Family Emergencies

Unexpected life events can quickly take over the best laid training plans. A phone call out of the blue stuns you and routine days rapidly change. Jan's father, who spends winters in Myrtle Beach, became ill and hospitalized a few days before planning to head north for the summer. We received the phone call Wednesday around 11am, left work by 1:00, went home and threw things in our suitcases, filled the car with gas, and headed out by 3pm. We made it to Dad's hospital room at 7am after driving through the night.
He looked terrible, had lost twenty pounds since Christmas, but was still alive, if barely. The combination of a bacterial infection, not eating properly, an irregular heart beat, a bleeding ulcer, among other problems, just wiped Dad out. Friday was deemed a successful day when Dad took three steps in a walker with two people helping. He also ate some ice cream and drank some juice, the first non-i.v. nutrients in several days. Saturday saw a few more encouraging signs and Sunday morning he conversed with us quite well.
Hope of a meaningful recovery continue to come in. We left Myrtle Beach on Sunday, around 10:30am as other siblings arrived to assist Dad in getting healthy and being able to travel north to New York.
Needless to say, Jan had no time to swim, bike or run. Some things in life trump exercise.

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