The Doctor Swept My Pain Under the Rug

If it weren't for Facebook, I wouldn't have remembered that today was my six year anniversary of the day I almost died. Actually, that's a lie, I knew it was coming up. I just didn't quite remember the day. Maybe it's because I don't see it as a big deal anymore, or maybe it was so traumatic that I just don't want to think about. Honestly, I think it's a combination. You can't go through something like that and not have some type of traumatising effect, and I'm so happy and grateful that I'm still here, that I'm thriving; that maybe it's not such a big deal.

So, what happened? Near-death experiences are much more common than people think. After I posted about my anniversary on Facebook, I had friends come out of the woodwork swapping tales. As for mine, one morning I woke with horrible stomach pains, but since I have a fear of doctors and hospitals, I put it off. The pain kept getting worse, and worse. To the point where I couldn't eat, I couldn't even walk. I spent the days bound to my bed. I knew something was wrong when I touched my stomach and almost simultaneously got sick, cried, and passed out. It even got to the point where I was unable to produce a bowel movement. Trying was single-handily the worst pain I had ever experience.

Finally, I decided to make a visit to the ER. I had it in my head that my appendix was bad and needed to come out. After blood work, and tests, I was sent home. According to my doctor, there was nothing wrong with me. Nothing "bad" anyway. In the past, I've suffered from female issues, so this obviously was the the first and only logical reason to him. I kept insisting something was wrong, but it fell on deaf ears. Four days later, I was being prepped from emergency surgery. Not only did my appendix need to come out (a fact that was apparent from my tests), but I also had a hernia that was obstructing my bowels (and according to my surgeon, was also apparent from the same physical exam given by both he and the ER doctor).

So if all the evidence was there, how was this missed? Because it's a scary epidemic of women's health issues being swept under the rug by doctors. "Unfortunately, women are taken less seriously more often than men when it comes to pain," Dr. Jennifer Wider, a nationally renowned women's health expert and the spokeswoman for the Society for Women's Health Research, told VICE. "Studies show that doctors, regardless of gender, tend to undertreat female patients and take longer to administer medication to women."

I had heard of women reporting this, but never experienced it myself until that fateful day six years ago. My surgeon told me I was lucky to be alive, another day, and I wouldn't be here. In my case, the doctor refused to see and accept what was plainly in front of him. A young woman with past female troubles and abdomen pain, surely she's having an episode. Google and you'll see a disturbing trend of women, from all ages and walks of life, being told what is wrong or what they suspect doesn't exist and misdiagnose them as something else. Sometimes it leads to years of pain and suffering, and other times it can lead to death.

It's a scary and infuriating situation to think about. While my experience took place in 2013, these types of events happen daily. It's 2019, it's unbelievable that women are still having to deal with this type of nonsense.