The Place Between Our Pains: A Memoir of What Joy Can Survive

Therapist Ramsey (The Book of Common Courage) captures in this raw, evocative account the challenges of grappling with chronic illness. Determined to live with the inflammatory spinal arthritis, primary immunodeficiency, and adrenal insufficiency that had swallowed up much of her young adulthood, the author in her early 30s embarked with a friend on a road trip across the West Coast. But their exuberant visits to California’s redwood forests and the Pacific Ocean were derailed when the author suffered a massive health crisis that left her with frequent bouts of anaphylactic shock, debilitating pain, and other mysterious symptoms. Ramsey chronicles the ensuing hospital stays, doctor visits, surgeries, and calls with her insurance company as she struggled to get to the root of her sickness and receive competent care from a medical system that often neglects female patients. Along the way, she also worked to maintain her faith and grapple with the guilt and grief of relying on her loved ones’ care. Ramsey writes with heart and honesty about chronic pain, framing it as a deeply isolating experience but also a conduit to surprising moments of connection with, for example, a doctor who prayed for her, as well as her family and husband. Readers enduring their own health crises will be especially moved and inspired. (May)