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.