Ill Brains and Wrong Names

[next-muffin.livejournal.com]

I'm not all that close with my mother, one of the reasons being that she's been rather difficult adjusting to my being trans, specifically by calling me the right name and pronouns.

Over the past few weeks, she has gotten a lot better, remembering most of the time, forgetting mostly when she gets mad and starts yelling. (Or she would at least apologize after.)

However, last week, she was diagnosed with brain cancer. They did a biopsy on the tumor, and I'm not sure if it's that, or her medication, or both, but she's been extremely out of it since - talking slowly, repeating herself, not finishing sentences etc, but also calling me by the wrong name as if I had never changed it at all.

Of course, I haven't corrected her or anything, since she seems like she would probably forget and I wouldn't want to have this Conversation a bazillion times, especially if her initial reaction is as disapproving as it was the first time.

What I'm worried about, though, is that this isn't going to "wear off" but continue, or that she'll forget that I'm transitioning, or, the worst, that she doesn't recognize me.

Is anyone else in a situation similar to this? I don't know anyone else with cancer, or any kind of (recent) brain conditions, so I have absolutely no idea how to deal with this. Should I let her call me whatever she calls me, or should I continue to correct her however many times I have to?

x-posted to ftm