Scarred Not Silent: Stories from the intersections of survival

There comes a moment in every patient’s journey when trust meets tension.

You sit across from the doctor. Numbers are discussed. Adjustments are made. The visit ends… but the questions begin.

In this episode, I walk through a recent follow-up where my tacrolimus levels came back high, and changes were made—just like that. No consultation with my original transplant team. No deeper pause. And now? Every ache, every strange taste, ever...

Trust is an interesting thing. Most of us assume our bodies will do their job. Until one day they don’t.

In this episode of Scarred Not Silent: Stories from the Intersection of Survival, Rodney Washington reflects on the complicated relationship he now has with his own body after kidney disease, a kidney transplant, and heart valve replacement surgery.

Who: Rodney, a transplant survivor learning how to navigate life after major medic...

For the past couple of weeks, I have been missing in action. A stubborn cold moved in and brought along a chronic cough for company. My voice now sounds like I stepped straight into a rap battle from the movie 8 Mile… except I might be the guy with the raspy voice getting roasted.

In this episode of Scarred Not Silent: Stories from the Intersection of Survival, I share what it has been like trying to record while sounding like I swa...

Sometimes the next chapter of life doesn't arrive through a grand plan. Sometimes it shows up through curiosity.

After years of navigating kidney disease, survival, and rebuilding purpose, a surprising spark has appeared in an unexpected place: the world of resale. What started as a simple activity has begun to reignite something deeper. Energy. Strategy. Creativity. Possibility.

In this episode, Rodney reflects on what it means...

It is not about lowering standards.
 It is about accepting reality without shrinking your spirit.

In the context of Scarred Not Silent, this episode would explore the difference between:

• Acceptance and resignation
• Adaptation and defeat
• Maturity and giving up

You have lived in seasons when life did not match the plan: health, Career pacing, or Physical limits. Public perception. Expectations of what a provider “should” look ...

The Anger Phase.
Funny thing is, I don’t remember being angry. Or maybe somebody’s algorithm filed me under a lazy label and called it a day.

If anger showed up at all, it wasn’t in the middle of the surgery or the most challenging stretch of recovery. It came later, after the healing was “complete,” when the dust settled, and I had to face what life actually looked like.

Maybe it was what life coach Christine Hassler calls an E...

Grief for the Old Me” is about something people rarely say out loud: sometimes you are not grieving a person. You are grieving yourself.

Here’s the thinking behind it.

When someone goes through illness, transplant, disability, career disruption, or any major life shift, there is a quiet identity death. The version of you that ran faster, earned differently, dreamed differently, and planned differently — that person changes. Not disap...

 Today’s conversation opens the door to the parts of loss that do not show on the outside. The hidden identity shifts. The silent grief. The private battles that continue long after the world thinks you are “okay.” This is an honest reflection on the invisible version of self that still exists and still matters. 

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There are moments in life when the picture we carried for decades quietly falls apart. This episode sits in that space.

Today’s conversation explores the reality of living with the gap between the life you planned and the life that unfolded. It speaks to the weight many people carry when work, health, or circumstances disrupt the role they believed they were supposed to play, especially the pressure to provide and measure worth thro...

Strength and resilience have always moved together in my life.
 I first saw strength in childhood, playing a game called “Monster” with the older boys in the neighborhood. It was rough. Drop kicks. Punches. Pure kid energy. At the time, it just felt like play.

Looking back, it was preparation.

Those moments taught me how to take hits, stand back up, and keep moving forward.
 They helped shape my mindset for challenges I could...

Gratitude is often framed as something we feel when life is going well. This episode takes a deeper road. It explores how gratitude can exist in ordinary days, difficult seasons, and moments that did not always feel kind or fair at the time.

This conversation centers on how perspective shapes what we call a “good” moment. It reflects lessons learned early in life, especially experiences that were not always affirming yet still plant...

 On Scarred Not Silent, I reflect a lot on identity. One thing I have come to realize is that, at my core, I have not changed as much as I once thought. I am still someone who leads with respect and kindness. I never allowed my kidney journey to spill over onto the people around me. If anything, the experience strengthened me. It pushed me to become a stronger advocate, more resilient, and more grounded in who I have always been. 

S...

In this episode of Scarred Not Silent: Stories from the Intersection of Survival, Rodney reflects on those early moments of advocacy and how they unknowingly laid the foundation for his future in social work.

He then brings listeners into a more recent and deeply human encounter. While waiting for a medical appointment, Rodney shares a brief conversation with a dialysis patient. It lasted only minutes, yet the impact lingered far lo...

Pain is honest. It does not whisper. It shows up loudly, unapologetically, and often without warning.

In this episode, I reflect on what pain has taught me. Yes, pain hurts like hell. There is no poetic way around that. But over time, I have learned that pain is not always in charge.

I talk about how the mind, the old noodle, can help manage some of the deepest pain. Breathing. Reframing. Grounding. Training the brain to work with th...

“What I Learned About Waiting” opens the mini-season chapter of Scarred, Not Silent. In this series, I’m debriefing the sub-topics underneath the big themes, so I can speak more freely and go deeper than I usually do.

Today’s focus is waiting. Waiting is something many of us are forced to do as kids, standing in lines, sitting in silence, being told “not yet.” But adulthood has its own kind of waiting, and it hits different. The que...

This is the final episode of my kidney journey. As I close this chapter, it is not goodbye. It is a moment to reflect on what this road has taught me, and what it may have quietly taught you, too.

Scarred, Not Silent will continue, just with new topics and new directions. I may take a week to breathe, rest, and gather my thoughts, but we will see.

To everyone who has listened, shared, and stayed with me through the highs, the setback...

Today, I’m tired. The kind of tired you can’t explain with a nap. And instead of pushing through like we’re all trained to do, I’m choosing something simple: rest.

This episode is a five-minute reset.

No fixing. No performing. No proving.

Just an invitation for you to shut the world out for five minutes and come back to yourself.

If you’re carrying too much, if your mind won’t slow down, or if your spirit feels stretched thin, let this...

Alert: This episode was recorded several days ago, and it continues my story of the heart valve replacement.

It felt fitting to share it on a day that was cloudy, cold, rainy, and flat-out gloomy, because it took me right back to that day in San Diego. The kind of day where your mind says one thing, your body says another, and you have to decide who’s driving.

Luckily, I’ve learned what to do when my mind and body aren’t on the same ...