What if nothing is wrong with your body?

When I was 21 years old, the department head at a prestigious hospital in Toronto looked over at me and declared, “I’ve reviewed all your files and tests and there's nothing wrong with your knees. There’s nothing stopping you from getting up out of that wheelchair right now and walking right out of here.”

Her words stung. My legs were in agony. I was having trouble sitting, never mind walking. 

Without any compassion, she was only seeing my knees, she wasn’t seeing me.

She wasn’t seeing that I’d collapsed with the grief of my brother being in a hospital in various states of coma for the previous year.

She wasn’t seeing all the years of untreated chronic pain that preceded my brother’s car accident.

She didn’t understand how vulnerable and raw I was. She clearly had no idea that I was barely hanging on and her words hurt me so much more.

With what I know now, I imagine an enlightened sensitive doctor who might have said these words instead.

“I see that you’re really suffering. I see how much this pain in your legs is debilitating for you. I believe your legs will fully heal and I understand that it’s hard for you to even imagine that right now.”

Then she’d continue, “I don’t see anything functionally preventing your knees from healing but life has overloaded you to the point that your body can’t heal. That makes sense and it’s not your fault. Grief is an unbearable load which can aggravate old symptoms, create new ones and obstruct physical healing in countless ways.”

“You need more support and with that support, you’ll learn to feel safe and trust again and when you do, your body will have more capacity to heal.”

This story happened over 25 years ago. Even though we know so much about the mind-body connection now, I’m doubtful that my imagined conversation is happening in our hospitals right now.

And yet, I’ve seen countless physical ailments and dis-eases heal when the whole person receives the care and support they need. I’m not just talking about therapy and emotional support.

When you learn how it's possible that your stress, traumas and unprocessed load are connected to your symptoms, you’ll realize how much power you have to heal your body.

The body is the messenger. It tells us that ‘something’ is wrong. In my experience, the ‘something’ we’re looking so hard to find within our blood tests and scans is most often found in our lives, often hiding in plain sight.