Spinal fusion failure pain story - and what happens when your voice gets dismissed.
One fatigued break turned into interior hardware disaggregating inside my spine.
That meant the fusion was failing, and everything became a waiting game.
We waited three months to see if it would solidify.
It didn't.
Six months later, I was operated on again.
Then I spent a full year in a body cast.
But the part that still hits hardest isn't just the surgeries.
It's how the pain I kept reporting was brushed off.
It's how being present in my own body got treated like I was exaggerating.
That dismissal became a kind of medical gaslighting.
If you have ever felt ignored by a doctor, this will feel uncomfortably familiar.
What changes when you stop trying to be "easy" and start insisting on being heard?
Otolaryngologist Alan P. Feren discusses his article "How system strain contributes to medical gaslighting in health care."
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