10% of all patient visits in the United States concerns one chief complaint: lower back pain. Recently, I was one of the 10%. Googling reveals that most folks with chronic back pain issues end up depressed. Uh. Oh. When you are a gardner and a photographer back issues mean trouble with a capital “T”. One’s day is rarely standing upright but more than likely bending and twisting. My bending and twisting days, according to my doctor, may be over for good, he said blithely. This week I’ve been trying to figure out how to continue to be a photographer without bending or twisting or holding my camera with heavy lenses. Two items, the scanner and the light box, have saved me from making my next doctor’s visit be for electroshock treatments for deep depression. At least, for this week, creativity has been the best prescription for my lower back pain. That, and an ice pack. Backs may age, but creativity does not. Below is a sequence of scans that demonstrate the first and last “shot”. Now, I just have to figure out a way to weed from a standing position? Me thinks that means someone else’s back is going to be used. I might be at creativity’s end and wallet’s opening. Stay tuned.
