13. On the Sideline: The Story of Marije: Introduction
Introduction
I have this piece on my part about the illness of my husband Bert, "on the sidelines" because that side is where you as a partner and family is. You're part but then again not. You make them part of what they experience as a patient but from a totally different angle.
Nevertheless, even your world upside down and is often a sign of powerlessness. Where the patient is actively fighting the disease and undergoing various treatments you stand there as a partner and you look at it. You arrange and organize, you try a variety of means to relieve the pain, etc. and your partner try where possible to support and motivate to continue.
I've experienced that with a disease like this face, everything in your life changed. You're working night and day, 24 hours a day, although the way during the course of the disease changes. It's become part of your life and you should learn to accept. But that does not mean you need to resign and should not try in any way and still fighting just to stay alive, how difficult it sometimes is and looks.
Just as the piece of my husband, this story written in stages. These are the stages where we have gone through over the last 15 months which we were confronted with the fact that my husband had cancer.
Each stage has a different impact and we have another way to cope with the disease cancer and the effects the disease has on our lives.
