This is the story of a woman in her 70s whose health had been slowly declining for years. She worked hard, carried stress quietly, ate very little, and rarely complained. But over time, her body started sending louder messages that something wasn’t right.
Although her symptoms built up gradually over many years, everything changed quickly in just a couple of months.
She became:
Her family saw all of it — the decline, the changes, the pain — and they felt worried and unsettled.
Something was clearly wrong.
Her symptoms lined up with a digestive slowdown pattern, often seen in conditions like gastroparesis:
In addition, several of her medications could worsen digestion or appetite. Combined with her long-term low-calorie eating and years of stress, her body was under tremendous strain.
Everything was pointing toward an urgent issue involving her digestion.
Her family and her providers could see she wasn’t doing well. But by looking at the whole picture — her stress, her eating patterns, her medications, her sudden shift, and her symptoms — it became clear that her stomach wasn’t moving food properly. This is what I recognized quickly: Her body was communicating through its symptoms. Her digestion needed immediate evaluation. So I recommended she be tested for gastroparesis or delayed gastric emptying, not as a diagnosis, but because her pattern matched it and she needed answers fast.
Because medical testing takes time and her symptoms were hard to manage, I provided gentle, non-clinical strategies to help her feel more comfortable, such as:
These were not treatments — they were comfort-focused guidance to help her manage symptoms while waiting for care.
When her testing began, something deeper came forward. It wasn’t gastroparesis itself. The digestive slowdown was real — but the cause was hidden. Further medical evaluation revealed biliary cancer. The cancer had been silently affecting her digestion, metabolism, appetite, energy, and multiple organ systems. What looked like a digestive condition was actually the first sign of something much more serious.
Her body wasn’t failing — it was communicating. And her symptoms were the message.
This case shows why a whole-system view is so important.
I didn’t replace her doctors — I helped make sense of the pattern so she could get the urgent testing she needed.
My insight helped guide her toward answers faster, during a time when clarity was needed the most.
This story is a reminder that:
Her body told its story through exhaustion, discomfort, slow digestion, and sudden decline.
The role of Truly Heard Wellness is to help make sense of these stories so individuals and families feel understood, supported, and guided toward the care they need.
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