The note was embarrassingly simple. Three columns: date, what happened, what I had tried. I almost did not bring it because it felt too basic.

But it changed the appointment. Instead of trying to explain a year of feeling unlike myself, I could point to the pattern. The hot flashes were not just daytime. The sleep disruption was not just stress. The mood changes were not floating off by themselves.

* * *

I left with more questions, not fewer, but they were better questions. That was the difference. I was not trying to be the doctor. I was trying to stop arriving empty-handed.