Dismissed, Misdiagnosed, and Left in Pain: My Fight for Dignity in Texas’ Broken Pain Care System
Hezekiah
State: Texas
Congressional District:
Diseases
Cancer, Chronic Pain, COVID-19, Heart Disease, Lung Disease
Issues and Challenges
Hezekiah has encountered: Access to Medicine, Copay Issues, Caregiving, Disability, Financial Assistance, Food Insecurity, Housing, Medical Devices, Medical Discrimination, Prior Authorization, Step-Therapy / Fail First, Suicide / Self-harm
My Story
I have laid upon a surgical gurney in a designated surgical center 21 times in a 15-year period in an attempt to improve my quality of life while living in horrific pain. As an example of a patient's voice not being heard, I had a spinal cord stimulator implanted in my spinal column, which was supposed to interrupt the pain signals to the brain with minimal electrical shock. After more consultation appointments than I can remember with both the doctor and the manufacturer Abbott/St. Jude, telling them the device was shocking my private area and not my spine, I was told that's not possible. When I requested an X-ray or MRI, it was dismissed as unnecessary and impossible.
After six months of complaining, I was dismissed by the doctor, who turned off the device, and I just lived with pain while searching for a doctor who would help me. None would. It seems the 'Good Ole Boy' rule is alive and well in medical practice in Texas.
After another year, I went to a doctor in desperation who ordered an X-ray, and five minutes later, he showed me where the device had not only migrated, as they call it, but was coiled up on my left side, hence the shocking of the privates through continuity.
I still suffer today, as the opioid crisis now prevents me from receiving ample medication for my horrific suffering. Of course, hospice is willing to come in and administer morphine if I will lay down, give up, and "not be a burden to my family and my country." I was appalled that they were essentially asking me to die by overdose of morphine "in a comfortable state." I am still alive, suffering horribly, not sure for how much longer, so if you need anything from me, please do it soon.
My Motivation and Inspiration
Suicides among chronic pain patients and the elderly are alarming. Being both, I relate. I have had a rope around my neck three times, only to make the pain stop. My faith has kept me alive the last two times; the first time, the rope broke. That's my inspiration.
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