As an expert in chronic illness, author Pamala D. Larsen thought she understood what her patients and families with chronic illness were experiencing. When her husband, Randy, was diagnosed with esophageal cancer, however, she realized how little she knew. In Finding a Way through Cancer, Dying, and Widowhood: A Memoir, she presents her journal of dealing with her husband’s cancer—from the first day of diagnosis, through eighteen months of illness, hospice care, his death, and her first long year of widowhood.
Providing an honest view of those experiences, Larsen shares thoughts that many people have, but few express. This memoir tells the real story of the pain experienced as a family of caregivers watches the downhill course of a loved one suffering from cancer.
This memoir shares insights and asks difficult questions, telling a common, ordinary story that is acted out every day by thousands of people. It serves to communicate that grief is not an easy road; each survivor must find his or her own answers and path to recovery.
PAMALA D. LARSEN has been caring for patients with chronic illnesses since becoming a registered nurse in 1969. For twenty-eight years, she has been a professor and administrator in several university schools of nursing. Larsen is coeditor of Chronic Illness: Impact and Intervention. She is retired and lives in Colorado.
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