Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Personal Peace (06/01/06)
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TITLE: Diagnosis | Previous Challenge Entry
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06/06/06 -
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Dr. Wilson stopped outside the door and took the clipboard out of the holder. He was about to enter the exam room when the patient’s name caught his eye: Gretchen Johnson. Oh no, not her!
Mrs. Johnson wielded a warped tongue, exercised the gift of malice and honed the talent of gossip. Her frequent visits at the doctor’s office consisted of minor aches and pains, and if he didn’t prescribe something, she’d give him a piece of her mind. He knew the real reason of her visits were to have a captive audience; himself. At age 55, she had exhausted all friends, relatives and neighbors kindness towards her. Folks crossed to the other side of the street if they saw her, wouldn’t answer their door to her, and hung up if she called on the telephone.
The plain truth of the matter was Gretchen Johnson was not a pleasant person to be around. Dr. Wilson took a deep breath, plastered a smile on his face and opened the door.
His patient sat on the exam table dressed in the flimsy hospital gown. Her face stained with tears. Immediately he was concerned; perhaps she was ill this time.
“What is it Mrs. Johnson. Why the tears? Are you in pain?”
“Oh Dr. Wilson, I don’t know what is wrong with me. I…I…nothing is the same.” She burst into tears.
“All right, all right, here,” handing her a tissue. She blew her nose loudly. The doctor continued, “Lets start with you telling me when this all started.”
“Well” she sniffed, ”I believe it was last week. It was last Friday, no it was Saturday. Yes, Saturday morning when I woke up, I didn’t feel like myself.”
Dr. Wilson scribbled notes as she went on.
“My head felt light and my body was tingling. Not a painful sensation, rather nice. And immediately I start thinking about other people and wonder if they are ok, and if there is anything I can do to help someone. I…I even felt like singing.”
“I see, yes, go on,” said Dr. Wilson. He wasn’t sure what to think. This did not sound like the Mrs. Johnson he knew. Did he actually see a twinkle in her eyes after she had dried the tears?
“I can’t list all the symptoms, there are so many. I still ache and have pains, but instead of complaining and carrying on, I ignore them. I think how fortunate I am that I am able to walk. And I want to be outside and feel the sun on my face. I wanted to hug Rascal, that’s my cat. Doctor, am I getting some new strain of flu, or…,” she stopped, clutching his arm, fear in her voice, “Are these symptoms of something worse?”
Dr. Wilson was puzzled to say the least. The symptoms sounded non-threatening to a normal person. He began asking more questions.
“Mrs. Johnson, have you been experiencing a loss in judging others.”
She nodded yes.
“And a loss of the ability to worry?”
Again, a quick yes.
“How about frequent attacks of smiling through your heart? A loss of interest in creating conflicts? Unexplainable episodes of appreciation?”
“Yes, yes, yes.” She was on the edge of the table, holding her breath.
“Have you been anywhere different than usual, say, in the last two weeks?”
“Well, let me see. I can’t think of anything different. I went and had my hair done on Tuesday. Then I…oh wait! Yes! On Friday I went with Clara Bolton, you know her, don’t you? Clara and I went to the church’s tent meeting. I remember sitting there with her and she wanted me to go up front with her. Well, I could hardly let her go by herself, poor thing. And I remember saying yes to the question about letting Jesus live in my heart. That’s it, Dr. Wilson, that’s when this tingling feeling started. I remember now. What is it? “
Dr. Wilson wrote a couple more things before he looked at Gretchen Johnson. Smiling he pronounced, “Mrs. Johnson, I hope you do not recover from this. In fact, I think you will find this a very pleasant change in your life. It seems to me that you are suffering from Inner Personal Peace.”
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