How a Sketchpad Shortened her Hosptial Stay; Inspiring Words from Adelita
The Episode that Never Aired
Get ready for a medical story more wild and inspiring than anything you’ve ever seen on Gray’s Anatomy. Actually, I really don’t know, I’m more of a Bachelorette watcher for my guilty pleasure, but this story will not disappoint.
A few weeks ago I sat down with Adelita after meeting her at First Fridays Art walk and got to hear her story.
At the end of our hour and a half interview/conversation, I asked, “Anything else you’d like to share?” To which she replied, “I don’t think I told you about the time the doctors thought I had brain cancer…”
Brain cancer?? I am not sure how this did not come up in our first hour and a half but I was sure glad she shared it with me at the end.
Adelita said that shortly after having her daughter Katherine (who is now 5) she was admitted to the hospital after having head pains and not quite feeling herself.
Side Effects of Being Cooped Up
She went in for a few scans and said, “We started to drive home and not even two blocks away from the hospital they called us and told me we needed to come right back.”
Adelita says she was in the hospital for three full months while receiving high doses of corticoid steroids.
She says that during this time she began to become depressed, after all she was stuck in the hospital, not feeling herself, and on top of that the steroids though they were there to help her had made her gain weight and feel miserable.
Self Diagnosing Through Art
She said that it was when she started drawing again that the hospital wasn’t so, so bad.
“I’ve always been a graphite artist, I’ve drawn as long as I could remember,” She told me before telling me that her husband at the time had gone out and gotten her a basket of art supplies from Michaels to bring to the hospital.
Being stuck in a room with diagrams everywhere she began to sketch the brain, she began to draw it over and over, trying to figure out what was going on and what was causing her pain.
Having a background in the medical field, as well as, as an artist, Adelita was able to self-diagnose and propose a plan to the doctors who were willing to listen.
An Artist in Afghanistan
Adelita says that having the sketch pad helped her not only feel like herself, but also figure out what was going on with her health.
The hospital was not the only place that Adelita used her sketching to brighten the environment around her. Adelita also had her sketchpad with her in Afghanistan while serving there in the infantry unit.
Natural Happiness
Despite being through these intense situations Adelita has nothing but positive messages to send to others.
Part of her positive messages, she says, have been shaped and influenced by listening to Alan Watts (philosopher who focused on zen trainings) whom she says she listens to before each paint session.
I asked Adelita what makes her so positive and so happy to which she told me simply that she is just a happy person.
She says, “Happiness is a state of mind, I don’t let things make me happy, or do things to make me happy. I do things because I’m happy.”
Adelita is a perfect example of not only being a creative coper but the perfect recipient for good karma. She has put so much good in the world and in return has received so much.
In Omnia Paratus
It’s not always easy for me, an extremely awkward individual, to sit down and interview artists who I am just meeting for the first time or have yet to have a real conversation with but Adelita was one of the easiest people to talk to.
During our interview Adelita noticed the tattoo on my arm that says “In Omnia Paratus” which means ready for anything or prepared for all things. No one ever noticed this small tattoo nor gets the reference which speaks highly to the detail that Adelita notices and explains slightly how she is able to incorporate so much detail into her art work.
Adelita is a single mom attending ASU to further her education while working on growing her art business ‘Clearview Sprayart’.
She says, “I don’t see Clearview as mine but as a community effort and I am just the hands behind the art work.”
I truly believe that Adelita is ready for anything, prepared for all things and that she is going to do amazing things with her art work.
adelita has been an inspiration for me throughout my time knowing her. glad to see she’s getting the recognition she deserves.