I’m crying as I read the stories of so many women like me…

My journey has been relatively short (since 2005), but is nowhere near being over.  After tripping over a canister at work, I spent the next year trying to convince the doctors that my ankle pain was real…and more than just a sprain.  After having surgery in 2006 to repair the torn tendon in my foot and dying muscle in my leg, I started my recovery.  I healed well from the outside, but my pain continued and still does…

I have been to multiple orthopedics, specialists, neurologists and pain management doctors as well. I have been subjected to medications that have turned me into an incoherent couch potato and to treatments that have left me scarred and in more pain.

Doctors have told me “plenty of people live with chronic pain, so deal with it” and “I’m not giving you any more pain medicine, you don’t need it.” I’m presently waiting to see another doctor who will decide if he is going to cut my sural nerve or give up on me (his words, not mine) and send me for counseling.

At 40 years old, I walk with a cane when I can walk, and can’t play with my kids (although a doctor said that I should take up board games instead of outside activities.)  I feel old and crazy especially when meeting with doctors and insurance companies.  They look at you like you’re nuts.  After 18 years of caring for others (I am a registered nurse), I feel as if I have no one to care for me, no advocate for me against this monster that lives in my leg.  My family doesn’t understand, although they do try, but it’s just me and my pain…