To My Husband on Our Anniversary, From Your Wife With Chronic Illnesses
Three years ago today, my husband, J, pledged to love all of me forever, despite my chronic illnesses. His vows even included a promise to get me my favorite “sick” foods when I’m too ill to make or get my own food. What a man!
Three years later, I can say that although maintaining a marriage while living with multiple chronic illnesses isn’t at all easy, it’s worth it. J has not only kept his vows, he has risen to challenges very few partners in their 20’s have to face.
He has lovingly learned to administer my IV medications, so when I’m at my sickest, I can fall asleep in his arms rather than with a home healthcare nurse watching my every move. He took off work for over a week to stand by my side when I was hospitalized out of state and brought along our 12-week-old puppy so she wouldn’t be lonely. He even brought her to the hospital to visit! He makes time to take me to countless appointments and procedures. He advocates for me when I’m too foggy to ask the right questions. He drives so I don’t have to. The list goes on and on.
To me, these are greater acts of love than the dinner we will go to tonight or any card or gift that may be exchanged between us. This is how he shows me every day that he loves me as much or more than he did on that day three years ago.
J, today I want you to know I’m so very grateful for your love and care. Thank you for staying when many others would have left. Thank you for being my anchor in this storm. You keep me steady so I can be brave. I know you feel the immense pressure of providing all that I need to be as healthy as possible. Thank you for working so hard to ensure my ability to access quality care, so we can secure our future together. Thank you for all of the little things you do to make me laugh during the hard times. Those doodles on the hospital white boards? They mean more than you know!
Most of all, thank you for recognizing that love is a verb, not a noun. That it requires work, is fluid, changing and growing with us. Thank you for doing that work, even when it’s not easy. After eight years together and three years of marriage, I can confidently promise to keep doing that work with you.
I Love You Always,
Sara
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Sara is a blogger, bibliophile and professional patient/napper seeking to find happiness with chronic pain/illness. She strongly believes in the power of positivity, but is trying to learn to balance this with sharing the truth. Her primary diagnosis is Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, but she also lives with many coexisting conditions, including Common Variable Immunodeficiency, Mast Cell Activation Syndrome, Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome and intractable migraine. She blogs at ZebraWrites.
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