To further our discussion of Healthy Survivorship -- what it is and how to achieve it -- let's look at it in the context of a medical challenge that is not an illness or injury.
Imagine a loving couple struggling with infertility. For many good reasons, they decide that if this IVF doesn't work they will let go of their hope of having four children and will embrace their life with three. The moment the mother learns the IVF worked and she's pregnant, she also learns she's carrying another couple's embryo.
Inconceivable is the story of Carolyn and Sean Savage's struggle to make the best decisions and live with the consequences. From the first pages on, I couldn't put the book down. I found myself caring about these people, wanting things to turn out a certain way for them.
Their story explores the challenges of
- breaking bad news to family, children, friends, co-workers
- grieving loss other than death-related loss
- letting go of long-standing hopes and finding new hope
- dealing with others' reactions and comments
- balancing the demands of everyday life with those of a health crisis
- dealing with the strain of a health crisis on relationships, such as marriage
- dealing with spiritual questions and tensions
- life after the crisis abates
In the next few posts, we'll look at a few of the challenges of Healthy Survivorship in the context of Carolyn and Sean Savage's story.
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