*It’s not sobbing, collapsing, moaning grief. It’s phantom-limb pain. It aches, ...

It’s not sobbing, collapsing, moaning grief. It’s phantom-limb pain. It aches, it throbs, there’s nothing there, and yet you never want it to go away.

Final lines from "The Day I Started Lying to Ruth: A cancer doctor on losing his wife to cancer", http://nymag.com/news/features/cancer-peter-bach-2014-5/