RETURN TO TABLE OF CONTENTS
Summer 2003 

Orthostatic Intolerance

My grieving heart

Lost in disability

Longing, crying, reaching

Weary body slumped in a wheelchair

Heart racing and arrhythmic when I stand

Warm nurse hands place a warmed blanket over me

Another heart monitor shows dips, double-beats, rectangles

My husband sighs, settling in his chair for the familiar wait

The doctor finally comes, chart in hand

“Nothing shows on the test

Must be anxiety”

Eyebrows raised in surprise

“But I collapsed and couldn’t get up”

“Should I carry her to the car?” my husband moans

“Nothing wrong with you, go home”

Frustrated, lost, denied

My broken heart

Anna B. Wilder       
Arizona