Mike is recovering so nicely from Monday’s surgery that he may be able to check out of the hospital this weekend. His doctor didn’t preform the resection surgery that he had planned because he found diffused cancer cells throughout Mike’s pancreas and in several lymph nodes, indicating the cancer is advanced and therefore the resection wouldn’t benefit Mike. He did take out his gall bladder and put in a permanent stint to keep his bile duct open. He also took tissue samples from several areas and sent them for analysis. Mike’s doctor and radiologist are not sure why the cancer didn’t appear on the PET scan and other scans. There is a possibility that it may be an endocrine pancreatic cancer that might respond better to chemo than the more common exocrine type of pancreatic cancer. We are now in waiting mode again as these test results won’t be in until next week.
When we have the results and Mike is well enough ,we’ve decided to travel back to Washington so we can be near our family while he goes through the next steps of his treatment.
- As we walk through this journey, meeting medical professionals and other patients who need to know the reason for the hope we have, please pray that God will continue to use us to encourage and point people to a saving faith in Jesus Christ
- Please pray the tests reveal a treatable variety of cancer (or better yet, a miraculously disappearing cancer)
- Please pray we won’t have any difficulty obtaining all Mike’s medical records before we leave
- Pray we can easily pack and tidy up everything here
- Please pray for travel mercies and turbulence free flights
- Please pray for our dear friend and co-laborer, Jen Birkey, as she searches for a room-mate to share the rent in our apartment
- Please pray we don’t run into issues with our global insurance coverage during Mike’s medical care in the States
- Pray for our family as they walk through this with us
- And most of all, please pray for Mike’s complete healing!
A prayer gathering for Mike is scheduled for this Saturday, February 20th at The Gathering House, meeting room #2 (733 w Garland) in Spokane. Feel free to drop in anytime between noon and 3:00pm.
“For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there among them.” – Matthew 18:20