Health and Ministry Update

Everyone -



Health News:

I am only up to writing a short note. I am home and feeling little better each day but spend a lot of time floating away in sleep on the pain pills. I wasn't able to eat more than a few bites at first because of some intestinal issues but that has mostly righted itself and I am trying to get a little more nutrition down. Kent is taking good care of me - figuring out ways to make me comfortable and fixing soup, baked potatoes, eggs etc. We are at my brother and sister-in-laws house still. They are gone for two weeks. Kent was going to sleep in their bedroom but the first night I had some vivid dreams or hallucinations from the medications that scared me so he has been right here at my side - so thankful. People have asked for the address here it is:

care/of Dale Gibson 2421 Donegal Ct. West Linn OR 97068. We don't have any report back yet except the pathology report for cancer and it is not cancer which we pretty much already knew. Now we are just waiting for them to find something else which usually takes at least a couple of weeks and then once they find it to culture it and find a way to kill it which can take up to a month more.



Ministry News:



The team recently did another of our "doctor days". Many families were able to talk with the doctor's. There was a nutrition class where they taught them to make breakfast burritos that are inexpensive and easy. I love the mix of cultures! As usual several people said it was the best day they had had in a LONG time and were very grateful.



The Team was away at a team retreat this last weekend. We've heard good comments about the teaching and sharing time so continue to pray that the team is uplifted an united especially in our absence.



Meetings are underway for the summer camp which will be happening the first couple weeks in June. The men's camp will be during the first week of June and though some of our men will participate we will run our regular programming during that week as well. June 10-16 is the Family Camp and we close down as almost the whole staff goes to help at this camp. This is a highlight of the year for staff and refugees alike. MANY decisions for the Lord and baptisms have been during or followed our summer camps. Please pray for the final planning, pray for adequate staff, pray for the right refugees to come and pray that their hearts will be open.



We Love You All and could not do this without your support.



Kent and Myrna Morley
Tripoleos 76
Elliniko 16777
Athens Greece
011 30 210 96 38 625
backhoeboy1@gmail.com
http://kent-uniquelymorley.blogspot.com
To join our Support Team:
Online go to: www.iteams.org select: US, Select: What do you want to do, Select: Give
Or Send to:
International Teams
411 W. River Rd.
Elgin IL 60123
Please designate for the ministry of Kent and Myrna Morley and indicate whether this is a one time gift or monthly support. Thanks :)

Update on the Update

Everyone -



Our lives are never dull - after Kent had purchased tickets last night to fly to Greece for the week next week, this morning my doctor called to say. "Good news! We've moved your surgery up to Monday night!" We were happy to be able to get the surgery done sooner but Kent had already made plans for things he was going to do in Greece and of course we had bought tickets on line so we worried about getting a refund. However we called and Delta said that since we bought them on the Delta site and since it was within 24 hours there was no problem and they just refunded the full amount. SO thankful! So Kent will not be making a trip to Greece and I will be having surgery this Monday the 19th at 5pm at Good Samaritan Hospital in downtown Portland.



Love, Myrna

Health Update

Everyone,



A lot has happened in the last few days and I am still trying to process it all. I got up Monday morning early so I could go in for my scan. I am going through a bible study called "Stronger" and the lesson for the day was "God is stronger than your bad news". I told Kent on the way to the hospital for my scan - this does not bode well for me. After my scan was over the technician said to me "Do you have an appointment with your doctor right away?" I said "Yes I have one on Wednesday". They have never asked me before whether I had a doctor's appointment - another little sign to me that perhaps things were not going to be well.



The day before on Sunday when we were at church in Elmira I had asked several people to pray that God would give us a definitive answer. Since I had been feeling some better we were in hopes that they would say that the tumor had shrunk or there was scar tissue but we were afraid they might say "Well things look about the same I think we should just continue to wait and see what happens and then we would know what to do about Kent returning to Greece etc.



We got our definitive answer. I was not supposed to get the results of the scan until Wednesday but we had only been home a few hours when the doctor called. He said "The tumors have grown." I said "A little? A lot?" He said "Significantly". He felt it was time we needed to go ahead and do the open kidney surgery and said he would call the surgeon when he got off the phone with me.



Yesterday we saw the surgeon and the news seemed even a little more discouraging. She said that well over half of my left kidney was gone and that the tumor in my right kidney had increased as well. She said that she planned to operate on the left kidney trying to lop of about the bottom third of the kidney. However she said that there was a possibility that she would not be able to find enough good tissue to sew things back together again and if that was the case then she would need to take the whole kidney. This is why she has chosen to cut on the left kidney although it is the more difficult kidney because if I have to lose a kidney better to lose it than to lose the one with more healthy tissue. She said the other concern is that they would seed infection or whatever this is into my abdomen so they were going to try and stay as far to the side as possible and keep me in the hospital with drain tubes for a few day in order to prevent that. She said "I usually go in pretty confident of what I am going to do and I am sorry to not be able to give you better answers but I just don't know what I am going to find when I get in there". She wanted to have a second surgeon in the room as well so because of that they will not be able to do the surgery until May 29th.



One of the hard things about this is that though it is a serious surgery and a six week recovery it does nothing to make me better - it only gives them more tissue to hopefully be able to find out what is eating up my kidneys. My Infectious Disease Doctor says that he only knows of maybe 2 cases ever that are even similar and the surgeon said she has show my scan around to everyone she knows and they are all baffled.



Needless to say this has hit me pretty hard and I am having a few struggles dealing with it emotionally. Although Kent understands and is very sympathetic to this he is going to leave on Saturday and fly to Greece for a little over a week coming back a couple days before my surgery. He really feels that since he will for sure not be able to leave until after our daughters wedding in August, and because we don't know what the future holds as far as treatment if they are able to find what is wrong, this is his one window of time to go back and take care of some leadership responsibilities. Please pray for us both during this time - pray that his time there will be productive and pray for peace for me as I am here doing the pre-op stuff without him.



We don't know where this will lead but we are trusting God that he will show us the way through. Thank you for your prayers and love.



Kent and Myrna Morley
Tripoleos 76
Elliniko 16777
Athens Greece
011 30 210 96 38 625
backhoeboy1@gmail.com
http://kent-uniquelymorley.blogspot.com
To join our Support Team:
Online go to: www.iteams.org select: US, Select: What do you want to do, Select: Give
Or Send to:
International Teams
411 W. River Rd.
Elgin IL 60123
Please designate for the ministry of Kent and Myrna Morley and indicate whether this is a one time gift or monthly support. Thanks :)

Health Update

Everyone -



I know we were expecting to get a scan this week and perhaps have some answers but my doctor wanted to wait a full month to give the medicine time to work. SO I have my scan scheduled for the 12th with an appointment on the 14th to see the doctor and discuss the results. I have actually been feeling better and have not had the fever and chills for the last couple of weeks so we are hopeful that the medicine is doing it's job. I had trouble with my lower lip cracking open and being very sore in reaction to the medication for the first few weeks but after trying some things and making some adjustments to my other medications it has almost cleared. Please pray for us during this time - if my scan shows the medicine is working and the only treatment is going to be continuing on the medicine then Kent will likely take a flight back to Greece as early as possible. I will stay on here both to be sure I am nearby in case of complications during the treatment and also just for financial saving since we need to come back to the states in August for our youngest daughter's wedding. We don't like the prospect of being apart for so long but feel like it is the best option. IF the medicine is not working the plan was to go ahead right away and do the surgery to take a bigger chunk of the tumor and of course Kent would stay for that. I find I am a little emotional lately just about everything - we lost a dear friend in an accident recently (we were staying in their home while they were gone and he was killed while they were away) and it just made me realize how fragile life is and how we need to cherish the time we have with each other.



Kent spoke with Christy who is acting team leader in Greece while we are away and she said thing are going great so we are thankful for that but anxious to be back at work. I have continued to field Short Term Team Correspondence and Kent has kept in touch plus taken care of a few administrative things so hopefully we won't be too out of the loop when we get back. Thank you again for praying for us and for continuing to support us through all of this - we are so grateful to God for giving us such a wonderful group of people like 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
To join our Support Team:
Online go to: www.iteams.org select: US, Select: What do you want to do, Select: Give
Or Send to:
International Teams
411 W. River Rd.
Elgin IL 60123
Please designate for the ministry of Kent and Myrna Morley and indicate whether this is a one time gift or monthly support. Thanks :)