Free shipping within the continental United States!
Free shipping within the continental United States!
Free shipping within the continental United States!
A SELECTION OF ARTISTS ORIGINATING BEFORE THE 80'S
A SELECTION OF ARTISTS ORIGINATING BEFORE THE 80'S
A SELECTION OF ARTISTS ORIGINATING BEFORE THE 80'S
A SELECTION OF ARTISTS ORIGINATING BEFORE THE 80'S
A SELECTION OF ARTISTS ORIGINATING BEFORE THE 80'S
A SELECTION OF ARTISTS ORIGINATING BEFORE THE 80'S
MY HEALTH part 1
Written on Jan. 8, 2025
​This is a lot of personal info to put out there but I feel I should keep everyone informed. Unfortunately, some of you know I deal with a lot of strange medical ailments that I still have yet to find explanations for. I had a picture perfect art show schedule lined up to start this year off with. And with that schedule, I felt great relief with a vision of putting desperately needed depleting funds back in the bank to keep me and my family fed and warm and sheltered in our humble home. (2024 was a slow year for us)
On this beautiful Wednesday afternoon, I should be still in Florida working on putting together skateboards and art for my next event in Delray Beach that I had scheduled this coming weekend. Instead, I had to fight through a painful 11 hour drive back home on Monday to go straight to an emergency room.
Video of left arm on Monday Jan. 6, 2025 (right arm looked identical)
…Toward the end of setting up my art show booth this past Saturday in Dunedin, FL I slowly started getting pains just north of my wrists in the muscles of both lower forearms. Any minor use of my hands was causing great pain in that area. I didn’t do anything out of the ordinary. I didn’t strain myself. I didn’t get hurt. I just did my regular set up which I do at every event. This pain and muscle swelling got worse as the minutes and hours went by over the weekend. Using my hands to do any simple task at all started to become excruciating in those muscles. Normal self-care hygiene quickly started becoming screaming process. And the ability to put together one skateboard right now is so far from being a realistic possibility.
Throughout the weekend I met a lot of amazing people from the area and many of you bought art from me. That was such a wonderful silver lining in this story. The support from you guys down there was absolutely amazing. But at the end of the show, I needed assistance from friends to help me get my booth disassembled and loaded back in my van so I could get on the road back home as soon as possible to figure out what was happening to me. After the 11 hour drive back to Louisiana on Monday I went straight to the emergency room instead of stopping at my house. After getting checked in, they eventually sent in a physical therapist technician who did an ultrasound on both arms. She said it was the worst case of intersection syndrome she had ever seen. Then they sent in a hand surgeon who explained his ideas to me and put me in two immobilizing thumb and wrist splints to wear at home. These are made to keep me from being able to do anything much at all; reducing the chance for pain. That along with ice, ibuprofen, and continuing to take the high dose steroids that I am already taking (for an unexplainable ear condition that started two weeks ago involving a loud constant ringing, blockage, sensitivity to sound and hearing loss) I should see some signs of improvement. The hand specialist wants to see me in for a follow up appointment next Thursday January 16 to see how things are going and to see with the future may hold and what we can do about it.
​
My hands didn’t show any sign of hurting before setting up for the show so I’m worried that even if we get this straightened out for now, is this going to be something that just continues to repeat itself? That thought alone has me absolutely terrified because the way this feels right now makes it seem like a great possibility.
There’s more to this and I keep stressing to doctors that there may be some underlying condition but I’m not getting any answers on why these strange random occurrences keep happening to me. Sudden, random sharp stabbings I get in any given spot on my body at any given time. These things just happen out of the blue. It could be in my face, my toe, armpit, elbow, anywhere and everywhere. It seems like every time it happens I discover a new spot on my body that can feel pain. Toward the end of Nov. 2024 I had some major neck pain that radiated through my head, shoulder and back. I had an x-ray don that showed I somehow lost the natural curve in those vertebra and that's its slightly curved in the opposite direction. Thankfully, doing physical therapy has got under control quite a bit. But could this neck be the culprit for the other issues?
I’m sorry for all the sad news on this. I just wanted to keep everyone who knows me and appreciates what I do, informed. I’m terrified of what the future will hold because financially, I am the only one bringing it in the money takes to keep everyone safe and fed in this house. My concern is that this is a repetitive use issue and that if it gets under control for a while, will it just continue to repeat itself as I continue to do the only thing I can to make a living. It seems like that’s my plague. I’m trying to stay positive. I’m putting faith in the medical professionals that I meet with next. With any luck, I’ll be able to get back to life as normal. From the bottom of my heart thank you all so much for immense the love and support you’ve given me over the years. It has been truly a dream come true to create art for the world and have people love it as much as you all do. I couldn’t imagine doing anything more enjoyable or rewarding while trying to make my way through this weird world. The ability to do that and to share with the ones I love has been an absolute blessing that I’ve never taken for granted.
[Click logo to above to donate relief funds]
Because of slow year last year I was really looking forward to this busy art show schedule that was just starting to crank up to help put money back in the bank that was drained to pay bills this month. We may have enough for the next few weeks, but I’m scared about what will happen next. Since I’m not able to box up any art I have on hand or make any new skateboards at the moment, any purchases on my website right now will be considered a donation. If you are local and you would like to purchase a piece that I already have ready to go, you are more than welcome to. That would help us out greatly. But please contact for availability first. I won’t know for a couple of weeks what will become of this, but if it turns out I’m not able to keep doing what I do, then I’ll set up a GoFundMe just so that we can stay under the shelter of our modest home and keep food in the bellies of Mandy and I and our kiddos until we can figure out how to move forward. I've never have had to ask for that or thought that I would, but nothing like this is ever happened and I’m absolutely terrified. Thank you all again for being you.
