Before: I can't really remember 'before'. All I can remember was a lot of screaming, beatings, screaming, and … Actually, my mother thinks that she was fiercer and more intolerable before cancer got to her. However, I think she took the right attitude towards us then because we were still young adolescents needed to be whipped into shape.

After: However, I would be lying if I said she didn't change after her first occurrence. As I was all of 17 years old during her first occurrence, I was pretty much on my own and she didn't have to bother too much about my studies. Therefore, I probably didn't get the full onslaught of her 'attack' (reads: nagging). My sisters, though, probably would have another story to tell.

But to my mother's advantage, she has become less stressed, more open-minded, and less bogged down by nitty gritty details. She pampers herself more now and has since carried out many improvement projects around the house, which I REALLY appreciates.

But of cos, she has not changed completely. She is human after all. She still gets her fair share of being upset, depressed, angry and unreasonable. But most of the time, it's indirectly a result of her love for my dad, and for us three.

More about her please visit her website:

http://www.elutris.net
http://www.livejournal.com/users/e_lutris/