My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

I want to thank, from the bottom of my heart, everyone who is praying for me.  Today I was very aware of your prayers on my behalf!

On Friday night last week we took the tent down to southern Romania.  The trip was basically uneventful except for a semi- trailer that could have run us off the road after side swiping us because the driver dosed off temporarily.  But it did not happen and we PTL for that.  We arrived in Slatina about 8AM to find about 15 brothers from three different churches working hard to unload the tent to deposit it in a 40′ container where it will stay until we set it up around May 12.  I was touched by the fact that they had all gotten up about 6AM to be there on a Saturday morning.  I was also touched by the sense of excitement that I felt from them that the tent was now in Slatina.  We had been talking about this and praying for this for some months, and it finally materialized.  Of course that was just the first step of many that will have to be taken during the next 6 weeks or so as together we preach the gospel in that city.  Please continue to pray.

Regarding my health, there is a new development.   Last week I visited a local urologist here in Arad.  I wanted to get a second opinion and to try to find out more about my situation.  I have to say that the doctor that I have attended in Hungary did not share many details and well did not have the best bed side manner, if you know what I mean.  This seems to be the way things are here, and they do not seem to like the fact if you go and get a second opinion, when they are the first one.

Well, yesterday afternoon I went back to see the urologist in Arad because it seems that I can get on the Romanian national health care system.

( I received a document from the police just yesterday that showed that I have been a legal resident in Romania from Jan. 2008.  Of course I have been here much longer.  Anyway the system here allows me to pay back to Jan. 2008 all the previous monthly health insurance payments and then continue to pay.  So I will be insured  because in Jan 2008 I did not have this health issue that I have now.)

When I had visited the doctor in Arad before he had told me that the medicine that I would need, in the event that I have prostate cancer, would cost in Romania about $300.00/month.  He suggested that I would get health insurance, and so that is why I looked into it. I visited him yesterday to see if, for sure, the health insurance here in Romania would cover the cost of medicine, if I decide to go in that direction (It does)  When I went to see him he immediately told how he had consulted with his superior regarding my case, and that they believed that I did not need to get a biopsy, but rather needed to get, as soon as possible, an MRI and a bone scan.   They said this because my PSA blood test results are very high, 142. (4 should be the highest value.)   My high number indicates  strongly that I have cancer and that it has spread. But on the other hand according to two digital examines of my prostate by two different doctors during the last month or so, there is no tumor.  I asked the doctor in Arad how could it be that last year when I had surgery and after when they did a biopsy there was no cancer and now there seems to not just be cancer but that it has spread?  He suggested that in Hungary last year they missed it.  In fact they have suggested here that it was a mistake on the part of the doctor in Hungary to have operated when even then my PSA number was high, 47.

As you can read it is easy to get confused.  I am sure that I am not the only one who has been confused by different doctor’s diagnosis.

So  today I did not check myself into the hospital in Hungary for the biopsy.  I did go to try to speak with the doctor in Hungary, but that did not really fly.  I asked him for 5 minutes and he was unwilling to give that to me to discuss this calmly.  So I decided to return to Romania and follow the advice of the Romanian doctors.

If the MRI and the bone scan show that the cancer has spread then I can immediately start a treatment here in Romania, if I decide to go that route.   And with health insurance I can defray some of the costs. In Hungary as I am not a resident there I cannot get health insurance. And  in all honesty part of all this is the financial consideration.  Generally speaking many medical procedures are cheaper in Romania than in Hungary.  For example an MRI that I would need would cost twice as much in Hungary as here in Romania.  Even the biopsy that I needed would cost a lot less here. Why did I go to Hungary?  Well the perception is that medical services are  better there.  In general that may be true.  All in all, though,  it makes sense to me now that I need to pursue my health issue solution here in Romania where I am a resident, trusting in the Lord.  I should have figured this out earlier.  But I only found out yesterday about the Romanian health insurance possibility.

Sadly though here in Romania the national health insurance will not cover an MRI or bone scan.   Please pray about this.  I just hate the fact that all this is going on when there is so much need to share the gospel.

I want to say also that being a foreigner here does not make it easy sometimes to figure out what to do.  Sometimes just a language barrier makes it difficult to know what is going one.

So I am back home looking to get that MRI and bone scan.  I can do it in the area where I live, or even in the area where the tent is going to be.  I feel that I ought to continue to keep preaching the gospel while at the same time do something about my health.  I believe that the Lord wants me to continue serving Him.  I believe that God will see me through this and bring healing to my life as we pray together for this. Again, I cannot thank you enough for your prayers.   Let’s pray for a miracle!

I am sorry if all this seems confusing but I wanted to let you know right away as you pray for me.

God bless you all in the name of Jesus!

Your brother,
Jared