Five Things

Our guest is writer Shannon Stocker, who chose a risky experimental treatment in another country in a last-ditch effort to cure a painful disorder. It’s known as “complex regional pain syndrome,” or CRPS, and it’s tough to diagnose and treat. Stocker says she and her husband Greg had to work together to figure out how to help her, which ultimately led them to try a medically-induced coma in a Mexican hospital. She talked with me about how chronic pain can affect a person's mental health, why she loves her cheap wedding ring, and the woman in Mexico who predicted her daughter's birth.