OUR STORY

Where did our journey begin? How did ART3SAN come to life? We’ve had a few people ask about our story and for the longest time, we didn’t know how to put it in words. It’s taken a while but here’s our story, as best as we can describe. Let me start by telling you a bit about myself to set the scene. My name is San and I am a sonographer. I’m proud to be part of a patient’s health journey, whether it’s helping to show new mothers their baby for the first time or scanning peculiarities associated with different health conditions. (Yes, sonographers scan more than just babies. We scan a wide range of weird and wonderful things on almost any body part you can think of!).

Besides focussing on scanning, I also talk to my patients and listen to their worries. This makes me feel like I’m just another human that is able to hear them and be their confidant. Within the confines of our consultancy room, it provides a safe space for my patients to open up about their concerns that for some, are difficult to express to anyone else. To me, these conversations not only help me to connect with my patients but it really allows me to understand them through their lived experience. Everyday I am able to learn something new through these conversations, and for that I feel very fortunate to be working in an environment where there’s lots of exposure to many health conditions.

Despite specialising in women’s health, I know for a fact that there’s still so much more to learn beyond the health condition itself. I may know about the condition medically but I will never be able to know how it feels being diagnosed or how it is to live with the condition unless I have experienced it firsthand. As I have come to learn through my patients, having knowledge is just the tip of the iceberg, if we are able to see beyond the surface only then can we truly understand and support each other. By talking through issues and removing the barriers of what makes things difficult to speak about, I hope it will help ease the social stigma associated with any health condition.

For example miscarriages, one in four women may experience a miscarriage in their lifetime. Let me say that again, one in four women that you know may have had a miscarriage. Miscarriages are so common yet it still feels like a taboo topic, as such, it remains hard for us to support those who have experienced a miscarriage. To me, it feels silly to want to provide support but being unable to make the first and crucial step to talk about the issue because it is a “sensitive” topic - don’t you think?

Another example is polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). It is a complex condition that causes hormonal imbalances, with a spectrum of symptoms. We know that it causes weight gain and increased male pattern hair growth (hirsutism) but we don’t see the fertility difficulties or the increased risk of developing diabetes and other complications. From the outside, appearances make people assume that these women are lazy and unkept. However, tiredness is a symptom of PCOS and the increased facial hair makes them constantly self conscious which could develop into body dysmorphia.

Left undiagnosed, they are criticised for being overweight, for not “taking care” of themselves where an “expert” would suggest that weight loss will help with their fertility issues. I have scanned all ages of patients diagnosed with PCOS, from young teenagers trying to control their acne to patients of child bearing age going through IVF trying to conceive, and older women who are still suffering from the side effects of having PCOS. 

I’m using PCOS as an example because I’ve recently been diagnosed with it and that was also the driving factor to launch in September 2021 for PCOS awareness month. At first I was in shock receiving the news and tried to read my way through the internet to find a cure, meanwhile blaming myself for not picking it up earlier being a sonographer who frequently aids in the diagnosis of polycystic ovaries on ultrasound. Even being in an environment which allows me to be more aware of PCOS, it still blinded me and didn’t prepare me for the thought that it would be applicable to me.

I would like to credit the numerous PCOS forums and discussion pages out there, they gave me more support than any of the knowledge I had of PCOS previously. I really found solace from people’s stories, their discussions and their openness about their struggles because they were really my struggles that I didn’t have answers to. It’s without a doubt that I still have much to learn, medically, about people and everything in between.

After the initial shock and grieving period, I’ve decided that I wanted to raise more awareness to different health conditions, starting with what I am deeply passionate about, women’s health. I have always wanted to find ways to spread health knowledge to more women, but have never found the right avenue to do so. ART3SAN in a nutshell is a means to spread awareness and understanding. Being open to my family and friends gave me the strength and courage to see PCOS in a positive light.

I must especially thank one person in particular, my close friend Yen who is also our ART3SAN “Guru”. She was my guiding light through the sad times. She listened without judgment and tried to understand the condition despite not knowing what are “cysts” and where the ovaries are in the body. I found motivation through telling Yen about my feelings in its purest form and told her about my most vulnerable thoughts. I felt what my patients had felt when they poured their hearts out to me in the tiny ultrasound room - all the raw emotions.

I would love to spread the word to make others feel supported the way I have felt the overwhelming support and positivity. I want to encourage more open communication so that others know how to handle these sensitive conversations and delicate emotions with care and compassion. Together, Yen and I worked hard to create something that was able to convey our intentions. Our designs are consciously simplistic and subtle, they aim to encourage thoughtful conversation by making people feel seen but not exposed.

As we all know, women’s health is just a small portion of many other known and unknown health conditions out there. We hope people like our designs but more importantly, we hope people are purchasing these products because of our mission. We believe the more people that are informed and aware about a subject, the better prepared they will be to support people and their feelings.

If you’ve read this far, thank you. Unfortunately, there’s no award but at least you know there’s real people with real emotions behind this page who are just trying to make this world a kinder place.