A Letter to Doctors Everywhere

Dear Every Doctor On The Planet,

I come to you with fear and exhaustion. I have set my expectations too high for a mortal to accomplish, and yet I still expect that you will meet them. Before I even see you I know my hopes are too high but that doesn’t stop them from rising every moment.  From the second you walk into the room, I lay my problems down in front of you. Out of my mouth they pour like a waterfall. They keep going until I pause and look to you for an answer. My eyes are fixed upon you watching your every move. I cringe on the inside as you open your mouth, but I stop you and ask before you answer please remember one thing.

I am first a person, not a sickness.

I have never gone to medical school, but I assume the work is hard. To learn the complexity of the human body in only eight years and then to be expected to regurgitate all the information on a moment’s notice is a heavy burden. In those eight years, I assume you read over studies and syndromes and learn the quickest way to diagnose people that are of only two dimensions. But I am not of paper. My story starts before my symptoms did. Before I became sick I was a person and I still am. How to deal with humans cannot be taught through a test but in listening. I have a voice that needs to be heard and you are my microphone. My medical story is not simple and to find the answer you must understand my past. You can’t put a puzzle together if the frame is lost. Who I am before I got sick is still there. My likes and dislikes have not changed. I am simply a new version. Please understand the mystery before you try and diagnose me.

From,
Every Chronically Ill Patient