It’s not in your mind!

I tried to tell my healthcare team something did not feel right

My concerns were dismissed as a consequence of sleepless nights

As a young mother- I was told it would not last long

I was a mother, and mothers were supposed to be strong…

But I was dealing with exhaustion extreme after a year and some more

It was not something I had heard before..

I pleaded for some tests to be run on me

And was found to be anemic profoundly

Finally I was able to get the treatment I needed

Because I was persistent, my body’s signs I had heeded..

*

Approaching my sixth decade, I was feeling bad

Most days of the week, weird symptoms I had

I saw my doctor but my symptoms were attributed

To menopause, I wish I could have more forcefully refuted

The insinuation that my chest discomfort was “functional”

Because my estrogen had plummeted to a level dismal..

That feeling in my chest turned out to be

Due to near-total occlusion of my main coronary

Thankfully it was found before I had a heart attack

It was not hormones but blood supply that I lacked..

*

Even in this age and day, women’s complaints are not taken

As seriously as those voiced by men

From hormones to anxiety to multitasking, everything gets blamed

But the actual complaint of a woman is ignored all the same

Unless a woman happens to be persistent

In advocating for herself- or there is a catastrophic event..

In healthcare all of us including women

Are guilty of listening selectively to men..

*

I am ashamed that such biases exist in medicine

When a woman voices her complaints, we must learn to listen

To her concerns, and not dismiss them as “in the mind”

Many illnesses much earlier we would be able to find