About a month ago, I visited my doctor because I had a cold. It was a new doctor, at a walk-in type place, and thus I had no idea what to expect.

To my shock, although I was very anxious about going to the doctor at all, the doctor didn’t bring up my weight once, even though I was clearly sitting in front of him while fat. My blood pressure was slightly high (due to anxiety), and even this was not commented upon. Instead, he asked what I was there for and proceeded to examine me, before diagnosing me with a viral upper respiratory infection, as I had expected.

However- since childhood, I have had both large tonsils and (very probable) sleep apnea. I’ve never had tonsilitis, however, and until I turned 19 (I’m 22 now), I had yearly followups with an ENT to monitor everything, and was always told I did not need to have my tonsils removed and that I was healthy. I knew what was coming, though, because EVERY new doctor comments on my tonsils when they see them, so when he asked, I explained to him the situation, and he nodded thoughtfully and recommended two (entirely reasonable) things to me- one, that I make a followup appointment with an ENT to get a checkup done again as it had been 3 years (he provided me a list of several local ENTs), and two, that if I was concerned about sleep apnea, that I consider having/requesting a sleep study.

I was shocked, as this is not at all what I expected his suggestions to be after I replied to his concerns about sleep apnea. I expected to be told, as I had been told by my previous doctor, that losing weight would cure all ills. I hadn’t expected to be told to actually get testing from a specialist, just like he would have recommended were I a thin person presenting with abnormally large tonsils and (probable) sleep apnea, and I was amazed to hear it.

Then, on the way out, passive-aggressively stapled in my packet of papers, was a list of ‘Benefits of Weight Loss and Exercise.’ Here I had expected to get away with that most amazing of things, the non-fat-shaming doctor’s appointment, and it had slipped in anyway. I have no idea if I was targeted for the sheet because of my weight or if it’s something they give to everyone, but it was so obnoxious to find that in my file, especially when up to this point, everyone had been doing an amazing job of not being a bigoted asshole.

Thin privilege is not being utterly astounded when a doctor listens to your concerns, treats the problem you came in for, and recommends the same things to you as he would to a thin person.