In Sickness As In Health

I've just read an excellent book called In Sickness As In Health: Helping couples cope with the complexities of illness, by Barbara Kivowitz and Roanne Weisman.  I recommend it highly. It serves an an excellent reference to people who find they have to deal with the acute or chronic illness of one of the partners in a marriage or other close relationship.  Beyond exploring the three phases of such situations--crisis, balancing act, and regaining equilibrium--it offers thoughtful commentary about a lot of related issues.  There was one that I found particularly perceptive.  You've been informed by your doctor that something bad has occurred, and s/he offers a prognosis for the illness and thereby implies what it is likely to mean for the physical or mental functionality of the patient.  As the partner, you take this to be true:All their normal coping skills remain on planet Earth even as they have to immediately learn to breathe in this new atmosphere.  In this unhinged state, they naturally seek a powerful guide, and typically grant omniscient status to the doctor.The doctor becomes the orientation point in this new and frightening universe.  Her words signify more than educated opinion; they become oracular.It is not unusual, in the aftershock of diagnosis, for patients and their partners to either submit silently to the sentence or pummel the doctor with questions as they desparately seek loopholes through which they can squeeze their fadi...
Source: Running a hospital - Category: Health Managers Source Type: blogs