General Hospital’s Risa Dorken recently took to Instagram to talk about nearly a year of pain that finally had a resolution as her Christmas miracle.
Risa Dorken’s Harrowing Year
In her post, Dorken explained how she had been feeling for the last eight months and the amount of pain she had been in. She’d been to doctor after doctor and they could find nothing wrong. Finally, a trip to UCLA Medical Center paid off.
“After 3 ER trips, 7 Dr. visits, pelvic & abdominal ultrasounds, countless blood lab visits, 2 CT scans, 3 MRIs, a HIDA scan, low fodmap diet, echocardiogram, and a treadmill stress test — with teary eyes, and an *invisible* problem — I had almost accepted my new reality,” she wrote. BUT! I know my body better than anyone. The pain was intolerable and I knew it wasn’t normal. So I tried a different hospital, and they listened! Thank you, UCLA for your professionalism, care & kindness.”
It turned out that Dorken needed emergency gallbladder removal surgery, while he was also suffering from jaundice and pancreatitis.
Dorken Stuck Up For Herself
Dorken, who has not been shy about her mental health issues and her bipolar disorder, claimed that some doctors would see her history and tell her that her pain was all in her head. But, she never gave up.
“We have answers & are healing, because I stood up for myself. It’s *sometimes* hard for healthcare providers to take you(me) seriously, when they look at your chart, see mental health conditions, run their tests, and tell you nothing is wrong — ‘it’s your anxiety,'” she wrote. “It’s devastating to feel dismissed, especially when your health (& happiness) are at stake. Well *sometimes* scans are off & it’s a ticking time bomb organ rotting inside you… just saying. Health. Mental Health. It’s all that matters.”
Don’t forget to tune into brand-new episodes of General Hospital weekdays on both ABC and Hulu.
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