Since college, I've had very few doctors who were actual diagnosticians like Dr. Cooper was. More often, I'm asked very few questions, and put into the nearest neat box and sent home.
It's made me wary, especially as I get older and know certain patterns and what they mean.
For example, I suffered for more than three years from what finally was diagnosed as a dairy allergy, and no one I talked to at the time ever suggested a food elimination diet or that my issue was caused by food. I had to figure it out, slowly, myself. And the awful thing is, after I figured it out, it took me six months to feel like a normal person again. But that entire event was ultimately because I spotted the pattern (thanks to my food tracking app) and basically cured myself. I just went to the doctor to confirm my self-diagnosis with a food allergy test and was rewarded with a $400 bill and the satisfaction of being right.
At the end of the day - you're the only one living in your body, and you have to take charge of things when doctors fail you, and keep advocating for yourself until you get the right treatment.
That can be super uncomfortable with things like Lyme disease - I have several friends who have suffered greatly because they weren't properly diagnosed or treated.
Then, on a murder podcast the other day, I heard a promo for a podcast called Patient Zero - all about Lyme disease and the incredible story of the mom in Connecticut, who was the real diagnostician that put two and two together when her child and many others in the town were diagnosed with simultaneous "juvenile arthritis" - a beyond comprehensible statistical anomaly in a town that size.
I found out recently with what happened to Splotchy - is that a calendar/journal/app is your best friend for when something goes wrong healthwise. Had I not kept a meticulous calendar for medicine and symptoms, I wouldn't have put those two together. I do it for the humans too, especially after my dairy experience. I can't recommend this enough. The woman in the podcast kept a meticulous health calendar, so she's now my spirit animal.
Also, if you have a medication and it's refilled, NEVER combine the refill with the original pills. Each refill needs its own bottle so that if you have an adverse event you have the lot number and a sample of what made you ill.
So there's this week's tips from Dr. Lydia. Now go listen to that podcast! It's an order!
On to art.
Several years ago my sister and I took a fun Golden Paints class at Jerry's Artarama here in town. One of the techniques we did was a reductive painting technique. We painted a colorful abstract, and then painted around it to make a shape pop.
I was wondering how I could adapt that to stamping supplies, and one night when Splotchy woke me up at 3:30, I figured it out!
I bought a very low-tack clear contact paper and die cut several shapes. Then I used Gel Press prints i had (I call this culling the herd - I have a giant stack! :) and chose the part of the print I wanted to preserve and covered that with the clear mask. Then I painted it black! The first card uses this lovely bird die and the sentiment is this die with clear glitter paper from this pack. (That's the only place I can find this die right now.)
And finally, the one that was the inspired me to try this technique - a pear! That is what I chose for my shape in the painting class because I figured even I couldn't screw up a pear! So I used this adorable set of pear dies (I'll have more fun ideas with this die for you soon), and I cut my clear mask with the largest. I chose a print I'd made that had an element that looked like fruit on it, and I centered my mask over that - that's the real beauty of clear masking. Then I added a sparkly hello with this die and my glitter paper and boom! PS - my pear painting is still sitting on our mantel, I loved it and learned so much from it. Van Gogh, it's not, but I love it.
So here's my video for this technique - I hope you enjoy it! All supplies listed below, along with some 2019 fun facts!
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It's Friday the 13th - are you feeling lucky?
Happy Palindrome Week!
Loveyameanitbye.
Good health tips - thank you. I often have to keep searching for the right doctor for me, when a good one retires or moves away.
ReplyDeleteAs for your technique, it's brilliant and a wonderful way to use Gelli papers. I will definitely be giving this a try!
Love this technique! Where did you purchase your lo-tac con-tact paper?
ReplyDeleteHi Jane - I have all the supplies listed at the end of the post with links to where I purchased all of it! :)
DeleteThese are really beautiful!
ReplyDeleteGreat video, well explained, you make it look pretty easy, like I could do it :). Each one is awesome, but the cityscape is my favorite! Thank you for the inspiration!
ReplyDeleteThese are incredible Lydia!!
ReplyDeleteAwesome!
ReplyDeleteI love these. I looked through the pictures of the products you used to make these, but I didn't see what kind of paint you used to cover the whole thing (the black). Is it just a regular acrylic paint? Covering with black is so scary, but so very effective. It is kind of like covering an item with a dark brown stain after you have carefully painted the object. That always scares me to death, but then I am rewarded by the end result. I think this would be the same. Thanks.
ReplyDelete