We had a long day at the doctor's office yesterday but the outcome was good news. Kristi has a rare kind of tumor called a Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumor. In this case, rare is good because it's much more treatable. This kind of tumor is also potentially malignant and can be life threatening, but the likelihood is significantly less. At this point it simply needs to be taken out. Steve Jobs was a well-known person who had the same illness. Unfortunately he didn't deal with it correctly and it eventually caused his death.
Kristi's tumor is in the center of her pancreas and very close to the blood vessels that supply her spleen. For this reason the doctor will need to remove her spleen along with half of her pancreas (distal pancreatectomy). He will also remove her gall bladder at the same time--the organ that was the initial cause of our concerns.
Surgery is scheduled for Thursday, probably sometime around noon. We will stay in New York until then. Kristi will likely be hospitalized for about 5 days and then we'll wait a few more days to have her staples removed. All together, we are looking at a stay of maybe about 2 to 3 weeks for this visit.
The doctor believes there is about a 50% chance that Kristi will be diabetic as a result of the surgery. This is due to the fact that a healthy pancreas is so important for maintaining sugar levels.
Praise the Lord with us for the positive news we have received! We are so thankful for your prayer support during the past few days. Please continue to pray for the details of surgery and the challenges that come with it.
We appreciate you,
Scott and Kristi
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