emmaDegerstedtWeek3: Med Tech

Week 3: MedTech and Art

As an artist I never considered medicinal science to influence the artistic realm. I've always known art to have power, but I hadn't considered its potential as a form of healing. Silvia Casini's (1) explanation of Magnetic Resonance Imaging in her essay best showed the connection between art and medicine by highlighting the similarities between MRI's and portraits.  

(2)

This connection between art and medicine became very real to me in the last week when I had multiple Fiberoptic Laryngoscopy exams. This exam is a tiny camera connected to a cord that is inserted through the nostril. It records video and can be reviewed while they perform the test in order to diagnose as well as save and compare with progress later. At the time I didn't realize it, but that video was a form of art.  Watching Diane Gromala's TED talk brought me right back into that doctors office. (3)

(4)

When she discusses the surreal experience of Virtual Reality, I felt (although not in such an extreme situation) a similar feeling when seeing the inner workings of my own throat. Gromala discusses how her experience with VR was such an encompassing while distracting experience, it was respite from her chronic pain. I realized I was so fascinated by the images that I let go of the pain I've been in and the fact that a camera was invading my body.  

(5)

Those tiny bumps are vocal nodules

Diane's TED talk continued to hit home as she discussed meditation and yoga being a way to avoid chronic pain through stress relief. (6) My doctor diagnosed me with nodules on my vocal chords, most likely caused by "a disconnect from breath support caused by tension and stress (muscular and skeletal issues manifesting in the voice) and unexpressed emotions or difficulty expressing emotion can be huge contributors to what seem to be singing issues." (Hamady1) and can be a career ending diagnosis for a singer.  Coincidentally, my doctor, after prescribing the regular western medicininal remedies including acid reflux natural remedies, recommended yoga and meditation since "anxiety and acid reflux usually go hand in hand" (Hamady1). 

(7)

  This weeks assignment was a fortuitous topic.  I have lived my life as an artist for as long as I can remember, and although I've always respected medicine, the two worlds have never coexisted for me. Without realizing it, these two fields have been coexisting in my own life for the last couple weeks.  It took this assignment to put that fact into perspective, and I'd like to believe it will help me understand how to improve my health and my craft. The importance of MRI's and other similar machines "function as an acoustic mirror and portrait bearing a “look” and capable of “looking back” at the onlooker" (Casini 76).

references:

(1)  Casini, Silvia. "Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) as Mirror and Portrait: MRI Configurations between Science and the Arts." . Configurations, 2011, 19:73–99 © 2012 by The Johns Hopkins University Press and the Society for Literature and Science., n.d. Web. . <file:///Users/degerstedtemma/Downloads/19.1.casini%20(1).pdf>.

(2) Fiberoptic Laryngoscopy. N.d. Medical Exhibits, Demonstrative Aids, Illustrations and Models, n.p.

(3) "TEDxAmericanRiviera - Diane Gromala - Curative Powers of Wet, Raw Beauty." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 10 July 2014. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRdarMz--Pw>.

(4) "VR Treatments Reduce Pain." HPL. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 July 2014.

(5) "Voice Disorders." : Vocal Fold Nodules. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 July 2014. <http://voicecounseling.blogspot.com/2013/04/vocal-fold-nodules.html>.

(6) "Finding Your Voice." : Pre-nodules, Acid Reflux and Vocal Care. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 July 2014. <http://jenniferhamady.blogspot.com/2009/01/pre-nodules-acid-reflux-and-vocal-care.html>.

(7) "Growing a Business with Yoga Alliance - Conscious Connection Magazine." Conscious Connection Magazine. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 July 2014.