Dear Readers,

I hope this missive finds you well. The first thing you will notice is that Molly’s Song has a new cover! It is a long story as to how this came about, but it came about, and thus the new cover. It is still available in all the usual formats, paperback, eBook, and audiobook. If you haven’t gotten a copy yet, you can do so here. With the new release, the eBook is a mere 99 cents!

I had a really good spring semester, and I went into the summer with all sorts of grand plans. I wanted to lose 25 pounds, finish the sequel to Molly’s Song, and watch a lot of baseball. Well, we all know what they say about the best laid plans. If you’ve followed my journey for any length of time, you know that I suffered a devastating spinal injury in 2012 that led to my retirement from public safety. Since then, I battle chronic pain and a myriad of other complications. Around 3am on the Monday after the semester ended, I got up to go to the bathroom. I bent to lift the toilet seat, something I’ve done millions of times, and my whole back locked up and went into spasm mode. I was stuck in place, unable to move, for almost an hour.

As a result, as the summer unfolded, I was in horrific pain every second of every day. I haven’t felt pain like this since the original injury/surgery. I couldn’t stand up. I couldn’t sit down. I couldn’t lay down. I spent weeks pacing the floor all night long, in too much pain to sleep. I did get to watch a lot of baseball though. It took almost two months for me to be able to function again. That said, my pain still hasn’t gone back to baseline lever and probably never will. It’s possible that there will be a very big spinal surgery in my future. I did watch a lot of baseball though.

When you are in that much pain, you brain doesn’t function like it should. As a result, though I was able to hammer out six more chapters of Molly’s War, I got nowhere near the end. Right now it is still about 40 percent complete. This distresses me to no end because it was supposed to be finished in 2020.

By early August, I was slowly getting ready for the start of the fall semester. Then, I woke up on my birthday with a 103 degree fever. I took a Covid test and it was positive. This was my first time and, as all of you know, I have continued with all the precautions long abandoned by everyone else because of the state of my health. The fever was unshakable for three days. I woke up on the third day and the fever had broken. I felt okay, just tired. But then, on Day 7, I started having tachycardia at rest and shortness of breath, so to the hospital I went for yet another hospital stay. I had to miss the first week of the semester.

Even now, almost a month to the day since I first tested positive, I’m still having some lingering lung and heart issues, though I’ve been back to work for two weeks. It really kicked my butt. I’m not ashamed to admit it. And I certainly don’t want it again. I may not make it through another infection.

There is some good news though! I’ve lost 27 pounds! All the pacing I did when I was unable to sleep and with a limited appetite due to the pain, I managed to lose 27 pounds and two inches in my waist, so I’m definitely happy with that, though I do not recommend what I’ve gone through as a good diet plan.

I have one other update too. On Monday the 16th, I’ll be back in school. Obviously, yes, I’ll be teaching at my college, but I mean I’ll be back in school as a student. I’m starting a PhD program in History. I’m really looking forward to it. Maybe I’ll end up regretting the decision, but for now, I’m happy about it. For now, I’m thinking that my dissertation will be on a World War 2 themed topic, but of course, that is subject to change.

Don’t worry! We are all friends here. You will not have to call me Dr. Hutch.

Remember Friends, take care of yourselves, and each other.

L.H.