What are you doing here?

This was the most asked question of us this weekend , followed by the next question..........when are you going back to Moscow? We were at the Commissioning weekend and surrounded by friends and associates from the past years where we have journeyed.

So I thought it was time to update you all on what has happened in these recent months.

In the latter part of September I (Lyn) had a couple of disturbed nights, not sleeping and suffering a bit of gastric reflux. So it was of to the Doctor. In Moscow this means the European Medical clinic which is pretty swish and has all the testing facilities at their fingertips. As it is the place all the ex pats go it is also fairly expensive - but they look after you and so I found myself on a table, drip in my arm and then an ultrasound. Diagnosis.... gastritis should settle down with medication said the french doctor. However..............we have found a tumor on your kidney which will need further investigation! So began an interesting couple of weeks.

The CT scan showed a large tumour on my kidney which the surgeon in Moscow was keen to remove asap. We said thanks very much but we think we will go home to Australia for this surgery.

Phone calls to the kids and a couple of days to pull things together in Moscow and we were on our way home to Melbourne. There was a bit of a drama at the airport when we found the travel agent had mistakenly put us on a plane to Mali ( Maldives) - a rebook soon had us on a plane via Bangkok & Brisbane. Arriving in Melbourne we were quickly into a surgeon and within another week I was in the Freemasons hospital having my kidney removed. It has now been 7 weeks since the surgery and I am starting to return to a good level of wellness and fitness. The prognosis is good as far as the surgery is concerned. The cancer was contained within the fatty sac of the kidney and had not advanced to other organs. For now the next steps are to live a healthy life and undertake regular reviews for a number of years.

Ron was able to fly home with me and in the early weeks was my carer & nurse. He has kept up with work in Moscow via lotus notes and skype in the short term.

So what does that mean for us now? The decision we have made is that we will not return to Moscow. Having settled into the medical routine here we believe it to be the right thing that we stay home and in a short while we will take up a new appointment here.

We have greatly enjoyed the opportunity to serve in Moscow and the experience to travel and see the work of the army in the EET has been life changing for us both. We take this opportunity to thank each and everyone of our supporters and encouragers. Your prayers and other support has kept and sustained us through our experience.

As we enter into a new phase of our life it is time to sign off from this blog. It has been an amazing experience. We have so many stories, photos and memories to share and maybe I will get to the point of putting some if this together to share with those who are interested. I am sure there is a a Home League or two left in me????? For now we are trusting God to continue to lead us in our work for Him - wherever it might be.