@catmom777 Thank you. That's why I do this. I've been through some difficult medical stuff with my parents, and my journey through becoming a Mayo patient and having spine surgery there after being turned down by 5 other surgeons, and while I was loosing the ability to do what I loved to do the most.. my art work. I was really anxious about everything, and I used my creativity as a coping skill.

I want to use what I know to pay it forward and help someone else because I know how hard my journey was and I had some pretty unreasonable fears to confront. All of this really changed my life, and now I embrace my health and proactively take care of things I need to do. The funny thing is that my parents wanted me to become a doctor and I earned a biology degree, but I didn't have the courage at that time to be able to face the things that doctors see in treating patients. Instead, I worked in science research at a university, and everything that I've learned in science has served me well. I not only learned to advocate for myself, but also figured out what my doctors had missed before I came to Mayo, and to connect all of that with my symptoms, and find medical literature with cases similar to mine. It was a very kind Mayo surgeon who helped me get my life back. Here are some things that you may enjoy. Scroll down the first page of the Art for Healing discussion to see my pictures.

https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/art-for-healing/
https://sharing.mayoclinic.org/2019/01/09/using-the-art-of-medicine-to-overcome-fear-of-surgery/
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/page/about-connect/newsfeed/meet-jenniferhunter-where-health-and-art-meet/