felt so insecure in my life. I am trying to be diligent about writing everything down, since my memory cannot be trusted, but it's really difficult. It's just not the way I spent the first 40 years of my life!!
Oh well. I hope it improves with time, because I am practically worthless as it stands.
God bless,
Donna -
Lets see...(my chemo brain antics)
misplaced a bracelet that some friends sent me it read "courage". Found it in a shirt pocket
Threw away my husbands $50 gift certificate to Cabellas
Threw away a Walmart receipt and I need to return some $$ merchandise
Can't find my nephew's(whom I have custody of) birth certificate/SS card.
Yes...I can't remember crap these days!
Janis
aka goddess of senior moments (at age 40), chemo brain, mommy brain, you name it! -
I can't use the chemo brain excuse... unless it has long term effects, but here's my new normal:
For a good 6 months now, I am cursed by the forgetful fairy.
Whether I am picking up items at the store... even if I remember my list... I still forget something. That's if I even remember to stop at the store.
My husband is getting used to seeing me stand at the front door talking to myself in mystery words. I know that if I leave, I'll be forgetting something.
I pile things up at the door as I remember that I'll be needing to take. My car is a stock pile of stuff. When I arrive somewhere, at least what I need is probably in the car.
During this past winter I twice forgot my purse [driver's license, money, cards and phone] in less than 2 weeks. Imagine going out in snowstorms totally unequipt in case of an emergency... or pulled over by the cops.
I now take for granted that I am forgetting something, no matter how prepared I am... and I tell myself that I know I'm leaving without it.
Case in point, last week went to see my mom with my sister. Told her I knew I was forgetting. Drove 40 minutes, turned down my mom's road... chatting about the dessert mom was having, when it popped into my non-brain what I'd forgotten.
Damned! It happens more and more often lately.
Just call me... ummmm... let me think....
Diane -
No Surrender,
LOL at your story!!!
Here is my most chemo headed moment and I can't believe I'm sharing it b/c it's so embarrasing.
At Christmastime I had to run to a storage area I rent to grab a suitcase for a weekend trip. I was only running in for a minute so I left my purse in the car. I threw the suitcase in the back after popping down the seats. I went to the front and there was my cell phone but no purse! I swore I locked my car, but with the key fob maybe my nail didn't push the lock all the way and my car doesn't beep. I called my b/f in a panic and he got my sister and headed down. I called the police who fingerprinted my car and took a report. I cancelled my credit cards. My b/f, sister and I searched many blocks looking in bushes and dumpsters for at least 2 hours. I was nuts! Plus I was going on a weekend trip and had no credit cards or ID. Later that night I went to Long's with the sister to start replacing my makeup, etc. After shopping I went back to the car and popped the seats into the upright postion and guess what was underneath......
Hiding under a rock now.....Cyn -
These are hilarious and soo tru. My kids think I have lost my mind sometimes. Same mumbling, never get everything on the grocery list, etc. The other day I piled everything on the counter to stick in the car, yelled at the kid to get in so we could go then sheepishly had to go back in the house to get the keys, still sitting on the counter. I leave the remote right next to me so not losing it but I do keep forgetting to put my hats away and pretty soon I am looking allover(if the dogs don't drag them outside!)Whew! Hope it's just the chemo and not losing it so soon. Jenene
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Bringing this up to the top because I think it is so funny. Anyone else have any good chemo head stories?
Aloha, Cyn -
NancyLee,
Glad you put your book in your amusement bag.:)
ok, girls, here's another: Today I was on the phone with my best friend, while we were talking, the mailman came to my door, I asked her to hold on. After I received my mail, I looked through it, then went into the kitchen to do dishes. I noticed I had the phone in my hand, so I put it down. While I was doing dishes, I thought I heard someone calling me name, then I thought I was hearing things. I then realized I had left my best friend on the phone Boy, I had to do some fast talking and explain about chemo brain.
TammyR -
thanks for posting these. I feel so much better.
I was in the grocery store yesterday. Picked up an ear of corn, placed it in a plastic bag and the ear of corn fell through the bag and dropped at my feet. I turned the bag over and there was a big hole in it. I went and got another bag and the same exact thing happened again. And again a third time. I was in tears in the middle of the grocery store. Luckily my neighbor walked in just then, saw that I was about to lose it and helped me put two ears of corn in a plastic bag. Then she helped me to dry my eyes so I could see to finish shopping.
One of the "ears" had a sharp point on it and it would slice through the plastic bags. I thought I was cursed.
Susan -
Ha ha! That reminds me of the time I was making a cake and I broke the first egg to go into the mixer and it had two yokes! So I took the next egg and broke that one and THAT had two yokes too! I am thinking how weird is THIS? The third egg- TWO YOKES! I am now looking for the phone book to call the newspaper when I noticed the carton of eggs had written in big red letters "DOUBLE YOKE EGGS". God knows how much more I must have paid for those damn things!
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oh, some of these stories are really making me laugh with recognition. does bc trauma brain count too as opposed to chemo brain? maybe rad brain?
since dx it seems i have been walking around in a fog. this week i was rushing around trying to get out of the house on time for work. when i arrived at work i realized i had forgotten my office keys (nothing new here, it happens every few weeks, and okay, it was monday too) and had to wait outside for someone else who has keys to show up and open the door. but once i got inside, i was still feeling really "off" and discovered i had also left my planner home, which has every single thing written in it that i need to do each day, both personal and work-related, because i have become so forgetful that if i don't write it down it's gone from memory.
so okay, i was bumming out about having to try and reconstruct things without my planner, but i was feeling disproportionately lost and disoriented, as if i couldn't function at all......and was really starting to wonder what was wrong with me that i would become almost mentally paralyzed without that planner (am i getting too old? is it a brain disorder? do i have post-traumatic-stress syndrome? how am i ever going to function and do this job?)
i was walking around feeling like i was in a vacuum. staff seemed to not be talking to me. everything felt a little disconnected. and i only discovered when i went to answer an incoming call that i had also forgotten to put both my hearing aids in that morning, and was walking around essentially deaf!
and i have to admit, it's not the first time i've done that one either. but usually i don't forget all three things in the same day.
needless to say, i had to go home, get the aids and the planner and the office keys and start the day all over again. and when i got back to work, i realized i had put down the office keys on the kitchen counter and left them at home again.
denisa -
LOL!!!!
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You won't believe what I did this time. I wanted to wear this specific shirt and it was rather wrinkly--I too suffer from forgetting to take clothes out of the dryer--so I got out the ironing board and iron. While I was waiting for the iron to heat up, I got some HaagenDazs Mint Chip ice cream out to have a couple of bites--that's kinda like milk for breakfast--RIGHT?? Oh well, works for me. So I got my shirt ironed, got dressed and went to work. When I got home from work, I noticed this watery substance dripping onto the floor from my laundry cabinet. I thought that the iron must have tipped over after I left and water was coming out of the fill hole--OH NO--I opened the cabinet and there sat a very melted carton of ice cream!!! I thought--Where's my iron?? YEP!! It takes about half an hour for a frozen iron to thaw out by the way!! It works just fine now and the good part of this is that I DID remember to unplug the iron before I left the house!! Sometimes I think I need a KEEPER!! Smiles--NancyLee
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Nancylee,
Thanks for the laugh! I don't feel quite so bad knowing I'm not the only one. Although I am the only one so far that has involved the police Mint chocolate chip my favorite!
Aloha, Cyn -
You're welcome and thanks to you too. I think it's comforting to know I'm not the only person that Chemo has made temporarily ditsy. I choose to believe that this goofiness I'm experiencing will disappear like the bone pain and the nosebleeds did--this too shall pass??? I chose to stay home today because it's SNOWING here and I just don't want to deal with the driving issue. Besides I thought I can't get into too much trouble if I stay home and surf the web and watch sappy movies on the Hallmark channel unless I decide to iron and eat ice cream--HUH?? Bye for now & Smiles--NancyLee
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I too loved that story!
I was at the tail end of rads and wanted to prove that I could still be normal...NOT. I got really befuddled making a dinner party and lost my senses somehow. I took the gravy off the stove and put it in this ceramic pitcher for some strange reason - instead of a gravy boat. I had the water in a larger clear pitcher. As the guest were sitting down and I was telling them where to sit, etc. I was blindly filling each of their water glasses with Turkey Gravy! You should have see the raised eyebrow on one of my guests! That is what caught my attention to what in hell I was doing!
So I clean up THAT mess and we eat but something seemed to be missing. Finally I tell everyone to go into the living room where I would serve dessert. Well- I opened the oven and there was a Carrot Souflee that took me half the day to make. I completely forgot to serve it! So at this point I didn't care and I made everyone come back to the table and eat it. This was not a request. I was like- Hey! I am in the middle of radiation- I just finished six months of chemo- my hair looks like I took a weed whacker to it and I spent all day on this damn carrot souffle everyone back to the table!
Funny- I don't see most of those people anymore! -
One of the few good things about these memory problems for me is that is opens up a whole new category of books and movies for me - ones that I've seen and read before. I know that I loved them, but for the life of me can't remember what they're about. I can be watching an entire movie that I know I've seen before and still be surprised at the end!
Susan
Susan -
One more thing...
We recently moved into a new house (in the midst of chemo - crazy). Anyway, my parents were here for a while and right before the electrician was coming, my dad suggests having a light installed near the desk in the kitchen. I say, that's a great idea. I tell my husband when he gets home. He gets upset - I've been suggesting that ever since we moved in and you weren't interested. Now your dad suggests it and you think it's a great idea!? I had absolutely no recollection of him ever having suggested that. Had to do some quick explaining about memory probs to smooth that one over. -
Susan--This is VERY funny because last night I got halfway thru a Lifetime movie before I realized that I had seen it before and last week I checked a video out of the video store and took it home only to realize I'd seen IT before. SIGH! Books are another story--I think I remember most of those especially those by that SCARY author from your state of Maine--Stephen King. His books and movies have a tendency to remain in the memory whether you like it or not!! My problem with books is that I buy lots of paperbacks and forget that I've already bought a certain title and see it on the racks at K-Mart and buy another copy. HMMM!! Good luck with your new house. That's always lots of fun. Smiles--NancyLee
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OMG, thank you all so much. I 'm sorry, but I laughed so hard I almost cried!!! I don't have a lot of time and I will come back to share my stories (if I remember). But thank you for making me laugh, I don't remember when I laughed that hard before. I love you all!
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LOL Great story about the iron and the ice cream. That hasn't happened to me yet, probably because I've given up ironing during chemo.
Susan -
LOL! Thanks nosurrender for this story! But I cannot believe you have the energy and skill right now to MAKE a carrot souffle. I can't even spell it right now!
- Cyn -
Has anyone seen my sunglasses???
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Last time I saw your sunglasses they were on a teddy bear wearing blue and a headband
LOL - Cyn
If the bear doesn't have them look in the freezer! -
LOL!!!
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Moving this to the top because it is so funny!!!
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LOL! Thanks- but let me tell you with my memory now if someone held a gun to my head I couldn't remember how I made it or what in hell were the ingredients! I have someone who is bugging me to get back into business- I used to be a caterer- and I told them that not only can I not remember how to make half the stuff - I can't pronounce it either!
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