JenLynnArt

It’s been a very long time since I posted anything let alone created a piece of art. Summer has come and gone, the school year has begun, and Fall is upon us. My artistic life has been put on hold, yet again.  It’s a darn good thing I’m not relying on this gig to make a living!

Shortly after the Summer art workshop at the BBAC, I had another surgery. This time due to complications from an auto-immune disease called Oral Lichen Planus. Basically it’s when the cells inside your mouth aren’t happy and become irritated causing sores and pain eventually leading to difficultly eating certain foods, using regular toothpaste, or ingesting anything that’s not pure vanilla bland. After keeping it at bay with steroids for a couple of years, my body decided it was time to up the anti and fight back: the tissue underneath my tongue became pre-cancerous and had to be removed.

So…that was fun (said no one ever!) Luckily, I have a wonderful Oral Surgeon and the surgery, called a partial glossectomy, was successful; he was able to remove all the abnormal tissue with clear margins without having to go too deep into the muscle. Now, 3 months later, you’d never know I had this done unless for my little-lopsided tongue. I can eat whatever I want again and use normal toothpaste without burning pain. And, although the nerves are a bit dulled, I’ll take that over pain any day!