UNSEEN Confessionals of a Chronically Ill Patient

This chapbook is a collection of medical narratives. I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease as a teenager, suddenly forced to navigate numerous medical procedures and professionals who made me feel like I had done something wrong. The trauma from those experiences weighed me down for decades, impacting my self-esteem and preventing me from adequately advocating for myself in medical settings. I was introduced to Poetry and Medicine when I chose to take the course to fulfill an Honors credit, and it provided me with an outlet to share my experience in the form of short stories and prose. The process of writing this collection was profoundly cathartic for me, allowing me to externalize those memories, process them, and move on more than I was ever able to previously. My hope is that folks will read the collection and realize that they are not alone in living through medical trauma. Perhaps they too will feel inspired and choose to write their stories. I certainly feel less isolated, knowing that the pain I had been holding secretly inside of myself now has a purpose in the world, no longer a shameful part of me but instead a tool for healing.