Together: A Memoir of a Marriage and a Medical Mishap

Goldman (Losing My Sister) offers a tender view of her marriage and a suspenseful account of her husband’s frustrating struggle to regain mobility after a routine hospital procedure left him unable to walk. In his 60s at the memoir’s opening, Goldman’s husband, Henry, an optometrist, set out for a spinal epidural to ease his nagging back pain. Goldman’s text alternates between reflections on their decades-long marriage and the medical saga surrounding a botched steroid injection that left Henry partially paralyzed. An energetic, athletic man, Henry was unaccustomed to feeling helpless, but as the days passed in the hospital and in rehab in Charlotte, N.C., the couple became increasingly aware that their lives had been forever altered, and their roles (he the strongman, she the protected wife) had shifted. Goldman also writes of how she found her angry “hospital personality” rising as she dealt with inattentive hospital staff. Goldman looks back on the sturdy roots of their marriage, the love that brought them together and continues to sustain them in challenging times, as well as at their differences and disagreements. This loving tribute to her husband and to the solidness of their union will engage and inspire readers, especially aging boomers facing potential health concerns. (Feb.)