Health Update

Everyone,



I had my appointment with the infectious disease doctor yesterday and we were somewhat encouraged although it could take some time to pin things down. He kept looking at my scans and files and saying "This is weird, this is just weird." This is the same thing I have heard from every doctor I have seen. He said the main thing that is weird is that you usually don't see anything like this - cancer or infection in both kidneys, usually it is just in one. He asked me a lot of questions and then said that he wished I had not been taking the antibiotics prescribed by the last doctor because while they would not kill whatever it was they would make it harder to grow in a culture. He told me to stop taking them right away. He said he had three ideas of the kind of infection I might have. I can only remember the name of one of them, it is Mycobacterium bovis and he said it is a cousin to TB. It comes from eating unpasteurized milk or cheese and could be from feta that I had in Greece. I told him that I get my feta at the grocery but Kent reminded me that we eat out even in small villages and don't know where they get their feta. Dr. Crislip said that because of my compromised immune system something that wouldn't make someone else sick could make me sick. Anyway that was one possibility. There were two others but I can't remember their names. He said he was going to do a blood test for one and that he was sending tissue samples from my last needle biopsy up to the University of WA where they have a molecular lab and can do some DNA testing on some of these infections. He said "we might luck out and get a hit but I think we are probably going to need more tissue and that will mean an open surgery to get a chunk of the tumor to biopsy". He said he would like me to be off the antibiotics for 5 weeks before the tests so I have a feeling they will wait until then to do the surgery which would mean beginning of May - wait, wait, wait....He said he is pretty confident that it is not cancer but is an infection however. I said okay so when we find it what do we do? He looked and me and said "WE KILL IT!" I like that answer! He said "if we find out what it is I'm going to find a way to kill it." He said most likely that would be with oral antibiotics but we wouldn't know until we knew what it was. I said "how will we know it's dead?" and he said "that will depend on what it is - we need a diagnosis." I am supposed to call a week from Friday if I don't hear from him - he said "If you DO hear from me it will be a very excited phone call because it will mean we got a hit." He also said he was going to consult with a colleague who had a special interest in kidney infections. So I feel like once again we are on the track but the wheels are turning slowly. If we do the surgery it will be a major surgery rather than a minor laparoscopic surgery and we don't know what the diagnosis will be, so we still feel Kent needs to be here. We have been filling our time recently helping the McCrackens redo their large yard at their new home in Portland. It has been good for both of us. Kent is busy and I have worked outside and am feeling stronger although I DO spend quite a bit of time sitting and resting while bossing Kent and Vic around. We may help out some others with this kind of thing just to keep us out of trouble.



I would like to share just one way God has blessed us recently. A couple in the church at Willamette Christian had generously lent us a car which we have been using for the last month and a half. They found they needed it back and guess what the Lord provided for us through dear friends and supporters - a pickup! Right when we were doing yard work and needing to haul wheelbarrows, and dirt and pavers. It was perfect! God is good - all the time.



Again we want to thank you for taking this journey with us. Many of you have been with us since the beginning. There have been times along the way when we may have been tempted to "hurry" God. In the two years when we were fund raising and longed to be in Greece it was hard to understand, but I look back and know that God brought us to Greece at just the right time. Just last year when they were slow approving our visa - it meant that we got our temporary papers later which made us legal until just the right time for us to return from our furlough. We may not understand this latest detour but God has His own timing and his own purposes and our job is just to "stay the course". Thanks for being on our team - we love you.



Kent and Myrna Morley
Tripoleos 76
Elliniko 16777
Athens Greece
011 30 210 96 38 625
backhoeboy1@gmail.com
http://kent-uniquelymorley.blogspot.com
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Health Update 3/10/14

Everyone,



I am sending this because I know many are wanting to hear how my doctor appointment went today as we were hoping to finally have some answers. I cannot even begin to tell you how disappointing the day has been. The doctor basically said "Well we saw pretty much the same thing as last time - inflammation, white cells, puss and dead kidney tissue. Something is eating up your kidneys but we don't know what it is." She went on to say that at this point she didn't feel she had anything to offer us and had spoken with our other doctor who felt we needed to see an infectious disease specialist. She said "if when everyone is done they are saying we don't know what it is then I think we should go in and take a chunk but I think I would want to consider doing an open surgery so I could really see and feel what I was doing and I don't want to put you through that pain or risk unless we need to." She did put me on antibiotics (I think just because she could see how frustrated I was) but said she is not hopeful they will do any good but they won't hurt me. She said she had circulated my scan around to quite a few people and everyone is saying they have never seen anything like this before. I asked her about what she thought this meant long term and she said "I have no idea because I don't know what it is but we need to find it and stop it." SO both the doctors I have been seeing are stepping out for now and I am to call my general practitioner tomorrow to set up an appointment with an infectious disease doctor. More waiting, more tests, more not knowing. I am disappointed, frustrated and scared about my future health if we don't get this under control. I am thankful to be surrounded by my family and friends and to be upheld by so many who are praying. Last night as I lay shivering and having one of my chills and fever spells, I covered myself with a beautiful quilt made by some dear friends from my home church in Elmira. I am overwhelmed by the concern and care that has been shown to us and we appreciate you all so much. We continue to live one day at a time and will keep you in the loop. I will try to send out an update soon with news from Greece. We are in contact with the team there and Kent spent some time on the phone this week with Christy our team mate who is leading the team in his absence. Things are going well but of course they are anxious for us to return. For now we both feel that Kent needs to be here until we see where this goes so we are trusting the Lord to take care of everything else.

We love you all.

Myrna (and Kent)

Latest Biopsy Results

Everyone,



This is just a quick not to give you the latest biopsy report because I know many of you have been praying. Thank you. The news is good - I talked to the nurse today and she said there is NO CANCER but that there IS an infection so I would need to see the urologist again to see how we need to treat that. Whether just heavy antibiotics or if it needed to be drained or something. At this point I feel cautiously optimistic. I will be glad to talk to the urologist on Monday and find out what kind of infection it is, what the treatment will be etc. I have still been having all the same symptoms so will be glad to get on some kind of treatment soon. We still don't know what this means as far as when we will be able to return to Greece but feel like maybe we are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Again we will know more Monday - we hope! As always thank you for your prayers and we will continue to keep you updated as we go along.



Love,

Myrna (and Kent)