For couples, illness is not a solo flight. When one partner is sick, both lives are dislocated. Whether the illness creeps up insidiously or arrives with the sudden blast of a catastrophe, it fractures all the familiar patterns and forces the couple to drill down to the bedrock of their relationship and decide where they stand.
Some couples break apart; others stay together, but assume profoundly different roles. Some couples despair; others find renewed commitment and meaning. The one certainty is that no couple is immune from the eventual intrusions of illness or trauma.
There are as many stories as there are couples dealing with illness. Each one is unique, yet there are common threads, and we can learn from each other. I hope this blog will be a space where couples in any stage of an illness situation can share experiences and advice.
Among the topics we will explore are:
- Changing Roles: redefining caretaking
- Communication: speaking the unspeakable
- Intimacy and Sex
- The Practicalities: making it work (medical, financial, legal issues)
- Dealing with Family & Friends
- Fighting and Accepting: the constant see-saw
- Finding the Best Care: western and alternative
- and many more
4 comments:
I am currently a fellow traveller in the Land of Ill. Barbara and I have already journeyed parts of this road together, which has been a great blessing for me. It is so comforting to know that, even though one is essentially alone in this journey, there are other travelers making their way through this sometimes rough terrain, walking on their own paths. A blog like this may allow our paths at times to cross, even to wind together, so that the aloneness may not always be so complete, the darkness not always so dark.
I am so glad that you both have created this blog, and I will come visit regularly so, hopefully, we can walk a while in company.
I wish you both good health, and good travelling.
Pegasus
It can be indeed a lonely journey. Your company will make it less so for all of us.
I'm SO glad Richard steered me to this site. What you're providing here is very much needed. I know several people, including my own wife, who would have been (and will be) well supported by this space.
Bless you - now let's get the word out.
Thanks Dave. I have been following your story of courage, fear, fortitude, and community as you deal with your own situation. You have taught me a lot.
Post a Comment