Skip to main content

HammerOn

    Last Thursday evening November 1, 2018 I got a visit from my cousin Andrew Parker also known to me as "Couvs" which originates from our fathers being brothers who were known to visit each other upon saying hey "Brovus."  Couvs presented me with an odd brown bag, he said "this was our grandfather's - Charles he had passed it onto my Dad, Jamo."  It was a Ball Peen Hammer about 14" inches in length, with a worn brown wood handle, and aged brown heavy hammer head.  "Our Grandfather used this to HammerOn things, shaping and making things, and the hammer is still here today." 

Couvs then said "this was your Uncle Jamo's he had passed it onto me."  It was a Framing Hammer about 16 inches in length, with a black rubber handle and worn white metal hammer head.  "Jamo used this to HammerOn things, especially ripping things apart with the claw and you always knew it was his hammer because he inscribed the word Parker in the head."  "Take these two hammers, symbolic from the people that came before you to hammer on."
    Rewind one month to my first day of Chemo, October 12, 2018 I brought some paper to sketch out what the logo could be for HammerOn.  I worked through a number of ideas, but I began to settle on two hammers one longer than the other crossed on each other.  At the hammer heads, the negative space that formed between them formed the shape of a heart - perhaps one hammer represented me, the caner patient, the other presented anyone that cares, supports and cheers me on,  together at heart.
Interestingly as I sat their crying with my Covus, two hammers in hand rooted in love, it all came full circle.  Something that I had made in sketch shared with know one except my Guardian Angel, my Dad.  It all came full circle with a surprise visit of two objects of love. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

3 Sentences

            Sunday, February 07. 2021 - Super Bowl Sunday, I went to the ER for a pain in my right lower abdomen under my rib cage, thinking I might have a pulmonary embolism.  So to check that out, I underwent a CT (scan #1) of my chest and top abdomen and ultrasound (scan #2) to rule out PE or gallbladder.  After a couple of hours, I got the results: no PE and nothing wrong with the gallbladder.  What I got instead was three sentences on a discharge document:     ER Report 02-07-21  Impression "3 Sentences"   Osseous metastatic disease with new T5 vertebral body lesion demonstrating epidural tumor extension. New lung nodules consistent with metastatic disease. Small right pleural effusion. Nodularity along the major fissure.  Findings concerning for malignant effusion , What followed was a TIDAL WAVE of EMOTION - WHAT? - YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME.  After several choice cuss w...

All of the Above

    All of the Above - how my cancer grew out of control in a short period of time and how I'm aggressively back in chemo and radiation to regain control.        July 2023, I stated to develop a wheeze in my breathing and then by mid July a cough and on July 18, 2023 I had my routine follow up scans (CT and Bone Scan).   First off, bone scan showed no additional new growth and a stable T4 from previous Feb 2021 cancer, so that was a win.  CT unfortunately showed a new large tumor in right lung with several new tumors growing in between lung sacks.  Left - March 2023 of right lung  Right - July 2023 of right lung     The image on the right is pretty telling as the  new large tumor was at the base of my lung surrounding the wind pipe which was likely causing my symptoms.  There was also a medium plural effusion at the base of my lung.  These together were starting to press the air space of my l...

ONJ

     ONJ  - What is ONJ -  Osteonecrosis of the jaw is a condition where  the jawbone is exposed and not covered by gums..... and that is what I had.  Um ok, what?        So this all started back in the beginning of April of 2022 when I ate some starburst candy and a few days later, started feeling pain in my lower left jaw area.  At first, I went to my family dentist, the normal found some cavities in the area and filled them.  However, the pain still was there, in the same area, but below my left jaw, a dull pain.  So I went again for a checkup and dentist said well you might need a root canal (in which they didn't do... but dentists in the 90s used to.... whatever).  That lead me to another dentist who did root canals and they took an pano image of my jaw, in which I commented, "I am a Stage 4 Cancer patient, how does that work with what your are doing" and I got a deer in the headlights look from th...