A Soft Place to Land with Frances Southwick, DO
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What is the overall premise of Frances Southwick’s story and why is it being shared?
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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 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 twenty twenty five. 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 diagnosis reshaped identity, relationships, and medical practice.
It's a tender, funny, and profound story and conversation, and I hope you love it as much as I did. But before we dive in, let's take a listen to Francis's story.
This is the story of three couches.
It was nineteen ninety eight. And I was fifteen years old. I was growing up in a rural community in Colorado. It was so rural. That our town's restaurant was called Tumbleweed. And there was this girl. Her name was Annie. She played first base. I was the catcher. She was gonna be a teacher, I was gonna be a doctor. She looked like a Cameron Diaz. And I looked like a young Joseph Gordon Levitt. I woke up one morning and realized I am in love with Annie and I need to tell her. So I wake up, put on my power outfit, which is Jinko jeans and a Cheerios t shirt and my blue fedora. Fourth period biology. She sits right next to me. So the class is a blur. The bell rings and she asks me to lunch. So my heart starts pounding and I'm pretty sure she can see my heart through my shirt.
So I grab my notebooks, I hold them to my chest. And I think it's time to tell her. Annie? Yeah, France? What is it? And suddenly I feel weak. But not just a little weak. Like colossally weak. My notebooks tumble to the floor. And then I crumbled to the floor. Віз тінли капед конкрет. Annie's over me. Are you okay, Francis? Oh my god. And I try to answer her. But I can't speak, I can't move my fingers, my legs, I can't even move my eyes. It's like full locked in syndrome. Somebody calls nine one one.
How did Frances first experience the sudden collapses and what was her early reaction?
The ambulance arrives. Everybody's still asking me if I'm okay and I'm still completely mute and unable to move or answer. So fearing a spinal cord injury, they snap on a hard sea collar. Strap me to the the the um stretcher, whatever. H hardboard, right? Not an EMT, sorry. And they load me into the bus and Annie is holding my hand. And we're making our way through the county roads to Denver. And I still can't move or speak. It takes fifteen minutes and eventually I start breathing a sigh of relief 'cause I can move my eyes finally again. And I can start moving my fingers, I can start sort of mumbling. Little bit. And by the time we get to Denver. I'm walking, I'm talking, I'm Doing well, the ER's like eh. So
My dad drives to Denver, he picks me and Annie up, drives us to our tiny town. And later that evening he shares with me. what his theory is of why I fell down.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the overall premise of Frances Southwick’s story and why is it being shared?
0:00–5:12
2
How did Frances first experience the sudden collapses and what was her early reaction?
5:12–12:03
3
What role did love with Judith play in Frances’s life during her undiagnosed years?
12:03–23:50
4
How was the eventual diagnosis of type 1 narcolepsy with cataplexy finally confirmed?
23:50–34:42
5
What medical tools and strategies does Frances use to manage cataplexy day‑to‑day?
34:42–44:45
6
How have Frances and Judith navigated their relationship and wedding while living with narcolepsy?
44:45–52:33
7
What advice does Frances offer to other patients, families, and clinicians about living with invisible illness?
52:33–57:23
8
How has Frances’s experience reshaped her practice as a physician and storyteller?
57:23–1:01:35