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Month: March 2020

Perhaps, Back Again!

Published by mhelbert on March 28, 2020

I know that I said a couple of week ago that I was back after surgery.
At that time I was beginning to feel pretty good again.
I thought that the worst was behind and that, soon, I would be back in fine stride working toward full restoration.

That was before a perforation in my bowel knocked me back down.

On Thursday, March 12, I was suddenly assaulted by an acute pain in my lower gut. I thought that I had eaten something that didn’t agree with me. So, I took some pain meds and went to bed.
Friday I awoke feeling somewhat better. At least as far as the pain was concerned. But, I was pretty weak and listless. By Friday evening I was spiking a fever. We called my surgeon about it. He sent me to get a CT scan of the area.
The scan did show some abnormality. They ordered an ambulance to take me back to Fairview Hospital where the surgical team was waiting for me.
So, at about 2 A.M. on Saturday the 14th, I had emergency surgery to repair the perforation.
I awoke from that surgery with an ostomy bag hanging from my belly.

I gotta tell ya, two major surgeries in less than two weeks tends to sap the life out of a person. I don’t recall feeling so weak and frail as I have these past couple of weeks. I’m 20 pounds lighter than my pre-surgery weight. I have little strength left. They told me not to lift anything over 10 pounds. Hell, I can barely lift that much!

The next step will, hopefully, be near the end of May when the ostomy is to be reversed and I’ll be put back together.

I appreciate all of the concern that has been expressed to my through social media and the phone. You are all good people.

Thank you!

As far as moving forward, well, next Wednesday, April 1, will be my first full day of retirement. I am looking forward to it. Who knows, maybe my life will be able to develop some form of ‘normalcy.’ (Although for me, what really IS normal?)

I hope to get back to some form of creating content here as well as some other projects that I have swimming around in the back of my brain.
It will be an interesting time, to be sure.

So, thank you again to all of you who have stuck with me on this strange journey.
I look forward to walking with you further on down this road.

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It’s Been an Interesting Trip

Published by mhelbert on March 12, 2020

I’m Back!
Well, kinda.
It would be understating things just a tad if I said that my body hadn’t just taken a pretty big hit. I guess that you can’t have your belly cut open and 12″ of colon removed then get back to business as usual.
Hell, it’s taken over a week and a half just to get one semi-formed turd!
(Ok, I get it…TMI.)
But, you get the idea.
I am still quite a way off from being anywhere close to physically well.

The week I spent in hospital was rough. I tried to share some of what was going on with friends on Facebook.
I had a lot of fluids going in, but not much coming out.
This caused the staff to get concerned.
Then, I began to get sick. Nausea. Not good with a belly wound.
They stuck an NG tube up my nose and into my stomach to help relieve the distress.
There is nothing fun about that. Not at all.
Eventually, after about a day and a half, it appeared that things had settled down. They pulled the tube and I began to take clear liquids again.
I had finally turned a corner and was on my way forward toward recovery again.

But, it’s slow. I’ve had to purposely keep from doing too much.
That has included writing here and spending much time on social media.

What all of this down time has allowed is time to reflect.
Now, for those of you who know me, that can be a dangerous thing.
Giving me time to spend inside of my own head, well, weird stuff can happen.
So, I hope to spend time discussing some of these thoughts here over the next little while.
I don’t know that I’ll be able to write every day. That’s going to entirely depend on how I feel. Right now I have to listen to my body. And, if it says, “Whoa! Not today!” Then, so be it.
But, as the name of this blog states, I am here to push boundaries. I want to offer alternatives to accepted norms. I ask questions and don’t necessarily expect answers.
And, I want to spend more time working to speak Truth to Power.
People have for too long been marginalized and held down because of religion and other human-created constraints. There are a lot of other people, like me, who have seen enough crap and are compelled to speak up.
So, that’s kinda where I hope to head in the next little while with a particular focus on critique from within concerning the Christian Church.
It needs it.

Badly.

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