My sabbatical started on October 23. It’s my son’s 29th birthday! He recently started a job as a nurse practitioner so he’s been very busy.
I have a very good friend in a rehab center who fell and broke his nose. Mike Schweer has already endured breaking his neck not once but twice before. He was released from the hospital the same day and sent home. This was in August! I spent some time with him and his wife Nellie that first night and I noticed he was in extreme pain. After several hours of trying to quell the pain, Nellie called her cousin who is a doctor and asked him to evaluate Mike. Mike went back to the hospital and they found a herniated disc in his neck and he needed surgery immediately.
Thus, began the most challenging time of his life. After he surgery, he was unable to speak or walk or consume anything via his throat.
Mike went into rehab at the hospital and since then has been in two different rehab centers.
Today, three months later, Mike still can’t swallow solid food or any liquids. The first week of my sabbatical, I spent with Mike so Nellie could get some rest and tend to many issues at home like paying bills etc. It also gave her a break so she could go do something for herself.
Mike is slowly improving. He can walk with a walker and although his voice is weak, he can talk to some extent. He has been fed through a tube in his stomach for over 90 days now.
But, last week he received a different kind of PT on his neck and it improved his ability to swallow.
Nellie told me if I took Mike for a ride I could take him to his favorite place; Starbucks. But he can only have two teaspoons of black coffee. The doctors are afraid Mike may contract pneumonia if anything other than water or ice chips finds it’s way into his lungs. So Nellie instructed me, in front of Mike that he could only have two teaspoons of black coffee.
So after Nellie left for the day, we did his speech exercises and talked a great deal about the challenge he’s faced. Then we went to Starbucks. I was terrified he would fall on my watch. He had a brace on his neck and a huge belt on his waist that I used to help him walk. When we went inside Starbucks, Mike asked me what I wanted. I said I would take a black tea. He said he would order. I reminded him he could only have a small black coffee. He then ordered my black tea and a grand soy latte with whipped cream! I reminded him that he was restricted to black coffee. He argued that it was fine now that he could have anything! The young lady behind the counter recommended a coffee with a very small amount of mocha. Mike immediately said that would be fine with whipped cream.
Well Mike got his coffee with mocha but I did restrict him to just two spoon fulls.
During my sabbatical, I’ve spent as much time with him as possible. He’s a fighter.
I’ve been reading a book called “Jesus Calling”. It’s a wonderful book with daily readings from the bible. I have been reading it every day and have found it extremely helpful in knowing that Jesus is with me all the time and has reminded my how my relationship with Jesus needs to be. I am like many others today, a electronic junkie. I feel naked if I don’t have my IPhone on me. Here was the writing on October 24. I know this is long but it was so appropriate for me.
“Lie down if green pastures of Peace. Learn to unwind whenever possible, resting in the presence of your Shepard. This electronic age keeps my children “wired”, much of the time too tense to find Me in the midst of their moments. I built into your very being the need for rest. How twisted the world has become that people feel guilty about meeting this basic need! How much time they waste by always being on the go rather than taking time to seek My direction for their lives.
I have called on you to walk with Me down paths of peace. I want you to blaze a trail for others who desire to live in My peaceful Presence. I have chosen you less for your strengths than for your weaknesses, which amplify your need for Me more and more, and I will shower peace on all your paths.”
This was a great reading for me as I started my work with Mike and my sabbatical.
The second week, I traveled with a friend of mine to Ireland. David is a huge fan of Irish literature and Irish music. He visited the James Joyce museum and spent dinner with the curator and his wife. I arrived a couple of days after David so he was able to scout out the best places for music. David plays the harmonica so I got to witness him sitting in and playing with flute, violin and bagpipe musicians in a few different pubs around Dublin and other areas of this beautiful country.
We attended a rugby match between Connacht and a team from South Africa called the Cheetahs. I was fortunate to meet some of the players and coaches after the match. It was a bitter cold, wet night but a wonderful experienced nonetheless.
We spent some time on the Dingle Peninsula where the locals couldn’t understand why I wanted to watch the world series. It was funny.
I only spent seven days there but was able to get a great feel for the culture and the land. I drove the rental car and believe me it gets really tense when you’re in the rural areas where the roads are so narrow and you’re driving on the left side of the road and the steering wheel is on the right side of the car. That was very tense indeed.
I’m back on the states, spending time with my friend Mike and just finished with my team’s rugby playoffs. We were not as fortunate this time as we lost to a team from Iowa Central Community College 102-3! They were loaded with players from South Africa, New Zealand, France, Ireland, England and Australia. It ended a great season for us.
I started another book called “The Imitation of Christ”. It’s a very different read than the first one. Just now getting into it.
Thanks,
Shaun