Back to Kansas

Kristi had her follow-up appointment with the doctor yesterday afternoon, giving increased clarity and closure regarding her recent surgery. The pathology report resulted in the best possible news, her tumor was indeed benign and it was low grade--meaning it grew slowly and is less likely to spread. There is a small chance it could resurface during the next 5 years (less than 10%.) If it does it would probably be in her liver or lymph nodes, but even then it would be expected to be the same rare, benign form of pancreatic tumor. This is great news; we are thankful to God for answering our prayers in this way and thankful to you for joining us with your petitions to him.

Kristi will need to do periodic scans in the coming months and years. Her doctor in New York is willing to review images from a distance if we do them in other parts of the US or even in Ecuador. We are very grateful for the excellent doctor God gave to us. He has shown himself to be professionally excellent and also extremely focused on serving us in this and many other ways.

Kristi did not develop diabetes as a result of the surgery and does not have a significant increase in her likelihood of developing it for the future.

She has been seeing progress in her recovery from surgery and felt ready to travel. We changed our tickets to today and we're currently on our way back to Kansas as I write. She definitely needs more recovery before traveling internationally and considering stepping into her classroom ministry. Now that Lindsey has started the school year here we need to consider several factors and make a decision about the best timing for our return to the field. Pray for wisdom as we work on this during the next week.

Thank you for walking this journey with us!

Scott