Surgery is Scheduled

This is a long overdue update – life has been a little hectic.

On Tuesday, December 8th, Dick had an appointment at Shands Hospital in Gainesville, FL. We thought we were going up there to schedule his March surgery and to have a preliminary meeting with the surgeon. Dick went through all the usual intake questions (family history, previous surgeries, etc.) and then Dr. Beck came in and went through another battery of questions and pulled up information from records that we brought with us to the appointment. As he reviewed the CT scan he told us that the abdominal aneurysm was not as big as previously reported. It appeared that the 6.5 measurements was taken at a place where the aorta turned so it was more of a diagonal measurement - like measuring a cucumber that was cut diagonally – and that the aneurysm was at a measurement of 4.5. He was however very concerned about an aneurysm that Dick has on his ascending aorta – the large vein coming out of the heart. Since he only does surgery on the descending aorta and surgery on the ascending aorta is technically heart surgery, he sent one of his colleagues in to talk to us. Dr. Lee told Dick that he would need to have surgery sooner than later and asked if we would prefer to wait until after Christmas – which we said yes to. He sent Dick to have another CT scan, focusing on the aneurysms and we left Gainesville to return to Orlando.

Wednesday morning as we were drinking coffee trying to decide what to do that day the phone rang with a scheduler from Shands hospital telling us that Dick needed to get up to Shands immediately for surgery. Since he was the technician that was scheduling the surgery, he couldn’t give us any more information than that and Dick asked for a call back from the doctor to find out exactly what was going on. The doctor’s PA called back and told us that there had been growth in the aneurysm since September and the doctor thought the surgery should be done immediately. So we hastily packed our bags and headed for Shands.

Long story short, the surgery was not done that day. Dick spent 3 days in the hospital while they did testing, started weaning him off of his blood thinners, and he met with anesthesiology. In just a few short days, the 21st of this month Dick will be having a 6 hour open heart surgery where they will stop his heart and put him on a by-pass machine while they removed the diseased portion of his ascending aorta and replace it with a tube of some kind (can't remember what the doctor called it). The doctor assured us that there is only a 2% chance of death and that he performs these surgeries all the time ... comforting yes, comforting no, depends on the moment. Just the talk of death freaks us out a bit. But as a Christ-follower, death isn't to be feared, right?

The thing that Dick fears the most is the pain that he will inevitably endure and the 2+ month recovery process. This has made us ponder how gracious our Lord is to (usually) not let us know the hardships that we will walk through in life before we walk through them ... the fear of what is to come can sometimes be the hardest part of the journey ... sometimes.

We are so grateful for the way that God's providence has been woven throughout this whole process.

• The heart attack lead to the discovery of the aneurysm in his abdomen
• While surgery wasn't supposed to take place until March, Dick met with the surgeon last week only to find that the original worry (the abdominal aneurysm) wasn't as serious as originally thought but that the ascending aortic aneurysm, that was originally thought not to be a problem, was the one that needed to be cared for ... urgently.

So once again, while we were busy planning our way, God has been and continues to direct our steps - for that we are so, so grateful!

The day after we returned from the hospital, this is what we read in a new devotional that we received from a friend:
"… When your head throbs, when your heart palpitates, when your system is upset, it is natural to say with Jacob, "All these things are against me." We complain of providence, but this is the time to apply the promise with power. "Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God, I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you. I will uphold you with My righteous right hand" (Is. 41:10). When pain gives every sign of increasing, when we wait for the surgeon with his dreaded knife, if we are to be sustained under suffering that makes the flesh shudder, we need the upholding gentleness of God. "Fear not, for I am with you." This promise, like the nightingale's song, is most sweet when heard in the night season.”
And that does indeed bring comfort, how incredibly timely. I have a feeling that this will be something that we read over and over again in the coming days!

So we wish you and yours a very blessed Christmas. Hug your loved ones and remember what a gift they are in your life. We love and appreciate you all and covet your prayers for no complications and a speedy recovery.

Leaving Home to go Home

Dear friends and family,

April 1, 2011 is a prominent day in our memories. It is the day we wrapped up a year of preparation and packing and drove away from Tequesta, Florida - home to both of us for over 30 years. Over the last four and a half years we have faced many trials, but have had some of the most spiritually enriching times of our lives. Opportunities to serve, teach, and pray; encouraging conversations with outreach participants; watching God at work all around us; working alongside amazing Dominican and American staff - these are just a glimpse of the highlights of these years.

When we made the commitment to leave our lives behind and move to the mission field, we did so without putting an end date on it trusting the Lord’s leading on timing. Our mission organization asks for a minimum 2 year commitment but we really didn’t have a feel at that point of how long we were to serve, instead hearing the Lord say, “go and serve and I will direct your next step.” So that’s what we have done. Our first few years were very hard. Learning to live in a culture with different norms and values was something that we tried to prepare for before arriving in the DR but until our feet actually touched ground there, we didn’t have a clue what we were going to face. So many things were different – from the way that neighbors interact (you are part of their family, you’re never too busy to talk) to the way that people drive (loco doesn’t even begin to describe it), to what to do if you have a fender bender (hand the person who hit you a couple hundred pesos and be on your way) – all of it was so totally different to what we considered “normal.” Add to that our bi-weekly shopping trips in Santiago where we were stood out for miles as the only “gringos” to be seen, and if we had a problem we were flat out of luck because the only English to be heard was the occasional American pop-song blaring from a car radio. But we slowly learned the language, learned the habits of our neighbors, found our way through Santiago shopping trips and adjusted, or even more so, enjoyed living life in the Dominican Republic.

This past year in particular has been an amazing year of ministry. Due to changes in staff, Mary Ellen was able to become more involved in the lives of the women working in the kitchen as well as do some of the cooking – which she loved! Dick was given the opportunity to teach bible lessons on a regular basis to the outreach participants. We were also both able to take part in a worship and prayer night, having the opportunity to pray for outreach participants and were also able to spend many hours sharing our faith and our lives with students and leaders around the table at mealtime and during breaks in our schedule. We seemed to be settling into our roles and responsibilities on the field and felt so blessed to be doing what we were doing.

On May 31 of this year as we were preparing to start a busy summer, Dick was spending time reading in Mark 5. Have you ever had the experience of reading or hearing something that you felt like was written or spoken just for you? How often have you read a verse of scripture that you have read many times before but at that moment it seems to jump off the page at you? As Dick began to read verse 19 of chapter 5, he sensed very strongly that the Lord was speaking to him.
"18 As He was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed was imploring Him that he might accompany Him. 19 And He did not let him, but He said to him, ‘Go home to your people & report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, & how He had mercy on you.’ 20 And he went away and began to proclaim in Decapolis what great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed.”

The revelation of the Lord was so strong that Dick wrote these verses in his journal. Wondering if God was beginning to prepare our hearts to return to the US, we began many lengthy discussions about what might be in our future and when we might return to the States.

On August 27th, Dick had stabbing pain in his back. We went to the local clinic (like an Urgent Care Center) and he was admitted and treated for angina. After a week of treatment and no improvement and at the prompting of his son, Jason, we made a hasty trip to Florida. Within 24 hours he was admitted to South Lake Hospital in Clermont, FL, where it was determined that he had 3 blocked arteries in his heart. Over the course of his stay there, he received 4 stents and it was discovered that he had multiple aneurysms that have, in some places, more than doubled the size of his aorta. He will need surgery as soon as his heart is healthy enough – sometime within the next 6-12 months. In the meantime, he is managing his blood pressure through a few different types of medication, keeping it low enough to not cause stress on the aneurysm but high enough that he can function. He has to be careful of the types of activities he does and also needs to take care to not be exposed to illness if at all possible. His doctors have advised him not to travel internationally or to any remote areas of the United States – in other words, to remain close to good emergency care. So it seems as though while we were busy planning our way, God has graciously intervened and ordered our steps. And the verse Dick read in May has taken on a whole new meaning to us - "Go home to your people & report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, & how He had mercy on you."

We can’t even begin to express how much we appreciate the love and support of so many over these past four and a half years. The opportunities to minister and serve the Dominicans and outreach participants were made possible because of your prayers, friendship and financial support. Thank you just doesn’t seem like enough but we do thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Dick and Mary Ellen Meyer

The mind of man plans his way but the Lord directs his steps ~ Proverbs 16:9