Yeah - cancer is both a disease of the body and the mind. I had horrid horrid insomnia and could not focus on anything but cancer for a while. So, I started a task log, and that helped me stay on better track. I logged everything, including cancer time (reading, research, and obsessing) as well as work related tasks etc.... When I would go to webmd or the university library search engine, I would think to myself - I'll have to log more cancer time! That helped me go back to a real work task... And massively improved the mental difficulty associated with this diagnosis....

It is hard,but with some creativity, the mental piece of cancer can be smaller....

Keep a little notebook with you and jot things down. Learning of cancer is a lot to process. It only makes you feel worse if you forget things so having a notebook will help. I would also suggest if you are struggling to remember things to be a friend to your doctor's appointments and write down questions before you go.

Be kind to yourself. Getting a cancer diagnosis causes a whirlwind of emotions and thoughts and things that need to get done. It will all come together. Hang in there.

Cancer is certainly something that can shake a person up. Like LeePeen suggested, try writing things down. I found that I wasn't able to maintain mental lists like I did pre-cancer.

You may find that after a while your memory may improve and you will use the lists less. Give yourself a break...
-phil

Forgtfull is my middle name! :) Ever since diagnosed and treatment didn't help BUT...there are ways that help. First of all, it's completely normal to forget afterall this diagnosis is overwhelming.

Keep a nice big calendar somewhere you can see with lots of writing room for appointments, etc. Also keep a journal to write in. I have kind of used my whatnext profile as my day to day treatment journal, because if my experiences can help anyone in any way...then I'm extremely happy. No one should go through this alone. It also helps to talk to people who support and love you. Talk to us here too. We are more than happy to answer questions based on our experiences. Also writting down questions before you meet with your doc helps, even having a loved one help you with questions since two minds work better than one. Take a notebook to write down the answers and any additional info the doc gives you. Hope some of this helped some way. Sending you warm hugs. :)

My Oncologist is continuing my chemo in the hope that the tumor will continue to shrink & begin to "peel away" from it's attachement to other organs. Apparently ovarian cancer cells do not invade other organs, but calcification of omentum cake has has made surgery impossible. "cutting" into this mass would release more seeds of cancer. I have responded to chemo very well,CA125 is down from 3500 to 88...Any comments?

My iPhone is my best friend. I use a little notepad that comes with iPhone. And I add everything on the calendar - so it reminds me what I should be doing now.
Sometime I forget to check my notebook, so this (calendar with reminder) is a fail-safe trick that we can leverage.

But it can be annoying. So let go some of to-do items.
Soooo nice to forget lots of things. Sun still comes up and earth seems to be turning - every day!

cheers

Writing things down is great except if you have the added annoyance that I have...Parkinsonian tremor. Writing was and still is impossible so thank goodness for the computer. Even the telephone was no help for me since dry mouth and hearing loss from the radiation made that avenue impossibly difficult so I kept a daily diary and calendar on the computer. The daily diary was a help because I could email to my family and keep them up-to-date on the treatments and progressions of the disease. After all of that, the calender and the diary, I found that any other activity such as reading good books ,doing any crafting like crossstitch or knitting, or as in my case, playing the piano helped so much. Find something you love to do that is NOT cancer related and, I promise you, you will find each day much more enjoyable....and normal!

SO normal - I was diagnosed at the end of January (2012) and have not been the same since - I am MUCH more scatterbrained, unfocused, forgetful, unorganized, etc., etc. - I am not sure I will ever be the same again. Maybe what we are left with is to focus on the "new" us, our "new" lives... the "new reality" that we are now faced with! We - our lives - are forever changed - how can we go forward in the best possible way?! I wish you all the best and if you want to chat, I am here for you...