Doctor calls this brain failure?

bunchofstaceys
bunchofstaceys Member Posts: 6
in Esophageal Cancer #1
Its been alittle while since i last posted. My dad was diagnosed with stage four esophageal cancer in lymphs, liver and kidney back in Oct of 2011. Since then we had a trail for alittle while and had a really great scan at eight weeks of 50% shrinkage. Continued on till cancer outsmarted chemo and changed to next chemo. Had 2 treatments then white blood count dropped so they gave him a break for a couple of weeks. Came back and white blood count was normal but he lost total memory. This lasted for a couple of days. In the mean time they have done brain mri, eeg, ultrasound on his vessels, checked his health completely from sugar to dehydration. All test came out normal for a man of his age which is 67. We go back to cancer doctor in a few weeks to see talk about chemo again. The only thing the brain doctor said it sound like brain failure from the chemo. Guess I'm just looking for anyone out there that has experienced this brain failure. And if so did they ever get back to normal. Dad is still real confused about alot of stuff. And just real tired. Doesnt care to feed himself anymore.(He has a feeding tube.) He has lost about 90 pounds since Oct. Other than the cancer they can not find anything else wrong with him and he is in no pain at all.

Comments

  • JimboC
    JimboC Member Posts: 264
    #2
    I've never heard of that but
    I've never heard of that but I have heard of and experience a condition called Chemo Brain. I have some bouts of short term memory loss and trouble accessing things I know. It's not debilitating but more of an annoyance. I have good days and bad when it comes to the chemo brain. It seems to be worse when I haven't gotten enough rest.
  • stephikindred
    stephikindred Member Posts: 140
    #3
    JimboC said:

    I've never heard of that but
    I've never heard of that but I have heard of and experience a condition called Chemo Brain. I have some bouts of short term memory loss and trouble accessing things I know. It's not debilitating but more of an annoyance. I have good days and bad when it comes to the chemo brain. It seems to be worse when I haven't gotten enough rest.

    Chemo Brain
    I've heard of that, just wondering when does that start? My mom has had four rounds of chemo so far, and I don't think she has experienced this yet that I know of. I am wondering too if all the weight loss coupled with the change in chemo could be causing loss in short term memory. And it would make sense that lack of rest would affect the brain more so on chemo.
  • jgwright
    jgwright Member Posts: 242
    #4
    stephikindred said:

    Chemo Brain
    I've heard of that, just wondering when does that start? My mom has had four rounds of chemo so far, and I don't think she has experienced this yet that I know of. I am wondering too if all the weight loss coupled with the change in chemo could be causing loss in short term memory. And it would make sense that lack of rest would affect the brain more so on chemo.

    Chemo Brain
    The other problem is that even though you are tired, you don't feel like going to bed. At least that's the way it is for me. And it's almost 10PM here, and I have my first class in 4 months to teach, so we'll just see what happens. Cause, I'm gonna hit the hay.

    --Jerry
  • bunchofstaceys
    bunchofstaceys Member Posts: 6
    #5
    JimboC said:

    I've never heard of that but
    I've never heard of that but I have heard of and experience a condition called Chemo Brain. I have some bouts of short term memory loss and trouble accessing things I know. It's not debilitating but more of an annoyance. I have good days and bad when it comes to the chemo brain. It seems to be worse when I haven't gotten enough rest.

    Not chemo brain
    Yea Dad has had chemo brain slowly getting worse from the beginning but the doctor says this is not chemo brain. She says that mabey it might be an alergic reaction to the chemo but not sure. We go back to the doctor next week to re-evaluate the treatment. As to being tired Dad sleeps all the time. We are having to make him feed himself now.(He only uses his feeding tube) Nutrition is coming this week to make some changes I guess they might put him on a drip if he don't snap out of it.

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