Stanford Imaging Study & Brain Abnormalities in Chemo Patients

In another study using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), Stanford researchers linked verbal memory impairments with the CMF (cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and 5-fluorouracil) regimen of chemotherapy. The number of participants was quite small though, involving just 14 women with metastatic or locally advanced breast cancer who had gone through chemotherapy, and 14 healthy women who served as controls.

Shelli Kesler, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, led the study which was published in the Nov. 1, 2009 issue of Clinical Cancer Research.

For more information, click here.

A Fog That's Relentless (From Ann Gregory)

Reposted with permission. See "Ann's Fight: Documenting Ann Gregory's fight with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, at http://anngregory.blogspot.com/. 

When I last saw my post-transplant nurse, Karen, for a biannual followup, she took me through the paces and mentioned a new program being developed in conjunction with the neuropsychology brain trust at MD Anderson. I filed the information away, thinking that I probably wouldn't need to take advantage of it since I was coping with my chemo brain just fine.

Research Rock Stars at University of Rochester (bet you can't say that five times really, really fast...)

by
Idelle Davidson

I have no connection to the University of Rochester in New York other than I interviewed one of their scientists while researching and writing Your Brain After Chemo.  Perhaps if I did, I wouldn't sound like some gushing M.C. But here goes: Boys and girls, brothers and sisters, give it up for the University of Rochester!!

A Spouse With Brain Fog (From Michelle)

Hi,

My questions are from the perspective of the well spouse or family member: Any tips for caregivers/spouse/family in terms of coping with/confronting/discussing this chemo brain issue with our loved one? Also, are there safety issues for parenting while experiencing fog?

Are Memories Ever Really Lost?

by
Idelle Davidson

That's what a research team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology wanted to know.  And so to begin, they genetically engineered some mice to develop Alzheimer's disease-like symptoms.  The mice quickly forgot what had taken them several weeks to learn (one task was navigating a water maze). 

Can't Find Your Words? Say: "Chemo Brain!"

By Idelle Davidson

You know it's just on the tip of your tongue.  It's a word that has a "ka" sound in the beginning and a "tah" sound somewhere at the end.  And you can almost see it, but then darn, it's gone.  Perhaps later, when you're rushing to slap dinner on the table, that stupid word, so maddeningly elusive just hours before will pop right into your head, as if it were all just a silly misunderstanding between you and your brain.

I'm guessing that if you've had chemo and have experienced the fog that often follows, then you know what I'm talking about, right?  It's not that you can't comprehend language, it's that you can't retrieve it.  It's like the arcade game with the crane where you try to scoop up the two-penny plastic key chain and then five-dollars-worth-of-quarters later, it's stuck in the chute.

In a 2006 study of the psychosocial side effects experienced by 26 women undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer, language (including fluency, verbal repetition, reading, and writing to dictation) was the most severely affected cognitive process, followed by memory. (Source: F. Downie, Psycho-Oncology 15 -2006: 921-930).  That's not entirely surprising considering that chemotherapy not only may affect language but the speed in which we process information.

One of the people I interviewed for "Your Brain After Chemo" had this to say: "It is painful when people look at me with confusion while I am trying to talk.  I know that I'm not making sense, and I don't know how else to talk.  When it happens I die a million deaths and feel very dumb."    

Have you experienced word retrieval problems during or following chemotherapy?  Have you found ways to compensate?  If so, what works for you?

Driving, Spatial Orientation (From JBF)

I just finished your book "Your Brain after Chemo".  It was very good.  Thank you for writing it!

Chemo brain was HARD to deal with.  My observations now that I am 5 months out:

1. Driving:  I should not have been driving.  I never had an accident... but I came close too often.  See the next item for more details.

2. Spatial orientation:
I pride myself on being very aware of my surroundings, and my "place in space".  As an example of the problem:  I was driving to a chemo appointment - had done the trip many times - and was totally confused about which exit to take.  Fortunately my daughter was with me and provided the directions.  Very unnerving.  Needless to say, she drove home!!!

Hodgkin's at 20. Needs Provigil (From Kelly)

I would like to begin this email by conveying my RELIEF at seeing this book on the shelf. Chemobrain ("PCCI") really needs to be brought into the forefront and stuck under the collective nose of the oncology community at large, including the NIH and the FDA.

I suppose I should tell you "my story" first so you can understand the impetus for writing this. I had always been "academically-inclined" and top of my class. I was the valedictorian of my high school. I had won countless honors, awards, and scholarships. I had scored a 790 on the SAT verbal, just 1 question shy of a perfect score. My brain DEFINED me. I went to Villanova and I LOVED it. Every moment of it. My mind was finally being opened and challenged in ways it had never experienced. The world was my oyster. I excelled in languages AND science. I was torn between pursuing the law, medicine, or scientific journalism. I had the opportunity to pursue any one of them.

I Appreciate Your Book (From Lori, Esq.)

I would like to tell you how much I appreciate your book - I bought it yesterday, read it all night, with a highlighter, crying.

My breast cancer was diagnosed on October 12, 2006, so about 2 and 1/2 years ago, at the age of 44. There was no history of breast cancer in our family, I was healthy, an avid exerciser, married with children, and had just recently retired to be home more with the kids, after having been an attorney working in a major film studio, supervising a legal department for about a dozen years. I had a lumpectomy, chemo and radiation. I felt lucky to have been diagnosed at the right time, and I had a great attitude. Mentally, I was fine. Then I started with tamoxifen, and within a month, I had horrible menopause symptoms, including mental "fogginess" and disassociation, forgetfulness, and mental confusion (out of body feelings), as well as the horrible night sweats, bloating, etc. The doctors then decided to remove my tubes and ovaries, and switched me to femera.