Inspirational, determination, creativity, hope and a cure! http://www.jamuse.com/Home/Blogs/tabid/55/BlogId/145/Default.aspx en-US eetuero@mssn.com noreply@museworx.com Sun, 07 Sep 2008 22:11:43 GMT Sun, 07 Sep 2008 22:11:43 GMT http://backend.userland.com/rss Blog RSS Generator Version 3.3.0.16726     <P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><STRONG><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 18pt; COLOR: #ccccff; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">Blank Canvas</SPAN></STRONG></P> <H1 style="MARGIN: 3.75pt 0in 33.75pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><FONT size=4>     <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></H1> <H1 style="MARGIN: 3.75pt 0in 33.75pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; COLOR: black">I never knew I could paint.   </SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></H1> <H1 style="MARGIN: 3.75pt 0in 33.75pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; COLOR: black">For me, it was a good day if I could just feed myself or take a few steps without falling.  When you have Parkinson's disease, the idea of picking up a paintbrush is challenging. </SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></H1> <H1 style="MARGIN: 3.75pt 0in 33.75pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; COLOR: black">Now I paint constantly: landscapes, abstracts, still-life studies and my favorite: fat ballerinas. In all, I have completed more than <FONT color=#000000><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"><FONT size=4> </FONT></SPAN>over 100 paintings<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"><FONT size=4>  </FONT></SPAN>since my DBS brain surgery (June 24, 2003) and ordering my first set of blank canvasses. </FONT></SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></H1> <H1 style="MARGIN: 3.75pt 0in 33.75pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; COLOR: black"><FONT face="Times New Roman">Some have remarked that I am making up for lost time, and that is certainly true. I was homebound and for the last 17 years of my life have been spent in a losing battle with a disease that gradually stole my most basic capabilities, all during a time when I was struggling to raise three daughters as a single parent.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></H1> <H1 style="MARGIN: 3.75pt 0in 33.75pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; COLOR: black"><FONT face="Times New Roman">Through the years I lost the ability to walk, talk, sleep and use my hands.  I tried every known therapy for the treatment of Parkinson's, and when all of them failed I even tried suicide.  <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></H1> <H1 style="MARGIN: 3.75pt 0in 33.75pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; COLOR: black">But one summer in June 2003, at the age of 44, my life began again at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital thanks to a surgical procedure known as Deep Brain Stimulation, (DBS) a operation that involves placing electrodes in the brain. With the activation of a pacemaker connected to the electrodes literally the flick of a switch I regained abilities I thought were gone forever.</SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></H1> <H1 style="MARGIN: 3.75pt 0in 33.75pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; COLOR: black">Helen Keller once wrote an essay entitled "Three Days to See" in which she imagined what she would do if granted a brief interlude of sight.  </SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></H1> <H1 style="MARGIN: 3.75pt 0in 33.75pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; COLOR: black">I have been granted an interlude to experience the full use of all our blessed faculties. It is unknown how long it will last. There is no cure for Parkinson's, but DBS surgery helps me to be able to look at my face in the mirror, paint my nails.</SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></H1> <H1 style="MARGIN: 3.75pt 0in 33.75pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; COLOR: black"><FONT face="Times New Roman">And so I paint. While my hand remains steady. While there's still enough light.  People say I'm pretty good at it.  The critics I try to please, however, are my daughters Gisselle (26) Tiffany (18) and Vanessa (17) and my beloved mother. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></H1> <H1 style="MARGIN: 3.75pt 0in 33.75pt"><FONT color=#000000><FONT face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; COLOR: black"><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"><FONT size=4> </FONT></SPAN>Throughout my children tender lives, they endured my ups, downs, on, offs that Parkinson’s brought; the one image they had of me was of being sick, constantly shaking.                                            </SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></FONT></H1> <H1 style="MARGIN: 3.75pt 0in 33.75pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; COLOR: black"> To dissipate my disability, we played.  I would tell my girls that I was their “Barbie” doll, so they can help me get dressed. We also pretended to be in a restaurant and took turns on who would be the waitress in order for them to help me serve their meals.<FONT color=#000000><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"><FONT size=4>  </FONT></SPAN>We used to walk around the block, each holding my hands, they sang the song of the Wizard of Oz, and with the beat of the song, they helped me coordinate and initiate steps. </FONT></SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></H1> <H1 style="MARGIN: 3.75pt 0in 33.75pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; COLOR: black"><FONT face="Times New Roman"> Nowadays, they are no longer sadden by my illness, we are getting to know each other in very different ways.  They are no longer afraid to leave me alone and when they bring friends to the house, they introduce me with pride telling them, "My mother is an artist."  That is all the praise I will ever need to hear.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></H1> <H1 style="MARGIN: 3.75pt 0in 33.75pt"><FONT color=#000000><FONT face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; COLOR: black"><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"><FONT size=4> </FONT></SPAN>I have regain my dignity.</SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></FONT></H1> <H1 style="MARGIN: 3.75pt 0in 33.75pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; COLOR: black">One day<FONT color=#000000><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"><FONT size=4>  </FONT></SPAN>I took a break from painting to clean my house, a chore I have been putting off for some time.   Only those who have suffered physical impairment can truly understand the sweetness of having their capabilities back. I started to mop the floors, and I noticed that the floors of my house were marked by numerous deep scratches, <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"><FONT size=4> </FONT></SPAN>I realized that those were traces of my illness. I made them with my shoes while I was "kicking," a symptom of Parkinson's also called restless legs.  It made me a little scared to think what the future holds for me, it made me more determined to cherish every second of my life. </FONT></SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></H1> <H1 style="MARGIN: 3.75pt 0in 33.75pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; COLOR: black">Helen Keller ends her essay with an admonition to "use your eyes as if tomorrow you would be stricken blind." </SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></H1> <H1 style="MARGIN: 3.75pt 0in 33.75pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; COLOR: black">To that I would add this thought for the coming years: It is a privilege to be alive and in good health. Take time to appreciate the beauty of the morning, the shape of clouds and to embrace those we love. </SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></H1> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P> http://www.jamuse.com/Home/Blogs/tabid/55/EntryID/109/Default.aspx eetuero@mssn.com http://www.jamuse.com/Home/Blogs/tabid/55/EntryID/109/Default.aspx#Comments http://www.jamuse.com/Default.aspx?tabid=55&EntryID=109 Fri, 16 Nov 2007 04:58:25 GMT 1 http://www.jamuse.com/DesktopModules/Blog/Trackback.aspx?id=109