Hi, I’m Dr. Krisy Elrod, the Queen of Mental Breakdowns, and I’m having a menty b.
How to Survive a Menty B breaks down medical trauma and illness-induced PTSD with me, a licensed therapist with a Ph.D and a breast cancer survivor with PTSD.
I discovered a lump in my breast on my 38th birthday. After advocating for access to testing, I was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer, a statistical anomaly that took me to the brink of death so often I should have been offered a punch card. The chemo was equally aggressive and squashed my chances of having children. I broke one piece of bad news after the next to my family. It was crushing–for all of us.
Even with the very best medical care from the beautiful geniuses at Memorial Sloan Kettering, my health took every wrong turn. I had lifesaving medical procedures over and over that were gruesome, painful and terrifying. I used every trick in the book to deal with it all, but the treatments, surgeries, and medications that saved my life also left me with medical trauma and PTSD.
My life, as I knew it, is gone.
It’s scary and messy every day, but I’ve learned how to keep living.
Now, my mission is to share knowledge and advocate for anyone experiencing medical trauma and PTSD.
This is my survival guide, my survival story, and my survivor legacy.
I’ve created a library for you to navigate the upheaval of medical trauma and PTSD. You are not alone in this. You don't have to suffer in silence.
There are millions of us living with medical trauma and illness-induced PTSD. We need each other to heal. We need each other to change the system.
If you know anyone with medical PTSD, invite them to the community by sharing this announcement.