The Pricking Step

Gouache, Ink and Inktense Pencil on Watercolor Paper

Lupus is hard to describe to common people. It is a silent illness and often misunderstood. It manifests in numerous forms like a simple rash, an aching joint, a fever or a fatigue that sometimes, it is called a disease with a thousand faces. Don't worry, mine isn't life threatening nor extremely painful but it is something I live with everyday. It comes and goes whenever it wants. It is like the rain - when it pours, it pours and the only thing you can do is wait for it to stop and surrender to it.

1) Butterfly Rash is a portrait of how SLE shows on the face. It is usually a reddening of the cheeks and nose bridge. It happens when I stay too long out in the sun (photosensitivity). And it feels like I have a fever on the cheeks. It also looks like a natural blush-on (ha ha). This has made me pretty self-conscious. Precautionary measures include a sunblock and something to cover me up from the heat.

2) The Pricking Step | The most common symptom I feel and I find very hard to explain! I would usually tell people it is arthritis but what I really feel is a cold on the middle part of my bones, sometimes like ants eating the marrows or something similar. I mostly feel it on my legs but it also occurs in my arms, wrists and fingers (joint areas). I use medicated patch to ease the pain and it does disappear after some time. 

"That is why (for Christ's sake), I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." - 2 Corinthians 12:10