Intimacy in the Face of Catastrophic Illness

SUMMARY

This is a therapist's story of her battle with life-threatening breast cancer and the impact of that illness on the intimacy bond with her husband of thirty years. She reviews the year of treatment, noting the couple's connections at various points in the process of dealing with the disease: the diagnosis, the treatment and the aftermath. Facing life-threatening illness can drive a couple apart or draw them closer together, but whichever it does, it is a loss of innocence about the very real presence of death and its impact on our daily life in relationship.