Its my BIRTHDAY WEEK! and Can you figure out what my illness/disease is?!

Ya know its my birthday week.

In my family we have a sort of tradition. when its your birthday you just dont celebrate on the one day, your actual birthday. We celebrate for the entire week, 7 days, no matter where it falls in the week. Like mine this year is on this coming saturday. SO... i have been celebrating my birthday ALL WEEK since Sunday. if you are thinking well what happens if your birthday falls on a Sunday or mid-week?? Well its pretty simple, the birthday boy/girl gets to choose to either celebrate the week prior to his birthday and have it end on that day, or you can start your birthday week on your birthday. Depends on if you are a start things off with a BANG! or a person who likes to go out on a big note. I personally like to have it END on my birthday, because well once its over no one really thinks of it anymore.. obviously.

I think its a great thing to do... your birthday is a special once a year thing!! So why not just make a week of it!You can get presents daily and people have to treat you nice for an entire week!! ha ha which is the absolute best!

Unfortunately my week has been pretty dismal. I had a out patient procedure done on friday and its causing me a ton of pain so all i really do is sleep. and what good is a birthday week if i am in bed all the time and not out enjoying it!? My dr was very nice tho and gave me better pain medication so that i could enjoy/feel a little better for my birthday. Hopefully this racking pain wont last too much longer and i can fully celebrate on Sat. I want some cake gosh darn it.. and all i seem to be able to eat,without causing me pain, is soups and spaghettio's ... I think i am going to venture out today and eat something substantial! that would help make my birthday week special-er... a nice piping hot pizza! MMMmmm.. . one of my fav's!! even if it makes my stomach hurt like someone jabbed a rusty knife in my gut, it will be well worth it.

And yes the reason for the painful eating and me not feeling well is that i am sick, have been for about 3 1/2 years almost 4, and the dr's have absolutely no clue as to what is wrong/what i have. i have had more than a lions share of endoscopes colonoscopies surgeries blood tests CT's you name it they prolly have tested for it, with no answers. All i know is that i have horrible continuous pain in my abdomen so bad i have been on high strength pain meds for awhile, and they barely take the edge off some days, it all has to do with (or so they think) my GI tract. NO its not crone's disease or Celiacs. the were ruled out a long time ago. they do know i have a high amt. of eosinophils in my GI tract as well as in my blood, somewhat elevated lymphocytes, and they took out my gallbladder which was on its way to going bad anyway.. just incase that was the issue. When they did do that i had adhesions attached to my gallbladder which was odd, but thats all i know.. if anyone has any idea's of what could be the issue feel free to comment and make a suggestion.. ill take anything at this point!!! im heading up to the cleveland clinic in sept to see if one of their medical geniuses can figure this all out. And the reason for all my current pain is i had a ERCP procedure on friday.. and they had to cut open my pancreatic duct and put in a large stent.. i had an ERCP done last year around this time and they think the stent came out too early and almost completely sealed the duct off.. hence they had to go in and re-open it. BLAH ... i hate talking about my medical issues but there its out so now no need to explain later "i feel like crap" days this can be your Reference from now on. :)

Some of my work

stuffed animal #1. he's pretty sweet.. well i love him.

"zebra" 7x 7 found object on masonite board

"Macaw" 7 x 7 found object on masonite board

figured that i should post some of my work on here.. 

SICKLY

sorry i have not written on here lately.. i have been major-ly ill and between dr's apts. school and workin on my thesis and show this has been the first chance i have had.. so dont worry the new post for the article is coming soon hang in there .. i know i am trying to .. 

heart=design not the other way around

In the article "design=heart?" she talks about an artist Stefan Sagmeister who has asked the question can you touch people with design, more than just designing a product for a client, and more than doing pro-bono work.  He means designing things that matter to people.  They talk in the article about designing pill bottles so that it is easier for older people to ease pain and difficulty when opening.  I think  that it is totally possible to touch peoples hearts through design and it is something that i am currently working on before i read this article.  It actually made me feel better about what i was trying to do. Currently i was working on designing tools for autistic  children to help ease learning and help with their communication difficulties, as well as adding some design and fun to it. I think that it is almost easier putting some heart and soul behind your work cause otherwise you are simply just doing something because someone tells you to, and that is not fun.  I think you would become very "cold" in a sense if that is how you worked all the time. I think that this could be a new wave in designing.  There are so many things that are outdated, flash cards, other learning tools, medication bottles, warning labels, instructional illustrations, and other things that would be of help to people.  That way design is not just people who have the skills to work on a computer and pump out a product but people who design with heart and soul which is  better than money and merchandising.   

toooday

ROCKIN'!   

that is all..