Monthly Archives: August 2017

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

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

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?

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

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

“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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