Skin in the Game: The Stories My Tattoos Tell An Intimate Author Experience
Have you ever read my book?
I haven’t, either.
On June 21, 2017, I worked my last day in an office job, out in the world.
I was losing my ability to walk. My steps were becoming smaller and smaller until I could only shuffle my feet a few inches at a time. Unfortunately, doctors didn’t believe me about my pain and other symptoms, so it took 2.5 years of fighting against medical gaslighting to discover that my spinal cord was being crushed by a mass of cells in my spinal canal.
It would take another year and a half to discover the “worst case of endometriosis my surgeon had seen in her entire career,” which was invading my abdomen, pelvis, and lower spinal canal.
From December 28, 2018, to October 2022, I survived six major surgeries. I had four neurosurgeries and two abdominal surgeries, including a medically necessary hysterectomy.
While navigating it all, I wrote a book. It was published it on June 1, 2019.
Five days later, I got the news about the mass in my spinal canal and two upcoming neurosurgeries. And from there, well, you can imagine how hard it was to go out and promote the thing.
I am reading my memoir with you, my audience, for the first time in its entirety.
Much of it I don’t remember writing.
Join me for the highs and lows, rediscoveries, tears, and laughter.
It’s everything you want in an author reading, without having to leave your home.
Episode 1: Introduction & Chapter One: My First Tattoo
“I got my first tattoo when I was 17 years old. I had just barely turned 17. My poor mother never stood a chance. Once I decided I wanted something, I went after it relentlessly, and my first tattoo was no exception. I remember saying things like, “It could be worse, Mom, I could be doing heroin.” Another gem was, “I’m not asking for genitalia piercings, Mom, I could be asking for that!” I also used my stepbrothers to guilt her. “Mom, Thomas, and Travis smoke crack, steal cars, and set things on fire. All I want is a tattoo.” As I said, I was relentless.’”
Excerpt From
Skin in the Game: The Stories My Tattoos Tell: An Intimate Author Experience: Episode 1
Written and performed by Kelly J. Mendenhall
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