Somatic Sally and Doctor Terry

Sally was caught up in her body. Trapped in a nightmare of threatening symptoms and the body always produced a new unidentifiable symptom that frightened her… to death. But the worst part was that Sally didn’t die. Sally lived terribly and agonizingly in a mire of somatic preoccupations.

“Hi I’m Doctor Terry. What seems to be the problem today?”

Doctor Chad Terry was the seventh doctor Sally has seen for her chest pain. Sally had GERD in reality. Doctors, nurses, friends and family all tried to convince this was the root of her problems. Sally wasn’t convinced. Sally talked fast.

“Well Doc. I’m gonna start by telling you I’ve been to dozens of doctors already and no ever listens to me. I’m having chest pain and I’ve been hospitalized countless times only to find out no one is giving me any straight answers. They always tell me that it must just be stomach acid caused by anxiety. But stomach acid doesn’t cause sharp, radiating chest pain down my arm. It doesn’t cause wheezing, shortness of breath and respiratory symptoms. And stomach acid doesn’t fucking cause me to get dizzy and collapse. I’m sorry doctor but no one is giving me straight answers. All I’m getting is the runaround and I know I need those dissolvable sublingual nitroglycerin tablets. I’ve looked up my symptoms online and know what I’m talking about.”

“Well,” the doctor began with a sympathetic tone, “no one knows your body better than you do. I’m not going to deny that you are experiencing very painful and frightening symptoms.” 

Doctor Terry continued in this manner for 47 minutes non-stop. Sally’s appointment time was only for 15 minutes. Sally didn’t care. Doctor Terry and his waiting patients did care. Doctor Terry had tension in between his eyes from Sally’s piercing, judgmental eyes and rapid and pressured speech. 

Doctor Terry gave into an offering of a battery of tests including an EKG, CBC, CMP, thyroid studies, cardiac enzyme studies, and a PFT. Sally smiled with her lab requisition as she left. Doctor Terry loathed the soon-to-be negative test results and the laborious follow up phone calls.