how stories bring us to wisdom

  

 

To really understand a story, you have to know something about the person who is telling it.

 

“It may take a doctor

to diagnose someone’s disease,

but it takes a friend

to recognize someone’s suffering.”

~Unknown~

 

Picture this: a four-year old is enjoying an ice cream cone on a hot summer day. But the ice cream is melting faster than she can lick it off. Suddenly the whole thing just gives way and ends up a pool of sticky sweetness on the hot sidewalk. She starts to cry. She is inconsolable because her ice cream is gone.

 

If she could tell her story, she might describe how happy she was when her mother bought her the ice cream cone, and how her heart was broken when it fell to the sidewalk. She might blame herself for being careless and feel guilty about having ruined it.

 

Depending upon her personality, her mother might see it two ways. It might upset her to see her child’s disappointment and to hear her crying. Or, she might be angry because her daughter was careless with it and her money was wasted. Two different stories.

 

Her bratty brother might describe his perverse delight in her predicament.

 

Everyone would tell the story differently.

 

Likewise, patients tell their stories from different perspectives depending on the situation. This can be misleading for the physician. Some people panic at the slightest ache or pain. Some people ignore a serious problem out of fear. A good example is rectal bleeding. Everyone knows it can be a warning sign of colon cancer…but no one wants to have a colonoscopy.

 

“Fear of illness

accounts for more deaths

than illness itself.”

~#marvinthegreat~

 

Others may be in denial about their symptoms. Chest pain is blamed on indigestion when the patient is actually having a heart attack. Or heartburn is blamed on stress when the problem is an ulcer. They try to convince themselves it isn't serious.

 

Stoic patients may minimize their symptoms. My mother was a stoic woman. I called her one Sunday evening, like I did every week, and I noticed her speech was slurred. When I asked her about it she said, “Oh, I think I might have had a slight stroke a couple of days ago.” Did she call the doctor? No. She didn’t think it was severe enough to bother him about.

 

“Listening is often

the only thing needed

to help someone.”

~Unknown~

 

The medical history, then, can be misleading. To get the whole story, the physician has to listen to the patient’s story while also observing his expression and body language. It helps to know what is going on at home and at work. It takes time to explore his beliefs, his fears, and his experience of illness.

 

It helps to know the patient. It helps us know his disease.

 

 "Facts bring us to knowledge

but stories bring us to wisdom."

~Naomi Rachel Remen~

jan