Abstract
The illness was one that I had always found fascinating—Guillain-Barré syndrome. I was 33 years old, healthy and fit. It came on so suddenly—putting me in hospital for three months, taking a summer out of my life. All I had to do was wait. That’s what they all told me. I had never been a patient person. I did everything in a hurry. I had graduated from medical school at 24 and at 26 had started a practice in the village where I now work. I had a busy, successful practice, lots of close friends, and a significant relationship with a man who was very supportive of my career. I was a very lucky woman.
Dr. Denise Bowes is a 36-year-old practicing family doctor in Athens, Ontario, a rural community. She has found considerable satisfaction in sharing her practice and working a more limited part-time schedule since returning to work after her illness. She has helped to establish a support group for other Guillain-Barré patients.
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Suggested Readings
Denise Bowes, “The Doctor as Patient: An Encounter with Guillain-Barre Syndrome,” Canadian Medical Association Journal 131 (1984), pp. 1342–1348.
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© 1988 Springer Science+Business Media New York
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Bowes, D. (1988). Guillain-Barré Syndrome. In: Mandell, H., Spiro, H. (eds) When Doctors Get Sick. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-2001-0_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-2001-0_7
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4899-2003-4
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