Dad's health started declining about a couple of months ago - he was
diagnosed with congestive heart failure and told to stop drinking,
eating salt and smoking cigars! That was a change but he tried his best.
When Mike and I were there at Thanksgiving, he was doing OK - slowing
down but holding his on...still drinking wine though :-)!
I went back to Orlando in February for his 88th birthday on 2/7 and the week before his birthday, he collapsed in the doctors office when I was with him. He was in ICU for 5 days, had 4 blood transfusions and they were able to stabilize him enough for him to go to an intensive rehab place so he could go home. The doctors stopped his blood thinners as that was magnifying a GI bleed somewhere in his body. They did put him on diuretics for the edema (fluid buildup) but he was still very swollen but in no pain, thank goodness! I extended my original trip by a week and then felt at peace enough to come back to Richland.
Dad came home from the rehab facility last Thursday (2/26) and has gone rapidly downhill since then. My sister is staying out there with him in Daytona Beach and doesn't think he has much longer to live - he's now on oxygen and hospice has been called. I'm flying back to Orlando tomorrow (3/4) as he enters this phase of his time here on earth and God willing, passes peacefully. My step-mother, Mari, is having a hard time coming to terms with the reality of his impending passing.
The interesting thing in all this is that a year ago, God guided Mike and I to volunteer to lead a team from our church, Central United Protestant Church in Richland, Washington, on a short-term mission trip to the Copper Canyon area of the remote Sierra Nevada Mountains in northern Mexico, in support of Tarahumara Ministries. That trip has been planned for March 27-April 5.
Originally we were planning to drive down to El Paso with a truck full of supplies on March 12, arriving there and making a pre-trip in to Guacaivo prior to the team arriving as the ministry with whom we are working does not have extra folks to help us know exactly what we will need to complete the apartments. The trip from El Paso to Guacaivo takes 2 days and is about 15 hours by car one-way.
My plans are obviously open-ended. We don’t think Dad will survive many more days, but that is in God’s hands and we have to be flexible enough to deal with the reality that I may not be back in time to drive to El Paso with Mike, or in the worst case, may not even be able to participate in the Copper Canyon trip.
Please pray:
I went back to Orlando in February for his 88th birthday on 2/7 and the week before his birthday, he collapsed in the doctors office when I was with him. He was in ICU for 5 days, had 4 blood transfusions and they were able to stabilize him enough for him to go to an intensive rehab place so he could go home. The doctors stopped his blood thinners as that was magnifying a GI bleed somewhere in his body. They did put him on diuretics for the edema (fluid buildup) but he was still very swollen but in no pain, thank goodness! I extended my original trip by a week and then felt at peace enough to come back to Richland.
Dad came home from the rehab facility last Thursday (2/26) and has gone rapidly downhill since then. My sister is staying out there with him in Daytona Beach and doesn't think he has much longer to live - he's now on oxygen and hospice has been called. I'm flying back to Orlando tomorrow (3/4) as he enters this phase of his time here on earth and God willing, passes peacefully. My step-mother, Mari, is having a hard time coming to terms with the reality of his impending passing.
The interesting thing in all this is that a year ago, God guided Mike and I to volunteer to lead a team from our church, Central United Protestant Church in Richland, Washington, on a short-term mission trip to the Copper Canyon area of the remote Sierra Nevada Mountains in northern Mexico, in support of Tarahumara Ministries. That trip has been planned for March 27-April 5.
Originally we were planning to drive down to El Paso with a truck full of supplies on March 12, arriving there and making a pre-trip in to Guacaivo prior to the team arriving as the ministry with whom we are working does not have extra folks to help us know exactly what we will need to complete the apartments. The trip from El Paso to Guacaivo takes 2 days and is about 15 hours by car one-way.
My plans are obviously open-ended. We don’t think Dad will survive many more days, but that is in God’s hands and we have to be flexible enough to deal with the reality that I may not be back in time to drive to El Paso with Mike, or in the worst case, may not even be able to participate in the Copper Canyon trip.
Please pray:
- *that God’s will be done in whatever we accomplish as I know that God is not surprised by any of this!
- *for Dad to pass peacefully and painlessly and that his wife, Mari, will be comforted and supported during this difficult time
- *for Mari and my family to know how much Jesus loves them and for me to have an opportunity to share that love with them - as I've experienced it in my life
- *that I will have safe travel tomorrow (3/4) to Orlando and that all planes depart and arrive on time
- *that I can meet Mike in El Paso on the 17th (if not sooner in Salt Lake City or Albuquerque), or that I can meet Mike in El Paso/Juarez between March 23 and March 27 when the full team arrives
- *for journey mercies for the team, not only for Mike as he drives to El Paso, but for the team as they fly to El Paso on the 27 and back to Portland and drive home on Easter Sunday (April 5)
- *for safety and good health while our team is in Mexico
