Artist Paula Santos

When Medical Labs Screw Up!!!

A medical lab's mistake turned our lives into chaos for the past couple of weeks. As stated in my previous entry my son has Crohn's Disease and it was bad enough that he had to have surgery to remove an abscess at the beginning of May 2013. And we were happy after that since he was on the road to recovery but alas a disturbing call on June 13 brought our world to a standstill. I get a call from his gastroenterologist asking me to bring him to the hospital right away because a culture they took from his abscess had come back positive for TB (tuberculosis). I was a total wreck knowing that my son was taking Humira and now probably had TB. Needless to say as a teenage boy having to deal with a hospital stay the previous month he was not very happy to find himself being dragged back to the hospital and I can't blame him for that. When we get to the hospital I called the doctor and he met us right away, asked Noah to put on a mask and explained to us the severity of the situation. Within 10 minutes of arriving at the hospital my son has been admitted and was in a room. That same day he has an MRI to determine the damage of the TB and the next morning he has a CT Scan followed by a spinal tap. The day after that they bring him down to Nuclear Science department to have a bone scan and various other tests. ALL these tests come back negative for TB. Every day we meet with various specialists and they are perplexed at the fact that his culture came back positive for TB but all the tests they have run come back Negative. We also had to have my son Adam tested along with ourselves. Our tests came back negative.
Noah's gastroenterologists wanted to leave no stone unturned and it's decided that maybe the TB is in his intestines or colon. They do an endoscopy and colonoscopy along with biopsy to determine if TB is present. At this point an infectious disease specialist, Dr. Reed, that we had consulted comes back and states that he doesn't believe that our son has TB becauses all the tests show he doesn't have the disease but he believes that somehow his specimen got contaminated at the lab by some other persons specimen that had the disease.
Unfortunately at this point the Florida Health Department is involved and unfortunately for my son he is forced to take the TB medication until Dr. Reed can prove that my son's specimen got contaminated at the lab and he doesn't have the disease. He is unable to continue his medication for the disease he does have which is Crohn's and is forced to take the TB meds.
Dr. Reed and his gastroenterologists release my son from the hospital 6 days after he is admitted however we still have to deal with the Florida Health Department who insist my son takes the TB medication until it is proven that his specimen was indeed contaminated. So no matter what other tests this poor child has gone through that prove he does not have the disease he is unable to start back on the medication he should be on for his Crohn's because the state believes he has TB. The Florida Health Department actually has a nurse that comes to the house every day that has to witness him taking his meds (meds he doesn't need!!!).

We spend Father's day in the hospital with my son... what should have been a happy day is instead a day filled with worries and stress. And for months we had been planning for our 25th wedding anniversary which was a family reunion in Montreal, Canada. But the most pressing matter was getting our son back on his regular medication and off the TB meds. Finally on June 28th we got the call from Dr. Reed stating that he was able to prove to the Health Department that Noah's specimen was indeed contaminated and he could get off the TB meds and back on his regular meds.
It was a wonderful day and we are currently working on getting him back to good health.
Although our big family reunion in Montreal was cancelled at least our daughters managed to get away for a few days to come and celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary on the 25th of June.
Here are some photos from our special day.

Adam and Noah

The Hubby and me.

Having fun in the pool

Noah having fun playing

Celebrating our 25th at Saia in Fort Lauderdale, FL

Crohn's Disease...

I've taken a little hiatus lately from all my online blogs, websites, facebook, basically because I've been dealing with my son's Crohn's disease. My son was diagnosed with crohn's about 3 years ago. The 2 first years were really tough and in March 2012 he ended up developing an abscess and a small fistula. He had to have surgery and spent about 10 days in the hospital. At that point we decided to try Remicade in order to control his crohn's. For a year things were great. Every 2 months he spent the day at the hospital getting his treatment and he led a normal happy life. About 2 months ago he started feeling sick again and at first the doctors thought he had just developed an infection. They put him on antibiotics for a month. Unfortunately that did not help. He had an MRI done and that came back with great results but yet he didn't feel well. It got the the point were he was having a lot of difficulty sitting and walking so we ended up at his doctors office again trying to figure out what was going on. They finally discovered that he had developed another abscess so he had surgery about 2 weeks ago. At the same time we did a lot of testing and we ended up finding out that his body had developed antibodies against the remicade so that is no longer a viable form of treatment. On monday we head back to the doctors for his first treatment of Humira which we hope will help him get healthy again. Being sick is hard but having a child sick is really the worst feeling in the world. I wish I could protect him and take all this pain away but all I can do is make sure he gets the best treatment and I can give him all my love.
To find out more about Crohn's or to donate to find a cure please visit:
http://www.ccfa.org

Affordable Logos

I wanted to have a logo for my website and correspondence, business cards etc. Unfortunately at first all the companies I contacted wanted an outrageous amount of money which I could not afford since I'm starting my business on a limited budget. And truthfully I would rather spend the money on supplies such as paint or beads. I did come across gigbucks.com and they did have offers to create logos for as little as $5 however the communication with the people selling the logos was a little difficult since they had a hard time expressing themselves in english. I bought 3 different logos from 3 different people and although they were okay it wasn't really what I was looking for. Even after their free revision they still did not understand what I was describing to them. A little more research on my behalf and I ended up purchasing some graphic design software and creating my own logo. So here it is and I hope you all like it.

Let me know what you think...

I will also be adding logo services to my website in the next couple of weeks or so starting at $15 if you need one immediately don't hesitate to contact me.

Have a fabulous day.

Boston I'm thinking of you...

What insane world we live in. If it's not a shooting or stabbing at come school it's crazy stuff like today. How can we protect ourselves from this insanity.
My thoughts and prayers go out to the people that were injured and their family and all the runners.
I also hope that the person or persons responsible for this deplorable act will be caught and put behind bars.
God Bless they people hurt by this attack and God Bless America.

Copyrighted 2013

My Birthday...

It's been raining this morning here in Hollywood, FL and I'm just waiting for the sun to come out...Hopefully soon since my mood right now is a little like the weather outside. Yesterday was my birthday and I spent the day doing absolutely nothing...well except feeling sorry for myself. First off once you get to a certain age should we really celebrate??? LOL...who wants to be reminded that they are no longer a spring chicken.

I know I need to do what the picture says and just relax (how appropriate that this is actually a sitting area in my backyard).
I have to admit that the reason I have been feeling blue is because I have been working really hard to get my store for my website up and running and the day before my birthday I accidentally hit something that delete most of my work of the past couple of weeks...-> sigh :0(
I guess it could always be worse, anyway right now I just hope the sun will come out and brighten up my day. Hope you are all having a fabulous week and don't forget that smiles are free so share yours with someone and brighten up their day.

www.Paulasantos.com
©2013 PaulaSantos

Jewelry Making & more...

Love the creative process and I have to admit that I can't have just one thing going on at the same time. I finally finished one painting as you can see. The photo doesn't really do it justice since you can't see all the wonderful textures.

I'm currently working on another huge painting which I hope to finish soon.
Besides painting I've also been working on some jewelry pieces. Which will be available on my online store (which will go live on April 11th) at www.paulasantos.com

Still taking photos of all the finished items for my webstore. Yikes! only one week left... Hoping to be able to finalize everything by Wednesday so that the web store can go live on the 11th. Will keep you all posted.
Have a great day and don't forget to hug someone you love today :0)
©2013 PaulaSantos

Boys takes photos for Website...

My boys have no school for the Easter holiday so yesterday I enlisted their help in taking photos for my web store which I hope to launch on my birthday April 11. I have to say that I think they both did an awesome job and they worked very well together. Here are a few of the photos they took, tell me what you think...

Coconut Grove Art Festival last weekend was great...

Coconut Grove Art Festival 2013's poster was created by Romero Britto.

It was only $10 to get in per person and worth every penny. Art was absolutely spectacular. I took my husband with me along with my son Noah and his girlfriend. They has a great time too.

they also had lots of food vendors to choose from

The weather was fabulous and the turnout to the event was great (around 150,000 people. Hope you enjoy the photos.
©2013 PaulaSantos

Artfest Fort Myers, Florida

On February 3rd I dragged my husband and 2 sons all the way to Fort Myers, Florida for the Artfest. Boy... it was a very long ride mainly because the boys were complaining almost the whole time about. Stating they could think of better ways to spend their sunday. But I didn't let their complaining deter me from dragging them to the festival with me. Sometimes it's good to expose them to something they might not necessarily choose to do. The bottom line is that once we got there they had a great time. The food was great and this festival was huge. Although we were not allowed to take photos of the artwork here are some of the artists that were present and that we loved (there were a lot more artists but we choose only a few to give you an idea):
www.tardysculpture.com this artist was amazing, the boys including the hubby choose this as their favorite
www.harryroagallery.com - most original jewelry I have seen, exquisite
www.kurtruby.com - metal work art
www.tericausey.com - loved this mixed media 2d artist
www.kimberlywillcox.com - very nice - mixed media 3d artist
www.alanfeldmesser.com - amazing painter
We spend a fabulous day outside, viewing art, eating good food and enjoying the great location of the fair, waterfront.

In conclusion this is an artfest I would definitely consider participating in. The crowd was friendly and there's no better way to spend a sunday than to enjoy art in the outdoors.
have a great day :0)
©2013 PaulaSantos

Art Festivals/Fairs...Downtown Delray Beach Craft Festival

On February 2nd I dragged my husband and one of my sons to the 16th Annual Downtown Delray Beach Craft Festival (Delray Beach, FL. Even though they weren't too thrilled at first we all ended up having a great time. The festival was held on 4th Avenue and Atlantic Avenue. A great combination of art, crafts and food.

The venue was organized by:
ArtFestival.com
Howard Alan Events & American Craft Endeavors
Producer of the Nation's Finest Juried Art Shows and Craft Festivals

I would definitely participate in this type of festivals. It was well organized and had a great turnout (the weather was fabulous too).
©2013 PaulaSantos

Art Fair & Festival Research...Pinecrest Gardens Art Festival

Since resigning from my job at the end of 2012, I'm trying to find a path to a new career in the art world. The past month has been a journey of doubt and resolutions. So many questions and not enough time in a day to find all the answers. So sometimes it's just best to go with your gut feeling and push fear aside. For is it not fear that keeps us from following our dream. For me it's fear of the unknown but mostly fear of failure. For the past 3 weekends I've dragged my family to art fairs/festivals because I wanted to find out if selling at such venues was feasible for me. It was exciting and fun! The first venue we went to (just me and the hubby) was "Pinecrest Art in the Garden". The gardens were wonderful and they had some really great artists. The only thing I didn't like was the fact that the booths were scattered all over the place so it was difficult to figure out whether we had seen everything or not. It was busy but not overcrowded. Final vote was: it's not a fit for me.

Pinecrest Gardens Address: 11000 SW 57th Ave, Pinecrest, FL 33156 Phone:(305) 669-6990 Hours: Thursday hours 9:00 am–6:00 pm
Thanks for reading and if you have any interesting fairs/festivals etc. in your area shoot me an email. I always enjoy hearing from other people. Have a great day :0)
©2013 PaulaSantos

2013 New Year & New Beginnings

Took some time off and just enjoying the family and friends. It was great. My old Kitchenaid dishwasher went on the blink and so I had to call a repairman. Nixed the idea of fixing it when I was told the pump motor had to be replaced at it cost over $350 just for the parts. So today I got my brand new Bosch dishwasher installed and hopefully it will be as good as consumer reports claims it to be. On another note I'm currently trying to finish my website. I need to start selling all the stuff that is taking up so much room in my studio. Jewelry, paintings, cowls, scarves, bags, totes etc. will all be available soon on my online store. I'm currently sketching some folk art paintings as you can see and I hope to have them finished in the next couple of days.

I've also signed up for some art classes at the Coral Springs Museum of Art. Although I often experiment with different painting techniques it's always nice to meet new artists because you can always learn from them. Visit my etsy store to view some of the items I just listed plus I will be listing some more of my crochet creations in my etsy shop sometime this evening.

Lauderdale-by-the-Sea...Aruba Beach Cafe... Today I spent some quality time with the boys by dragging them to Aruba Beach Cafe for lunch in Lauderdale by the Sea. I have to admit that since going there a few weeks ago with the hubby it's become one of my favorite spots. Today they had someone playing the calypso drums and it felt like we were on a tropical island somewhere. The food is pretty good and the views are great (I always ask to be seated outside). As you can see on the photos there is a fabulous pier, benches to sit on and relax. The location of the restaurant is practically right on the beach as you can see. Soon I will be getting ready to join my husband at B Ocean Fort Lauderdale to Celebrate the New Year. Overall today was a great day to end off 2012. Happy New Year my friends. May 2013 bring you good health, total happiness, lots of love and much success. Cheers!!!