Finally the first piece after our start-up announcement is almost done! I'm relieved to see Josh getting some of his work done. If you knew the emotions that occurred during the making of this piece, you'd be completely amazed. We've had a lot of ups and downs in the past several weeks and that's why the posts have slowed down a bit. Our goal really is to tell you some interesting information weekly because we think that it will be something you really will enjoy. Today, I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to maintain physical and emotional health first among anything else. Josh being ADD, there have been a lot of things that come with the territory - depression being one of them. He strives daily to push past it and most days he soars above and beyond it. But the days that he struggles, I'm amazed at how it affects us both. Each time a medical/emotional struggle happens, we usually seem to face a stressful event at the same time. Finances seem to be our biggest struggle when it comes to the emotional connections. Just about any time we talk about money or how we're going to move ahead, we both get frustrated, angry and often depressed at how we're not where we want to be at the age of nearly 36. But how did we get here and how do we get where we want to be? How do we make changes when we're fighting our health in the process? And medications do not always help. In fact, they can cause a lot of damage. Three weeks ago, Josh started weening off of a back pain nerve-block medicine that he was on. The reason he was getting off this medication is because I recognized that it was an anti-depressant that might interact with his sleeping medicine. Let me back up: he was on an anti-depressant and a sleeping pill a few months back and had been on that combination for years without problems or so we thought. But one day, our pharmacist asked me if he was having any symptoms from a list she rattled off and I said yes. Because of that, she said to stop taking the anti-depressant and find another solution if possible because it's a deadly combo. (Yes, deadly).... So, back to a few weeks ago, I realized that the back pain medicine he was on is also used as an anti-depressant and he was having similar side effect symptoms like he had before the pharmacist recommended changes. And when we called the doctor, it was confirmed he was indeed having side effects from the new back pain/anti-depressant medication in combo with his sleeping medicine. "Damn it!" That's all we both could think! And I'll spare all of the details of it, except that the doctor that talked to me told him to ween off of back pain meds wrong. Our primary care physician (PCP) was not in the office the day that we called and the other doctor didn't see in his chart how long he had been on the back pain medication. The next thing we know, Josh was awake for 40 hours straight (mind you, he did not want to be awake) and on an emotional roller coaster due to withdrawals from the back pain/anti-depressant medication. Our PCP realized what happened when we called and is now supervising this process a lot closer. We're not out of the woods entirely yet, but he is recognizing the symptoms and dealing with them the best he can because he knows it's medication and not him. Even though it's medication causing all of these symptoms, it's still difficult to not let the depression symptoms stop him dead in his tracks.
Anyway, my point is that life basically had to go on hold while we dealt with health. And by "life", I mean everything including Brass Hammer Designs and quitting a job. Health issues or not, I really don't know how people with ADD go through life alone. I spent a lot of time discussing medications and such in this blog, but I have to say that ADD in combination with those medical issues can cause even more heart ache. It's not that people with ADD are incompetent people, but they are challenged daily by our "Corporate Americanized" world. Here's a blog I stumbled upon recently and have found a man that has a way of showing what it's like to have ADD (A Splintered Mind: ADD: It's Not Always Your Fault You Lost Your iPad...). I cannot tell you how many days I see Josh go through the exact same series of emotions this man discussed and I sit stunned at how he could beat himself up so harshly. The world doesn't see this Josh, but I do as his wife. And I love him more and am even prouder of his accomplishments because of it. Even though I know he doesn't feel as successful as he wants to be, I know what he has to go through in order to finish some of these beautiful pieces and I do not know many people that can overcome those. In fact, I bet a lot of people don't. And really, what is the definition of success anyway? The world may never understand what he feels or what he goes through, but my personal goal with this blog is to show you just how their world looks and give you an empathetic perspective of how a person with ADD can overcome their own obstacles. The picture attached to this blog shows an older piece (the teal and black cross) and his latest creation (the orange and red cross). Because of the battle that he went through to making the new one, I might have a hard time letting it go. 
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