Listeners, if you enjoy the nocturness, then you'll also enjoy Unleashed, Redesigning Healthcare,

a new podcast about clinician-led innovation on the front lines of care.

The featured guests are the clinician innovators themselves, their stories, their voices,

their ingenuity, their commitment to their patients, and their humanity, and even the deeply

felt gains in their own well-being.

Unleashed is from our friends at the Dartmouth Institute, one of our sponsors for this episode.

Learn more in today's show notes or search for Unleashed, Redesigning Healthcare, anywhere you listen

to podcasts. Support for the Nocturnist comes from the California Medical Association.

At The Nocturnus, we are careful to ensure that all stories comply with health care privacy

laws. Details may have been changed to ensure patient confidentiality. All views expressed

are those of the person speaking and not their employer.

This is The Nocturness. I'm Emily Silverman.

Today I'm joined by Francis Southwick, physician, writer, and storyteller.

Francis shares a personal story about growing up queer in rural Colorado

while experiencing sudden sudden unexplained

collapses triggered by intense emotions. Episodes that began in adolescence and went undiagnosed

for decades. Francis originally performed this story live at an event produced by Dr. Rebecca

George of the Sierra Valley Health Center in

Nevada City, California in 2025.

In my conversation with Francis, we talk about living for years without a diagnosis and the

shame and self-doubt that can fill that void, finding love and partnership while navigating

an invisible, misunderstood illness, and how a late

...