We sailed through the first few days after Chemotherapy easily.

We went shopping the first evening; my mom insisted we go shopping or somewhere.

She was bouncing off the walls – I didn’t think delirium was a side effect of chemo

She walked fast, talked faster and would randomly burst into song, this happened all weekend long.

She took her usual walk on Saturday morning, had breakfast and sat around restlessly. We’d watch her closely and cautiously waiting for all those symptoms we’d been forewarned to expect. We’d ask her every now and then if she felt anything, we checked her temperature a couple of times just to make sure she wasn’t faking it.

On Saturday afternoon, we went to pick up Ghanaian food from a woman in Surrey, did some more shopping and came home to watch movies.

My mom does the most amazing things sometimes… I wonder how she does it, I don’t know if it’s denial or strength. A family friend called on Saturday, obviously concerned, she brushes his concerns off in less than a second and rather lounges into this long tirade about my brother Sam.

We watched a bunch of movies that night while monitoring her – she still seemed fine. She went to sleep around 10:00PM still as perky as ever. Two hours later, she comes back singing about Jerusalem and dancing.

By Sunday, my mother had convinced herself she was immune to the side effects of the chemo, we on the other hand were wondering if the drugs were really working. Still no sign of those annoying side effects.

On Monday morning she was still doing fine, she went for her hour-long walk and later on her class at the seniors centre.

By afternoon, she reported feeling a little dizzy; by the time we got home from work she was all bundled up looking sick. She said she felt weak and tired.

She slept on and off all day Tuesday and couldn’t even muster enough energy to watch Oprah in the afternoon. Last night, she almost fainted from the dizziness.

She was doing a little better this morning when I called, she tried walking for five minutes, watched a little tv (she told me HBO is coming to Canada). She thinks she’ll be able to manage her class tomorrow at the seniors centre.