On Monday I had a call from the Maggie’s Centre asking if I could do them a favour and come to the Maggie’s on Tuesday morning to speak to Sarah Brown.  Automatically, I said yes.  For a second I had to think who Sarah was, but it quickly occurred to me, that of course she is the prime minister’s wife!

On Tuesday I made my way into the Maggie’s.  It was busy there, loads was going on to show Sarah what the centre can offer.  I was asked to sit in one of the side rooms with three other people who use the centre.  Shortly after we sat down, Sarah and two other ladies and Bernie who runs the centre came into the room to listen to our stories.  I was the first one to speak, and the whole time I spoke, Sarah stared at me intensely. The other two ladies were more proactive, asking questions when we were telling our stories, whereas Sarah merely sat quietly next to me, staring at me.  Afterwards, I asked if someone could take a picture of us (please see below), and chatted to Sarah for a short while.  She seemed like a lovely lady.  It is fun to think that Sarah may mention me to Gordon when he asks her how her day was!

I met some nice people on my visit there.  I had an interesting chat about how chemo affects the brain.  I mentioned to the other chemo patients, that I feel like my brain is not working like it used to; I sometimes find it difficult to focus, I forget things easily, I see flashes (‘things’), and numbers ‘jump’ sometimes when I read and I end up momentarily reading them incorrectly (dyslexia??).  The girls I met also reported similar experiences.  An oncologist had told one of the girls who is a medical student about ‘chemo brain’.  The research has shown that chemo can affect the brain metabolism and blood flow and thus cause problems with memory, focus, and multitasking.  I did not know this!  No one mentions this as one of the side effects.  I need to get a brain training game for my Nintendo DS ASAP!

The Maggie's.

Sarah Brown is the one next to me, the tall one.