Amy Sugeno

“What brings you in today?” the doctor asked as she sat in a chair next to mine. She looked about my age — mid-forties — but unlike me, she didn’t slouch or have dark bags under her eyes. Opening her laptop, she waited for me to begin. I inhaled, trying to hold back the tears starting to choke at my throat. But the words tumbled out: I’m exhausted all the time, my heart is going crazy, beating hard in my chest then not beating at all, I have arthritis in my wrists, I get cold and hot but not like a fever, I can’t think straight or remember anything, and when I leave my house I feel like I’m having a panic attack!