hp. I really admire your stick-to-it-tiveness and self-exploration through all of this.
Ditto on the doula idea-- very cool.
Is the pain still an issue for you?
Some people are just not book readers. My late H's C used to give him books to read and he just wouldn't. Not his cuppa tea. C also gives bf books to read-- bf only reads stuff online. Finally C wised up-- he xeroxes chapters from books and parcels them out to bf one at a time. You might try this-- xerox a salient chapter or two that he can read in manageable bites.
Both late H and bf were raised by schoolteacher moms and have strict (though mostly subconscious) rules about reading books, i.e., you have to start at the beginning, read straight through in order, and you can't be reading more than one book at a time. Sort of like the clean plate club; you have to eat your carrots before you can have pie. Me, I deal with books like the coyotes deal with the watermelons we grow-- I rip out the heart, suck it dry, leave the rind, and move on to the next watermelon. Alas, neither of them has/had that freedom.
