it’s about how you respond to life." -Marilyn Hickey
In early May, Randy and I were playing a game of UNO in the waiting room, his oldest brother working on his laptop nearby, when the doctor came out and asked us as a family to go somewhere more private. He took us to what I can only think of as the "bad news room". Where he told us that Randy's mom's heart condition was more serious than he previously thought. He said there was nothing he could do. No surgeries. No medications. No restrictions. She should do what she wanted, go where she wanted, live how she wanted in the time she had left. Which he guessed was no more than six months.
We had the terrible responsibility of breaking the news to the rest of the family. And to Mom herself.
But the most incredible thing happened: she didn't believe it. At first I thought she was in denial. Like one of these days it would just all of a sudden hit her, the severity of her health condition. But week after week she showed no signs of slowing down. Perhaps it wasn't denial at all, but stubbornness and a sheer will to live.
In her mind she still has things to live for, and because of that she is determined to live to see them fulfilled.
During our visit to the doctor last week, the same doctor who gave her a less than six-month life expectancy, he said, "There is no medical explanation for how well you are doing right now." She'd just aced her walking test, her oxygen levels holding steady and nearly as high as mine. "Then why am I not sick?" she asked. "Tenacity," he said. There it was again: stubbornness and a sheer will to live.
Maybe a positive, determined attitude isn't enough to keep her going until she is 100. Maybe it isn't enough to heal her damaged heart. But it is more than enough to help her live life to the fullest for as many days as she has left.
I'm so blessed to have this woman in my life, to call her Mom, and to have the example that a positive attitude will serve you well.
We had the terrible responsibility of breaking the news to the rest of the family. And to Mom herself.
But the most incredible thing happened: she didn't believe it. At first I thought she was in denial. Like one of these days it would just all of a sudden hit her, the severity of her health condition. But week after week she showed no signs of slowing down. Perhaps it wasn't denial at all, but stubbornness and a sheer will to live.
In her mind she still has things to live for, and because of that she is determined to live to see them fulfilled.
During our visit to the doctor last week, the same doctor who gave her a less than six-month life expectancy, he said, "There is no medical explanation for how well you are doing right now." She'd just aced her walking test, her oxygen levels holding steady and nearly as high as mine. "Then why am I not sick?" she asked. "Tenacity," he said. There it was again: stubbornness and a sheer will to live.
Maybe a positive, determined attitude isn't enough to keep her going until she is 100. Maybe it isn't enough to heal her damaged heart. But it is more than enough to help her live life to the fullest for as many days as she has left.
I'm so blessed to have this woman in my life, to call her Mom, and to have the example that a positive attitude will serve you well.
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