Chemo Collapses?

I've had the most awful week just pass. I am thankful to see the end of it and pray that I'll never have a repeat of it. 

As some may be well aware, my Mum is dealing with chemotherapy for a removed grade 3 carcinoma of the left breast. On Nov 22 she had her 3rd round of FEC chemo. Out of the rounds to this date, she seemed to be doing the best. She didn't spend a lot of time resting, in fact even though she said she felt weak and yucky, she seemed to be dealing with it all very well. I was able to spend time with my partner without having to be greatly concerned or wracked with guilt for not being home, I didn't need to take any time from work -- it felt great. 

6 days after the treatment she was complaining of feeling a little weak, I had been trying to get her to eat a bit more, but she says nothing tastes like anything, everything she drinks tastes metallic and so she didn't really have much of anything. She had eaten a little bit of McDonalds for breakfast and had had some lemon cordial. I had made her some dinner and she didn't eat much of it, getting frustrated with the lack of taste. By dinner time, the weather began to get a bit warmer and I ordered us some food. She ate a couple of mouthfuls and decided she didn't want to eat any more. Instead, she took a phone call from a friend who she hadnt spoken to in a few years to catch her up.

I went back to my room to do some work and could hear her conversation as background noise. A very short while later, I heard her shuffling up the stairs and there was a short thud. There are a few animals in this house including cats that sound like they wear combat boots, so I assumed either she stumbled but since I heard nothing further, I decided it must have been the cats. I felt a bit odd about it and around a minute later I went to check on her. I opened my bedroom door and found her flat on her back staring at the ceiling, eyes wide, staring without blinking. 

Obviously, I panicked. She mumbled something and I tried to ask her if she was okay. I stood over her and asked her if she could move, she said nothing. I called out to her a few times and went in to panic thinking that she had had a heart attack. She stared straight through me, I told her I was calling an ambulance. I ran to the phone and did so, the whole time while I was being connected, I was trying to call out to her but she wasn't responding. I was answering the phone assitant's questions around a minute later my Mum began to come-to. She kept yelling that she was OK but I could tell that she wasn't. She was taking forever to reply to my questions if at all. She didn't understand that I was talking to 000. It wasn't til I got off the phone to put her in a recovery position that she finally realised that she had collapsed.

She tried to tell me she hadn't passed out, that she was fine. (You usually lay down in the middle of the hallway for a siesta and let go of your bladder do you, Mum?) The ambulance arrived (about 15 minutes later!!) and stayed with us for around 40 minutes as my Mum continued to insist she was fine. All her vitals were OK, her BP was low but it raised up by the time they left and they were satisfied. They wanted her to go to hospital, but she refused. They helped her in to bed and I panicked for the entire night over if she was really fine or not. 

Now we're both paranoid about it all happening again. She feels well again, but it gave us both an awful fright, and I've never had to deal with anything like that before so I am still a little bit traumatised by it all. We've put it down to the fact of how very little she ate and drank that day. She had actually passed out down a few steps in to our living room in her desk chair, came to and then tried to fight it and turn the fan on as she came up the stairs and went out again. Luckily the worst part of it all is her bruised backside. She didn't hit her head or damage herself on the way down... 

But thank God everything is OK for now. 

Has anything like this happened to anyone else? I wish she'd gone to the hospital, its really frustrating as a carer because in that situation, I don't know what to do and I can't provide the best care nor is it easy on me when and if something like that occurs...