So, as the addition of new art to my gallery would imply, I am no longer 100% incapacitated. I am currently able to draw for up to about an hour at a time, depending on the day.

This is both great and not great.

Being able to draw at all again has been...healing. Emotionally. In full seriousness, the few months in which I was able to do so not at all were...quite possibly the hardest and most desperately miserable of my life. Now I have that outlet again. To some extent.

However, I'm not better. My tendinitis continues to be rather sporadically problematic. Some days I'll draw for what I am certain is too long and go to bed dreading a morning of stiff, sore, abused hands, only to wake feeling fine. Other days, I'll do almost nothing and have to fight my way through my morning exercises. I honestly don't know if my increased endurance is a sign of improvement, or simply of re-strengthening of muscles atrophied by months of disuse.

My couple hours a day of drawing is glorious. I can breathe again. But it is...a frustrating tease as well. It takes me weeks to finish a project that should be completed in the course of a few days. Working on technique, honing skills, adjusting design mistakes, and doing layout studies all consume the drawing time I hoard jealously. Working to improve is a tedious business. Actually WORKING is a near impossibility, at the plodding pace I am forced to. Art is not a quick process, in any aspect, and I fight frustration and sadness daily.

I AM making art again. And the difference that makes is incalculable. It is not enough, not by miles, but I am able to draw.

I have another appointment with my doctor scheduled for the end of the month, at which I will discuss whether I should continue to wait impatiently or if, at this point, he thinks blood tests and an MRI possibly more advisable than they were previously. Or if he can at least remove these faulty appendages and replace them with cybernetic components that require only weekly oiling and, as an added bonus, can crush a man's skull with small effort.

At any rate, I simply felt it was time for an update, as my page was still graced with my previous outpouring of angst. So, here is an entirely NEW outpouring of angst.