Posts Tagged "environental scientist"

Dermatowhat?? (on living with DM)

Posted by Aoede Muse on Feb 22, 2011 in Musings | 0 comments

Dermatowhat? That’s pretty much the exact response I get when someone asks me about my health issues, and I tell them I have Dermatomyositis (DM). I don’t expect anyone to know what it is because it is a pretty rare disease. When I was first diagnosed in April 2008 by a dermatologist, he took one look at my hands (see below!) and immediately referred me to a rheumatologist. My only impressions of rheumatologists up until then were based on visions in my head of old people with chronic joint pain and arthritis. I was 35 then. Were my impressions that far off? And could I ever have guessed that nearly 3 years later, I’d be mostly housebound, except for visits to my rheumatologist, walking with assistance from a cane??

So lets go back to the beginning…what happened in 2008?

Well, like most of us, lots of life stuff was happening in 2008, personally and professionally. There was my day job as Environmental Scientist and a certain huge and high profile workshop I was helping to plan in April; my other full time job as singer/songwriter, performer and recording artist; and then there was planning for my May wedding (I was marrying Dave, my bass player), combined cd release and wedding reception; and the June-July Northwest tour with Santa Cruz-based singer/songwriter Rob Owen, to promote Aoede’s newest CD Push and Pull, which would be released in May 2008. It wasn’t that unusual for me to have so many balls in the air, but it kept me on go-go-go mode like an energizer bunny rabbit until I finally just ran out of go juice…

Ironically, it was before all of these events, just before the big workshop and just a few weeks before the wedding, that I noticed I had a rash on both hands-really red nail beds, knuckles and cuticles that were really painful to the touch. I recall simple things like reaching in to pull things out of my backpack or washing dishes causing pain; heat seemed to aggravate it. I’d spend most nights with “hot hand” and at times itchy. But it was livable. Mostly I was just self conscious and hid my hands a lot.

I was also working on some new Aoede merch in April 2008-handmade pop rock boxes-so I surmised maybe something I was working with-stickers or paint perhaps-irritated my skin. So when my hands started showing a really red rash, I went to the dermatologist thinking he would prescribe a cortizone cream for what was probably contact dermatitis-or eczema or something I’ve had in the past and could easily cure… Or maybe it was just all the stress of the myriad upcoming activities in my life, I had hoped??

Everyone has a whole other life that no one knows about. – Pretty Little Liars

Posted by Aoede Muse on Jan 25, 2011 in Musings | 3 comments

Greetings! I’m Lis from Aoede (pronounced A-E-D) musing to you from San Francisco, California. Some of you reading this are virtually meeting me for the first time. Others have been with me on my musical journey, vigorously cheering me on, playing right beside me, or watching from the sidelines, for many years. Welcome and thanks for stopping in… do hope you leave inspired and with more joy and music in your heart!

Aoede – The Muse Behind the Music… Music is my lifeline

The basics? Music is my lifeline. I just don’t know how to stop. Nor, frankly, would I ever want to. I’m a singer/songwriter with a quirky soprano voice who writes compelling pop songs for the heart. I’ve been compared to Ingrid Michaelson, who is my most favorite muse, so I’ll gladly take that as a huge complement. I’m also a muse, as Aoede was the first muse of song in Greek mythology. I chose this name so I remember to be continually inspired. I also chose it to inspire you to do whatever is inside your heart or soul. There’s a bunch more bio-like stuff I could say, about recent placement in an online video game or being WomensRadio’s Top Artist in 2008 and Aoede’s album Push and Pull being included in their Top Albums of the Decade, and even how I am a co-founder of WomenROCK, but I know you can read my story, if you want the long version.