Hi! I’m Deanna, I’ve been a chronic pain sufferer for the past seven years, I was diagnosed with COPD in February of 2025, and in September of 25 I started having more issues with my lower back. By November I was having sciatica and numbness in both legs and feet and by December, just getting dressed was causing excruciating pain. Two MRI’s and a hospital stay later, it was confirmed my DDD is advancing, I now also have disk desiccation, bone spurs and fluid that should not be there in the disk area and vertebrae. We’re working on pain management right now but so far, only slight improvement.

I’ve always been into crafty things and have been knitting and crocheting since I was in high school, many, many moons ago. I didn’t start getting into drawing and painting until my late 30s and my love for graphite bloomed. It’s one of the most basic mediums but it just speaks to my soul. I don’t have the focus to create drawings like the one above anymore but I still like to sketch and shade with pencils more than any other medium.

I’ve also been an avid reader since as far back as I can remember. I was a book nerd before being a book nerd was cool. Mostly fiction/science fiction and of course tons of how to books. I still prefer holding a book in my hand but as I don’t drive anymore and getting my partner to drive me to the library every couple weeks is harder than pulling teeth, I mainly read digital content now. Sad days indeed.

I started a form of journaling last year as my primary doctor wanted me to track my blood pressure (it was crazy high, oops!), anxiety, and my migraines. I started watching youtube videos, as one does when they’re extra and can’t just put in the date and basic info that was asked for, and found bullet journaling, which started a whole new rabbit hole. I don’t do the typical bullet journaling as, let’s face it, my calendar is pretty much only filled with doctor appointments and tests these days. I do more of a combination of art journaling meets, bullet journaling, meets regular journaling and have different notebooks for different moods/things I want to sketch/paint/write about. I even make some of my own journals out of sketch book paper but that’s a tale for another day.

So basically, all of this to say, I know some people may wonder why I think I qualify to speak about these things. I mean, you see vague advice about how to deal with flare ups, and what you should be doing, my personal favorite, you need to get more exercise, um, standing up took all of my energy today, thank you very much. I think half of these articles are written by people that have never experienced a serious illness or severe debilitating pain. Don’t get me wrong, I do what I can on my good days, but lately there seems to be less and less of them. Not that I”m an expert, but I’ve had my share of experience with both chronic illness and chronic pain.

I hope you’ll join me on this wild ride to finding some sort of peace or at least coming to terms with having to do things differently now. I’d love to meet more people that understand what it’s like to be me. And not to sound like a bribe (it totally is) or like a desperate plea for friends (totally is, at least friends that understand), I’ll be posting freebies here such as downloadable coloring pages, mini guides for both drawing and journaling and more.

Until next time,

Deanna