A diagnosis is simply a name given to a pattern of signs and symptoms. Signs are what can be seen or measured through examinations, blood work, scans, and imaging. Symptoms are what you quietly carry within — the pain, the fatigue, the anxiety, the sensations only you can truly feel. From this collection of evidence, a doctor offers a diagnosis. Cancer. Lupus. Thyroiditis. IBS. Words that can fall into a person’s life with enormous weight.