From rfepley at gol.com Thu Jan 1 21:24:33 2009 From: rfepley at gol.com (Russ and Flossie) Date: Thu Jan 1 21:24:38 2009 Subject: [Epley Update] Jan. 1, 2009 Message-ID: This morning as Russ and I had our devotions together on this first day of the year, we read Matthew 27:32-44 about the crucifixion of Jesus. The crowds, the chief priests, the elders, and the teachers of the law said "if you are the Son of God" you'll come down from the cross, save yourself, and be rescued. They derided Him assuming that since He didn't do something, He couldn't. They really didn't get it. I couldn't help but think of how many times we still don't get it. Have you ever entertained the thought that God is somehow less than perfect when He allows cancer, death, pain, etc.? Our view of the awesome, majestic, infinitely wise God has somehow shrunk to make Him fit into our limited understanding of the universe. God knows our weaknesses and isn't frightened by our questioning. He does, however, long for us to get to know His character so that we begin to see things more clearly. More than anything in 2009 I want to know God better. I've been greatly helped in my view of God by reading books like Knowledge of the Holy by A. W. Tozer and It's Not All About Me by Max Lucado. But the thing that helps me the most is reading God's personal letter to me?the Bible. I really want to read it more in the new year. Does anyone want to join me in reading through the New Testament this year? Maybe you want to go for the whole Bible. I found a helpful website that sends me the passage each day in the translation of my choice. If you are not a native English speaker you may want to try the Worldwide English version. If you prefer, you can print out the chart. http://www.bibleplan.org/#nt God bless you in 2009! Flossie -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 1690 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://charlotte.lightoftheweb.org/pipermail/epleyupdates/attachments/20090101/d6a06817/attachment.bin From rfepley at gol.com Thu Jan 8 21:35:45 2009 From: rfepley at gol.com (Russ and Flossie) Date: Thu Jan 8 21:35:48 2009 Subject: [Epley Update] Jan. 8, 2009 Message-ID: <5df140bc453456dbc5377faf7aaf64fb@gol.com> The last two days Russ has been undergoing tests to try to determine the cause of various symptoms which together mean less agility, mobility, and ability to express himself clearly. While Russ isn't sure that the neurologist's verdict of "getting older" is an adequate diagnosis, we are thankful that an ultrasound and MRI show no signs of another stroke. Flossie From rfepley at gol.com Tue Jan 13 21:24:24 2009 From: rfepley at gol.com (Russ and Flossie) Date: Tue Jan 13 21:24:27 2009 Subject: [Epley Update] Jan. 13, 2009 Message-ID: In light of Russ' recent challenges, last Saturday he and I decided to write a list of areas of struggle. We want to evaluate what home therapy we need to continue and what we need to change for greater effectiveness. He has such a wide range of challenges that we started with just speech and language. We came up with a dozen points for just English. We listed things like difficulty with coming up with words, pronunciation, understanding speech when there is background noise, spelling, talking and moving simultaneously, etc. Later when we went on his therapy walk, he tried hard to say sentences in Japanese and keep walking at the same time. He did well. He can't always do that, but we're grateful he pulled it off this time. When Russ came home from the center yesterday he said, "Someone was praying for me today. I was able to communicate better than usual and made some progress on my Communication Q & A project." Thank you, Lord. Everyday actions that are simple for me are time-consuming and take great effort for Russ. Yet, he's content. You know what he told our guest today? He said, "I enjoy life more since my stroke." When asked why he responded, "I take time for tea and apples." He used to work all day and all evening pretty much every day of the year. I often prayed that he would learn to rest. He has learned. Now he takes time to stop and enjoy a cup of tea and a little snack rather than rushing off to the next thing on his to-do list. He still has lists, but they don't drive him in the same way. I realized that in the last week I've been preparing his snack, but rather than sitting down to join him, I've kept working. That's probably not a good idea. It's back to sitting down to tea for me. I hope you'll enjoy a cup of tea and apples today, Flossie From rfepley at gol.com Sat Jan 17 11:49:26 2009 From: rfepley at gol.com (Russ and Flossie) Date: Sat Jan 17 11:49:30 2009 Subject: [Epley Update] Jan. 17, 2009 Message-ID: Throughout this past week we had a number of guests come to our home for meals or tea. It is a privilege to counsel and/or pray with each person God brings our way. When Russ came home from the hospital in 2006 I prayed that God would send people to us since it's hard for Russ to get out. God is answering that prayer with just the right number of people?not too many and not too few. Thank you, God. We were both really challenged by a message we heard a few weeks ago about remembering the weak, the abused, the suffering, the lonely, the poor, etc. The idea goes along well with our morning time of family devotions. Russ and I are enjoying studying the book of James which encourages us to accompany our faith with action. Russ and I both consider our primary love language to be "acts of service." Though our salvation is not earned by what we do, I'm thankful that we can show God our love for Him by doing things. Isn't it neat that when we do something for others it not only brings them blessing and give us joy, it also gladdens God's heart. That's triple benefit from one act of service?my kind of math. Flossie From rfepley at gol.com Tue Jan 20 22:04:43 2009 From: rfepley at gol.com (Russ and Flossie) Date: Tue Jan 20 22:04:45 2009 Subject: [Epley Update] Jan. 20, 2009 Message-ID: <0079138ab22510935a57cddba18db8d5@gol.com> Today at 11:35 AM just about five minutes after I came home from school I heard a crash. I ran into the living room and found Russ face down on the floor with blood around his face. When I asked him if he was okay, he did not respond. Thankfully he turned over on his side shortly after that so I surmised he was conscious. I called an ambulance. To make a long story short. Russ fell for some unknown reason and apparently hit something. He does remember enough to tell us what happened. He received a large gash on his forehead and broke his arm near his right shoulder. He had numerous CT scans and x-rays to rule out many internal injuries. We received the good news that he had no bleeding or fracture in his head. A large hematoma has swollen the eye shut, but there is no visible eye damage at this point. We won't know until they can do further tests. We thought perhaps we would be out of the emergency room and come home in a few hours. However, after Russ stood up to have the doctor check his legs, he passed out. His heart went out of rhythm and his pulse hovered between 130 and 140, sometimes higher and sometimes a little lower. His systolic blood pressure dropped to 70 but soon after went back up to 131. When the heart monitor would go into the orange stage they would continually ask him if he felt any chest pain or if his heart was racing. His answer was always negative. After resting for several hours his pulse was still high so they've kept him in the hospital for at least one night. There are many things we don't know. Why did he fall? Why is his heart out of rhythm? Does he have any other internal problems that his paralysis is masking? There are many things we do know. God is still God. He's in control. We can rest in Him. We appreciate your prayers. Flossie From rfepley at gol.com Wed Jan 21 22:37:23 2009 From: rfepley at gol.com (Russ and Flossie) Date: Wed Jan 21 22:37:27 2009 Subject: [Epley Update] January 21, 2009 Message-ID: <945bf631198b822dcc213a4b8b57eb9c@gol.com> God is turning disappointments into good. Though Russ' face is looking so much better now that the swelling has gone down, his countenance did fall when he heard that he will have to be in the hospital for at least a week and probably two weeks. This is actually an answer to prayer, albeit not the answer we were expecting. Two weeks ago when the neurologist told us what Russ' recent decline isn't rather than what it is, we didn't know how to pursue getting further help. Breaking an arm and getting a huge gash on his forehead were a way to get him admitted into a hospital that perhaps would have rejected him had he tried to get in for neurological problems since every bed is full in the neurological wing at this time. When he was taken to the emergency room, we thought he would be in and out of there in a few hours. When his condition started weakening, they kept him. Russ will remain in the critical care unit for now though a neurologist comes over to see him. We're glad he got in! Showa Hospital in Kodaira is a good hospital with a large range of specialists and is only five kilometers from our home. We are both thankful that the doctors are working hard to get to the bottom of Russ' recent difficulties. Today I met the neurologist that is in charge of his overall care. I found her explanations very helpful and easy to understand even though I don't know all the medical jargon in Japanese (or English for that matter)! For several weeks I have been wondering if Russ might be having seizures. That appears to be what is happening. He'll have another MRI tomorrow and they will change his blood-thinning medication. Getting the right dosage is tricky since too much can cause damage to the liver and kidneys and too little won't prevent the seizures. A blood clot in his heart is a possibility which could cause another stroke. I miss having Russ at home, but I'm thankful he'll be under medical supervision while they work these things out. When I packed to go see Russ today I tried to anticipate what he would want with him in the hospital. I guessed right on some things like his Bible, but missed bringing his prayer materials. Tomorrow I'll take him Operation Japan that he uses to daily pray for the people of this country we dearly love and his files of letters and prayer guides for various ministries. For a few weeks Russ will not be able to be up and about, but he can still pray. Prayer needs: 1) That the doctors will be able to get to the root of Russ' problem 2) That Russ will react favorably to the change in medication and that he will be protected from bad side affects 3) That his head wound and broken arm will heal well 4) That he will not lose too much ground in mobility while he's confined to a hospital bed 5) That he won't get bed sores (harder to prevent now that he had a broken arm as well as paralysis) 6) As always...that God will be glorified! Showa Hospital's visiting hours are 3 PM to 8 PM on weekdays and 1 PM to 8 PM on weekends. Blessings, Flossie -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 3055 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://charlotte.lightoftheweb.org/pipermail/epleyupdates/attachments/20090121/1ff2e5cf/attachment.bin From rfepley at gol.com Thu Jan 22 22:16:48 2009 From: rfepley at gol.com (Russ and Flossie) Date: Thu Jan 22 22:16:51 2009 Subject: [Epley Update] January 22, 2009 Message-ID: Thanks for praying for us. It wasn't a great day, but it wasn't terrible either. We are thankful that Russ' pulse seems to be more normal and his fever has gone down. Overall he was not quite as alert as yesterday and didn't finish his supper. Nausea is one of the possible side affects of his new medicine. I'm just not used to seeing him leave food uneaten. He generally eats everything regardless of how it tastes. His hospital bed is only a bit longer than he is so one time his paralyzed foot got wedged against the footboard and I had to rescue it for him. He doesn't complain, but he looks uncomfortable to me. Some of the nurses were quite rough with his broken shoulder when they moved him today. I'm sure it's hard for them to remember it's broken since it's not in a cast. They don't all forget. Don't go putting this in your church prayer chain or anything, but there was something pretty funny that happened today. Two nurses were giving Russ a sponge bath. I was loosely interpreting into English what they were saying in Japanese and commented, "They want to clean under your arm where it's stinky." Quick as a flash the nurse said in perfect English, "I didn't say that!" Oops. I tried again. "I'm sorry. They would like to wipe off the perspiration." In that case the nurse was being very careful of his broken arm and bless her heart, she got misinterpreted for all her effort. Flossie From rfepley at gol.com Fri Jan 23 22:08:12 2009 From: rfepley at gol.com (Russ and Flossie) Date: Fri Jan 23 22:08:15 2009 Subject: [Epley Update] January 23, 2009 Message-ID: <7305ed8ff5ad4c72d41fcb113d69aee0@gol.com> Praise God! Russ turned a corner and is doing significantly better. We had so many blessings today! ? They determined that the cause of his fall was a seizure and have been able to adjust his medications accordingly. Finally we have an answer. We've been wondering since summer what was going on to cause his decline. ? Russ was able to sit in a wheelchair for about five minutes and sat up to eat his supper after lying flat for three days. ? His arm is in a sling which serves as a great reminder to anyone helping him to be careful of his arm and shoulder. He has no pain except when it's moved. How grateful we are that he broke his paralyzed arm rather than his one good one! ? The gash above his eye is healing nicely and the swelling has gone down completely. Russ looks cute in purple. ? The eye doctor examined his eye and there is no damage even though his would is very near his eye. ? All his tests came back fine and his blood pressure and heart rhythm are back in order. ? Amazingly, the neurologist said he can come home on Tuesday! Before Russ comes home he needs to gain quite a bit of strength to be able to get around our house, but we're full of hope that he will actually be able to come home as scheduled. I won't plan to write for a few days. We'll be busy working to regain his strength and mobility for his homecoming. I've missed him so much while he has been gone even though I've spent several hours a day with him. Russ did have one little problem today. He broke the bed! He was too long for it and his paralyzed leg was feeling uncooperative and just pushed the footboard more than it could handle. Another little thing...he wasn't wild about the chewy octopus they served him for supper, but it will make coming home to my cooking all that much sweeter. I wouldn't really want him to prefer their cooking to mine. Thank you so much for your prayers during this unexpected crisis. It was a people-crisis anyway...no crisis to God. That's why I'm glad He's in charge and not me! I think I'll sleep well tonight. I hope you will too. Flossie From rfepley at gol.com Sun Jan 25 22:06:13 2009 From: rfepley at gol.com (Russ and Flossie) Date: Sun Jan 25 22:06:18 2009 Subject: [Epley Update] January 25, 2009 Message-ID: Russ is making excellent progress. Today he was moved out of the critical care unit to the neurological floor. I told Russ that we'd met the people God wanted us to meet in that hospital wing and it was time to meet the new people God would bring into our lives on the 7th floor. We were able to give a Manga Messiah (book about Jesus' life) to the one patient in his room who was alert enough to read. We pray Mr. Ishii will read it and experience the joy and peace we have in knowing Jesus. When the young nurse from CCU took Russ to his new room we learned several things about her including the fact that when she was in Los Angeles for a year, her homestay family took her to church every Sunday. When the nurse got Russ settled in his new room and prepared to return to her floor, she gave Russ a good-bye hug. I can stake my life on the fact that this is not standard procedure here in Tokyo. We ask your prayers for extra strength as we plan to have two teenagers stay in our home this week. This has been planned for a long time. We could have said it isn't convenient since Russ plans to come home from the hospital on Tuesday, but we decided to go ahead with our plans. Life is too short to wait until it's convenient to be hospitable. If it really doesn't work, we can ask someone else to take them, but we want to try. The girls will be at school most of the day so it's not like it will take a lot of work to entertain them. Have a wonderful week! We have a lot to look forward to. Flossie -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 1528 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://charlotte.lightoftheweb.org/pipermail/epleyupdates/attachments/20090125/e49dc1b1/attachment.bin From rfepley at gol.com Mon Jan 26 22:01:54 2009 From: rfepley at gol.com (Russ and Flossie) Date: Mon Jan 26 22:01:59 2009 Subject: [Epley Update] January 26, 2009 Message-ID: <7031d398565efb73b430979ca4bc65d3@gol.com> Russ is definitely eager to come home from the hospital. This afternoon when I visited him he said, "Tonight, breakfast, and I'm out of here." He showed good stamina today and the doctor placed no limitations on him other than to try not to bump his arm. He doesn't have a cast because of the location and nature of the break. Since it's his paralyzed arm that broke (where he has almost no feeling), he has not had pain other than the first day. Blessings abound, Flossie From rfepley at gol.com Wed Jan 28 21:16:44 2009 From: rfepley at gol.com (Russ and Flossie) Date: Wed Jan 28 21:16:49 2009 Subject: [Epley Update] January 28, 2009 Message-ID: We are delighted to have Russ home. A week ago I asked you to pray for six things. This is how God is answering... 1) That the doctors will be able to get to the root of Russ' problem We are very thankful that the neurologist was able to determine that Russ' root problem was a seizure. We're not thrilled for him to have seizures, but knowing what the problem is means we can do something about it. 2) That Russ will react favorably to the change in medication and that he will be protected from bad side affects So far; so good. This is an ongoing request since we won't know all the consequences for awhile. 3) That his head wound and broken arm will heal well Again, so far; so good. 4) That he will not lose too much ground in mobility while he's confined to a hospital bed I've been amazed at how well Russ has been getting around here at home today. He doesn't seem to have lost much ground as far as walking goes. It may be challenging to keep his arm flexible since we can't do all his arm exercises until his bone heals. Spending all day with him I realize he does have pain in his arm. Hopefully that will subside as it heals. 5) That he won't get bed sores (harder to prevent now that he had a broken arm as well as paralysis) He's been able to get up and about sooner than I anticipated. I'm so grateful! As long as he can change positions, he can keep bed sores at bay. 6) As always...that God will be glorified! This is our lifelong prayer request. Thanks for standing with us! God is the great healer. We are thankful to be His children. Next week is our mission's annual Ladies' Retreat. This is a big deal to me. It's an event I've never missed in 27 years except for when we were in the US a few times. My brother Tim has offered to stay with Russ most of the time, but I need someone to stay with Russ during supper and early evening on Monday (Feb. 2) and Tuesday (Feb. 3). Please pray that if I am to go, these needs will be cared for. I'm willing to give up retreat for Russ' sake if he needs it, but I'd like to go if at all possible. Flossie -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 2195 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://charlotte.lightoftheweb.org/pipermail/epleyupdates/attachments/20090128/37aebfa8/attachment.bin From rfepley at gol.com Sat Jan 31 13:40:30 2009 From: rfepley at gol.com (Russ and Flossie) Date: Sat Jan 31 13:40:34 2009 Subject: [Epley Update] January 31, 2009 Message-ID: <8e3ccd8eea9730bb78ec4c9d1b6bb834@gol.com> I'm happy to say that several of Russ' friends volunteered to stay with him so that we have things covered for me to go to our mission Ladies' Retreat. We'd appreciate prayer that things would go well for all of us. I plan to leave Sunday afternoon and return Wednesday afternoon. Now all I have to do is take care of a long list of details. Thanks for your interest! Flossie