ABSTRACT
Examining how family members talk through a loved one’s cancer on the telephone reveals, as a central concern, the interactional construction of hopeful and optimistic responses to uncertain and potentially despairing cancer circumstances. I refer to such recurring moments as “managing optimism”1 in talk about cancer. This chapter focuses on an initial collection of seven excerpts wherein optimism emerges as a resource for family members as they update, assimilate, and commiserate about cancer diagnosis and treatment. These materials are drawn from a set of 54 recorded and transcribed phone calls comprising the first natural history of a family talking through cancer, from Mom’s initial diagnosis until her death, some 13 months later.2 Only phone calls #1 (involving Dad and Son) and #2 (Dad, Son, and Mom) of the corpus are examined, interactions drawn from a collection of more than 100 instances where speakers engage in optimistic collaborations.
