Moxie, I suppose the thing is that transferences are all sorts of kind - from barely noticeable to extremely stormy. I think what you are experiencing is something that many people are not even able to imagine but because you are using the same words - transference - then you and they are just talking with the same words about a phenomenon in completely different magnitudes.

I think what you are experiencing is totally normal too, considering the circumstances. I've felt it few times when I thought I will lose my therapist. For me it was like a sudden storm came up in an instant that clouded all ability to think and all I was experiencing was a total loss of all meaning. I did not lose my therapist (and who knows, maybe you did not lose yours either) but the feeling was definitely very raw and overpowering. I felt I could die. I find it quite likely that most people who talk about transference have much milder experiences in mind.