Lynn Forney-Gender Bias in Healthcare

Show Transcript

Is There Gender Bias in Healthcare?

[00:00:00] Bob Gatty: Today we welcome to Lean to the Left author Lynn Forney to discuss gender bias in healthcare, something that's more common than you might think, especially if you're a guy. In Lynn's case, after being stabbed in bed seven times by a stranger and losing 21 pints of blood. I didn't know the human body even had that much blood in it.

[00:00:22] Lynn Forney: It doesn't 

[00:00:24] Bob Gatty: What'd you say? It doesn't.

[00:00:25] Lynn Forney: It doesn't. So how they come up with that? Just, I'm sorry to interrupt, but they they add blood in and then you lose it. So it's based on all of those numbers that. 

[00:00:34] Bob Gatty: Oh, oh, okay. That's bad. So she suffered even more trauma though after she went to the hospital in critical condition.

[00:00:43] Now there are some of the people who were supposed to help her there, supposed to help her recover both mentally and physically, actually betrayed her, including a male nurse who we'll talk about in a minute. Lindsey, author of a new book, choosing Survival, which describes her attack, the P T S D she suffered and the mistreatment she endured in the hospital.

[00:01:07] Unfortunately, we find that gender bias she experienced simply because she's a woman is all too common. Lynn Forney's, "Choosing Survival" is candid and emotional. She pulls no punches in revealing how the city of Boca Raton, Florida's police covered up violent crimes, like what occurred to her just to protect the city's glitzy reputation.

[00:01:31] But even worse was how Lynn was treated by those who were supposed to protect. They were supposed to serve vulnerable people like her. Unfortunately, this story is all too relatable for women who've experienced sexual assault and rape. Lynn, thanks for joining us on Lean to the Left and sharing your story with us.

[00:01:52] Lynn Forney: Thank you so much for having me. 

[00:01:55] Bob Gatty: Let's just start at the beginning. You were what, 19 when this happened? 

[00:02:00] Lynn Forney: I was 21 when I was stabbed. I was also hospitalized when I was 19 for depression. 

[00:02:05] Bob Gatty: Oh, okay. 

[00:02:05] Lynn Forney: So I had experienced that and then a few years later got attacked. 

[00:02:09] Bob Gatty: You don't seem too depressed today.

[00:02:12] Lynn Forney: I have worked very, hard. I have worked very, hard over the last 20 plus years. 

[00:02:18] Bob Gatty: Excellent. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So you were 21 when this happens. So what happened? Take us through what happened? 

[00:02:25] Lynn Forney: Sure. So I, like I said, I had struggled with depression since childhood, honestly. And I went to college.

[00:02:35] I ended up taking a year off of college because I just it just got worse and worse. And I did a lot of therapy and even went to a hospital for depression. 

[00:02:43] Bob Gatty: Wow. 

[00:02:44] Lynn Forney: And that is where the male nurse story comes in. That's really important. But I went back to college and I was, I've always been a dancer.

[00:02:52] I have a BFA in dance now, but I kinda went to college thinking I need to get a practical degree. And I, love science too. I love other things, but I just couldn't seem to shake the depression. And I think I finally came to this realization like, I think dance is where I belong.

[00:03:09] It's what I love. It's, I'm something I'm super passionate about. I went to a performing arts high school even, and I changed my major to dance and I did slowly but surely feel this lift happen. I was like, okay, I think this is. I think things are looking up for, to oversimplify it was like, okay, I think I'm, wearing it to be this is happening.

[00:03:27] And sure, I was very lucky to have really amazing professors and friends at the time too. But I went home in between the spring and summer semester in college . And I literally went to a drugstore to work. They would come, they would let me work a few hours whenever I was home. And then I went to the mall to buy my mom a mother's day present.

[00:03:43] So these are the things I did when I was home and I went to sleep. She had gone out actually with some friends. I woke up when she got home, I bought like the new Tormo cd. So if anyone's around my age they'll know. And she came to turn that off. She's oh, I'm sorry, I didn't need to wake you up.

[00:03:59] And I was like, okay. And then I immediately passed back out, and then the next time I woke up, I had these arms around my chest essentially holding my breasts and pulling me up. I sleep on my stomach a lot, so I was like being pulled up. And I could I felt a person on my left and it was a man's voice that said, don't worry, I'm a friend of your mother's.

[00:04:18] And time is very strange when you're going through something like that. I had all these thoughts that I feel like happened in a nanosecond, but I also feel like time was really slow at the same time. And I just kind cause I did think did my mom bring someone home? Is this really a friend?

[00:04:33] And then I immediately was like, no, there's no way. But like I said, that happened in The nanosecond and then I just turned and I just started flailing and screaming. I was just screaming and screaming, mom, 9 1 1, mom, 9 1 1 over and over again. And I felt this really hard jab, in my lower left back side, and People do ask this questions, so I'll just answer it.

[00:04:55] Now that I, after that initial kind of jab feeling, I didn't feel anything else. But I just somehow knew, and I can't explain how I knew I was getting stabbed. And it's strange, but and I just, literally just, I just did not stop screaming and screaming, and he got up and ran out of the room.

[00:05:13] And I stood up and I looked down and there was just blood pouring just everywhere, all over the floor. And I look up and my mom comes in and I was like, A man stabbed me, A man stabbed me. Call 9 1 1. And she and again, this is the middle of the night and she was kinda like, there's no man here.

[00:05:26] And I was like, just call 9 1 1. I'm just like, I was just so adamant about get the ambulance here, or I'm gonna die. That's it. And he had taken the phone off the hook in like the living room and so she had to run into the living room to, to get the phone. And I had been talking on the floor the night before to a friend of mine.

[00:05:44] And it was a Garfield phone that was, I really loved, I got when I was 10, so weird how these, like things kind of stick with you. But I just fell to the floor to, to get the receiver and I could hear her speaking to someone and I was like, okay, thank God. And I just put the receiver down on the floor.

[00:05:58] And and I just kept saying, I'm dying. I'm dying. Like, where are they? Where is the ambulance? I'm dying. It was just this kind of surreal I knew exactly what was going on and I detailed it very clearly in my book, but I also was so desperate for someone to tell me what the hell was going on.

[00:06:12] Yeah. What is what is happening? Why is this happening? Why did this man do this to me? And the police the, ambulance, like the fire station was literally like on the same street as my mom's house. And so that's why I was like, why aren't they here yet? It's across the street. And I guess later on I was told they had to wait for the police to get there because it was considered a crime scene, obviously.

[00:06:33] And and eventually they, got there and. I'll stop there so you can ask a question. 

[00:06:39] Bob Gatty: So you went to the hos, they took it to the hospital. 

[00:06:41] Lynn Forney: Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:06:43] Bob Gatty: And, what happened in the hospital?

[00:06:46] Lynn Forney: The night of I Was still a friend of mine from like third grade laughed cuz she's that's so Lynn to, be, because I laugh at myself because I was just so aware and awake and at one point a nurse was like, she needs blood.

[00:07:00] And I was like negative ab like I'm telling these people my blood type and and I'm keeping them aware of what's going on with me. And it was a horrible night that I also Talk about in detail, but I felt very taken care of that immediate night with the emergency doctor and the nurses.

[00:07:18] And at one point I they were trying to give me like an mri and I was like, I'm gonna throw up. And I turned and threw up, and then I, guess one of my puncture rooms opened back up and I started bleeding all over the floor. And I looked up at them, I'm not I'm bleeding.

[00:07:31] And that is when they it felt like a an episode of ER or something where they're rushing me down the hallway and the nurse was talking about how my lips were really blue and I was like, I'm really cold. So at that point I was like, really starting to die. And. And I had started to pass out too in the ambulance and they explained to me like, this is why we can't put you to sleep.

[00:07:50] Cuz I was at one point like, please put me to sleep. I don't wanna feel this anymore. Like they were, they like had to cut my belly button open and make me drink this gross drink to try to see if I had internal bleeding. And so I could literally feel like this tube jabbing my stomach and the woman putting a catheter in me and then them trying to staple all these wounds up and it was it was just pretty horrible.

[00:08:08] To say the least. But they did finally put me to sleep and then I woke up on life support. And it was unclear if I would live for a few days. But I'm a fighter and I'm survivor, and I just, I don't know. I'm here. I, wanna say, because I, fought to be here as well as everyone that helped and took care of me.

[00:08:27] And so it was after that, that I felt not treated so well from like nurses and other hospital staff. 

[00:08:35] Bob Gatty: And what happened? Why did you feel that way? 

[00:08:38] Lynn Forney: So after, so I was on morphine, right? During the time I was on life support, and when I got taken off of morphine, I just felt like I could feel everything.

[00:08:47] It was I was in so much pain. Like my entire body felt like it was on fire. Just constantly, right? And I try and I, guess they gave me something called Demerol, and it was a Demerol drip, and I had like its little button, but I kept trying to tell them like, I don't think this is working.

[00:09:01] I. I'm in so much pain and they, I just felt like they kept just brushing me off you're getting as much as you can. We can't put you back on morphine because you're, we'd have to put you back on life support. And I had a chest tube. My spleen had to be removed. I had a tube coming out of my pancreas.

[00:09:17] I had, like I said, staples going all the way up and down my trunk. I had staples all over my body and just the fact of getting blood, like I had to receive blood before my second surgery to fix my hand and my leg and that was so incredibly painful. Just them moving me, just even the slightest tried to change my sheets, was so incredibly painful and I just, I was never listened to or taken seriously that I was just in so much pain and I was just sweating profusely.

[00:09:43] At one point I got a yeast infection so bad it was all the way down my to my knees and that's just to me, like that's a, sign of they're not taking care of me. But I know I'm jumping around, but I was in the 

[00:09:55] Bob Gatty: That's okay. You said that you, felt like they, they Ignored your complaints about pain, right?

[00:10:06] Lynn Forney: Or my pleas really, I was just as basically and I'm, a very nice person that's I'm a from a southern family, right? We're taught to be very polite and, whether that's good or bad, but I never want to be demanding or but I was just like, I'm just I was also had just gone through this horrid event and was still survi trying to fight for my life while also just being in so much pain and and it just felt like they didn't believe me or listen to me. And then one of the nice nurses at one point was I know your history of bulimia, so we need to get you to eat.

[00:10:41] But I was just like, what does that have to do with this? I just didn't understand the connection of they're bringing up my past, they're bringing up my past depression and bulimia in regards to me trying to eat like a plate of food. Like I'm just like, I can't. Physically do this right now. And so I just felt like little, very little to no compassion.

[00:10:59] And I, some of my friends and family noticed it too. Like I only got three, like 30 minute visits a day in the icu. But I had people comment that they noticed the nurses were mean to me basically. 

[00:11:10] Bob Gatty: And why do you think that was? These were female nurses, right? 

[00:11:15] Lynn Forney: They were. Yeah. I, so later on I, when I got out of the hospital a couple months later, I went to see a doctor that asked me if I wanted my medical records.

[00:11:23] Yeah. And I was like, sure. And I, for better or worse, I read them and I read. So I ended up seeing a psychiatrist who was male. And I saw his report and I was so livid reading what they said about me. They said that I was drug seeking. That I acted bizarre and just they did, the words they used were so hateful, I felt like, and just so I'm just, I felt like, so they just thought that I was someone who tried to do this to because, the psychiatrist when he interviewed me, asked if I had done this to myself.

[00:12:00] And I was like, what are you talking about? What? 

[00:12:04] Bob Gatty: How could you physically do that to yourself? 

[00:12:07] Lynn Forney: I, have no idea. And I, and even later on the police, it kept insisting that people do this kind of stuff to themselves. And I was like, there's no way. There's absolutely no way, unless you're completely outta your mind.

[00:12:17] And I'm very smart person. I'm I'm like I, don't know. It was just, I don't know if the police convinced them. And this is where it gets hard for me. I, understand people have to do their jobs and investigate. And there are people that drugs seek. I, do understand that, but I'm.

[00:12:33] The amount of injuries I sustained and the state I was in, how could I possibly be drug seeking? It was just so ludicrous to me, and the idea that I was stabbed all over my body. Including my leg and as a dancer, like that's something I would never do any of this anyways, but just, I was like, look at the facts, dude.

[00:12:51] I felt like nobody looked at my medical records. Like I constantly had to tell people, once I got out of the ICU into the step down icu, I had tell them what happened, like over and over again. 

[00:13:00] Bob Gatty: Do you think this was a si isolated incident from this one hospital or, do you think this is something that just happens commonly?

[00:13:11] Lynn Forney: Unfortunately, I think it happens commonly. I don't wanna say every time or to everyone, but I, think I know that I've, I'm not an expert in statistics whatsoever, but I, have read that especially women of color don't get listened to especially about pain. And then it it creates this kind of so people don't wanna speak up, it is, it creates this whole cyclical thing of if, no one's gonna listen to me or believe me, then why would I speak up? And then we're not getting the proper treatment we need. And in my case, I did speak up and I still didn't get the proper treatment I needed. So it just it depends on I think how your life goes.

[00:13:45] But it, I think it can create people, women especially, that just don't speak up anymore for themselves or advocate for themselves anymore, and then they're not getting the proper treatment. I, do think that's becomes a very common thing. 

[00:13:58] Bob Gatty: Yeah. I, read some statistics about this that I can't remember specifically, but the, bottom line was that a lot of hospital workers, healthcare workers typically just believe that women exaggerate their pain.

[00:14:21] Lynn Forney: Yes, exactly. 

[00:14:22] Bob Gatty: That they don't They, don't tolerate pain the way men do and that 

[00:14:30] Lynn Forney: crap, in my opinion. Yeah. To be honest, 

[00:14:34] Bob Gatty: but that, seems to be there's, there are studies that show this. Yeah. And that's, it's just hard to. It's hard to believe because that would've consequences in terms of your eventual outcome.

[00:14:51] Lynn Forney: Yeah I, write specifically about what's worse getting attacked or not being believed. Yeah. Because they both did. I, would, I I feel equal amounts of trauma that I've had to, that I still am working you through. All these years later. It never leaves you completely. And one of the things that I do talk about is advocating for yourself and how important it is to not even if you have to go to 20 different doctors, it.

[00:15:13] It's not fun. It's very frustrating. It can be very disheartening you are worth it. You are worth advocating. And that's anyone and everyone. I don't want to make that a gender bias thing, but of course Yeah. I just at one point I will say one of the things that really sticks out to me is I, was put in a an isolated room that was normally for children and I, it wasn't my choice, i, that's where I was put, I guess that's where they had room. And that, that one nurse that was, I will say the worst she looked at me and she said we need to move you because we need this room for people who really deserve it. Who really need it. Yeah. Who deserve it. She used that word, and I know memory is faulty, but I, that really has stuck with me for my, entire life. I deserve it. Someone who deserves it. 

[00:15:56] Bob Gatty: What do you have to do to deserve it? 

[00:15:58] Lynn Forney: Exactly. And even if someone is, just struggling through something and with mental health, it doesn't mean they don't deserve it. They don't mean they don't deserve compassion and care.

[00:16:06] And this was not what happened to me. And it seems so obvious to me, but I was just treated 

[00:16:13] Bob Gatty: Let me get this right. So you go in with this horrific these horrific injuries from this attack. And because you had a record of suffering from depression and bulimia the healthcare workers in the hospital focused on those things.

[00:16:40] Really even more than the injuries that you encountered that you suffered. 

[00:16:45] Lynn Forney: That's how it definitely felt to me. The first time I was set up and put in a chair, I. I literally just shook and drooled the whole time. Because my body had been through so much and I had been flat for, I don't know, about a week Uhhuh.

[00:17:01] And so the first time they're sitting me up and I understand that you need to get me sitting up. You need to get me moving. I, do understand these things, but sure to sit me down and then sit a plate of chicken and noodles and stuff in front of me as I'm literally shaking and drooling and then being chastised for not eating it.

[00:17:16] You know what I mean? I'm just kinda I can't. Yeah. This is why I physically cannot do this right now. Yeah. Just I would love to eat the I, don't know, but it's had nothing to do with my, depression or my eating disorder in that, moment. I, wanted to heal and get outta there too, but, oh, sure.

[00:17:30] Your body can only heal so quickly and I, trust me, I was determined, but 

[00:17:34] Bob Gatty: Tell me about this male nurse. What was that experience about?

[00:17:38] Lynn Forney: So that I was like I said I was hospitalized for depression when was 19 and. This is tricky too. Like you're in a, it's a very vulnerable state to be in because you're in this hospital and I'm seeing as a 19 year old people with very severe mental illnesses, which has, allowed me to have a different perspective clearly. But it's also was pretty it's fairly scary to be in this very chaotic kind of environment. Yeah. But so this male nurse started talking about me. I was 19 and I'll just admit I was still a virgin at that point in my life.

[00:18:11] And there was another patient there who was like me. He was depressed, very ni very nice. And I looked. Saw him maybe as a father figure in a way, again, being so young and so I trusted him to we just talked and that's what you naturally do, right?

[00:18:27] When you're in that kind of environment you're with people who can relate to you. But he came to me at one point and said, I need you to be careful around this nurse because he's been talking about you and how he basically would like to do certain things with you. And he even told him that.

[00:18:45] So the, patient told the nurse, look, she's a virgin Maybe lay off of that. And he is, oh, he's I can show her how it's done. So these kind of discussions are going on behind my back when I'm in a incredibly vulnerable state by a male nurse. And then that patient got discharged a few days before me, and I remember being sad about it.

[00:19:06] Oh, here's an, like an advocator for me. More than any staff member. And I woke up, thank God this was a, day or two before I got discharged. I was sleeping and like I, I started to open my eyes and I saw him standing a few feet away from me. And he leaned towards me and went you're so pretty when you're sleeping.

[00:19:27] And then walked away. And I just was stunned and I just felt so unsafe and shocked. And I, but then I'm thinking who can I even tell Who's gonna believe me? I'm in this very vulnerable place where they already think that I'm 

[00:19:40] Bob Gatty: they think you're crazy. 

[00:19:42] Lynn Forney: Exactly. And I'm far from it. I'm depressed. I'm not crazy. And just, it was just I, can't help but wonder if I'd been there a few more days, a few more what would've happened. And it's so horrifying to think 

[00:19:53] Bob Gatty: So what happened to the guy? Did you ever complain about him? Did you file any charges against him?

[00:19:58] Lynn Forney: I didn't. And I wish I had, but again, when you're especially when you're young, I will say as a young woman, it's . I just got the hell out of there. And. Didn't look back, but it but, now I I'm, I do wonder did I per did I, could I prevented some, somebody else from getting a assaulted?

[00:20:16] I don't know. I have no idea. But yeah, it does make me feel shame in a way that I didn't speak up or say anything. Yeah. It's hard when you're that young and you're that vulnerable and you feel, I just felt I could have spoken up and no one would've listened to me, which is probably what would've happened unfortunately. But that was horrifying and that still sticks with me. 

[00:20:36] Bob Gatty: What do you think some of the implications are from women not being believed? When they are suffering from a traumatic illness or incident like you suffered from? What, are the, what what are the consequences of, not taking proper action. 

[00:21:04] Lynn Forney: I think it could be many and endless. I think it affects not only how we see ourselves and how we feel about ourselves, which affects how we move through our day, and then the relationships that we can develop an encounter. I think it can very, possibly lead to abusive type of situations because we feel that we don't deserve care.

[00:21:23] We don't deserve to be listened to. No one's gonna listen to us anyway. And it just, it literally affects anything and everything and how you move about the world and how you see the world and how you see yourself in it. Because it just creates this huge lack of self-esteem, lack of self-worth And then you get judgements from other people layered on top of that.

[00:21:46] And then they keep growing. You're just lazy. You're making excuses, you aren't trying hard enough and that just adds on to that kind of pile of shame and, getting just deeper and deeper into a hole that you just can't see your, way out of. 

[00:22:01] Bob Gatty: That's on top of the fact that if they don't believe you, you may not get the treatment you need to get.

[00:22:08] Lynn Forney: Absolutely. I think it can lead to, people dying and has from what I've, from what I have read, again, I, I don't want to profess be an expert, but yeah, I know there are women that, end up dying. They lose their life because they're not getting the care they need. Not just how the people that do survive it, how they live, but it can also literally end your life. And that's terrifying. 

[00:22:29] Bob Gatty: Okay. So you've got this degree in fine arts from the University of Florida, and you've been a dancer and an actor in your career. What are your plans now going forward? 

[00:22:44] Lynn Forney: We talked a little earlier and it was off the show, but we were both kind of creators, right?

[00:22:48] Yeah. I'm a creative person and I know that I am at my best and I feel my best when I'm creating. COVID like for everyone did a number and I don't want to thankfully I had my health, but I don't have a spleen, so I, definitely just stayed in my house for eight months cuz I just didn't know how that would affect me.

[00:23:07] Sure. And but I performed a couple months before the lockdown and now I do feel I'm in this hard spot where I'm still trying to find my way, but I I chose to use my creativity in a different way. During Covid I, wrote and published this book and I also just produced and directed and acted in a short film that I had written also during Covid.

[00:23:31] I do do all I on my next project in my mind is to do a dance on film, but I I'll admit that I haven't been in the studio. So I need to Do a lot of work to get myself back into shape for that, which I'm like, I do, and the older I get, the harder that gets too.

[00:23:47] But so it's just trying to focus on these things that I can create and in hopes that it speaks to someone else. One of the ways I healed through this, and this was literally this was the, one of the dances I performed a couple months before Covid was about ptsd. So I was able to create this solo in hopes to help other people either understand it better or to allow them to be seen and to feel some feelings that perhaps they had been disconnected from. So that's to me art is what is, that's what it's for. That's what it does. Sure. This storytelling right, is to help people not feel alone and to be seen.

[00:24:22] Bob Gatty: Yeah. Okay. You wanna walk us through your, book a little bit. Talk to us about, What's your, what you've got there? 

[00:24:30] Lynn Forney: Sure. It's definitely a book that when I wrote it, I just wrote each chapter independently of each other. So I, have a very non-traditional way that I feel like I wrote it.

[00:24:43] I just knew that this is how I wanted to open the book. The very first chapter opens and I wrote it in that first person perspective because I thought that would be, might be a unique way to go about writing some of this material is when I woke up on life support. It was a very brief moment in time, but a very I don't know, impactful moment in time for me.

[00:25:03] And so I wrote it, what I was feeling, what I was experiencing again, from that first person perspective. And then it jumps to and I make sure to put so I will say, please read the title of each chapter, because it gives you an indication of when this time period is.

[00:25:17] My mother-in-law, who's who taught English for 30 years, told me she read it three times and she said I was lost the first time I read it, but I but I also, and I said the, time periods are in each title. She says, why? I ignored those. I was like, okay, that's important.

[00:25:32] So just moving forward, just a little tip, pro tip is to definitely read those titles because that's kinda how my brain works and it's been such a long span of time. So I wrote some parts from that first person perspective. And then I wrote other, parts from the present day.

[00:25:50] And I also wanted to include my feelings as I wrote the book, which I, think is, not common. But I, literally wrote I want to erase this. I want to take this back. I don't want to publish this. This is I feel embarrassed or ashamed about this still, but in order to tell my story fully and truthfully, I have to, I know I have to include it.

[00:26:10] So it's, it is even including those feelings I had of being vulnerable and the fears I had of I wasn't believed first by many influential people. So am I setting myself up for the same kind of treatment? And so I'm very candid about that as I'm writing. What turns me off personally, if someone's I used to live in my car, now I'm a millionaire, and you can do it too.

[00:26:31] It's just like they gloss over the difficulties and that's amazing. It's an amazing story. And if it inspires somebody that's, wonderful. But for me, I didn't wanna pretend that every day is, magical and amazing and perfect cuz it's not. It's. Still a struggle. And but that's okay.

[00:26:48] There's, still something beautiful about that. Without the dark we can't experience the light and it's not fun, it's not enjoyable. But I also really wanted to be truthful about that. 

[00:26:59] Bob Gatty: Okay. It sounds like a fascinating, book. Where can people find it?

[00:27:07] Lynn Forney: They can find it on Amazon currently. I'm looking into some other retailers as well, but that was the, way I went initially. So it's on Amazon, it's on paperback hardback and Kindle. And the 25th anniversary of my attack will be in May this year. So my goal is to do an audiobook and have it published by then.

[00:27:29] Bob Gatty: 25th anniversary. Yeah. Okay all right. Let's see. It happened when you were 21. So that makes you 

[00:27:40] Lynn Forney: 46? I will be 46 in March. Yeah. 

[00:27:43] Bob Gatty: Okay. I will say this to you, ladies and gentlemen, who are simply listening and not looking at the video version. This woman doesn't look like she's 46. She looks like she's about 30 

[00:27:57] Lynn Forney: Thank you.

[00:27:58] Bob Gatty: Oh. So anyway, got anything else you wanna tell us about? 

[00:28:03] Lynn Forney: I think just again my, hope is that no matter what you're worth advocating for yourself. You really are. And I know I, completely understand the struggle. It is not fun. It can be very difficult and very disheartening, but please don't give up on your.

[00:28:17] Self. And I've done, I also really believe in like inner child work. I think that's so important. We all have a wounded inner child, but we also all have a magical inner child. And so maybe you have take some time to meet up with those two children that we all have inside of us because I think that can bring a lot of healing and a lot of magic in, in our lives always.

[00:28:39] So inner child work I think is, hugely important, but also, Really advocating for yourself. I just cannot stress that enough. It is. You are worth it, and please do it. 

[00:28:49] Bob Gatty: Okay, Lynn thank you so much for being with us on Lean To the Left. I really appreciate it. 

[00:28:55] Lynn Forney: No, thank you so much. 

[00:28:56] Bob Gatty: I'm sorry you had to go through what you went through, but glad you got it together and did this book and hopefully it'll help not just you, but other people .

[00:29:06] Lynn Forney: I truly hope that .

[00:29:07]