Advent Journey
Update from Tim
Saturday, December 13, 2025

As Mother Goose says, Home again, home again giggity gig!

Yesterday afternoon my nurse took me for a walk around the unit tethered by one of those big orange gait belts used to hoist patients back onto their feet in the event they find themselves on their ass.

Picture the scene. Old guy wearing an embarrassing, rear-end exposing gown, non-slip socks inside crocks, sprouting various tubes and wires, young nurse simultaneously holding the leash, a Chrome IV Pole with 6-Leg Spider Base, and an EKG and Blood Pressure Monitor beeping like an excavator backing up on a construction site.

And so, off we go, through the 21 bed unit filled with folks in far worse shape than I who find going for a quick walk to be an ordeal rather than a break in the monotony.

Rounding a corner at the nurses station we encounter my physicians, Dr. Hunan Chaudhry and Dr. Daniel Heiferman in a conference on the mound. As we approach, they grin ear to ear (something these gents don’t do capriciously). “We didn’t find anything. You can go home!” Or words to that effect.”

I have expert skills when it comes to selective hearing as my spouse Julie can attest. There was probably some discussion of the absence of a tumor or vascular rupture or an aneurysm. All I needed to hear was the word home, and I was instantly transported to visions of my own bed, a bathroom with door handle that locks, coffee when I want it and above all, no wire or tube attachments!

As to why? Nothing beyond our initial working theory, Reversible Cerebral Vasoconstriction Syndrome (RCVS) where the cerebral arteries spontaneously constrict and relax back and forth over a period of time without intervention and without clinical findings. In other words, shit happens.

Answers to those questions are more likely to come in the season of Epiphany, which means “to reveal” or “to make manifest”.

For now, it’s home, where the heart and brain now reside. Thank you to all those who reached out, drove great distances, dropped off food, came to visit, prayed, joked and made Julie and I feel better.

And to all the healthcare workers of every stripe including the army of scientists who developed the diagnostic testing equipment that allowed my doctors to rule out the worst outcomes. It worked!

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Advent Journey 2025
Update from Tim
Thursday December 11, 2025

Tomorrow marks a full week since I found myself in the Endeavor Edwards Hospital Critical Neuro Intensive Care Unit and it looks like I’ll be here for a while as we try to figure out what is going on inside my head (something educators, employers, clients and pastors have been trying to do for 64 years).

An observation regarding aviation pilots and healthcare professionals: when we place our lives into their hands, we tend to praise them. “Boy, Joe is an excellent pilot!” Or, “Doctor Sally really knows her business!”

Nobody ever says “I flew with Ed last week. He is such a mediocre pilot. I’m surprised we didn’t crash!”

I’m guessing this eagerness to praise the people whom we must trust in has more to do with our own insecurities than it does with the actual abilities of our pilots or caregivers.

Insecurities aside, trust me when I say that the care team at Endeavor Edwards Hospital Critical Neuro Intensive Care Unit is amazing.

From the cleaning crew to the technicians of every stripe, the nurses, PA’s and doctors, this team is top drawer. They serve day and night with skill, humility and cheerfulness, folks like me who didn’t ask or expect to be here and now must depend on them for their very lives.

So this Advent Season, here’s a shout out to the team here in Naperville and healthcare workers everywhere who dedicate their lives to helping others.

Sing with me!

On the first day in ICU
My care team gave to me
A bolus through an IV

On the second day in ICU
My care team gave to me
Two needle sticks
And a bolus through an IV

On the third day in ICU
My care team gave to me
Three horse pills
Two needle sticks
And a bolus through an IV

On the fourth day in ICU
My care team gave to me
Four blood draws
Three horse pills
Two needle sticks
And a bolus through an IV

On the fifth day in ICU
My care team gave to me
Five neuro screens!
Four blood draws
Three horse pills
Two needle sticks
And a bolus through an IV

On the sixth day in ICU
My care team gave to me
Cheery smiling faces
Five neuro screens!
Four blood draws
Three horse pills
Two needle sticks
And a bolus through an IV

On the seventh day in ICU
My care team gave to me
Transcrainial Doppler
Cheery smiling faces
Five neuro screens!
Four blood draws
Three horse pills
Two needle sticks
And a bolus through an IV

On the eighth day in ICU
My care team gave to me
Heparin in the belly
Transcrainial Doppler
Cheery smiling faces
Five neuro screens!
Four blood draws
Three horse pills
Two needle sticks
And a bolus through an IV

On the ninth day in ICU
My care team gave to me
New gown exposing
Heparin in the belly
Transcrainial Doppler
Cheery smiling faces
Five neuro screens!
Four blood draws
Three horse pills
Two needle sticks
And a bolus through an IV

On the tenth day in ICU
My care team gave to me
Ten wristband scannings
New gown exposing
Heparin in the belly
Transcrainial Doppler
Cheery smiling faces
Five neuro screens!
Four blood draws
Three horse pills
Two needle sticks
And a bolus through an IV

On the eleventh day in ICU
My care team gave to me
Non-Slip Stockings
Ten wristband scannings
New gown exposing
Heparin in the belly
Transcrainial Doppler
Cheery smiling faces
Five neuro screens!
Four blood draws
Three horse pills
Two needle sticks
And a bolus through an IV

On the twelfth day in ICU
My care team gave to me
Fall prevention
Non-Slip Stockings
Ten wristband scannings
New gown exposing
Heparin in the belly
Transcrainial Doppler
Cheery smiling faces
Five neuro screens!
Four blood draws
Three horse pills
Two needle sticks
And a bolus through an IV

The post Advent Journey 2025 appeared first on Tim Frakes Productions.

Advent Journey
Update from Tim,
Wednesday, December 10, 2025

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭9‬:‭2‬ ‭

Yesterday Gabriel visited and transported me to a place where I saw a great light. Literally.

Ok. Gabriel wasn’t an Angel sent from God. He is a Transportation Tech at Endeavor Edwards Naperville Hospital Critical Neuro Intensive Care Unit.

Gabriel pushes people like me around in giant wheeled hospital beds through the labyrinth of this vast institution.

In my case it was from Room 6609 down to the basement for another CT scan of my brain.

The aforementioned “great light “ came from X-Rays generated by a Siemens CT Scanner. Computed Tomography is a technique in which an X-Ray tube is spun around the central axis of the area being scanned. In my case, the brain.

I doubt that the author of Isaiah 9 had x-rays in mind but it works for me because the scan shows no funky anomalies in my skull beyond the mysterious bleeding detected last week which placed me in the valley of the shadow of death, so to speak.

Once scanned, Gabriel dutifully returned me back to my room where my medical team assembled to give us an interpretation of the data.

Basically, they are telling us not to worry too much about the numerous episodes of random numbness that appear frequently throughout the day on the left side of my body and mysteriously disappear as quickly as they come.

According to the neurosurgeon it is likely just a response to my body absorbing the blood left over from the hemorrhage that occurred between the skull and my brain.

When the residue is flushed away through the spinal fluid the brain responds to the unusual activity with an unpleasant nudge.

I’m sure that I got all that completely wrong, but let’s not let science get in the way of a good story.

I’m also on Depacon, a new to me anti seizure medication designed to treat epilepsy which may help control the numbness episodes. Whatever works.

Bottom line, more waiting and watching ahead.

Back to angles, they appeared in a steady parade throughout the day. Friends, colleagues, important figures responsible for my early life formation, my pastor toting the sacrament, and of course family.

My nurse pronounced it “kind of ballsy” for this many people, often unannounced, to appear in a Critical Neuro Intensive Care Unit to visit a patient.

I loved it. I’m embarrassed by it. I’m concerned for my twenty neighbors on the floor, most of whom are in far worse shape, and spend the day with no visits.

Mary in Luke’s Gospel didn’t ask for or expect a visit by the Angel Gabriel. Neither did I anticipate the visitation. A great light, indeed.

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Tuesday, December 8, 2025

Update from Tim

Greetings all from Endeavor Edwards Naperville Hospital Critical Neuro Intensive Care Unit Room 6609.

Matthew 11: 2-11, the lectionary text for the 3rd Sunday in Advent.

This week we find our hero, John the Baptist in the lockup (tradition tells us in the fortress at Machaerus) awaiting his fate.

According to Matthew when JTB heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word to Jesus asking, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?”

Boy can I relate to John’s apparent impatience. He needed answers and none were readily available. Sitting in the same room day after day is wearing.

Of course, I’m not suggesting that the state of the art Endeavor Edwards Naperville Hospital Critical Neuro Intensive Care Unit Room 6609 is anything close to a first century prison cell, but when you are confined to a room, immediate circumstances take on inflated relevance compared to that which transpires beyond. Just like stubbing your toe.

John needed answers. I need answers. Julie needs answers. My clients need answers. All we can do is wait.

Each morning a Transcrainial Doppler Technician comes in and checks the weather inside my skull to make sure I’m not going to have a seizure. So far so good.

One part of the test requires me to bend my chin down to my chest so the technician (Jose or Milton) can get the ultrasound probe squarely in contact with the back of my neck.

I imagine at some point one of John’s jailers gave him a similar instruction right before the sentence was carried out.

Fortunately neither Jose nor Milton have any plans to serve my head up on a silver platter!

My nurse Vanessa informs me that a new MRI and likely Angiogram are scheduled for December 16, 10 days after the original procedure. The idea is to compare the separate test results and get a clearer picture as to what is going on inside my head.

Random bouts of numbness continue in different places on my left side throughout the day. This could just be symptoms of the original injury resolving itself. It’s disconcerting nevertheless.

No one ever says that waiting is easy. But, of course, that’s what Advent is all about. Waiting patiently. I’m doing my best, with no worries about my head being chopped off. I’m also not in any pain. Family and friends continue to visit with words of good cheer. The care team is amazing.

As Jesus eventually responds to John’s anxious inquiry, “..the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”

No offense taken.

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Interdum, mala simpliciter fiunt.

The Latin phrase “Interdum, mala simpliciter fiunt” translates “Sometimes, bad things just happen”. I prefer the vulgar English translation, Shit happens.

This philosophical concept surfaced during our conversation with my neurologist Dr. Ahmed Hassan when he presented a working diagnosis explaining why my entire left side suddenly went numb resulting in bleeding between my brain and my skull.

CT scans and a thoroughly uncomfortable angiogram involving the insertion of a catheter into the groin, up through my body, followed by multiple injections of dye into the brain (causing me literally see lightning bolts that for sure were not actually there) allowing doctors to see what is going on in my skull and/or arteries and ruling out explanations such as a blood clot.

Since I wasn’t recently knocked on the head and showed no sign of a blood clot, a plausible remaining explanation is Reversible Cerebral Vasoconstriction Syndrome (RCVS).

Dr. Google explains: “This condition features the unique property that the patient’s cerebral arteries spontaneously constrict and relax back and forth over a period of time without intervention and without clinical findings.

In other words, shit happens.

The good news is that the condition is reversible. Also, most patients affected by RCVS experience splitting headaches. I have thus far been spared this trauma.

And so, we watch and wait as the medical team and time itself reveals no other explanation.

The great philosopher and Theologian Thomas Aquinas points out that some things just are, requiring faith rather than complex philosophical justification. Faith transcends simple explanation.

The writer of Hebrews puts it this way, “Faith is the evidence of things not seen…”

Let’s light another Advent candle and give thanks for a likely hopeful outcome and the accompaniment of family, friends, professionals and a peace which passes all understanding.

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The post Advent Journey 2025 appeared first on Tim Frakes Productions.

Secrets of Hidden Lake, the story of the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County’s Hidden Lake. A documentary by Tim Frakes with the Lombard Historical Society. 56:30 For 30 years, my family and I have lived across the road from the DuPage County Forest Preserve’s Hidden Lake. I’ve trekked nearly every square inch. And on my walks, I became curious about the people who lived here in the past, the indigenous people, the homesteaders, the wheat king, and a gambling czar. The more I learned, the more I began to appreciate this sacred public trust, and I hope you will too.

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Will you still need me, when I’m sixty-four?
If the first half of 2025 is any indication, the answer is yes. On June 1 I celebrate my 64th trip around the sun and give thanks for great opportunities, interesting stories and meaningful video production work in the faith-based, non-profit business space.

My colleague Stacey Adams and I recorded interviews with social justice and civil rights activists Jane Ramsey and Betty Mangnuss with Chicago Theological Seminary’s Jackson Oral History Project. We also produced a Clergy Wellness Gathering video in Westmont, Illinois.

Hephzibah Children’s Association asked us to produce the 2025 Heart of Gold video with a story about Amy Lutz, a woman who was served by Hephzibah as a child, went to work for Hephzibah as an adult and now has her children enrolled in their after school program.

Lutheran Social Services of Illinois and local churches team up to care for seniors at LSSI’s Spring Ridge Senior Adult Living facility in Rockford. We also supported LSSI’s Good Shepherd Sunday efforts with video messaging from LSSI President and CEO Mark Stutrud.

The Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago is reshaping theological education with Project Starling, an online learning platform designed to make theological education accessible to all through resources, certificate programs, workshops, and training opportunities. We also recorded the LSTC 2025 Baccalaureate at Augustana Lutheran Church in Chicago.

The Rural Community Assistance Partnership asked us to help develop training tools for technical assistance providers in rural Indiana. We also produced stories about their work in rural Puerto Rico as communities there face infrastructure challenges following hurricanes Maria and Finona.

The Chicago Rehab Network’s Community Empowerment Series was live streamed to remote audiences and then students jumped on a bus to tour two Chicago affordable housing projects currently under development.

We helped keep people safe during hospital stays with a series of Patient Family Education Videos.

Metropolitan Chicago Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America asked us to visit eight Chicago area congregations and ministries and tell their unique stories. It was a refreshing and encouraging look at life in the local church.

Metro Chicago also asked us to produce a fun cooking segment/synod assembly report with Bishop Yaheil Curry titled, Good Stew at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Villa Park.

And the Christian Fellowship Community recalled us to Burton, Texas to cover their annual Reeter Ranch Retreat. We will also be recording their annual Milwaukee gathering this July.

The Law Center for Better Housing asked us to produce and livestream their 2025 Town Hall gathering at the Chicago Community Trust on State Street in front of a live audience.

The University of St. Mary of the Lake’s 2025 Commencement speaker was a no-show due to his presence in Rome for the Papal Conclave and election of Robert Prevost as Pope Leo XIV Our livestream went ahead without Cardinal Blase Cupich and was a delightful celebration. I’m thrilled to still be needed, even at the age of 64!

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Secrets of Hidden Lake, the story of the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County’s Hidden Lake. A documentary by Tim Frakes with the Lombard Historical Society. 53 minutes. For 30 years, my family and I have lived across the road from the DuPage County Forest Preserve’s Hidden Lake. I’ve trekked nearly every square inch. And on my walks, I became curious about the people who lived here in the past, the indigenous people, the homesteaders, the wheat king, and a gambling czar. The more I learned, the more I began to appreciate this sacred public trust, and I hope you will too.

The post Secrets of Hidden Lake appeared first on Tim Frakes Productions.

Greetings fellow travelers. 2024 is about in the books with no shortage of meaningful work jammed with adventure, faithful clients and new friends along the way.

Lutheran Social Services of Illinois took us to Peoria, Illinois to record a lovely story about Intact Family Services.  We also told the story of Marni Jamison, a woman who has fostered nearly 100 children in her amazing career. 

The Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago  had a busy year living into their new digs in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood and we were there to record much of it including their new asynchronous learning program, Baccalaureate, a Hymn festival in St. Louis, a reunion of the faithful Semiex alumni, the retirement of James Nieman and much more. 

Chicago Theological Seminary had us back to record a pastors retreat and the Chicago Rehab Network asked us to livestream a series of one day workshops focusing on non-profit housing development.  The Christian Fellowship Community had us back in Texas and their National gathering at Milwaukee’s Summerfest outdoor pavilion. 

In the medical space, we produced a series of training videos for the Association of Diabetes Care & Education Specialists in Chicago. 

And Cedar Interactive hired us along with a team of talented actors, to produce quality assurance videos at Berwyn’s MacNeil Hospital.

The Rural Community Assistance Partnership had us all over the place, from West Virginia to Illinois to Nebraska to Montana telling and recording stories about their support of America’s rural communities.  My old employer, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America hired me to record Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton.

Hephizbah Children’s Association, Oak Park’s oldest social service agency, hired us again to tell stories about their work helping children thrive and families flourish through innovative, community-based programs.

New clients included All Chicago and their efforts to address the housing crisis in our city,  A history of Bonnhomme Presbyterian Church in Chesterfield, Missouri. Josephinum Academy of the Sacred Heart, an all girls school on Chicago’s north side, Pacific Garden Mission, Chicago’s oldest homeless shelter, and the University of Saint Mary of the Lake in Mundelein, Illinois.

Much of our work this year included the help of my freelance colleague, Stacey Adams.  I’m deeply appreciative of his help and shared appreciation for our many clients. 

And finally, we were able to finish our latest documentary, the Secrets of Hidden Lake, the story of the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County’s Hidden Lake.  Thanks to the Butterfield Park District for hosting the premier and the Lombard Historical Society encouragement and help with research along the way. 

Our hearts are full as we reflect on all that has transpired and then look forward to the new year ahead.

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