Digestive Health by Em Hendrickson

Illustration

Artist statement: Traditionally a writer, Em Hendrickson (she/her) grew up with major depressive disorder and has been coping with it and navigating its influence all her life. In 2022, Em was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease after an unpleasant and unnecessarily long bout with illness that landed her in the hospital, clinging to steroids to function. In a year of treatment, Em has seen countless medical professionals for countless needle sticks. Her treatment still isn’t addressing the underlying cause, just managing the symptoms. She’s now realized that the gap between physical and mental illness is not as large as it used to feel when she only had one of the two. Both are largely invisible to those around her.

The digital art piece, “Digestive Hell-th,” is from living with Crohn’s. Your intestines give you stabbing pain. You can’t see what is going on inside without a colonoscopy, which you may need to wait months for. In Em’s case, she kept deteriorating until she was hospitalized for malnutrition (hadn’t been eating solid foods) and got to jump the line to get a colonoscopy. At that point, her colon was impassible due to severe ulcers, and they couldn’t perform a full colonoscopy anyway – even though all the doctors who had seen her knew that was what was needed for a couple of months. She was stuck in limbo. The companion poem “Waiting on a Needle” really captures some of the feeling of living with Crohn’s (for this artist anyway). The feeling of being stuck in limbo, waiting for things to happen.

Fast forward a year – several treatments haven’t worked, and Em is still in a period of active disease and has been on steroids for over a year. This is a new kind of limbo or digestive “hell.”

That’s part of why chronic illness advocates are so impressive to me – to be able to advocate when your own body is trying to shush you. To get up and keep going, when you want nothing more than to fall asleep on the floor (anemia sucks).

Find out more about Em's work at Emsyth.com

Digestive Health by Em Hendrickson

Illustration

Artist statement: Traditionally a writer, Em Hendrickson (she/her) grew up with major depressive disorder and has been coping with it and navigating its influence all her life. In 2022, Em was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease after an unpleasant and unnecessarily long bout with illness that landed her in the hospital, clinging to steroids to function. In a year of treatment, Em has seen countless medical professionals for countless needle sticks. Her treatment still isn’t addressing the underlying cause, just managing the symptoms. She’s now realized that the gap between physical and mental illness is not as large as it used to feel when she only had one of the two. Both are largely invisible to those around her.

The digital art piece, “Digestive Hell-th,” is from living with Crohn’s. Your intestines give you stabbing pain. You can’t see what is going on inside without a colonoscopy, which you may need to wait months for. In Em’s case, she kept deteriorating until she was hospitalized for malnutrition (hadn’t been eating solid foods) and got to jump the line to get a colonoscopy. At that point, her colon was impassible due to severe ulcers, and they couldn’t perform a full colonoscopy anyway – even though all the doctors who had seen her knew that was what was needed for a couple of months. She was stuck in limbo. The companion poem “Waiting on a Needle” really captures some of the feeling of living with Crohn’s (for this artist anyway). The feeling of being stuck in limbo, waiting for things to happen.

Fast forward a year – several treatments haven’t worked, and Em is still in a period of active disease and has been on steroids for over a year. This is a new kind of limbo or digestive “hell.”

That’s part of why chronic illness advocates are so impressive to me – to be able to advocate when your own body is trying to shush you. To get up and keep going, when you want nothing more than to fall asleep on the floor (anemia sucks).

Find out more about Em's work at Emsyth.com