Andrew Rogers AKA The Silversunbeam

@andrewcrogers.com

470 Followers 294 Following

(he/him) Photographer / Maker / Father / Husband (in no particular order) https://linktr.ee/silversunbeam

Fallout themed shot glasses being 3D printed
Hey fam, a little PSA I want to share with y'all. Last week Mrs. Sunbeam went in for a check up with her PCP. Pretty much a normal check up until Mrs. S mentioned a problem that she’d been having, something that didn’t feel overly troubling at the time. She’d been bruising quite easily and she’d been fatigued a lot. TLDR, after having a full blood panel run we got a call, first from the lab and then from the doctor. Her platelet count was 4 (as in 4,000 per micro liter). Normal range for an adult human should be somewhere between 150 and 450. After a little consideration we were told to get to the ER as quickly as possible. The reason being is that with a count less than about 20 the potential for a stroke is incredibly high (not to mention possible internal bleeding). Long story short, Mrs. S spent two nights in the hospital while they gave her 3 units of platelets and put her on a massive IV dose of steroids, while they did more testing to figure out what we were dealing with. I’m happy to say that the therapy worked wonders and she was released with a count of 27. Still low, but that increase meant that her body wasn’t destroying new platelets. After 2 more days with high steroid doses her count (as of yesterday’s follow up) is up to 280, well above the lower end of the normal range. Whew! What caused this auto-immune response? We’re still not 100% sure. Acute ITP (Immune Thrombocytopenia) has several potential causes ranging from a simple viral infection (flu, COVID, chikungunya, etc.) to leukemia and lupus. Luckily, blood marrow disorders like leukemia and other cancers were ruled out pretty early. Tests for lupus came back negative. The doctor suspects it was a response to a viral infection (we both had a bad case of the flu right after Christmas). TLDR, Listen to what your body is telling you and make sure you have your doctor check you out (even if you feel it’s nothing). Small things can be indicators for life threatening issues that need to be treated.
Photograph of a dead tree in Monument Valley. Behind the tree is a geological formation known as "The Ear of God".
A picture depicting the Minolta X-570 35mm SLR
AC Rogers pointing at the back up of Pioneer 10 suspended from the ceiling at the National Air & Space museum
A photo of Richard J Rogers 1948-2025 taken in approx 1972
Rendering of a 3D sculpt of a whale shark
3D rendering of a modular, 3D printed 4x5 camera
Scan of a dry plate negative. Subject is a well dressed youngish man seated in front of a fence.
3D render of a 3D printable D20 spinner
3D printed pinhole camera
All BCSS schools are on a soft lockdown this morning as law enforcement investigates a series of threatening calls to several schools. BCSO is sending additional security to each school. All students and staff are safe. Please do not go to your school as it will jeopardize the investigation and security of the campus. We will update as soon as we have more information to share.
Depicts a 3D printed 4x5 fixed focal length camera
Close up image of the light seals on a camera
Picture of an Ikea Billy corner unit