Category Archives: Suffering

Even More ICU Adventures: The X-Ray Swallow Test

Posted on September 2, 2017 by Bob Bjerkaas

The morning of the eighteenth finally arrived. The night had been perfectly awful and I had been so focused on trying to swallow that I hadn’t slept much – if in fact I had slept at all. This morning Kerrie … Continue reading →

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More Adventures in the ICU: No I will NOT go out this way – WHERE IS THAT SUCTION TUBE!

Posted on August 31, 2017 by Bob Bjerkaas

The speech therapist who came on the seventeenth shortly after my surgeon visited returned later that same day.  I was currently on IV fluids and had a feeding tube running up my nose and then down the back of my … Continue reading →

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Adventures in the ICU: The Bare-Assed Pastor on Floor Five

Posted on August 31, 2017 by Bob Bjerkaas

The ICU was a place of highs and lows, breakthroughs and frustrations, education and resolve. I have always been something of a thrasher when I sleep.  This is enough of a problem when the most significant consequence of my tossing … Continue reading →

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Brain Surgery Part 2: What Went Wrong?

Posted on August 30, 2017 by Bob Bjerkaas

Hands and voices everywhere.  Quietly – “Let’s lift, two, and three…” The left side of my body was being swabbed with something wet.  Not cold or warm, just wet.  “Mr. Bjerkaas? Mr. Bjerkaas?  Can you hear me?”  Unhhh… “Let’s turn … Continue reading →

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Brain Surgery: An Ordeal Remembered

Posted on August 30, 2017 by Bob Bjerkaas

So, about that brain surgery…. As many of you who are friends and family have heard in bits and pieces, all did not go exactly as planned.  It was two weeks ago tomorrow that Kerrie, the kids and I rolled … Continue reading →

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Anxiety and the Christian: Part One

Posted on August 4, 2017 by Bob Bjerkaas

“You don’t have anxiety at all do you because you’re a pastor.” I have heard various iterations of this theme dozens of times since it was determined that I would need a surgical procedure to address the debilitating nerve pain … Continue reading →

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An Audacious Prayer: Psalm 126:4

Posted on June 15, 2017 by Bob Bjerkaas

As those of you who subscribe to this blog – and others who read it regularly may have noticed, I have not been writing much lately.  As a matter of fact, beyond my basic pastoral duties I have really not … Continue reading →

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For My Friends in Low Places: Asaph’s Psalms, Part One

Posted on July 28, 2016 by Bob Bjerkaas

Like Garth Brooks, I have friends in low places.  I suspect that you do as well.  We all know people who have health problems, relational struggles, are coping with personal tragedies…  As a pastor, I have found that the questions … Continue reading →

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