RE Slater - Personal Update

https://www.maryfreebed.com/

To my readers,

Hello,

I've had a bit of a setback this month and last. Though I was productive through the month of February I was undergoing at the same time a very difficult foot-and-ankle infectious pain due to a surgical infection inhabiting those spaces over the past nine years at my first surgery.

Though I have had ups-and-downs over the past nine years these past several weeks have become unbearable from February through mid-April. I've experienced more pain than I could humanly endure. Consequently, I decided to go with another healthcare provider and all that they offered, including a new doctor, who could give to me counsel and direction. Which he did and who I was fortunate to find.

Basically, I knew I could no longer save my foot-and-ankle without risking internal organ damage because of PICC lines to be placed into my heart and all the heavy medication required to get me healthy again. This would not be an avenue I wished to revisit having had this done several times in the past.

So with my spouse attending my appointments with me, we have decided to lose the foot-and-ankle limb by having it removed.

This was done a week ago.

The healthcare system I switched to also offered an amazing rehabilitation center for amputees and people struggling with various disabilities. So once losing the foot-and-ankle my health issues have disappeared... although I have now traded a new set of health circumstances in recovering from a lost limb and learning to be self-caretaking for the next two months.

Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital

Restoring Hope and Freedom

After staying 3.5 days in surgical care I was then transferred to the disability center wherein I was able to graduate rapidly into self-care at home over a period of 4.5 days. This means I came home yesterday to struggle with residual pain and self-management issues. To help with any offsets, the rehabilitation center I had stayed in is providing "At-Home" nursing care, OT, PT, and nursing aides as needed.

So, as of yesterday, it has been one week since my radical surgery and recovery. I am at home presently working towards better health. This means in two months my half-leg should be healed and I will be able to be fitted with several foot-and-ankle prosthetics. Which also means I will be re-enrolled as an outpatient two or three days a week to learn how to walk again.

By mid-July of 2024, and after four months from first to last, I should be fully mobile with only ensuing health checkups over the next year or two.

And as I can, I will return to this website soon to work out what process philosophy, theology, process sciences, and all other disciplines and human pursuits might look like when using Whitehead's "philosophy of a living organism" (e.g., the universe; the earth; and ourselves as evolving processual entities).

Till then, use all the resources here to begin your own processual journey. Please pass along suggestions, needs, and ideas in the comment section.

To comment you have to be part of Google's membership which is free. When I see the comments - and if they are appropriate to the content - I will post them. If not, I will delete them. If users wish to speak to one another I can adjust my site to allow for conversation but discourage any frivolous comments or weblinks not pertinent to the subject matter.

Blessings,

R.E. Slater

April 19, 2024

Rel22 and Personal Updates + the Continuation of Our Existentialism Series

Rel22 Website Update

by R.E. Slater

A month ago I began a series of articles on Process-based (Processual) Christian existentialism using Whitehead's process philosophy as versus psychological existentialism built upon non-process-based philosophies. Each will give meaning to us in their own way... although as a Christian/religious person my own meaning will derive from a theological framework as versus the nonreligious existentialist who may be agnostic to religion or completely atheistic to it.

Further below you will find the series I was developing before becoming slowed down by this year's foot-and-ankle surgeries. Thankfully, though I slowed down a little bit, I have been fortunate enough to work at document production between energy slumps and pain medications.

Lately, I've been catching up the Relevancy22 website covering this past summer's current events which I had missed. I've also have provided a shorten process series re Segall, Davis, Whitehead, and Cobb, among others.

However, this isn't necessarily bad as playing catch-up to missed series allows us to take these series in all-at-once. Whether in my undergrad or graduate studies, I tended to read and study my classroom projects in "batches" as versus chapter-by-chapter. By doing so I could see and understand the bigger picture rather than absorbing the minutiae of data segmented between subject material.

With the advent of livestream cable I can now do the same with Cable TV series and Internet streams... I can watch and think through series all-at-once rather than piecemeal a week at a time. Perhaps it's age but I think it makes things easier to remember and understand.

---

My Health Update

by R.E. Slater

Pictures of Nursing (3X / wk) and festering foot infections

which have required several surgeries this past summer and fall...

What Open Wounds Look Like Before

and After Using a Wound Pump

April through August 2023

Resting Up After Prosthetic Removal

& Cleanout Surgery

September 2023

My latest surgeries have gone well. What started out as "maintenance surgeries" later become "removal and fusion surgeries". Through the summer my surgical infections from January 2016 never left and never got better. At first they did... but it took three long years. But they never went away. So after eight years of up-and-down health limitations I finally gave in to reality in September of this year.

Looking at my foot I was nursing three open wounds with several more rising to the surface... my management of wounds had come to an end. I called the doc, saw him a day later, and we planned a surgery for the first Monday of the next week. The infections were spreading and he-and-I both wanted the prosthetic gear out of my body post-haste.

And so, the motility device is gone as I use this fall and coming winter seasons to place life "on hold" to heal up and get better. My last recourse was an amputation but at least up to this point I've not had to consider this (excepting, of course, the discovery of Boston's Mass General where a MIT specialist removes limbs in such a way as to decrease phantom pain nearly to zero).

At present, the infected prosthetic is out of my body and it is responding very well to the drugs and healing. My ongoing fight with health issues may become a thing of the past but my real I had ever been to keep the motility device in my foot. This is not to be as there is a 35% risk of becoming re-infected with a replacement device.

So after this summer's cleanout surgeries in April (#1) and August (#2) along with a long, long, long losing battle with the several infections still ravaging my body, I finally agreed with Infectious Disease and my Orthopaedist to a series of "rebuilds" starting with (#3) the full removal of the foot and ankle prosthetic which includes a surgical cleanout  and the placement of an antiseptic cement ball into the empty space.

What came out - Internal Motility Prosthetic

September 2023

My Condition Presently between Surgeries

Nov 2023

the aftermath of a bloody surgical wound being cleaned up  in the med office

I bought two inexpensive knee walkers to get around the house

the splint behind the knee required a rag stuffed
behind it to relieve the chaffing going on

Structural Gear to be Implanted:

a Titanium ball socket with foot fusion

January 2024

refer to:

Powder metallurgy with space holder for porous titanium implants: A review

Then (#4) a fourth surgery with another reopening of the ankle area this past November with the main ankle-bone's partial removal + another cleanout + placement of yet another antiseptic cement ball into the open space.

And finally, sometime this coming January of 2024, a (#5) fifth and final surgery removing (and reuse of sic, cannibalizing of) the remaining anklebone + cleanout + the placement of a custom-built titanium structural device into the fully emptied area + the fusion of the ankle to the foot. This would complete all surgeries unless infections arise again.

Overall, the series of procedures which I've been dreading has gone better than I had thought. Considering all the many years of competitive sports I played it could've been a lot worse. This problem here was related to a fall I had down a mountain at 14 years of age where I had to stick my foot into a crevice lest I fall off the cliff which was fast coming up.

Since my father didn't "believe in" modern medicine at the time I've played sports all my life on a partially injured foot which lately was turning upwards. I had had an early total knee surgery many years earlier with no problem so the foot surgery in 2016 I wasn't concerned about. However, infection rates run 4-6% in modern hospitals and I was one of the unlucky patients to experience it.

All-in-all this medical health year has gone well... it has required a lot of patience and pain management. Further, the antibiotic drugs left me fatigued with stomach v.  nausea after-affects. I also had to undergo several iron-therapy infusions to offset the fatigue I was experiencing as my iron levels had dropped quite low.

But thankfully, I've never gotten any of the Covid variants my friends and family were getting even though I've had times where I felt like I may have contacted the mutating virus. In the area I live there are a lot of Trumpian republicans who adamantly refuse to wear a mask to protect me and others... and who also refuse to take their Covid shots... thus complicating our region's health factors along with my own lower resistances to Covid.

And yet, both my spouse and I have not been infected and have diligently kept up our vaccine shots so that this past July I got my sixth "bivalent shot" (re Covid-19's 4.0 and 5.0 variants), along with a pneumonia shot for older people and a season flu shot. Later, this coming January-February of next year I will receive a seventh  vaccine shot (for BA2.75 + EBB 1.50 mutations). As I tell my church friends, I "glow in the dark" in the evening! :) 

All for now,

Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

and remember our friends and strangers in Palestine, Gaza, Israel,

the Ukraine, Russian, and all the Migrating families from

South and Central America needing God's grace and help.

by R.E. Slater

December 18, 2023

Michigan in December

* * * * * * *

SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19

Charts and Data Information

Mapping the evolutionary profile of SARS-CoV-2
and COVID-19 using mutation order approach

SARS-CoV-2 variant biology: immune escape, transmission and fitness

Virus Mutations Reveal How COVID-19 Really Spread

* * * * * * *

Forthcoming Existentialism Series

Let's Talk About Process Theology vs Universalism

The Processual Complex Memory of the Universe Is Significant for Cosmic Life

R.E. Slater & ChatGPT - The Purpose & Meaning of Life for a Christian Eugelion, Part 1

What Gives Life Meaning, Part 2 - unfinished

Christian Existentialism, Part 3 - unfinished

More on Christian Existentialism, Part 4 - unfinished

Existentialism in Education: Themes, Philosophers, Pros and Cons

Common Covid Viral Questions Answered

UPDATED - MAY 25, 2021 

Common Covid Viral Questions Answered

1

Do vaccinations help prevent the spread of COVID-19?

Currently authorized vaccines in the United States are highly effective at protecting vaccinated people against symptomatic and severe COVID-19.

Additionally, a growing body of evidence suggests that fully vaccinated people are less likely to have asymptomatic infection or transmit SARS-CoV-2 to others. May 13, 2021

2

Does the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine reduce the transmission of COVID-19?

Preliminary data from Israel suggest that people vaccinated with Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine who develop COVID-19 have a four-fold lower viral load than unvaccinated people. This observation may indicate reduced transmissibility, as viral load has been identified as a key driver of transmission. Apr 2, 2021

3

Can you get Covid if you are vaccinated?

What are your chances of getting coronavirus if you're fully vaccinated? According to medical experts, so-called breakthrough cases -- cases where fully vaccinated individuals test positive for coronavirus -- are possible, but have so far been rare. May 18, 2021

4

How long does the Covid vaccine protect you?

The vaccine was effective at over 90%. Now they only studied 6 months because that's what's required by the FDA for full approval, but they're going to continue to study for many months, and even years. And the point of this is, there's protection for at least six months, not only six months. Apr 23, 2021

5

Will Covid test be positive after vaccine?

Key takeaways: The COVID-19 vaccine won't make you test positive for COVID, though you may test positive for antibodies. Fever, chills, muscle pain, headaches, fatigue, and arm pain are expected side effects of the vaccine and do not mean you have COVID-19. Apr 12, 2021

6

Can I get a Covid test after the vaccine?

When you get the vaccine, the AstraZeneca one, it helps your body recognise parts of that virus but it does not contain itself. So, once you get the vaccine you will not test positive for COVID-19 PCR test. Apr 13, 2021

7

Does Covid vaccine make you immune?

COVID-19 vaccines help our bodies develop immunity to the virus that causes COVID-19 without us having to get the illness. Different types of vaccines work in different ways to offer protection. Mar 9, 2021

8

One in four Americans refuse vaccination. What does this mean?

The numbers who may refuse the vaccine remain potentially too high to contain a respiratory virus such as SARS-CoV-2, which requires a large segment of the population to be immune. Apr 7, 2021

9

Does the coronavirus disease cause health complications?

Your blood may not supply your organs with enough oxygen to survive. This can cause your kidneys, lungs, and liver to shut down and stop working. Not everyone who has COVID-19 has these serious complications. And not everyone needs medical care. But if your symptoms include trouble breathing, get help right away Feb 3, 2021

10

Is coronavirus more contagious than the flu?

While COVID-19 and flu viruses are thought to spread in similar ways, COVID-19 is more contagious among certain populations and age groups than flu. Also, COVID-19 has been observed to have more superspreading events than flu.

11

What are the Long-term health problems of COVID-19?

SARS-CoV-2 infection can leave some people with heart problems, including inflammation of the heart muscle. In fact, one study showed that 60% of people who recovered from COVID-19 had signs of ongoing heart inflammation, which could lead to the common symptoms of shortness of breath, palpitations and rapid heartbeat. Apr 1, 2021

12

How does Covid affect bodily functions?

A number of brain-related conditions have been seen in COVID-19 patients, including strokes, seizures, and brain fog, which may be the result of inflammation, organ failure, or oxygen deprivation caused by the virus.

In Summary...

Long-Term Effects

Updated Apr. 8, 2021

Although most people with COVID-19 get better within weeks of illness, some people experience post-COVID conditions. 

Post-COVID conditions are a wide range of new, returning, or ongoing health problems people can experience more than four weeks after first being infected with the virus that causes COVID-19. Even people who did not have symptoms when they were infected can have post-COVID conditions. 

These conditions can have different types and combinations of health problems for different lengths of time.

CDC and experts around the world are working to learn more about short- and long-term health effects associated with COVID-19, who gets them, and why.

Types of Post-COVID Conditions

Long COVID

Long COVID is a range of symptoms that can last weeks or months after first being infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 or can appear weeks after infection. Long COVID can happen to anyone who has had COVID-19, even if the illness was mild, or they had no symptoms. People with long COVID report experiencing different combinations of the following symptoms:

• Tiredness or fatigue

• Difficulty thinking or concentrating (sometimes referred to as “brain fog”)

• Headache

• Loss of smell or taste

• Dizziness on standing

• Fast-beating or pounding heart (also known as heart palpitations)

• Chest pain

• Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath

• Cough

• Joint or muscle pain

• Depression or anxiety

• Fever

Symptoms that get worse after physical or mental activities

Multiorgan Effects of COVID-19:

Multiorgan effects can affect most, if not all, body systems including heart, lung, kidney, skin, and brain functions. Multiorgan effects can also include conditions that occur after COVID-19, like multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS) and autoimmune conditions.

MIS is a condition where different body parts can become swollen.

Autoimmune conditions happen when your immune system attacks healthy cells in your body by mistake, causing painful swelling in the affected parts of the body.

It is unknown how long multiorgan system effects might last and whether the effects could lead to chronic health conditions.

Effects of COVID-19

Treatment or Hospitalization

Post-COVID conditions also can include the longer-term effects of COVID-19 treatment or hospitalization. 

Some of these longer-term effects are similar to those related to hospitalization for other respiratory infections or other conditions.

Effects of COVID-19 treatment and hospitalization can also include post-intensive care syndrome (PICS), which refers to health effects that remain after a critical illness. 

These effects can include severe weakness and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD involves long-term reactions to a very stressful event.

FURTHER RESOURCES

Coronavirus Info -

https://www.facebook.com/coronavirus_info?page_source=covid_vaccine_faxit&hoisted_module_type=covid_vaccine_development

Opinion: This is the most dangerous moment to be unvaccinated - 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/04/19/this-is-most-dangerous-moment-be-unvaccinated/?fbclid=IwAR1r7EyHkAj0_Ir02CMkpXhRSXNe8lGmJcpBp4CtaqUo-9jvhhU229Urqzw