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Monday, February 7, 2011

Project Review: 3D Illustration and 3D Logos for Alexander[2004] PART I

This is the final finished 3D Logo I built for the Posters for Alexander in 2004.

The first Poster that my 3D Illustrated Logo was finished for.

The Second Poster that used the Logo.

One of the first batch of 3D logos that were given to my by Art Director Calvin Sumler to recreate in a 3D font.

Another 3D logo from Art Director Calvin Sumler I then recreated in a 3D font in stone.

A metal version of the logo done for Art Director Calvin Sumler.

I love this font that Art Director Calvin Sumler gave to me to add dimensionality to.

A Bronze-Gold metal hand made logo.

A nice concrete material was put to use on this font for Art Director Calvin Sumler for presentation.

Though not a finalist, this thin font was very interesting to build out and has a very unique feel with the hand designed letters from Art Director Calvin Sumler.

Always asked to do the "BEN HUR" iconic large logo for big pictures like this.

This Icon was used for a few ideas including a teaser poster with no type just an icon with a ghosted image of Colin Farrell.

I did a few versions of the snake wrapping the letter A and this one was my favorite.

A built out a 3D Icon that was based on architectural details found during the time of Alexander and made it into an icon for the posters. This version was a verdigris copper and brass eagle that was aged and distressed.

Project Review
3D Illustration and 3D Logos for

Client:Warner Brothers Pictures via The Cimarron Group.
Art Director: Calvin Sumler.
Project Date: Winter 2004-Spring 2004

Early on when I had just started the new 3D Department over at The Cimarron Group in late 2003, I was put on the Alexander project in the Poster Department for the Theatrical release.

I started in the usual way with just some extruded logos, but I proposed to spend a bit more time to get the hand modeled Single point bevel type. I had finished the TROY logo over at BLT just before I came over to Cimarron, so I used that logo as an example and they said to go ahead.

Single point bevels are a hand modeled typeface done so they chisel to a sharp edge in the center of the type with no noticeable flat spot, apart from ones needed in the font design. My first try at this technique was time consuming at 15 to 30 minutes per letter back at BLT, but while on Alexander I tried some of the quad modeling techniques I had developed while building the Lotus Elise and the start of Herbie, the 1963 VW bug for the new Lohan film. I was able to cut the time down to less than 5 minutes per letter which made the budget a lot more feasible for the Advertising fast turnaround needed. So from this project on, I was asked when needed to recreate this look again.

I also build a variety of props and Icons including the two snakes eating each other into a circle, as well as the eagle banner icon that they used behind a few logos a in the presentation. All in all this was a very enjoyable project to work on, and I got the finish for the logo on the poster as well with the talented Art Director Calvin Sumler.

Look for a PART II in the future.

Cheers, THOM

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Friday, April 4, 2014

We love our neighbors, the Rasmussens.  They are awesome and we have a really good time hanging out with them.  So when they had a tree that needed to be taken care of in the back part of their property, it wasn't a surprise that Jeff and Jake took care of it.  And while they were working, they had a good idea... use the wood of the Black Locust to make mantles.
So with a bit of enginuity (using the truck), they pulled the 6'+ pieces of wood up the hill and onto Jeff and Ashley's driveway.  They were HEAVY!
So then Jake did some calling around and found a guy that would pick up the wood and cut it to our specs and only charge $87/hour.  (I don't quite know why it's such an odd number, but we weren't going to complain.)  So we worked on the size of mantles we wanted and wrote down the info to have it ready when the guy came the next morning to pick up the wood.
The kids were on a 2-hour delay that morning, so we went over to watch as they wenched the logs up on the truck.  I didn't envy them at all - those were some heavy beasts.
And after an hour of work, our mantles were cut and we got some rough cut boards with the extra wood.  Both Rasmussens and us thought it was a pretty good deal to get a rough cut (and imperfect) "mantle" for only $43.50.  Have you seen the cost of mantles?  Sheesh!

So here's our beastly 6' mantle.  Until it dries it will be extremely heavy.  Glad we don't have to carry it around anywhere.  And I'm going to use the extra boards to make a coffee table for the family room.  We'll be sure to show pictures as we complete these projects.

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Monday, March 9, 2009

Stinky Trees

Bradford Pear Tree Pictures, Images and Photos

This is a Bradford Pear or Fruitless Pear tree!!!!! They are beautiful but they smell TERRIBLE!!! Who has a huge one of these in the middle of her front yard???? Yes, that would be ME! I haven't been at home in awhile but the hospital has them outside right where I go and sit once a day....I am sure that they did it for me! =) The closest thing that I can come up with that I think these trees smell like is a perm! It just doesn't smell good. I said, they are beautiful!!!

In other news, I just got off the phone with the heart doctor's office.....they are having a nurse call me back. STUPID!!! The nurse isn't going to know what to do. I told them I wanted to talk to someone about my BILL....the girl on the phone said that they don't have any information on bills that come from 3rd parties....AHH....I can already see where this is going. Here is my gripe...among others....

They should have informed me that this company was either a)not in network with my insurance company PRIOR to the service or b)at least given me an indication that there was this possibility. It is just frustrating. When I go to a doctor's office and the physician and staff there refer me to a 3rd party, WITHOUT ANY FURTHER EXPLANATION, it is my assumption that all services will be covered under my insurance since the doctor's office is. I think that is a fair assumption. Let the saga continue......

Lainey-Paney said...

I always wondered what those trees were. They are beautiful. We had one in the yard in the home where I grew up. So pretty when they bloomed---but yes, soooooo stinky!

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Thursday, October 28, 2010

Show Us Your Life:Where Our Guest Lay Their Head

Today is Show Us Your Life: Guest Rooms over at Kelly's Korner. This guest room still isn't completely done since moving in, in July but it works.

Upon entering the guest room.

The bed is from IKEA. Bedding is a mixture. The quilt is from TJ Maxx and the shams and duvet are from an online Scandinavian Company. Pillows are from Target and TJ Maxx also I think.

Up close of the bedding. I LOVE the red ticking.

The table was my husband's grandmothers. My inlaws gave it to us and I painted it a red. I love how it makes the details pop so well on the legs. The lamp is from Stein Mart. The tray holds some night time reading for guests. Several decorating magazines and books. Please overlook the wad of cords on the floor. It's where Time Warner hooked our phone and internet at. I plan to maybe get some shutters or something else to go there to help conceal it.

Cute cross is from Hobby Lobby. The red sign was just a piece of wood I had that I painted and put a vinyl decal that I had on. I wish I wouldn't have painted it a red as it's hard to read sometimes. Oh well. I learned and wouldn't do it again.

A frame I painted and put burlap in and stenciled.

This cute stitchery I won off a blog in a giveaway. I love it.

A basket full of blankets for our guest in case they want extra.

I missed last weeks nurseries/kids rooms so here are my kids rooms.

This is the girls room. I have them sharing because we wanted to have our 4th bedroom as the guest plus I just like the fact that they are in there together.

This is Ansley's side. She loves her Cinderella bed my inlaws bought about 3 years ago when they were on vacation. The bedding is from Target. I originally was going to go all out on bedding for the girls to match from Pottery Barn but the more I thought about it the less I liked the idea. I didn't want to spend a ton of money on bedding that Ireland or Ansley might outgrow soon or if they ended up not sharing a room I didn't want the rooms to be alike so I settled for the same colors. The cute stool was a flea market find.

This is Ansley's dresser. I hate the pulls on it and plan to change them eventually but right now it's not high on my priority list. Yes, the girls don't have curtains yet. I'm on the lookout for some.

This is the girls frames from the birthdays. They each have one. It's their 1st birthday invitations and a picture of them at a year old and then all our guest signed it with sweet messages. I love it and it's something they can always look back on and how much they're loved.

This is Ireland's side. The cute nightstand was another piece that was my husbands grandmothers. I seen it and another one that's now in my sons room in her garage when my inlaws were going through things after she passed months later for a estate sale. They told me to go through and pick anything I wanted. I grabbed the 2 nightstands and the one that's in my guestroom and another smaller version of it too. I love them. They're very sturdy and solid. Ansley wanted hers a pretty pink. I love the dry earse plate on it for messages and the lamp is vintage. I found it on etsy.

Here's a more up close look. The bowholder was a gift and it holds some of our bows. We have tons in baskets in the girls bathroom. Truth be told we'd need probably another 3-4 bow holders like that to hold almost all of them. Crazy I know.

This shelf I got from Michaels and painted it. The knobs I got online. The dress on the left is Ansleys baby dedication dress, the one in the middle is my baby dedication dress, and the one on the right is Ireland's baby dedication dress. I love looking at them when I come in the room. The princess sign was a gift from my fil for Ansley on her 1st birthday.

This is Dawson's room. His room is a work in progress. It has a LONG way to go. He mainly wants a map theme to his room. We are slowly decorating it but it leaves alot to be desired still at this point.

He wanted a "D" on his door since the girls have their names on the wall in their room. I painted it for him and he loves it.

His dropcloth curtains. They work pretty well.

I love the colors in his bedding. He still needs the shams and the twin comforter set for the top bunk. I am in the process too of finding some pillows for the bed. I want to get a rug to go under some of the bed also.

Here's his nightstand that I painted for him. The lamp shade I just added ribbon to and a button to add to it. The picture on the nightstand is of Dawson and his dad when he killed his 1st deer.

This stool my mom painted for Dawson's nursery and he still likes to keep it out in his room. It's special to him and I like that he feels that way.

This is entering his room. The longhorns were his dad's when he was little and were given to Dawson by my inlaws when they found out we were moving to Texas. Right under it now is a map of the US hanging ( I took this picture before it was hung). I'm in the process of trying to frame it from a tutorial from another blog. I'll let yall know how it turns out. I'm also on the lookout for a pretty globe to put on his armoire.

I hope you enjoyed your visit. Thanks for visting.
If you visit please leave a comment so I can be sure to visit you.

feltsocute said...

I really love the red - it's so cheery and bright and different! Just beautiful!

Shoshanah said...

I love that Cinderella bed! I would have loved to have something like that when I was growing up

sarah @ life {sweet} life said...

I love all of your rooms...they are so cute! My niece would die for that Cinderella bed. :)

Ashley said...

I LOVE the red guest room!!! I am in love with the bedding! You have such great style. Thank you so much for sharing.

The Branches said...

LOVE all your rooms you are a great decorator! And also enjoyed all the Halloween pictures...hope you are enjoying this cooler weather FINALLY!

My Creative Way said...

Love all the rooms!!

The bow holder you should get it to say something instead of the initial and hang it somewhere. Like D I V A and have all the bows hanging from it. I'm sure you already thought of something like that :)


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12 September 2016

After swearing out an arrest warrant for Green Party Presidential candidate Jill Stein, they have followed up by issued an arrest warrant for radio host Amy Goodman for filming the protests and the ensuing brutality of the pipeline's Pinkertons:
So much for the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

Despite well-established freedom of the press protections that outline and guarantee the rights of reporters who cover breaking news stories—including confrontations between demonstrators and authorities—North Dakota officials have charged Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman with criminal trespassing after she documented private security personnel’s use of dogs to attack Native American foes of the Dakota Access Pipeline project.

Video footage obtained by Goodman, an internationally respected and frequently honored independent journalist, helped to alert Americans to the tactics being used to stop demonstrations against the pipeline by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and their allies. On Friday, the Obama administration halted work on key portions of the $3.8 billion pipeline project—recognizing concerns raised by the tribe and environmental activists.
To quote Tallyrand,* it is worse than a crime, it is a mistake.

The behavior of the pipeline company, as well as the behavior of local and state law enforcement has been abhorrent, and their natural response is to go after the reporter.

I think that contaminants in North Dakota from fracking have melted their so-called minds.

 *Again, this is probably not an actually a quote from Tallyrand. It was likely said by Joseph Fouché, but, "C'est pire qu'un crime, c'est une faute," is all too frequently credited to Talleyrand.

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Sunday, 13 May 2012

Part of the furniture

Dress: Mary Katrantzou
Flower:River Island
Shoes: Ravel

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  1. In the Modern Furniture showroom we can see many variety of the furniture in the different range and as per the choice with the variety of the designed.

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Reel Mama: New giveaway helps homeless pets! Ends 8/11

Saturday, July 28, 2012

New giveaway helps homeless pets! Ends 8/11

I have always had a special place in my heart for homeless and abandoned pets, who deserve so much better. They deserve to find that special forever home. I have really enjoyed volunteering to help these deserving animals, who are so sweet and incredibly grateful to those who adopt them. I look forward to teaching my daughter all about the importance of caring for pets, and the responsibilities that adopting a pet entail. Kitty Mattrazz set up a wonderful page for bloggers and blog readers to help Project 121 through the Arizona Humane Society. Kitty is only eleven, a young artist with a big heart who wants to make a difference for these animals.

Kitty Mattrazz and Coupons and Friends have brought together bloggers and sponsors who love animals and want to help bring awareness to this important cause. It's a wonderful opportunity to win prizes your pets are sure to love, and perhaps give back to charity as well!

Special Thanks to Amber of Thrifty Mom's Review's and More for our Event Image

Help Kitty Reach her goal of $200 to donate to the Arizona Humane Society. Even a $1 donation will make a difference. DONATE HERE.

Several outstanding sponsors have been willing to support this great cause and offer some wonderful prizes to win!!

Daris Howard is a wonderful author, and you will have a chance to win Super Cowboy Rides and one of his Life's outtakes books of fun short stories!

Our wonderful sponsor Original Sock Dogs will be giving one lucky winner a pack of these super cute Smiling Bullies Cards. Awww. If you think these are adorable then you just have to check out their sock dogs! Made out of real socks--so cute! You can also find their creative creations on Etsy.

Silver Paw Tags has generously donated one of these heavy duty stainless steel pet tags for a lucky winner. These are beautiful and a very stylish way for your pet to express individuality. Yes, it's a pet fashion statement.

If you have not checked out Artsydog yet then it is a must see! They offer very unique products with something for every dog owner and every dog! These are one-of-a-kind handmade products. The lucky winner will receive a $30 gift certificate to ArtsyDog.

Santa is coming early this year this Dog Treat Advent Calendar being sponsored by Felterrific! Felterrific is your destination for all cute felt crafts. She takes custom orders and has her own Etsy shop. You'll find out how many adorable things can be made of felt.

DistinctlyIvy has donated a gorgeous Mommy and Children hand-stamped name necklace with pearl from her Etsy shop. The winner will have one personalized just for them!

Felissa the creator of Two Little Cavaliers has graciously donated three cute keychains to our giveaway. You'll love Two Little Cavaliers for the latest doggie news, new recipes for your dogs too, and even giveaways!

Christi Smith an independent consultant of Scentsy is offering the winner these great warmers with two scents of their choice! Check out this glowing review: HERE.

Dog Tag Art is donating three fun tags to the winner. They have an endless array from which to choose!

Carolyn From Conversations With Carolyn a blogger who loves to blog about health, recipes, and more, has given us a Pearl Mountain Batch Image Converter registration code for a lucky winner! This is a great product. Check out a review here:

The style experts over at 26 Bars and a Band are going to set one of our readers up with one of their brand new avante garde retractable leashes! These are the latest thing in doggie style! As an extra bonus, readers will be able to get 25% off with code GivingHope25 for the duration of the giveaway!

$10 Gift Certificate to Dog Collar Boutique. Check out this review HERE.

1 Set of My Hikes

1 Bottle of Tantex Leather Conditioner

One summer bag of Optics Eye Care

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Friday, July 29, 2016

Vacation FTW!

This vacation.... You guys, this vacation was the most vacation-y vacation I think I've ever been on. Yes, the kids were there, and yes it was hotter than just about anywhere we've ever been, but the "wake up when you want" and the "walk to the beach in 5" and the "getting in the pool a moment after someone's says 'Hey does anyone wanna go in the pool'"....and it being 85ish in there when you jump in. And I haven't even mentioned the shrimp and grits yet, or the oysters and fried chicken. A day at the spa and having someone rub my feet for an hour. RUB MY FEET FOR AN HOUR!! We're doing puzzles and playing euchre, coloring and crafting and moving at a pace that everyone should try. Clear minds here. There's not a schedule. If you wanna go sightseeing you just do it. And if you wanna go out for breakfast you just go. There's no "we need to get home for..." and there's no answering emails or solving problems because there aren't any problems. I'm reading a book instead of a Facebook feed and checking for the best spot to set up on the beach more than I'm checking email. This is freaking vacation, and I needed this from the bottom of those rubbed feet to the tip of my soul. I'm tan! Like not tan mom tan, but I've definitely been whiter, so this counts. This is cornier than I get, but the refreshment that this week away is bringing to our family after a month of problem solving and worrying and making excuses and trying and hoping - the kind of stress that exacerbates back pain and turns a typically happy family into a tired and confused family - the relief of this vacation has alleviated all of that. We didn't just pack up that worry and stick it on our doorstep to wait for our return, we let it go. We got our answers before we left and we decided to forget about life for a while. There's still treatments and medicines down here, but there's comfort in knowing that his lungs are ok. He's doing ok and we're doing ok. Actually we are doing freaking awesome. Charleston for the win!

That dropping FEV1 is just a number - as he proclaimed with frustration over the weeks of medications and appointments and attempts to get that number to stop dropping and start improving prior to our departure for this magical vacation - and  when we got the results from the bronch and found no bacteria - not even the achromobacter that we've been treating for the past few years - we moved to the other side of worry. As predicted, fungus seems to be the culprit, and an oral anti-fungal medication for the next few months will hopefully help to shift that dial back toward a higher number, but he is well. When we return we will talk to our doctors and make a plan and keep on swimming. For now, I'm putting in a vote for more vacation.

Thursday, July 28, 2016

Your vote counts

This post is an ask for your vote for me, as President of the....wait, wrong topic.

I'm darn proud of the work that I do and I'm even prouder to share that I've been nominated for it as a leader in the Health Activist category by Health 2.0 Conference, the leading showcase of cutting edge innovation that's transforming health and healthcare. I'm listed among many of great ePatient leaders that I'm also proud to call my friends and know that whoever is chosen to represent the collective ePatient voice will do us proud. I'd also feel quite proud if I was chosen as that leader. Voting ends this Sunday, so if you have a moment to spare, your vote for me, Erin Moore, under the Patient Activist category, would be most appreciated.

Vote Here!

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

I figured out what happened with the Ativan that we were trying to get for Drew's PICC placement last week. His doctor had tried to place the order for it through EPIC for me to pick up at the local pharmacy but because its a controlled substance, you need to physically pick up the prescription from the doctors office and hand the paper to the pharmacist in order to have it filled. Keep in mind that I was getting .25ml, a quarter of a milliliter of Ativan, to help a kid relax. When I had her paged from the pharmacy at the hospital, after searching  high and low for the prescription she told me she had called in, to send a new prescription down while she was in the middle of a clinic, she didn't have the option to send, but only to print. Even within the hospital, she couldn't send an order for .25ml of Ativan to the pharmacy for me to pick up to give to him. You may wonder why they didn't just have her order it and have someone from the hospital administer the medication while he was in the OR for the PICC? Well, there isn't a doctor or nurse whose care hes under unless he's admitted to the hospital. So for an outpatient procedure like a PICC placement, the only way we can swing it is for me to get the medicine and take responsibility for him when I give it to him. If only the different parts that make this whole work would talk to one another before making arbitrary rules. This system is so f'd up. I digress.

As I've blogged about before, we've survived a week on IVs. That means dosing at 7am, 8am, 3pm and 11pm - cleaning hands, putting on gloves, cleaning trays, scrubbing the PICC, counting supplies, hooking up the medication, letting it run for an hour, cleaning the PICC again and then tucking it away until the next dose. Add to that mix phone calls from the pharmacy and nurses about levels of medication in his bloodwork, schedules for deliver of new medication and supplies, nurse visits to change the dressing on the PICC and draw labs, and the other interruptions of everyday life. I shouldn't complain about being tired because he sits through all of this and takes it like a champ. There is no swimming, no running around, no sweating. We play games or watch movies, but its a whole lot of inactivity and boredom for a 6yr old.

The hardest part this time around is trying to convince him to take one more medicine, to do one more treatment, interrupting his play to sit through one more dose of IVs when he's feeling absolutely fine. We try to explain that we are doing this to try to get his lungs healthy, to try to get that number back up, and he cries and tells us its not gonna work, mostly because all we've done so far hasn't worked. Maybe he can feel that nothing is changing, or maybe he's just frustrated like us. Either way, its hard to get him to do this all when he doesn't feel like anything is wrong.

What's most disappointing here, and alarming, is that his numbers continue to drop. His normal lung function is in the mid 90's. In the middle of June it was down to 87. Then we tried an oral antibiotic and rechecked and it had gone down to 79. We tried a week on a steroid and it went down to 78. The we went in for the kill with the IV's and after a week, I'm sad to report that he's now down to 74. He's down 20 points in 4 weeks and that's not cool. Just for reference, typically around 30% lung function is when people are discussing the options for transplant.

It's so hard in CF to determine the cause of the problem, like a constant crap shoot. I usually know the symptoms that merit an intervention, whether its a steroid or some IV's, and he hasn't shown signs of needing either of these things this time. We know his lungs are colonized with a drug resistant bacteria called Achromombacter but that doesn't seem to be whats currently causing the problem, otherwise the many different stabs we've taken at this problem would have likely caused the decline to stop, and hopefully turn the other direction. I've had a suspicion from the start that there could be a fungus causing this problem. The last time he had a bronchoscopy, he cultured a lot of fungus in his lungs. People with CF get fungus in their lungs sometimes, and we got it. Was it because he's always on an inhaled antibiotic that he needs to treat symptoms? Did it come from the inhaled steroids he's been on to help him go longer stretches with good health? Is it just something in the environment that he caught because that's how unfortunate having CF can sometimes be? We have no idea. We treated it with 3 months of an anti-fungal medication called fluconazole and it seemed to help his ever so slight increase in cough go away. The thing was that there were no symptoms that alerted us to the fact that he had this problem in his lungs. Last year he wasn't yet doing pulmonary function tests to tell his how his lungs were functioning because he was too young. But could this again be the culprit? Could the fungus we treated have not really actually gone away and now be causing this rapid decline in his lung function? It's our next best guess but there's only one way to find out - time for another bronchscopy.

When Drew learns to cough out the mucus his body produces, we will be able to take a sample of that to the lab to get tested to see specifically what type of bacteria and fungus grows in his airways and more specifically target therapies to help him. Until he is able to do that, he has this procedure done called a bronchoscopy where they put him to sleep, and they squirt saline liquid into his lungs to "wash" them and then suck out the water and test it to see what kind of bacteria or fungus they've found. We can't do this when he's on IV medication or an anti-fungal or the medication will skew the results of the test. So effective today, we stopped all antibiotics and will take him in for a bronchoscopy on Friday afternoon to see if we can figure out what else could be in his lungs that we are missing, and then hopefully figure out how to treat it.

I spent two hours with his doctor yesterday talking through all the options and symptoms and possible outcomes, and I requested that we start him on this anti-fungal drug and think about the bronch when we return from vacation, something we are scheduled to leave for this coming Saturday. She didn't want to start him on something for fear that when we return and do the bronch it wouldn't give us a true picture of what's really going on because of the medication in his system. She also didn't want to wait much longer to try to get to the bottom of this because losing lung function this quickly just isn't good. She also put him back on the steroid with the hope that we can knock out some of the inflammation before the bronch to try to get a really good wash of his lungs, stating that there was little risk [except to his life as me or one of the other kids might strangle the devil child he becomes when he's on a steroid] associated to trying the steroid for another short period of time.

In the meantime, Drew is acting perfectly fine. You would have no idea that anything was going on with him, as he's skipping around here just happy as can be, a little annoyed and sad that he's gotta do so many treatments and take so many pills right now, but otherwise with his normally cheerful and passive attitude about life. I'm hopeful that we will figure this out and  be able to regain much of the lost lung function with the right treatment. While we won't have results on Friday since it takes time for a culture to grow, we will have a different treatment option to try and will have answers (hopefully) the following week. Regardless of whether they are good or bad, at least we should have a better idea of what we are dealing with. Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers. While we can't answer everyone individually, know that we appreciate the support and well wishes and will try to keep you posted as we know more!

This video was taken 15min before I wrote this post - as you can see he seems to be feeling just fine!

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

I'm hoping that this brain dump will alleviate my headache. God its been a long couple of days. We went back to Children's yesterday for a PFT to check Drew's lung function post-steroid and to determine if he would need IV antibiotics. I knew that the steroids weren't working, but held out hope that we wouldn't need IV's. He blew a 77 this time, down again. We went from 92 in March, to 85 in early June, to 79 two weeks ago and we're now down to 77. The mystery of it all is that he remains symptom-less. I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out what could possibly be wrong since this is completely uncharacteristic of an "exacerbation" for Drew. I have an exacerbation score sheet for godsake and it's telling me that he is not having an exacerbation, despite lung function that continues to drop lower and lower. All of this thought and wonder and worry culminated in the parking lot of Home Depot on Sunday where I sat crying because I couldn't find a paint color for my living room. My cure for grief is action, and so despite being mentally and physically exhausted, I decided that we needed to paint the house. So we did. (I finally found the right paint color and we got that all taken care of on Sunday, in case you were wondering).

We had talked to Drew's doctor over the weekend about our plan for if his numbers were still low, and had scheduled an appointment to have a PICC placed at 10am on Monday, something that we could easily cancel if his numbers were miraculously up. They weren't, and so at 7:45 on Monday morning we knew our plan. We had discussed what medications we would use, the dosing schedule, the plan for the PICC placement - no sedation, just a small dose of Ativan to keep him calm (next time i'm asking for a dose for me too) - and we were set. A wonderful friend who is going to make a wonderful doctor someday soon met us at the hospital to keep us company and better understand the patient and family experience of care through this process. I was so grateful to have her with us when the first hiccup of the day happened.

Drew was scheduled for his PICC at 10am, and I was to pick up his dose of Ativan at the hospital pharmacy that morning. When we arrived at 7:30, I realized that that pharmacy didn't open until 9am, no problem. After we got the results of the PFT and knew that the PICC was a go, we went down to radiology to register for the PICC procedure and were quickly ushered back to an isolation waiting room, something I request the moment we step foot into the hospital. For me, there is always a fear of a[nother] hospital acquired drug resistant infection, so I take extra steps to ensure his safety and my comfort with it. The issue I have with these so-called "isolation rooms" is that there is no indication of when it's been cleaned. I don't know who was in it before me, whether it's been cleaned, if it will be cleaned when I leave it, or anything at all about its cleanliness. I do not trust blindly, especially when it comes to Drew and germs. Can't we put a sign on the door to indicate that the room is clean? Anyway, we got called right up to interventional radiology so they could use an ultrasound machine to identify a good place in his arm to put the PICC and then mark it and add numbing cream. The nurse then took us back to the isolation room - the one we had been in, the one that I had closed the door to before we went upstairs for a moment but when we returned the door had been opened, the one I had no indication of having remained ours and no one elses while we were gone for 20 minutes - to wait for the pharmacy to open so we could get his dose of Ativan before starting the procedure. She told me to have the receptionist page her when we got the medication and were ready, as it looked likely that they could take us early.

So at 9am, I left my friend with Drew in the isolation room to run over to the pharmacy to pick up the medication, only they didn't have it. Did I screw up? Was I supposed to have gotten it from CVS on my way in? I had her call CVS to see if they had it and could transfer the prescription, but they didn't have it either. His doctor had emailed me yesterday to say she had called it in, and I was able to pick of the other anti-nausea medicine, but the Ativan was nowhere to be found. I called up to clinic and had the receptionist page the nurse who was covering for our nurse who is on vacation. She told me she would page Drew's doctor, who is in clinic seeing patients, to have her call down a new prescription as soon as possible. At 9:40, forty minutes after having arrived in the pharmacy to pick up this order and delaying the process of getting a PICC, something that was suggested by my husband that perhaps I try without the Ativan so as to not delay the placement of the PICC any longer, the pharmacy got the order and gave me the med. I was livid. I was livid not because of the mix up, though I don't know what happened to the first order, but because I was already exhausted - mentally and emotionally, trying to prepare myself and Drew and our family for what life will be like for the next two weeks with running IVs from home, with no swimming, with no sweating, with lots of interruptions from pharmacies and home care nurses and extra appointments and a rigid schedule of medication infusions - and now I had to become the detective and problem solver of a problem that I had no part in creating. Sure, I could have walked away and we could have done the PICC without the Ativan, but to help him, if even just a little, relax and feel a tiny bit more at ease about the whole process was worth the work. The longer it took to get the medicine, the more my stress levels rose. He was waiting, nervously, without me in a room with a friend of mine he only kind of knows while I asked and waited and tried to decide which direction to go. Thankfully I stayed and got the medicine, because the PICC placement didn't go as planned - 6 sticks, two blown PICCs and finally a successful placement later and we were all set. Without the Ativan, this would have been suffering. Avoidable, minimizable suffering that has a lasting impact on a kid who already has more to deal with than most adults will in their lifetime. I will always request Ativan, not because he needs it, but because he deserves it.

Following the PICC placement procedure, we went back up to clinic to meet with the homecare nurse for the first doses of the medication. We always do this at the hospital in case there is a reaction. IV's are no joke, and its better to be safe than sorry. Our nurse was lovely and we chatted while I answered a flurry of text messages from concerned friends and family members. Drew happily colored and played on his iPod until the first two infusions were done, and we were on our way home by 3pm. To think of this as a short day was a bit ironic given that we had arrived at 7:30am, but sometimes these days can last for 12 or 15 hours, so this felt short. It felt short anyway until we got home. Then it hit me like a brick wall. We had made it, I could exhale, and the stress of the unknown from the past several weeks started to show up in my horrible back pain, throbbing headache, and exhausted mind. I laid on the couch for the next many hours, my husband putting the kids to bed, and then finally went to bed myself after hooking him up to his nighttime dose of Meropenum. I woke up today feeling awful. My head hurts. My everything hurts. I don't know if its harder this time because he's more aware of what's happening and in addition to managing my own stress and anxiety about everything I'm also trying to minimize his? Is it because the rest of the family sees this as unfair and I feel responsibility to help manage expectation and disappointments and frustrations? I don't know. I do know that in a day or two we will find our groove, everyone will have accepted our temporary routine. Forgive our messy house and scattered minds and shitty attitudes for the next two weeks. It's sort of like survival mode over here, for all of us. We so greatly appreciate all of the thoughts and prayers, and will keep you updated on all things happening here in crazytown.

Friday, July 8, 2016

I'm a maker. We're all makers.

A few weeks ago, I threw a tweet out into the universe looking for good ideas on how to create a hands-free nebulizer for Drew. He gets to play on his iPod during treatments, and with having to hold the nebulizer, he's only got one hand free to play games that mostly require two hands. He does this thing with his arm where he uses it as a ledge to balance the neb, but it usually falls or spills leaving both of us feeling frustrated. A mask would be a simple solution, but we'd graduated from a mask to a mouthpiece for deep breaths and deeper medication penetration into his lungs, and also for the opportunity to utilize the Aerobika for additional positive expiratory pressure, something that helps to open his floppy airways and allow him to cough out the junk that makes him sick. Anyway, you can't use a mask with the Aerobika, so we are left trying to find ways to allow him the simple pleasure of playing on his iPod during treatments while still receiving the full benefit of the treatment.

So a tweet went out, and what transpired was nothing short of magical. People from around the globe and in a variety of industries and roles shared their ideas and feedback on what we could do to solve this problem. I love it when the network uses its powers for good. Read what Susanna Fox captured in this Storify of the weeks we spent online prototyping options and finally reaching a reasonable solution. A solution, I should add, that now lives on the Maker Health website (or will as soon as I hit "publish"). This is a place where anyone with a good idea can share their idea to help others learn. Check it out.

Here's the deal

In the middle of June, I wrote a post about Drew's clinic visit and declining lung function. His normal range is mid 90's. At our quarterly check up, his number was down to 85. Before we left for Philadelphia he had dropped down to 79. We decided to treat him with 2 weeks of an oral antibiotic to see if that would help him, thinking that there is probably an infection in his lungs (there's always an infection in his lungs, like literally, but its not always causing a problem), and planned to retest him upon our return. Well, we returned and his lung function is still at 79.

So the big question is what to do. Normally, I would be on board for treatment. But normally he would be "sick" in the more traditional sense - increased cough, decreased appetite and energy level. And none of those things are there. I've used my Orchestra data to tell the story of his health time and time again, and i'm coming up short this time. There is no cough, and there hasn't been for months. His weight is better than its ever been, and his appetite remains unchanged. He is sleeping well and generally happy. Yet his lung function is going down. His doctor suggested that sometimes kids this age aren't able to articulate when they can't quite take as deep a breath, or when they're struggling to clear secretions when they have a more subtle infection going on, stuff that may be less obvious to my naked ear. But I feel like he would have something going on that I would notice, anything, and I don't. Sometimes people with CF just need a tune-up, and I hate prolonging the inevitable if that's what needs to happen. The thing is, I'm not convinced that's what needs to happen. I don't know what the problem is - an infection? increased inflammation? allergies? reflux? I don't know, and the only way that it would seem that we can figure that out is to try different treatment options to see how he responds to them and what makes him better.

The current plan is a steroid burst to see if there is inflammation that we can get under control, and retesting his lung function on Monday morning. We also have an appointment to have a PICC placed on Monday morning following the PFT to start two weeks on IVs if his numbers aren't up. Hopefully one of these things work. Normally I'm annoyed when people try to give me suggestions for how to treat him because I normally feel like I have a pretty good handle on him as an individual, but this time I am at a loss. I don't know whats going on. I don't have data to support any theory of illness or allergy or other inflammation otherwise. I'm open to ideas, thoughts and suggestions so please do send them my way if you have them. Stay tuned!


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Press Releases

The latest news and information from the Providence family of services. Press releases date back approximately 12 months, with the most recent appearing at the top of the page.

Learn more from our media contacts or connect with us on Facebook for a broad range of news, updates and other exciting information.

Title Date Teaser
PSHC Hosts Annual Golf Fundraiser 6/15/2017 33rd Annual Golf Classic brings in $320,000.
PSHC Receives $15,000 Grant from DARTS 6/07/2017 Funds will provide 10 hearing aids to children from low-income families.
PSHC Elected New Board President 1/30/2017 Board of Directors welcomed new President, Kevin Timone, for term commencing January 1
PSHC Hosts 51st Annual Gala 11/2/2016 Annual fundraiser was magical, brought in $540,000.
PSHC Receives $15,000 from Citizens Business Bank 8/26/2016 Funds support speech and hearing services for low-income patients.
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I-295 SB reopens after tractor trailer fire in NJ

August 9, 2012 3:11:43 PM PDT
The southbound lanes of I-295 are back open after a tractor trailer crashed and caught fire Thursday afternoon in Camden County.

It happened at 3:45 p.m. in the southbound lanes approaching the White Horse Pike (Route 30) in Lawnside.

Video from Chopper 6 HD over the scene showed the charred wreckage of an overturned big rig and a gray SUV with extensive front end damage.

Remarkably, police say no one was injured in the crash.

All lanes of I-295 were shut down in the area for about two hours as crews worked to clear the scene.

There is still no word what caused the accident.

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Wednesday, May 29, 2013

DP "My Hyena" on Metal Postcard Records

Fin Records in Seattle stands out as a rare example of a record label existing completely in service of the artists they release. They consistently put together incredible packages for all kinds of underrepresented artists in their part of the world ignoring genre labels and market research. Metal Postcard Records run by Sean Hocking in Hong King seems to be working with a similar anything goes philosophy, supporting and releasing experimental DJ’s, hazy psych or a metal duo like this single from DP. Not exactly sure what happened to these guys since Time Out HK named them one of the top 10 music acts in 2008 and their site seems to be completely something else. The music scene in Hong Kong and China is something I hadn’t thought much about until reading Red Rock by Jonathan Campbell. It hasn’t been easy for music in this part of the world, playing catch up with Western sound…and who says they should be? Is there even a regional sound to any music these days? How much does the government give a crap? There are huge challenges ahead for bands looking for their own voice and Metal Postcard is probably one of the most valuable resources you could have on that side of the world.

I grabbed this single "My Hyena" from DP out of the stack of 45’s Sean was generous enough to send - there’s still no substitute for holding the artifact in your hands and really spending time with two sides of a band like this. This drum and bass duo opens the A-Side with the title track, “My Hyena” which starts with weird quiet electronics in an attempt to get you to turn this up before the full blast of DP piles in a heavy ultra-pop sound. They’re seriously polished and massive, heavy low end and metal, a case in point of how a duo has to work harder than the average band. Starting with this severe limitation it frees them up to go big and experimental in always trying to get the biggest possible sound. Like The Ax on Whoa! Boat it’s a fiery, loud kind of post punk that blends synth as hard as polished sine wave distortions with a bizarre Sun Ra type of gleaming metal.

B-Side’s "Man Thresher" seems to adopt a southern metal Death From Above 1979 sound with guttural low-end chords that rumble with massive drum fills. Tons of metal polish and bravado on the vocal, it’s dark with a punk, frantic melody. Heavy beats and an almost piercing high falsetto vocal goes growly eventually with all hair flowing metal on the edge of a cliff. It’s a throbbing composite of metal and attitude with screamy vocals from Dave Wong on that distortion filled bass.

Sean has also written some fantastic pieces on the scene over there, which require going down some serious rabbit holes. Needless to say its still wide open for bands and no end to harassment.

Pick this up from Metal Postcard direct or their Facebook store. Click on the “Music CD’s” section for their singles.

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Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Hell City Kings on Artificial Head Records

Hell City Kings are a mix of hot rod, biker punk culture from the concealed firearm state of Texas. You can bet I'm not going to fuck with these guys. Not in a million years - and they know where I live since they sent this one to me a couple weeks ago.

A-Side's "One Night Stand Ego" fades into a psych haze of television hum, delayed conversations and knob twisting echo effects. A weird fakeout for the heavy power riffs that punch in, captured perfectly right down to these finger flying solos filling up any break between gates. It's an updated Rocket from the Crypt sound or just straight up Lemmy, forget the rest of Motorhead they just work with that single members influence. It's overdriven right to the edge of those VU meters, thumping kick drums like mortar shells, wide, thick guitars carving a massive path through the middle of this. Balanced for snarling vocals which are backed by the rest of the band. Two guitars three vocals running at full speed, they don't even need those chainlink fence cages when they play because everyone knows better. You know what? Put one over the audience.
B-Side's "Two Grams All for Me" You only measure things in grams if they are illegal. Just saying - this isn't a cooking show. This time the vocals take more of a front seat, leading the guitars through squealing scraping up the fretboard the beginning of verses. They keep winding the tension between vocals and riffs pulling back and forth reminding me of Sick of it All/Cro Mags attitude and speed. He doubles up those vocals in the chorus and they play with tempo changes dropping down to a real chunky bassline. Everyone joins in at the end just to make sure you're paying attention, ending this one with more freakout delayed effects, like the spaceship that sucked them up for the show just set them back down again so they didn't miss the BBQ.

I can relate to the insert art from Jason Karns of a record hermit in a studio apartment and on the reverse is no difference thirty years later except more locks on the door and more shelves for records.

Mixed purple-ish smeared vinyl from Artificial Head Records.

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