Update on Mom 6

Ελπίδα, надежда, надявам се, hoop, espérer, espérance, espoir, Hoffe, hoffen, Hoffnung, Zuflucht, sperare, esperanza, hope

Webster defines hope as “to cherish a desire with anticipation; expect with confidence.”
Are we mistaken to have the hope, the expectation, the anticipation to live with confidence? Who deserves to live with assurance? Don’t we all? Is life so impossible that we cannot hope for tomorrow? For next month? For next year? When faced with uncertainty or adversity do we still have the privilege to hope? They say that sometimes, the dying, cling to life and defy odds simply by the power of thinking. Can this be true? Think about it. Hope implies a particular amount of believing that a positive result is possible even when there is indication to the contrary. Can hope prolong life?

I receive my church prayer chain via e-mail, and it seems like lately, those that I have been praying for, for months were defying those odds, have now lost their fight for life. Did hope sustain them when they were alive? I really thought my mom would be dead by now. The doctors were not so sure she would make it through the summer. Yet, here it is, 5 months later. Today is her 16th anniversary. Can she hope for 16 more? She told my step dad that she would settle for 4 more. Is that a realistic hope? My mother received a small ray of hope from the doctor this week. Her hemoglobin (red cell) counts were higher than projected and she was offered chemo as a choice of cancer management once again. Should she attempt the unscrupulous suffering of treatments again? Or should she try a non fda approved, all natural, herbal remedy? She is not ready to stop fighting. Right now, she sleeps more than she is awake and has little to no energy. She has to do something. But what? Hope. So many questions go unanswered. But I can tell you that I believe that hope is what is keeping my mother alive.