For years, she pushed through the pain. Her body was keeping score.
Traci spent decades in uniform — the U.S. Army, law enforcement, corporate security — doing what women in those careers learn to do early and well: perform toughness, hide weakness, and keep going no matter what.
What she was hiding was a spine that was quietly, methodically breaking down. The disc between L4 and L5 was completely gone. And nobody had found it yet.
You're Going to Kick Their Ass is the book Traci couldn't find when she needed it most — an honest, practical, deeply personal account of what it actually means to live with chronic back pain, fight for a diagnosis, decide on spinal fusion surgery, and rebuild a life on the other side of it.
This is not a medical textbook. It will not replace your surgeon. What it will do is sit beside you the way a friend who has already been through it sits beside you — honest about what it actually felt like, real about the parts nobody puts in the brochure, and practical about what actually helped.
Inside you will find:
- What years of undiagnosed spinal damage actually feels like from the inside — and why so many people, especially women in physically demanding careers, go undiagnosed for far too long
- How to advocate for yourself in a medical system that has decided you are managing adequately
- What to expect from surgery, recovery, and the long road back to your physical life
- The questions to ask your surgeon at every stage — including the ones nobody thinks to ask
- A complete practical guide to preparing your home, your body, and your mind before surgery day
For the women who have spent careers being the capable one, this one is for you.
But it is also for anyone who has lived with chronic back pain long enough that it has become the wallpaper of their life. For anyone sitting with a spinal fusion diagnosis, trying to understand what they are actually agreeing to. For anyone counting laps through their living room in the early weeks of recovery, wondering if this is normal and when it gets better.
It is for the people still in it.