Hi! I’m Eric Shepherd, technical writer for a software company in California working from home in eastern Tennessee. I’ve been married for over 20 years, and have a teenage daughter. I also suffer from at least one, and possibly multiple, neurological conditions that have not yet been sufficiently identified, let alone treated.
My problems started back in the early 2000s. I got a copy of my medical records a while back, and the very first sentence of the very first entry written by my primary care doctor at the time was something to the effect of “Patient complains of severe pain in his legs.” That was in 2002. Things have steadily worsened since then.
I’m fortunate to have a good job with excellent benefits, so I have reasonably high-quality access to good health care services. In theory. It’s sometimes hard to believe that when you go this long without answers.
My misadventures as I try to navigate the American health care system are sometimes depressing, often frustrating, and occasionally funny. I started this blog to have a place to write this stuff down, share it with others that might have similar stories, and generally to vent a little bit.