I have trouble with the hope thing too. Recently things got quite a bit better with my NMH, and my mom and fiance were pretty much doing a non-stop happy dance for a couple days. I've had things get somewhat better before, then stop getting better, then get worse, so I was reluctant to join in. I don't think they quite understood why I couldn't join in with the happy-dancing right away

I imagine it's much much worse for someone that's been sick for years, instead of months.
I guess it was just a feeling of dread getting in the way of celebrating, the fear of it getting worse again. It's hard to celebrate when feeling that.