Dear CCAM Partners and Friends,

Our last health update about Noren was sent in December, when she was taking an extended round of the drug Cephalexin by mouth, trying to kill a stubborn chronic sinus infection recently identified as Streptococcus pyogene Group A. At first, the medication seemed to be working, but after the treatment was finished, the infection gradually returned.

Therefore, the doctor decided to try the most powerful drug in the list of medications claiming to take out this particular infection. The drug he chose was meropenem trihydrate (Imipeneme), costing $60 per treatment. For 15 days, Noren traveled to the clinic twice a day to receive the drug by IV.

Praise the Lord! Apparently this new treatment has eradicated the offending infection, plus God also provided the money to pay for it!

However, during the lengthy time period of the IV treatments, Noren began to suffer from breathing problems, which necessitated inhaling Berodual solution every few hours using a bronchodialator. Even now, after finishing the IV treatments long ago, the breathing problem still persists, and she is dependent upon the bronchodialator to get through each day.

Before this happened, Noren was making great progress recovering from the stroke that she suffered in 2011. There were no breathing problems, and she was diligently pursuing her exercises and steadily gaining strength and mobility. But now, gaining new ground is harder and she has even lost some of the ground previously gained.

That doesn't mean that Noren has been forced to stop performing all of her ministry responsibilities. However, it does mean that she is now more limited in what she can do and suffers greatly as she struggles to do whatever she can.

All of us at CCAMS in Cambodia thank all of you for your prayers concerning Noren's health thus far. Please continue to pray for her complete recovery from all of the physical challenges that remain, so that she can again fulfill her place of service with renewed health and strength.

Persevering in prayer,
Gioia (for Noren)