Self Portrait After Surgery

Self Portrait After Surgery. Ink wash, 2014

This blog, The Silent Despair, is a reflection of the flood of memories, fantasies, fears, and hopes that followed the recent discovery and removal of a brain tumor.  This event turned my world up-side-down and wrapped around me like boa constrictor, squeezing out all hope of a normal life again.  I want to capture these feelings and events which have followed me through radiation and chemo therapy and continue through my aphasia therapy in hope of finding those lost cognitive skills that I took for granted all my life. During this journey, I will include as many images to display feelings that I cannot express in words--only in pictures.  I no longer have the complex communication skills necessary to understand the words that I hear; how to say what I want to say verbally and in writing; how to comprehend and retain what I read; and how to communicate on a social level with faculty, staff, colleagues, and friends. 

This is not a "get well" card.  It is more like a shout to myself.  Listen!