Love in the Time of Cancer

I have decided to keep a diary as a form of therapy. The above title is inspired by the book, ‘Love in the Time of Cholera’ by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

In Spanish the word cόlera  means ‘anger’ or ‘rage’, which means the title of Marquez’s book is ambiguous. It refers to both cholera the disease, the medical condition, and cόlera as fury, as resentment, as passion. The book explores love, aging and death and raises the question: Is love helped or hindered by passion and disorder?

Back in March 2020, as we all went into lockdown, Rob, my husband, and I thought it was marvellous because we got to spend every minute together. That had never happened before because we’ve always worked, we’ve always had our careers to pursue. Suddenly, it was just the two of us: walking, swimming and exercising together, with evenings spent in easy companionship. We certainly didn’t experience isolation. We had each other. What more could one ask for?

Then came cancer.