Compliance Is Not Care
I went into my medical records looking for information. I came out pissed off. At the top of every UNM Health record it says my name, my birthdate, and then, predictably, male. No way to fix it. No place to correct it. Meanwhile, the Catholic hospital somehow got it right. This is a story about that moment, and about the systems that insist on explaining themselves instead of listening.
Press Zero to Scream Into the Void
What used to be a frustrating automated phone system has evolved into something worse: a machine that argues with you, blocks access to real help, and turns essential care into a test of endurance.
The Case Of The Swollen Knee
I survived the crash. I survived the hospital. What I didn’t survive intact was the space between diagnosis and action. This is the story of how a system designed to save lives can still refuse to fix a problem while documenting, referring, billing, and delaying its way into absurdity.
When The System Isn’t Coming
There’s a moment in long recoveries where patience stops being responsible and starts being dangerous. Where the system keeps saying “wait,” and your body keeps saying “no.” This is what it feels like when trust finally breaks.
Feeding The Muscle
I ditched the wheelchair because I was done waiting.
The boot stayed longer than it should have, and it stole more muscle than I realized. Turns out the pain wasn’t injury, it was absence. Muscle that hadn’t been fed because the system decided stillness was safer than strength. I decided otherwise.
Nothing’s Wrong, Says the System
They told me nothing was wrong.
They told me my body would absorb it.
They told me to wait.
Meanwhile, fluid sloshed around my knee like a reminder that I exist outside their flowcharts. I didn’t come to the ER because I wanted to—I came because bureaucracy left me no other option. This is what happens when medicine stops listening to bodies and starts worshiping process.