Gratitude Discussion Group

@debbraw RBG is quite a woman. I admire her so much, what an inspiration to young woman.

Glad you get in the water, your ortho must feel your skin is totally healed now, that's great. Don't overdo it though. My water aerobics class is non-stop. I would go 10 or 15 minutes late so I would be there at the end for the stretches.
JK

@rosegold- We are sorry to see you leave. Is there anything that would have been better for you that you didn't find on Connect.

@catmom777 I'm posting a note here in the gratitude discussion group for you today. I'm grateful to have chatted back and forth with you today, and you gave me something today..... a Gold badge for the 1000th like of my posts. It's actually a lot more than that, as I do my best to help and it's very nice to be appreciated. This belongs to everyone for your continuing appreciation of my contributions. Catmom, I'm glad we could put our heads together and come up with a plan for you for your health journey.

Thanks.

Your advice has really helped me cope. And your support.

@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/

You do beautiful artwork!!!! I am an artist also, but you are better than I am. I do landscapes now. I have done portraits and dog portraits, but gave those up because people didn't seem to want them. Sometimes people like my landscapes.
I've been too depressed to paint since last fall though. These health issues got me down on top of guilt and regret over a few life decisions. But, good news. I just got an earlier appointment with another cardiologist. May was too long to wait, esp after last night. That was so scary. My new appointment is for 4/16. My hopes are up that I can get a handle on this. It is literally killing me.
Keep painting. I'm glad you have that.

@jenniferhunter Your messages always inspire me! This has been a positive week for me as I got over the flu and my brain is less foggy. I’ve been working hard on finishing the portrait of my grandson and doing my art has really been good for me. I was able to do free motion quilting again and it gave me a sense of accomplishment! Never thought I’d be able to. But I can! And the new me is doing OK. Becky

@catmom777 Awe shucks....thank you. Please join us in the Art for Healing discussion, and get out your paints and make something to share with us. Do it just for you, just because it will make you feel so alive and will ease some stress. You are among friends here. Do you have kitties? We'd love to see them!

We all have made bad decisions including me. A bad decision just means you made a mistake, and we can learn a lot from our mistakes. Plenty of good people make mistakes and sometimes we just don't have enough information to make a good decision or fear gets in the way. Tomorrow is a new day and you can take charge of your health and emotional well being right now because you've already started taking action to empower your health. Words are powerful and if you express something negative and believe it, you can affect what happens. It's stressful, and stress causes about 80% of disease according to studies. You CAN do this. Already you got an earlier appointment. Doesn't that feel good to be taking charge? Give yourself a gold star for that and for being present today here on Connect to sort through all this stuff. Have you thought about going to counseling about your guilt and regrets? That's a a big burden to carry around, and you might just find a way to forgive yourself and begin livinag without regrets. I've carried some big burdens too and learned to let them go. You might feel better if you're not alone. Do you have any friends or relatives that can stay with you for a little bit?

As an artist, I know it's hard, and sometimes there is a very long drought in between sales. It doesn't matter. The art is really for you, and it is very healing. Just keep practicing and don't worry what anyone else thinks. We all start from a place in art where we experiment and can't do it as well as we like, but its just practice and learning about what went wrong and what went right, and going to museums and looking at good art to figure out how they did it....... and ultimately learning how to see differently. I was very inspired to paint my surgeon because of my experience with this surgery and the emotions of getting through something I didn't think I was capable of doing. The painting was an expression of gratitude which feels great, but also it was because I needed to climb that mountain to prove to myself that I could do it again and reclaim what I had lost from my spine injury. When something comes from this close to your heart, the results are inspired and it seems to flow from somewhere else. We can all help you with the waiting for your appointment. Can you get a sleep study scheduled for the sleep apnea? Talk to your primary doctor and maybe you can get that done sooner too.

@becsbuddy Thank you! I'm glad you are finding purpose in your art. Sometimes the hardest thing is to believe in ourselves. Keep up the creative work. I'm glad you're feeling better! and I think the new you is OK too!