Correspondence

Body Scan

N Engl J Med 1998; 339:1401November 5, 1998

Article

Hard cold white plastic

Tube

So tight in here Don't panic

Don't be one of those “claustrophobes”

Breathe in then out Breathe in then out

NOW HOLD IT

knock knock knock knock knock knockknockknockknockknock

That's the noise it makes

While it's scanning

You

Breathe in now out Breathe in now out

Don't panic Don't cry

It will upset the rhythm of your breathing

They need that

They asked for that

So they could scan me.

“Regular respirations are required” they said,

“we'll time the images with your breathing.”

I wish they hadn't told me.

Breathe in now out.

NOW HOLD IT. FOR 30 SECONDS . . . please. Thank you.

You're doing really well in there. But wait . . .

I hear muffled conversations,

behind the safety of the glass control room.

Have they figured it out. My respirations I mean. Jerky.

Do they know I'm crying?

Silently.

I hear a soothing voice, so far away. Almost electronic.

Piped into my chamber from the safe room.

“It's all right. We're almost done.”

“You've done really well, really, really, well, doctor.”

Catharine Dewar, M.D., Ph.D.
Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, ON M4N 3M5, Canada