It's hard to believe that we are 3 months into this journey - Running for Andy. The experience and perception of time are quite mysterious...
As the weather turns warmer, we are finding our runs to be more pleasing - apart from the new and nagging pains that accompany each trip. Lauren still has a tight and very sore Achilles tendon, while Jon has been officially diagnosed with an IT band injury - ouch! We've taken it easy on long runs for several weeks, but are making up for lost cardio training in the gym with cross-training exercises. Hopefully neither of us will lose much of the stamina we had built up before January's aches and pains crept in on us, but more than that we're hopeful that these injuries will soon heal completely so we can get back to our normal training regimen. Our "temporary" injuries causing this frustration pale in comparison to what Andy experiences every day. We have been reminded of him a lot as we struggle with our bodies and the futility that seems to accompany everything we set out to accomplish.
Andy made a post to his CaringBridge site earlier this month - if you haven't read it go check it out for an update on him. We pray every day that his spasticity and neuropathic pain will subside - these are especially frustrating setbacks. We also continue to pray for a full recovery - this our hope for his body! In the meantime, Andy is hard at work with rehab and trying to establish a sustainable work schedule. Given the every-other-day neuropathic pain, both of these efforts have proven themselves to be especially challenging.
If you have not already, please do consider making a contribution (nothing is too small!) to Andy's fund to help offset his growing expenses. As he is sorting out what exactly work life will look like for him with the increasingly frustrating setbacks in his body, our financial and prayer support to him is immeasurable.
Thank you for being such a witness for hope.
With love,
Jon and Lauren
