Please Listen: A Medical Humanities Poem published in the Journal of Hospital Medicine

“I have a trip planned- I WILL be healthy” is a mindset I’ve found myself in many times over the past five years.

I want STORIES to matter in patient care. I passionately believe who you are, where you come from, what you believe in, and what resources you have make a very, very real difference in your healthcare outcomes.

As a patient, I’ve witnessed and experienced the challenge it is to access information, find education, make well-informed decisions, and advocate for yourself.

Despite how healthy I am today, I hope I never stop thinking about death….It’s a thought experience that wakes me up to the beauty of each new day- one in which I am still breathing, the sun is still shining, and I still have the choice to decide how to use these gifted 24 hours.

But perhaps, that is who I am when it all comes together. A question and an answer, both as muddy and murky as the water from which a lotus grows forth.

What has your butterfly self survived through?