The Operation

The brain radiation treatment was surprisingly, eerily uneventful. I was placed on a metal table with a mask over my face, bolted down so I wouldn’t move a millimeter. Lasers poised, my brain was blasted, but I didn’t feel a thing. The whole operation took all of ten minutes, and afterwards, I was in the waiting room talking to the radiologist about the steroids I was to take to prevent swelling in the skull. Done and done.

Once home, I was pleased and completely flabbergasted to watch the donations come in. I became confident that I would be able to go to the Gerson Institute–the one in Mexico, not in Hawaii, as I found out that that is considered a “retreat” and not a licensed treatment center–and I started to put the wheels in motion. Since it was all a little confusing, I decided to call their office in San Diego to make sure I was going through the correct steps of applying. After a few questions, the woman on the phone told me that they no longer accept patients who have had brain metastasis, because of a risk of seizure with their treatment. Which means, no Gerson Institute for me. I was crestfallen, to say the least. Of all the alternative cancer treatments that I have heard of, Gerson has the highest success rate. I said “thank you for letting me know,” hung up the phone, and proceeded to freak the f**k out.

What now?

I began searching, searching, searching for the next best thing–something comparable, something equally radical, something to give me hope. I spent a couple days on the couch, reading everything i could, between fits of crying, grasping at the air and shouting “I love life! I want to live! I am going to live damnit!”

Fortunately, a client of mine has a friend who has lived with breast cancer for the past 30 years. She has the same type of hormone receptors, has had brain and bone mets like myself, and every single alternative doctor and treatment that I have heard of, she has been to them already. What a wealth of information and experience she could share with me, and I spoke with her about what my next move should be. She insisted that I go to a doctor in San Francisco named Dr. Tom Cowan, an M.D. who incorporates holistic healing in his practice. I had a phone consultation with him last Friday, and he insisted that there is no point in coming out to see him just yet, and that I need to get started on his protocol right away.

Like the Gerson therapy, the protocol involves lots of juicing, lots of vegetables, and 100% organic ingredients. What sets it apart is that I am instructed to use fats liberally, and not just any fat – the fat of grass-fed, pastured and humanely raised animals, butter and coconut oil. The theory here is that solid tumors respond better to a state of ketosis, whereas cancers of the blood and lymph respond better to a vegan diet. He also has me on a very extensive, strict supplement regime, that includes up to 100 pills a day. I just started on the food and supplements, and it is very confusing to time them correctly, and it definitely takes up a lot of time and energy to get it just right. Added to this, I will start injecting mistletoe extract into my abdomen every morning at 9am. I am still waiting to receive the mistletoe-that should be a fun addition to the mix. (Read about the efficacy of mistletoe extract as a cancer treatment here.)

Mistletoe by andrevanb on Flickr

Without the support that I have received from all you wonderful heroes, this type of treatment would not have been available to me. But now I am able to explore other options outside of the oncologist down the block, the one who just happens to be covered by medicare.

My Doctor’s Surprising Endorsement

Speaking of my oncologist, I had more chemo scheduled yesterday, but I nervously broke the news to him–that although I respect everything has done to me–er, I mean, for me– thus far, I am going to be trying something different, and if he would please monitor me through the process. To my absolute surprise, he gave me his full blessing. In his words, “All I can offer you is more dreadful chemo, and if you can find something better, I want you to do it.”

What???!!!

It seems that even he is aware of the flaws in the current cancer industry. My husband asked him what the chances of me responding to this current round of treatment, and he said “The chances of you improving or staying the same after 6 more rounds of chemo is about one in three. After that, it is unlikely that we would see an improvement, because at that point the cancer would have figured out how to be resistant, and then it’s on to the next chemo. There’s little chance that we would see a 100% improvement, and all we would be doing is trying to extend your life as best we can, with what we have available.”

Well, I probably don’t have to explain to anyone that those odds suck, and I might as well take up knitting as a cancer therapy with the results I’m likely to get with this chemo. The doctor agreed to give me scans once every couple of months, and I’ll still receive a couple of medications from him in the meantime.

On a Wing and a Prayer

I am putting all my faith into Dr. Cowan, but lord knows whether this will be the beginning or the end of my journey to heal. We’ll see in a few months if I’m responding to his protocol, and if not, it’s off to the next best option, and the next, and the next. I have no idea how much this will cost in the end, which is why you will see that I still have a donation button present on the site. I am so incredibly grateful for everyone that has donated so far, I can’t even begin to explain it. Without these donations, we would already be in the hole from the first round of blood tests and supplements, and by some grace of God, I have been supported by a network of caring people who would like to see me survive. Imagine that.

I have been inspired to live a life full of purpose and the desire to help others. If I am given the gift of living a long life, it shall be a life of paying it forward and acting in accordance with my deepest held beliefs. It’s only right that I have been given the chance to live, that I should pass that on to someone else in any way that I can. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

There's the dirty little devil

If you’re a good friend of mine, or a friend on Facebook, you probably know that I have been dealing with cancer for the past year. Initially I had a tumor the size of a fist in my right breast, and was treated with 16 rounds of chemotherapy, which failed to shrink the tumor. Therefore, I underwent a double mastectomy with reconstruction and 30 rounds of radiation to my chest.

Once this was completed in November of 2011, I was excited to get back to “normal” life–building my business, hanging out with friends who had not seen me in a long time, and simply reveling in the day-to-day activities of a healthy person. However, that quickly changed.

Around Thanksgiving I started feeling some soreness that started in my lower-right side, which I attributed to starting a new workout regime. I tried to think nothing of it, but the pain began to really interfere with daily activities. I mentioned this to my oncologist, who sent me to get an MRI, CT and a bone scan.

No…Anything but that!

The results came back. The scans detected cancer in my lung, liver, spine, ribs and pelvis. And of course, with this news, came more radiation, chemotherapy, and the need to walk with a cane. The radiation folks were able to blast the tumor in my pelvis, and now comes the slow process of regenerating bone in that area. But my turmoil has not ended there.

About three weeks ago I woke up on the morning of a chemotherapy treatment with a massive headache. I mentioned this to my oncologist, and he responded, to my surprise, that if the headaches persist I ought to go for a brain MRI. And persist they did. I went in for the test, and the results came back… a nickel-sized tumor on the front of my brain.

So, where do I go from here?

As I write this, I am preparing to have the brain tumor hit with a high-dose radiation beam tomorrow, February 9th, 2012. The doctors have confidence that it will “get  it.” However, there may still be some lingering cells in my body that are waiting to turn into tumors, and there’s no way to tell whether or not that will happen. Apparently, I can only wait and see.

But, there is hope.

I’ve decided that I can no longer submit myself to these treatments. Once my chemotherapy is over – which would be a week and two days from today – I have decided make arrangements to visit the Gerson Retreat in Hawaii.

From their website:

The Gerson Therapy is a nutritional program that utilizes the body’s own mechanism in the treatment of chronic debilitating illness. It was introduced 50 years ago by Max Gerson, M.D. Gerson Therapy is a detoxification and rebuilding program. It consists of flooding the body every day with nutrients from about 20 pounds of organically grown fresh fruits and vegetables.

As a result of detoxification and increased oxygenation, cellular regeneration of all organs occurs, in particular that of the liver, and the immune system is restored to its optimal function.

Gerson therapy may be used to help recovery from chemotherapy or after surgery or radiation.

The woman who helps me clean my apartment personally knows two people who have healed themselves from Cancer using the Gerson therapy. A blogger in Australia named Jessica Ainscough details how she saved her own arm from amputation using the Gerson therapy as well. You can read all about it on her site, The Wellness Warrior.

I believe that my doctors have the ability to kill tumors left and right, and I have no doubt of their capabilities in that respect. However, chemotherapy, radiation and surgery do not address the underlying reasons that cause people to get cancer in the first place. I would like to get to the bottom of this as soon as I can. The survivor statistics for my type of metastatic cancer are pretty grim. I refuse to be among those statistics.

Give What You Can, If You Can

Two weeks with a guest at the Gerson retreat starts at $11,000, not including airfare. Once a patient returns home, they must continue the therapy for another two years. The therapy consists of numerous, 100% organic juices a day made with a top-of-the-line juice press. Thank goodness my husband is gainfully employed, and we can fund this with credit cards at least for a little while. But anything that you can contribute to make this a little easier on us will never be forgotten. I am pledging that if I can raise a considerable amount towards the Gerson retreat and therapy, that I will donate 10% of my profits–once my business is again profitable–to an ethical charity. That’s just the kind of show that I am running around here.

I am planning to live a very long time, and therefore I am taking responsibility for my health and doing the hard work that is required to keep me here. Thanks.

This first set of photos is from the apartment of Art Director, Travis Rothe. He has an incredible eye for organizing what could be a frenzied mish-mash of collectibles into areas of like colors and themes. Which is fortunate, because this fellow collects a dizzying variety of pieces. He has what I would call a “catholic corner” as well as a “porcelain leopard clock corner”, and–not pictured, unfortunately–a wall of neckties.

Here’s the man of the hour himself! Look at that fantastic brooch. What an incredible host! We topped of the evening by dancing to his expansive record collection.
The following snaps are from the home of Antique and Resale Shoppe owner Jules Breen and her husband Colin Reed of Prairieland Estate Services. Considering the careers of these two, you can probably imagine what sort of goodies they come across and get to keep for themselves.
Their home is like a rotating gallery. Every time I’ve been there, there have been different scenes, vignettes and themes featured in their decor!

So we’ve reached the end of the Holiday Season. I hope we are all the better for it! I don’t know about you but this one seemed to be more “festive” than previous years, and now I’m out of excuses to eat baked goods and drink Maker’s Mark Martinis with abandon!

Whether it’s in the city…

Or the suburbs…

Chicago knows how to put on a show for Christmas!

When planning the holiday party for The Society of Typographic Arts, I overzealously blurted out “TYPOGRAPHY CUPCAKES!” when asked if there was anything I could contribute. I was sure as heck that someone out there in this design world had embarked on such a project before, so it would be just a matter of googling to find that certain someone and their accompanying tutorial.

Boy, did I overestimate the design world’s appetite for edible type.

I did happen to pull up a lot of rounded-edged comic-sans-looking baking decorations, and that was definitely not the route I wanted to pursue. After several weeks of frantic searching, my friend Tamara Grusin of Peepwire sent me this link to the blog of the talented Crystal Ross of Gateaux Rose. As you can see, she’d made some tasteful and tasty cupcakes with elegant typography decorations. I told her about my conundrum, and she responded with helpful hints about making the letters. It wasn’t easy, but they turned out great–and were a HUGE HIT at the holiday party!

So in case you wanted to give this a go, I’ve included step-by-step instructions. Wow your design and type nerd friends at your next festive gathering! ( Just expect to stay up all night making them!)

Making the letters

1. First, I gathered the necessary recipes. For the Royal Icing, I went with an Alton Brown recipe. For the cupcakes and buttercream frosting, I went with–who else?–Martha Stewart!
2. Then I headed over to Michael’s craft store for the supplies. I picked up a Cupcake Decorating Kit, which came with 5 different tips and some plastic pastry bags. I also grabbed some mini cupcake tins (I decided to keep them finger-food sized for the purpose of a party), some mini cupcake cups, and gel food coloring pots.
3. For the royal icing and buttercream frosting, I added the very slightest amount of food coloring. Technicolor frosting is unappetizing to me… might as well get a sheet cake from the local grocery chain. Not very chic.
4. Make the royal icing the night before the cupcakes. The recipe calls for egg whites, vanilla, more powdered sugar than is probably fit for human consumption, and food coloring. Adding the  powdered sugar slowly to the egg whites, you’ll come up with a consistency that is fit for piping.
5. I printed the alphabet on card stock–with some glyphs thrown in for fun–then taped down parchment on top of it. I found that using a decorative, bold font works best–in this case, Council by Emigre.
6. With a very careful hand, I traced each letter with the the smallest pastry tip in the set. This is key for the most control.

First, trace the outside edges.

Then fill in the center.

Let the letters dry overnight. In a pinch, you could let them dry in the oven for about 20 minutes set to low.

Making the cupcakes and the buttercream frosting

The cupcakes and the frosting recipes are pretty straightforward: in lieu of sifting the dry ingredients, I used a fine wire strainer and shook the ingredients together.

Again, with the frosting, just the lightest touch of food coloring.

I broke my hand mixer while making the batter!

I filled the cupcake tins using a pitcher. The cupcakes themselves bake pretty quickly–10 minutes–so as you can see, it can be easy to get carried away and make A LOT of them!

Frosting the cupcakes

With the next largest pastry tip in the set, lightly frost each cake, making a circle and and finishing with a light push on the tip. (This part was really fun!)

Finally, with a very careful hand, insert the letters into the frosting.

TA-DA!

Last two photographs shot by Lucy Hewett.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, and if you give it a shot, send me pictures of your results!

Gotta love clients that value good design and aren’t afraid to take chances! (I hope this means more chances for some fun projects down the line, too!)

That’s not to say that I wouldn’t be willing to spend real money on a piece of clothing that is made by an independent designer, with quality materials, and will last a long time… and thankfully I’ve been in a lucrative enough position to do so several times in the past.

The other major area in life that I pinch serious pennies is on furniture. Looking around my living room, I’ve tallied the amount that I have spent on furniture, and the grand total comes to exactly $65.

What we paid for:

Coffee Table: $15, bought from an old neighbor.

End Table: $10, Garage Sale.

Dresser: $15, Craigslist (Appraised for $250, I’ll have you know!)

TV Stand: $10, Craigslist.

Printer Stand (Which is actually a TV tray, which I tried to remove from the living room, which my husband replaced): $15, Bed Bath and Beyond.

That’s it! Everything else was given to us as gifts, inherited from a passed relative, or as a trade for my graphic design services. Granted, I am not near finished decorating. The coffee table has some great lines but a pretty sad and beat-up inlay on top. I am imagining a pair of dark-rose curtains adorning the windows. The box of books is not a permanent fixture, I’m waiting for the Craigslist free section to show me a dark-wood, modern, horizontally-oriented entertainment center/bookshelf. (A gal can dream, can’t she? My other plan is to wait until I can actually afford my dream book shelf, but I can wait.)

Which brings me to the first of my top 3 tips for decorating for almost nothing:

1. Patience

I know from experience that moving into an empty, sparsely-furnished apartment makes one antsy, and ready to make a bee-line to Ikea to fill the place up with a half-cooked design scheme funded by an entire month’s pay. But wait! A couple of months later, you just might see an adorable vintage couch and an unheard of low price sitting in the church thrift shop window. However, it just doesn’t go with your decor, and you couldn’t possibly sell the Ikea couch for anywhere near your purchase price, so you go home and sit on your bland, slumpy couch, and weep.

The key here is to be OK with the sparseness of your furniture set up, and to wait for those magical moments when you see something that you love, fits your personality, makes you happy, and comes at the right price. Throughout my twenties, I’ve had to live with that unfinished look in all of my apartments, but I’ve patched up the holes with art I made myself, fake flowers, and really small area rugs. The wait has been financially worthwhile, and I finally have a home that feels completely “me.”

2. Edit

Now that you know how to decorate for barely any money, you shouldn’t have any problem parting with items that no longer fit your design scheme. Sometimes, you can sell items on Craigslist for more than you bought them for, like the following coffee table, on which I spent $50, and sold for $60 three years later:

You certainly don’t want to end up with a mish-mash of unmatching, cheap-looking items, once the better quality stuff starts coming into your life. So keep a close, keen eye on your stuff and take away things when they’re no longer serving you. Something better awaits!

3. Craigslist

Have I not mentioned Craigslist enough in this post? Well its for good reason. Some people just need you to get their items out of their life, fast. For which reasons, you may not want to know, so just be sure to meet the person OUTSIDE of their house, during daylight hours, and bring a buddy, mmmkay?

Some good strategies for Craigslist hunting is to check the free section very early in the morning. Its also handy to know someone with a truck. You may end up paying your friend $20 to help you transport that free furniture to you place, but it will be worth it. Also, look in the really, really rich suburbs or neighborhoods in your town. (“North Chicagoland” is a good place for Chicagoans to start.) These are the folks that really don’t need to make money off of their furniture, so they’re just trying to move it out of their place hassle-free. Hence my $15 dresser.

So now that I’ve shared with you my top tips for decorating for next to nothing, I’d like to share with you my score from the past weekend:

This is a Magritte Print, found sitting next to a dumpster on the North Side of Evanston. Matted and everything. It will have such an impact next to my Vespa calendar that I bought on a trip to Rome:

So I’m certainly not the authority on scoring cheap and free items for the home, I bet you all have some ideas, too. Care to share?

Transit Poster Advertisement for LIDA

In honor of Blog Action Day, today’s blog post is dedicated to the subject of water, specifically, the dwindling supply of safe drinking water  the world over. In 2009 I had the honor of creating a branding package for LIDA, the Laboratorio Internazionalle Dell’Acqua in Milan, Italy, a museum completely dedicated to the science of water. In my research for this project I came across some extremely startling statistics, and I believe its high time that we all listen up and take action.

Water Usability Chart.. Click for larger Image

Although the world is covered by 70% water, we know that little of that is freshwater, and much of that freshwater is locked up in glacial ice.  Unfortunately, what little usable freshwater we have left is being wasted in a gross fashion by industry, namely the Food, Fashion and Technology industries. Adding to these dismal truths are the following:

• Waste Overflow: Every day, 2 million tons of human waste are disposed of in water sources. This not only negatively impacts the environment but also harms the health of surrounding communities. More Info »
• Polluted Oceans: Death and disease caused by polluted coastal waters costs the global economy $12.8 billion a year. More Info »
• Uninhabitable Rivers: Today, 40% of America’s rivers and 46% of America’s lakes are too polluted for fishing, swimming, or aquatic life. More Info »

So, what’s a regular joe to do, when faced with such seemingly insurmountable forces in the world’s struggle with water? How can we sleep at night knowing that every week, nearly 38,000 children under the age of 5 die from unsafe drinking water and unhygienic living conditions?

Simple. We do our part.

Have you ever heard the old folk tale about the ladybug carrying water to put out a huge forest fire? When asked why she bothered when her efforts were seemingly futile, she responded “I am doing my part.” And that is what we can all do. When you live your life in accordance with your values, amazing things happen. Karma becomes your friend . So instead of throwing your candy wrappers onto the highway of life with your “What does it matter, anyway?” attitude, consider taking these action steps:

• Conservation Starts at Home: The average person uses 465 liters of water per day. Find out how much you use and which steps you can take to reduce this ghastly amount. More Info »
• Keeping Rivers Clean: We can all take small steps to help keep pollution out of our rivers and streams, like correctly disposing of household wastes. More Info »
• Drop the Bottle: Communities around the world are taking steps to reduce water bottle waste by eliminating bottled water. More Info »

Because remember, what we all have in common, with the largest elephant, the smallest flea, and with children in sub-saharan Africa, is that we are all made of water and depend on water to survive. Once we behave the way we think the world should behave–”Being the change we wish to see in the world”–the universe responds in marvelous ways.

Selected Veal Livers. Mmmmm!

In addition to this bevy of fantastic antique typography, there was also some good old-fashioned square dancing taking place in the barn. These elder folks were smiling so broadly and quite obviously enjoying themselves something fierce:

The Deejay looked super out of place with his laptop. The music was rather generic-sounding, and was punctuated with a deadpan delivery of “Take your partner, do-see-do, find you a pretty one, ’round she goes…”

I am really feeling this guy’s slick 50s hairdo (and square dancing.. err.. towel?)And of course, we treated ourselves with some apples and a trip through the orchard.

And when we got home, this was inevitable:

Recipe courtesy of Martha Stewart (Naturally!)

Josh and Renée from Robu Roku sent me these photos of their neat-o creations!

And, silly me, how could I forget that these rad Record Barrettes that I purchased at the Fair were made by them? Earth to me!

Jealous or what?

Allison from Strawberry Luna piped up and informed me that this truly wonderful poster was designed by her:

This here’s a poster for the band Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin. You really can’t shake a stick at a name like that.

Here we have a darling photo of the two masterminds behind Art Reco, Jason and Michelle.
This is a geometric print I pulled from their site. Its right up my alley, as I love using geometric principles in design and mixing them up in seemingly random ways.

Thanks again for your participation, its always encouraged!

This past weekend I was hosted by my good friend Rebecca R. in Wauwatosa, WI, which is a charming little suburb outside of Milwaukee. Her neighborhood is populated with arts-and-crafts style bungalows and mid-century modern ranch houses. Her apartment is in the converted attic of a bungalow, and she has done an impeccable job of decorating on a budget. Her style is pretty kitsch, and she has a lot of collections, however, she keeps them organized, with space around and between items, and also keeps an eye on proportion.

Like I said, she really has a knack for displaying her collections!

The hostess with her very Austere (and a tad bit excitable) dog Stewart

We were in Milwaukee, after all!

If you don’t need a book to tell you how to decorate, decorate with said book! (Notice the $1.99 price tag still on it.)

Of all things, a Lawrence Welk Commemorative Plate. (Something tells me she didn’t purchase it on HSN.)

Great shape and color on this Ikea Couch. I was regaled by her husband of the harrowing tale of finding that particular couch and the hunt for that particular color slipcover on Ebay. I wish I were that persistent! (With my interior design intentions as well as my husband.)

Neat, dusted, and with space between each item. Ignore these rules of collecting and you will have yourself a confusing pile of nonsense!

Thanks for letting me share your home, Rebecca!

And finally, on a completely unrelated note, I leave you with this photo of the American Eagle roller coaster at Six Flags Great America, which I passed on my way back from Milwaukee. I only post it because “Spiderwebs” by No Doubt was playing on the radio as I passed. I kid you not!