Breast Cancer Mastectomy

I am a woman thru and thru. I am not defined by the size of my breast. I am sexy with an A cup or a D cup. I am sexy even with only 1 breast. I feel beautiful, therefore I am beautiful. A womans beauty comes from within and not from what is on the outside. I am beautiful, see me shine, I still have one left behind, a woman I am until the end, even though I am not a ten, my beauty is here, it’s now within, I am a woman till the end. Poem by: Nancy Crowell

Laura’s Foot This morning I woke somewhere between 6:00 and 6:30 AM. I do not know the reason I woke. I had only been “asleep” for about five hours, maybe less. I went to “bed” at just about 11:30 PM. I cannot see in the mornings, so everything was a myriad of light and dark, without color. I cannot hear normal sounds in the morning. I only hear a combination of ocean roar, antique radio and television static and my own heartbeat as loud as Poe’s Telltale heart. I lay there on my bed staring up, as even rolling over to get out of bed can take ten [...] continue the story

Paintings by Heather Bolinder Rachael

The newest scar looks like a 10-inch zipper starting from the base of my skull down towards my shoulders and the muscles around it ache like crazy. But my permanent nerve pain feels like bees stinging the top left side of my head.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beth’s Chronic Lyme Disease

Beth, an 18 years old suffers with Chronic Lyme Disease. This is when her life turned upside down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hip Bullet

The painting below is inspired by Christine, who’s chronic pain is in her hip.  Her pain feels like a bullet going through her hip, shattering the bones causing fire like pain!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tooth Ache

Somebody asked me what chronic pain felt like.  I said ever had a terrible tooth ache that won’t go away.  Welcome to chronic pain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Migraine

It was one of those days and I had a bad Migraine.  The blue face is how nausea I felt and I was in too much pain to cry. The skeleton is how dark and miserable I felt, but the c-clamp keeps tightening.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More by Heather Bolinder

Paintings by Heather Bolinder Crushing Spine

This was my very first pain painting.  This is how my back feels, like two hammers are crushing down hard on it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pins and Needles

Many back pain patients get this feeling in their legs if they have a nerve/disc issues.  Feels like the pins and needles are stabbing you all over your legs!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bob’s Stroke

This painting was inspired by a chronic pain patient, that I have known for years, Bob.  His stroke happened two years ago and he is still adjusting to his new life.  The right side of his face feels like an empty space, is what Bob described to me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Elephant Legs

A Painting where your legs feels extremely heavy, making it hard to move or walk. Many pain patients will tell you this is how their legs feels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ponygirl

This painting was inspired by Ellen.  She is a chronic pain suffer and was thrown from her pony.  She use to be an avid hiker, but now feels the pain of nails going into her neck.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More by Heather Bolinder

Hi, my name is Heather Bolinder and I am a chronic pain patient.

I am a native Cape Codder from Massachusetts and I was a very active person, involved in volunteering, founder of the Harwich Community Playground, a member of the Cape Cod Art Association and Harwich Artist Guild. I worked as a volunteer E.M.T in Colorado, as well as a private duty nurse’s aid and raised two beautiful children. I graduated from Mount Ida College with a degree in Fine Arts and went on to teach art at a local studio as well as a professional artist, which is where my pain story begins.

It was a beautiful day in late July of 2007 – I was sitting working in my garden when all of a sudden I had excruciating pain in my back. I was paralyzed, unable to stand; it was the most devastating pain I had ever experienced. The pain was shooting down my spine into my hips, pins and needles in my legs. I was nervous, scared, I did not know what to do. I slowly crawled into the house, called 911 and was taken to the hospital. My life was FOREVER changed in that one moment.

I arrived [...] continue the story