For this month's prayer post, I only have one request - TFC Sustainability Coordinator, Jonathan Bridges', knee. As I sit here in America and hear of Jonathan's knee injury and the difficulties it is causing him in Ethiopia, my powerlessness to do anything drives me to one thing... prayer. Will you join me and pray for Jonathan? While you're at it, you can lift up his wife, Jess, and their two precious children as well.
Here's a recent update from Jonathan concerning his knee:
"My injury baffled the docs. There was no obvious event which triggered it, there was little to no pain, and the x-ray showed nothing. So they invited me to the hospital for a thorough examination. At the hospital one of the doctors drained the fluid off and gave me a shot of cortisone. Immediately I was able to walk without crutches, and within a couple of days, my knee was back to normal... or so I thought. We packed up and headed home to Chencha.
The next few weeks were great, and on June 23rd, Aregahegn (the farm manager) and I traveled to Addis Ababa to pick up chicks for the Kota Ganate Hatchery. The trip was successful, and we brought 332 chicks to the farm.
About a week later, however, the cortisone apparently wore off, and my knee started swelling again. It swelled more slowly this time, but within five days I was on crutches again. We went back to the hospital on July 6th. The orthopedic surgeon took a quick look at my knee and scheduled me for arthroscopic surgery a few days later.
I had surgery on July 10th. To our surprise, there was very little damage inside my knee - only a little damaged cartilage under the knee-cap. The rest of the knee was in perfect shape. The doctor was actually surprised that my knee swelled with that little amount of damage.
This was both good and bad news. It was great news to find out that my knee is actually in pretty good condition. The bad news is there is no good explanation for why my knee is acting as it is, and they don't know what to do to fix it... I'm trying to stay positive, but I'll admit to you that it's starting to wear on me."
Thank you for your prayers!