Hope

So true.

For so long I have hoped.  I have hoped for a psoriasis treatment that will work for me, that will give me my life back.  I have severe psoriasis and it keeps me from doing a lot of things I used to enjoy, including dressing comfortably for the seasons.  I wear long sleeves and pants year-round, even through miserable, hot Georgia summers.  This week, I started a new treatment called Stelara, and it seems to be the most promising yet.  I'll know in a few weeks if it will work for me.

I had my first injection yesterday, and Brian snapped this photo.



That's just a little snippet of my skin.  Those spots you see?  There are many, many more.  They cover me, make me miserable and I'm tired of them.  So, please do your thing, Stelara!

Even through failed treatment after failed treatment, I will not despair.  I will choose hope.

A couple years ago, I created this bust for Scrap n' Art.  It still represents my struggle with this disease.  August is National Psoriasis Awareness Month, so I wanted to share it.  Creating art is very therapeutic for me.



This bust represents "My Two Psides," meaning my two identities or sides of living with psoriasis.  There is a clear side, with smooth, beautiful skin.  I haven't seen that side of myself in well over a decade.  The other side, or "pside," represents the ugly, inflamed skin.  Red, burning, itching, scaling, flaking, miserable.  The two wings represent freedom and imprisonment.  One wing is free, ready to fly.  The other is tethered, tied and confined.  Held down by this disease.  The key represents my search for a treatment that will work for me.

It represents hope.  And I cling to it.