It's Remarkable

Well, nothing blew up! I talked with the school and it is still standing. The mural will be produced by the students in the independent art program. I will meet with the Instructor and her best students and go through the entire process that I use and have used in murals and backdrops for set designs in theatres. Then they will do the drawing on and the painting. I will be a rescource for their questions, but it will be their baby.

I think this is the best case senario, fine artists with a 60 ft. long 12ft high space to fill. It's like being in a candy store. Any artist can tell you what a blank canvas means to them. It must be filled, and they are the one to fill it. So I think the students will love having this as a project. It might be given to one student with others assisting or it may be two or three working together blending their styles. If there are to be more than one student doing the job, I will need to teach them how to blend their styles so the end result is cohesive. I'm looking forward to this.

Today I saw my psychiatrist and he commented on my appearance. "You look very professional today, you look. . .in the pink. You look good. How are you doing?" He made me laugh the way he he said I was "in the pink"I told him how I have been having good days, no anxiety, that I have felt normal (for me) and I told him about my conversation with my psychologist. I said, "my psychologist and I agreed that this is the only time I have ever reduced a medication and have done well." "I'm impressed,"he said. He asked about my use of Xanax, an anti-anxiety pill, he had to call in for me one night when the pain was nearly unbearable. I told him I was off of that, and then told him the level of Clonazapam. He said, "this is remarkable."

I'm so happy in the fact that I have a great doctor who was willing to try this route since I was running out of options. He is a good guy, an M.D. for only eight years, he is in his late 50's at least. He was a non-traditional student and although he has never had depression, he wanted to help those who do. He is very open minded and wise. My doctor wrote out refills for Wellbutrin, Effexor and Clonazapam, all at low dosages in order to taper down. I will soon be off of Clonazapam and most likely I will begin reducing Effexor. I currently take 225 mg per day. He said that he usually has patients titrate off of this medication by 75mg doses. In my case however, he said that it is a very delicate balance adjusting meds, meaning I'm a pain in the butt to figure out what cocktail to try next. Not really. I just do not do well with med adjustments, so he is ordering 37.5 mg doses when I begin reducing to help limit the withdrawal effects.

I talk to the counselor who is guiding me through this transition from drugs to nutritional supplements on Monday.

Have a great day. I'll be back tomorrow.