The Medic, The Patient, and The Unseen Burden!
“For years, my dream was to be the one responding-as an Advanced EMT-Intermediate and a Phlebotomist /Post-mortem Tech. I saw the human body from the inside out. The plan was to continue my studies as my path was set towards becoming a Stat Flight Medic, (a Helicopter Medic) in a city not far from my home. I understood the system, the Protocols, and the urgency of life.
That perspective changed in an instant at 25, while on the job, I was struck down by Paralysis from just below my chest down, leading to a diagnosis of Spondylolisthesis, a progressive and incurable spinal disease. My life became defined by the constant, unseen burden of pain.
The Isolation of the Incurable
Losing my career, my former life, and watching friendships and co -worker bonds fade was isolating. The core feelings of that transition were loneliness, the inability to do things I once did, and the profound guilt of feeling like a burden to my husband. This is the reality of chronic pain - it affects the mind just as surely as it affects the body.
The Crisis became The Calling
As I dedicated my life to managing my condition with proven therapies-nerve blockers, steroid injections, and pain medications-I watched the medical landscape change due to the opioid crisis. Suddenly, patients like me were being treated not with compassion, but with suspicion.
Despite the fact that my pain is visible to doctors, access to proven therapies is being threatened. The prevailing consensus seems to be that everyone in treatment is an addict with (Opioid Use Disorder /Syndrome), ignoring the critical difference between medical Dependance and behavioral Addiction. This approach is torturous and locks a whole segment of the population out of the pain relief they desperately need.
The Desk: A Well of Knowledge
The Roll Top Desk is my response to this systemic failure. It’s where my inspiration comes to life. It is the repository of 32 years-a lifetime-of experience living with this condition. The trinkets, cubbies, and drawers hold the accumulated knowledge of a career’s worth of research and unrelenting advocacy. It is my well, where I draw the strategies and insights, I share with you.
If someone who lives with Spondylolisthesis 2nd Stage Anterior slip 24 hours a day, without reprieve, doesn’t have the authority to speak on this struggle, who does?
My Promise to You
I created this platform for two reasons:
To share truthfully: To share The Strategies I’ve learned, not for financial gain, but to empower others.
To end the loneliness: To build a place where you can ask the questions, share the thoughts, and find the validation that only a person living with unseen pain can truly understand.
You are no longer alone.