Melissa Tanner, Almost Heaven, WV
Member Since July 2007
Artist Statement "The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera."
I love to photograph all of God's glory, from animals, to plants to landscapes. But my most favorite subject is my kids. I hope that you find something to brighten your day...
I have suffered with Fibromyalgia since 2003. Once my life consisted of running 4 very active boys to football, wrestling, basketball, and baseball. Chairing and co-chairing committees, organizaing events, and volunteering. Just enjoying life with my husband and children. It now consists of drugs that don't work, pain that never goes away, and lack of short term memory. The only things that have keep me going has been positive thinking, prayer, the complete and total surrender to a higher power and my family and friends. Photography is my escape. The pain I suffer is sometimes unbearable. Fibromyalgia is very painful, and thousands of people live in severe pain everyday, including myself. Fibromyalgia is an illnesses characterized by a myriad of symptoms, which include severe long-term fatigue, body aches, poor sleep, achiness,brain fog,depression and anxiety, increased thirst, bowel disorders, and exhaustion in combination with tenderness in muscles, ligaments, and tendons. Fibromyalgia symptoms can overlap with autoimmune diseases and other musculoskeletal conditions making it difficult to diagnose. In recent years, physicians and researchers have speculated that fibromyalgia is caused by a previous viral infection or trauma, or that the patient was exposed to severe physical or mental stress. For those suffering from fibromyalgia, this disorder can be overwhelming - negatively impacting every facet of their lives.
Having this disorder does not allow me to work on a full or even a part time basis. And with having four children this makes working and other routine activities even more difficult and unbearable. I frequently miss events and activities that I would have otherwise been attending. Modifying your diet, mediation and pray, massage, reduction of stress levels, refreshing sleep (at least 8 hours a night), an understanding doctor and the right combination of medications, as well as a supportive family are all a must, to be able to tolerate and live as normal as a life as possible.
Have a happy, healthy, pain free day.
Melissa
http://www.flickr.com/photos/missahomespun_naturesdaughter/
"People seldom see the halting and painful steps by which the most insignificant success is achieved." -- Annie Sullivan
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