Captain Sandy Yawn’s wife, Leah Shafer, recently spent a horrific night in the ER. On top of this already stressful life event, Leah’s care team wasn’t the greatest, the Below Deck Mediterranean captain claimed. As Captain Sandy penned, there’s a “systemic failure” in the healthcare system. And the victims of this are, more typically than not, “women in pain.” Here, here, Captain Sandy.
Leah Shafer had a CT scan during her ER visit
On Instagram, Captain Sandy shared a reel of Leah sitting in her hospital bed. She was experiencing painful “shooting nerves,” Leah explained. So, she decided to be “proactive” via a visit to the ER. As for Captain Sandy’s caption about their long night in the medical trenches, well, it’s a long but necessary read.
“My wife Leah is in visible, debilitating pain — red, swollen eye, extreme light sensitivity, and sharp shooting pain through her brow — and the ER sent her home with, ‘We don’t know what’s wrong, here’s some pain meds,’” Captain Sandy recalled, asking, “Are you kidding me?” As for what her doctors have found thus far, their answers are varied, to the point that Captain Sandy and Leah aren’t quite sure how to proceed.
“A CT scan confirmed a 3.5 cm mucus retention cyst in her sinus cavity,” Captain Sandy shared. Yet, the “Ophthalmology” department said that her eyes “looked healthy.” However, “ENT says it may be neurological. Some doctors say post-COVID. Meanwhile, Leah is miserable and suffering,” Captain Sandy detailed.
Likewise, “The bedside manner” Leah received “in the ER was dismissive. No urgency. No ownership. Just pain medication and uncertainty.”
“When care falls between specialties, patients fall through the cracks — especially women in pain.” And as Captain Sandy urgently ended, “This isn’t just Leah’s story. It’s a systemic failure!!!! Things need to change in the medical system.”
Until then, Leah remains “miserable.” But “She deserves answers and relief so she can get back to what she loves.”
Below Deck Mediterranean airs on Mondays at 8/7c on Bravo. It streams on Peacock the next day.
TELL US – HAVE YOU, OR ANY WOMAN IN YOUR ORBIT, EXPERIENCED ANYTHING SIMILAR WITHIN THE MEDICAL SYSTEM?
