G. Thomas Couser's Illness: Article Analysis

In unit two, a few sources that have been read discuss an individual’s remission while incorporating their patient narrative to the medical field. This can explain the relationship between narrative and medicine, since individuals have the chance to share their story about their state of remission, and it must be in relation to their progress with their doctor and others in the medical field that had a part in the individual’s remission as well. The idea of remission occurs most bluntly in G. Thomas Couser in “Recovering Bodies: Illness, Disability, and Life Writing.” In this article, Couser explains the concept of “the remission society” (10). In this writing, he discusses the fact that medicine has helped in remission throughout the years, but the medicine itself that gave the life back to the person cannot immediately give their life significant meaning, because that is the individuals responsibility, and sometimes individuals are not completely cured of their illness. Due to this, some groups of patients tend to become frustrated with their doctors, hence the term “remission society” (10). It is a collection of

Throughout “Truthiness,” Gubar discusses the reality of having cancer, or rather the remission of cancer. Similarly with Couser’s “Recovering Bodies: Illness, Disability, and Life Writing,” Gubar describes remission as not being completely cured. Explicitly, she says, “…I was feeling perfectly fine during remissions (or as fine as I could feel after numerous surgeries and chemotherapies) …Like remission, maintenance is a period of time saturated with truthiness – especially for patients who remain asymptomatic” (par. 4 and 6). In other words, remission in Gubar’s eyes is feeling as well as one possibly can after going through the illness, which ties into Couser’s statement of “the remission society” (Couser