Last week it was confirmed that Ibu Wenny's cancer has returned. It was just over three years ago when she battled cancer the first time. At that time, she had a small portion of her colon removed, and didn't need any chemotherapy.For the past couple of months, she had increasing pain in her abdomen. Her doctor ordered more blood tests, both last month and then again last week. The CEA and CA (both tumor markers which indicate possible return of cancer) had increased significantly. Especially the CA, which is supposed to be around 37 and Wenny's is at 327. So the doctor said she needs to begin chemotherapy immediately.
Tomorrow morning, Wenny and her husband, Bambang, will make the two hour trip north to Surabaya (where her doctor is). She'll be there until Saturday for the first chemo treatment. She'll return there again at the end of April for a second. After that, they'll run more tests to determine the effect and what the next steps should be.
It's been a roller coaster week for Bambang and Wenny, and their three girls, Yella, Karen, and Rene. The girls are afraid to have their mom so far away from them and the older ones at least have an understanding of the implications. Bambang's been struggling with the usual questions of why is God allowing this to come back. Yet through it all, they really are remaining strong.
The P-town learning center will be slowing down quite a bit. At one point last week, we considered closing down temporarily. We've lost two teachers recently (one moved on to another job and the other is having a baby in two weeks). They were our best English teachers. I'll be leaving at the end of May. Wenny will be stepping aside and resting through April at least.
However, the three remaining staff members WANT to keep pressing on. So they will try to patch it together for the time being.
Please pray for Wenny, Bambang, their girls, and the learning center staff.
