As many of you already know, we have had a very strange last 3 weeks. It all started with a planned visa run to Thailand where we were finally going to be able to switch visas. While waiting for the visas to be processed, we scheduled Elise’s vaccinations and physicals for us (the healthcare in Thailand is top notch and cheap). During Kristen’s health check, on Wednesday, November 8th, the doctors found a mass (3″) on her left kidney. They immediately referred her to a specialist, who ordered a CT scan for the following day.

Kristen then met with a doctor on Friday morning (the 10th). She was told that the kidney needed to be removed asap and that the mass was most likely cancerous. We immediately contacted family and doctor-friends back home who were able to help us in making the decision to fly back to Texas for the surgery/treatment. We arrived in Houston that Sunday (the 12th).

Monday (the 13th), because of a family connection, we were able to meet with a urologist/surgeon at MD Anderson. He confirmed everything Thailand had said and scheduled Kristen for a radical nephrectomy (removal of the entire kidney) on Thursday, November 16th. I’ve intentionally posted the dates so that you all could see how unbelievably fast things happened. In 8 days, we went from being in Thailand waiting for our new visas, to Kristen having one less kidney in Houston, TX.

Pictured below is Kristen pre and post surgery. Also pictured is her kidney (cut in half, with the left side being healthy kidney and the right side the tumor).

Check out our caring bridge site for more information on Kristen and her recovery. At the time of this post, we’re still waiting on the pathology report to come out, which will tell us what the tumor was (benign or cancerous), and where it went (hopefully completely contained in the kidney).

We are and continue to be amazed at God’s grace and provision, all the answers to prayer, and the peace we’ve had through all of this.

Because you can receive updates about how Kristen is doing on the site mentioned above, I thought it would be best for the rest of this blog post to show you what Elise has been up too these last 3 weeks.

The circumstances for this trip are strange, but it has been a huge blessing for Elise and the grandparents!

Hanging out with cousins…

Feeding the birds in Grandpa Joe’s backyard and feeding the ducks at Lady Bird lake with Mom and Dedi (Dee-Dye)(Kristen’s mom).

Exploring new places using her great-granddad’s magnifying glass!

Also fitting in time to work on her “game” and learning to play the pedal steel with Poppy!

 

At this point, we know we’ll be in Texas through Christmas, and are thinking we’ll return to China sometime in January. We’re appreciating every minute we have here!