Dear CCAM Partners and Friends,

As already reported, there has been a lot of positive improvements in the past few days. Praise the Lord! However, Buntheep's lumbar drain that regulates the spinal fluid began to leak yesterday when they raised the level to 15 as a test. Therefore, the doctor planned to take Buntheep back to surgery tomorrow to put in a permanent internal shunt. The problem is, those internal shunts sometimes malfunction, and in Cambodia there will be no one to follow-up her progress or to fix it if it stops working. Today I talked to the doctor about this, and he has agreed to wait a few days before doing the surgery.

Until now, her drain has been set at 5. Today it was raised to 10. If in 24 hours there is no leakage, then they will set the level to 15. If there is no leakage in 24 hours, they will increase to 20. If there is still no leakage after 24 hours, they will assume that it is safe to remove the lumbar drain and allow Buntheep's body to take over normally. However, if at any point along the way the tests fail, there will be no other option but to surgically insert a permanent internal shunt.

Please pray that the tests will be successful so that Buntheep will not need a fifth surgery and so that her return to Cambodia will not be jeopardized. May the Lord's perfect will be done.

In His Hands,
Gioia and Buntheep

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