I was in so much pain I was weeping. I went to the emergency room three times before they took me seriously. The first time, I was sent home with pain pills; they didn’t work. I went back the next day and I was given a back brace and was told to lose weight. The third time I arrived in an ambulance because I had lost the ability to walk. It turns out, I had an epidural abscess compressing my spinal cord. The delay in treatment caused neurological symptoms that still persist to this day. I firmly believe they saw a fat middle-aged woman and decided my pain wasn’t worth taking seriously. Worse, they told me I was fat and it was my fault that I was in pain.
