Help me! My Mother has peritoneal cancer (diagnosed on her 89th birthday) and is undergoing taxol carbo chemo. Her first cycle was too strong and she ended up in the hospital with nausea and weakness, shortness of breath and racing pulse. They gave her 4 weeks to recover and began again at a lower dose. She had already begun to complain of pain in her legs, then of inability to manage her left foot. Her doctor said this could be neurological side effects of the chemo. Then she began just mentally slowing down. Her speech, her response to others...everything...just slowing down. She has gone from her normal notice everything, comment on everything, want to be the center of everything to just sitting in her chair, smiling pleasantly. She responds to stimulation, slowly. Answers questions, slowly. provides requested information, slowly. Extremely slowly. As if it is a great effort to think of...anything. She just sits and stares and if you speak to her, she smiles and with great effort attempts to converse. Is this going to get worse? Will it be permanent? What is happening? To me this is worse than the cancer. She was bloated, short of breath and had abdominal pain and we were told that she could only be expected to live 9 months without treatment, but now SHE is gone. It has been less than 9 WEEKS. Nobody told me that along with cancer cells chemo kills brain cells. I would rather have seen my Mother die than to watch her deteriorate mentally...the untimate fear of her entire adult life. What is happening to my Mother? Can it get any better? I am broken hearted. Please, please, anyone with experience with this, real experience, I do NOT want false info or false hope....PLEASE...tell me what is happening to my Mother!