Comprehension Strategy/Organizing Your Thoughts

When I was undergoing chemo, chemo was taking me down in the mental arena. I was often more frustrated than I spoke of, and if you were reading what I was writing and hearing what I was saying, it was still a lot.

It sucks. Big Time.

What sucks more is that there are people who don't actually believe it exists. And these are the "professionals" in the environment. Thankfully there were some people who I was able to connect with that tried to help in that department. Whether or not there was a "belief" in chemo brain, or not, they would work with patients to help them have more patience and give them strategies to help.

In some ways I was already doing a lot of what they suggested, and was still frustrated. But I figure there may be some people who might not be doing what I did and not even know what to do so I thought I would share some of what they shared with me.

One suggestion for a comprehension strategy:

*Ask the person speaking to repeat themselves.
*Then say back "I what I heard was..."

Sometimes comprehension is helped by being able to organize your thoughts. 
To organize your thoughts the following was suggested:

*Ask the speaker to repeat as needed (boy did I do that a lot!)
*Ask the speak to slow down (did that a lot, too!)
*Repeat the information spoken as you go along, as needed (see comprehension strategy above)
*Take notes, especially of key words/ideas
*Refer back to the notes when responding, as needed

It helps me that I am not being treated any more. What a difference each day makes that I am farther away from treatment. But sometimes in our all too fast world we need to slow things down and pay attention to what we are doing.

It is interesting how when you lose the ability to do something you once took for granted how frustrating it can be. Even if you are at times stymied by what you need to do and remember, be grateful for your ability to do so. Even in its less than perfect state it is much better than it could be if your circumstances would ever challenge what you think you know about yourself.