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I just applied for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). I don’t expect to get it. Although I have at least 3 qualifying conditions — Crohn’s Disease, Bronchiectasis, and Major Depression (treated) — I haven’t been hospitalized over 48 hours for any of them.

The application process was worthwhile anyway, because it brought me to the SSDI Blue Book. This lists all the ailments that may qualify you for Social Security monies doled out in modest increments prior to retirement age. They are a reminder of the many things that go wrong with the human body: Vision ...

What’s a good shorthand for bronchiectasis sufferers? People with Crohn’s disease are sometimes called Crohnies. I suggest people with bronchiectasis should be referred to as Bronchies. That of course suggests images, so I drew two:

Until recently bronchiectasis was classified as a rare disease. The symbol of rare diseases is the zebra.

You’re welcome.

The post Bronchiectasis Mascots appeared first on Nina Paley.

The post Autoimmune Disease appeared first on Nina Paley.

For my 57th birthday I got a diagnosis of Bronchiectasis, a chronic incurable lung condition often associated with Crohn’s disease.

In addition to coughing for the rest of my life and being extremely susceptible to infections, there’s the problem of pronouncing it. The syllabic emphases are like “bronchi-ecstasy,” although it is in fact bronchi-agony.

Or, as my friend Caroline called it, Brontosaurus Ecstasy:

A week ago, the day after my birthday, I went to “Convenient Care Plus” because my pinkeye and nosebleeds had returned and my cough never left. They gave me a CT scan ...

Well it’s been a full month since I posted this, and I’m only sicker now. More than 2 months of coughing, plus conjunctivitis and nosebleeds. Just started my second round of antibiotics.

More pix to come, I’m sure.

The post Sick Pix appeared first on Nina Paley.

In March 2023 I got COVID which kept me in bed for 6 weeks. The following month it kept me in bed every other day. After that I got back to normal, except my body temperature remained a degree-and-a-half higher than before and, unbeknownst to me at the time, I developed Crohn’s Disease. I was diagnosed by the end of that year, and the first few months of 2024 I spent with worsening symptoms while getting infusions of Skyrizi, a monoclonal antibody treatment. It kicked in after about 4 months and I stabilized by Summer 2024.

Skyrizi is an ...

I listened to a 2-hour video of this academic saying that Reality isn’t real, there is no reality without someone to perceive it, while I attempted to hand-animate a fat Earth goddess I called “Reality,” because that morning I had imagined praying to Reality, who doesn’t care about my feelings, and also to Mystery, who might. Reality and Mystery, sisters. Systery. My animation failed but I still wanted to draw Them. Is Mystery the snake that twines around the Goddess? Is Mystery Reality’s backside? Is Reality that which can be illuminated but seldom is, while Mystery cannot ...

I scrutinize myself trying to fall asleep as I try to fall asleep, which makes it harder to fall asleep, upping the scrutiny, etc.

I’ve struggled with insomnia my whole life, and today thought drawing a picture of it might help. It’s never helped before, but neither has scrutinizing my sleep.

The post Sleep Scrutiny appeared first on Nina Paley.

The post Warm Anger appeared first on Nina Paley.

Apparently the term was coined by this guy.

Drawing based on a true story.

The post Spiritual Bypass appeared first on Nina Paley.

My furnace went out yesterday, the coldest of the year. A tech came and got it back on. 3 hours after he left it went out again. He’s coming back this morning, but I faced the night — coldest of the year, -3°F with windchill below -20° — with space heaters and a few open taps to keep the pipes from freezing and bursting, and multiple electric blankets for me and the cats. I was freezing and shaking when I went to bed at 1am; I awoke at 5:30 to cloying dry heat, because the furnace mysteriously ...

Original Drawings are now available through my Store.

The post Even More January 2025 Drawings appeared first on Nina Paley.

Drawing just one of these a day seems to be good exercise for me in the winter, when it’s too cold outside to bike.

Original Drawings available through my Store.

The post More January 2025 Drawings appeared first on Nina Paley.

Original Drawings are now available through my Store.

The post New Drawings for 2025 appeared first on Nina Paley.

A $150 Drawing.

The post “Anemone Anemometer” for Ed appeared first on Nina Paley.

Further to my “disciplined” Crohn’s diet, it is like walking a tightrope. As long as I stay on the extremely narrow, I’m okay. But if I make even a small mistake, the consequences are swift and painful (and gross).

(Not a $150 Drawing, but looks like one.)

The post Tightrope Diet appeared first on Nina Paley.

“I admire your discipline,” said a friend, referring to my extremely strict, narrow Crohn’s diet. But there’s nothing to admire, because it’s not SELF discipline. It’s being subject to a brutal, sadistic “disciplinarian” that punishes the hell out of me if I make one false move. If you had this taskmaster you’d be “disciplined” too.

(Not a $150 Drawing, but looks like one.)

The post My Disciplinarian appeared first on Nina Paley.

A $150 Drawing.

The post “Ferret Barometer” for Jackie appeared first on Nina Paley.

As you know, requests for my  Hundred Hundred-and-Fifty Dollar Drawings are limited to two words or less.

But on March 11 I found this in my Twitter DMs:

Could you draw this as a picture for me

“it is a prime opportunity to get inside the tent with a goal-line defence, unless a clear upstream threat, accompanied by actionable intelligence, pops its head up”

Normally I’d say no, as that is batshit and impossible. However the request came from Maya Forstater, who explained:

It is a present for Helen Joyce – she has been training military types on how to ...

A Hundred Hundred-and-Fifty Dollar Drawing.  Hundred Dollar Drawings are now $150 due to inflation, but still a bargain! Available here.

The post “False Prophet” for Tibo appeared first on Nina Paley.