Many have noted the power of illness and disability narratives to serve as a window into the lives of patients, enabling patients to better understand their own stories and healthcare providers to improve their empathy and understanding of illness experiences (Garden 1). Dizzy, a memoir by Rachel Weaver, interlaces her journey with chronic illness with…
Author: Danielle Wilfand
The Chaos Narratives of Undiagnosed Illness
Image: “L’appel du Vide,” by Danielle Wilfand (oil painting). It’s a long story. You sit in front of me, the neurology resident, face half obscured by the computer, fingers poised on the keyboard. You don’t look up. I can see the gears in your head whirring, piecing together how best to boil down my…
The Stories We Tell: Metaphor, Chronic Illness, and Self Narrative
The first time I came face to face with the metaphor of illness in a tangible form was on a weekend trip to Santa Monica Beach. I was on summer break after my Freshman year at UCLA, sprawled out in the California sun with a second-hand copy of Siddhartha Mukherjee’s The Emperor of All Maladies….