Those were her words
with the triage nurse.
She had consulted
Dr. Google
and she knew
that her gallbladder
was the culprit.
It was agonizing,
she said,
worse with eating,
a gnawing on her
right upper side.
I tried to find
a Murphy’s sign,
and elicit the pain,
but failed.
Three small scars
over her liver
and another
tucked into her
umbilicus
gave her away.
I verified the history
of cholecystectomy
in her chart.
When I broke the news,
she was shocked.
She still didn’t remember.
“It must have been forty years ago.”
She felt so silly,
her pain resolved.
We still scanned her:
no abnormalities,
no gallbladder.
