Joy or Sorrow (Terri Hendrix)

An update on Mom:

Thanks so much to all for the thoughts and prayers - I spoke with Mari last night about 7:30 p.m. and all seemed to be stabilizing. I had asked her to ask the doctor what percentage the lung collapse was (20 - 25% is manageable) - his reply was 5% (sheer relief at hearing that number). They continued to take X-rays to determine what the procedure would be to handle - in the meantime, Mom is on some serious pain medication, which is keeping her comfortable and immobilized to prevent more damage to her already-compromised lungs...

Mari called me this morning a bit before 9 and said the hospital was releasing Mom - they finally left about 11 a.m. (after waiting 2 hours for paperwork to be resolved). They should get the test results back in 3 to 5 days - thinking very positive...

P.S. Thanks to Melanie for the picture inspiration! - I couldn't make the one she sent work, but this one is similar... <3

SONG: Joy or Sorrow by Terri Hendrix

BOOK: The Anatomy of Hope: How People Prevail in the Face of Illness by Jerome Groopman

POEM: Hope by Lisel Mueller

It hovers in dark corners

before the lights are turned on,

it shakes sleep from its eyes

and drops from mushroom gills,

it explodes in the starry heads

of dandelions turned sages,

it sticks to the wings of green angels

that sail from the tops of maples.

It sprouts in each occluded eye

of the many-eyed potato,

it lives in each earthworm segment

surviving cruelty,

it is the motion that runs the tail of a dog,

it is the mouth that inflates the lungs

of the child that has just been born.

It is the singular gift

we cannot destroy in ourselves,

the argument that refutes death,

the genius that invents the future,

all we know of God.

It is the serum which makes us swear

not to betray one another;

it is in this poem, trying to speak.

QUOTE: "Hope is the feeling we have that the feeling we have is not permanent." ~ Mignon McLaughlin