5K Champs again! Great People, Great Day!

Whew. What a day! The LA Cancer Challenge was last Sunday and it was a great day. In fact, I was thinking about it, and Sunday was probably one of my favorite days in a long, long time.

Thank you all so much!

Thank you to all of the wonderful people who came out and ran and donated so much time, energy, and money to a very worthy cause (ok, I may be a little biased). Thank you to those of you who showed their support from afar (You rock Aunt Zel, Breakfast buddies Ray and Bob, Uncle Bob, and Aunt Gloria, and the many others who gave but could not join us for the race).

All of your generosity was truly touching, especially with everything that has been going on financially over the last year. If you ever need any rationalizations, I have plenty so try this one on for size...with stocks being incredibly volatile, bonds likely to lose value if interest rates ever go up, housing being, well, housing, and T-bills yielding close to 0%, cancer research may be the best investment you could ever make. Think about it, regardless of how much or little you give today, there is a one in three chance you will get some form of cancer during your lifetime. I know that I would pay pretty much any amount for a cure for my cancer. Hopefully you never have to face a cancer diagnosis, but if you do, hope that it happens later rather than sooner. By that time, your dollars donated today may have contributed to a cure, which you will probably be able to afford (Go public option!). So your donation today would have matured into a treatment that could have infinite value to you. Hmmm, infinite, now that is a good return.

Threepeat!! We continued our streak and won our third 5K team title in a row. Props go out to Ross C.(for finally figuring out how to get onto team Tyler and taking 2nd place overall), to Daniel D. (always a powerful presence on the course), to Shannon R. (for being the first woman and 5th overall, getting Nike to provide some awesome jerseys, and letting all of us couch potatoes bringing up the rear say that we were on the same team as a World’s medalist and Olympian), Nate B. (for taking 9th and bringing out a great group of young runners from the Home of Scholars and Champions), and Andrew G. (for showing us that you can bounce back from something as severe as a collapsed lung in college and still take 10th in what is becoming a fairly competitive 5K, Maybe there is a chance that my body will eventually recover). Honorable mentions go out to Dan S., Mike F., Greg J., Alex G., and Mark C. for all going under 20 minutes and Effort awards go to John C. and Chris C. for representing the OG Choad and just completing the race. I did manage to drag my sorry butt around the course in 1 hour 26 minutes and 1 second (yes, that was for the 5K) and was emotionally broken as the kids fun run started right as I was finishing and a herd of children dominated me in the final 100m. By the time I crossed the finish line, I think they had stopped handing out medals (I forgot to pick up my number anyways) and was a little bummed. Luckily, my wonderful wife saw my disappointed look, gave me her medal, and saved us all from a big kid tantrum amidst the young well-behaved finishers.

The 10K team did great as well. Props to Dad, Becky S., Karen B., Marty L., Eva and Mom, though I think we may need to make some adjustments to be a little more competitive next year. It is really pretty straight forward. I am just going to need each of you to train a bit over the next year, and, if everyone can take, say 11 minutes, off their time, we should be in contention to win the 10K team title as well. You might want to start training now.

All in all, the race was a great opportunity to catch up with a lot of different people and I really enjoyed the time I got to spend with so many of you. I am trying to de-hermitize myself a bit and hope to see as many of you as I can before next year. Txts are probably the best way to reach me and please, be persistent. I often go days without checking my email or voicemail. Sometimes just getting to the couch is all I can manage. Other days I am pretty much unstoppable (or at least I think I am).

After the race, the contingent of x-Cal runners and associates went over to Ross’ parent’s house for lunch. They have a wonderfully pleasant backyard where we continued to tell old stories and new ones over crepes. Thank you for hosting a great little get together.

As if all that activity was not enough, Eva and I had tickets to a live taping of one of my favorite radio shows that evening- NPR’s Left, Right, and Center. There was a cocktail hour and then Robert Sheer, Matt Miller, Ariana Huffington, and Tony Blankley took the stage and did a special 45 minute show in front of a live audience. The “stars” mingled during the cocktail hour and a bit after the show where Eva and I actually got to meet Matt Miller. I usually do not go ga-ga over famous people but, as a testament to my nerdiness, I was a bit start-struck by Mr. Miller. He has laid out a very logical progressive agenda on which I agree with many of his ideas. I managed to utter that I had read his two books and he replied that I was amongst a select few. Then Eva mentioned that the Swiss model (which he often touts as a possible model for American health care reform) is still very expensive and might not be the answer we are looking for and he thought about it a minute and mentioned that he liked Tony’s comment during the show that the Swiss model works in Switzerland because its run and used by the Swiss. We got a quick picture and then left and I was just on cloud nine. What a day. So many wonderful people and moments that I will treasure for a very long time.

Exhausted, we made our way home, got a bit of food, and I slept for the next 17 hours, woke up, dialyzed, then went to bed again. On Wednesday, I started to feel sort of ok. Sunday certainly took a toll but was totally worth it.

Take Care and Carpe Vitam,
Tyler


Here is Team Tyler at the start. Or rather, the walking contingent of Team Tyler. Full of energy and ready to go.


Here we are a little later in the race. A bit less energy but we are still going. I kept telling myself, "Right foot, left foot, Repeat"


The Poly boys and girls that came out to the race. You know, next to the petite Shannon, my arms don't look quite so thin. Too bad she could probably dominate me in an arm wrestling competition.


Nate and Becky and me. Nate and I ran together during my glory days and Becky is his lovely wife. He now coaches the Poly girls XC team (he is the new Joe Carlson).


Eva and I with Matt Miller. If you are looking for a couple good reads, check out The 2% Solution or The Tyranny of Dead Ideas. Progressive ideas laid out in ways that both liberals and conservatives should love.

LA Cancer Challenge Oct. 25th!

Wow, well, what can I say? All of the amazing people who left comments and wrote such wonderful words truly touched me. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for each and every one of you. I really felt cared for, and those feelings are good medicine. Good for the soul, good for the fight. Again, I am sorry that I go a bit of time before updates. Tiana mentioned that people on facebook ask her about me, but I just figured that she was just trying to make me feel good. I know I should be better about updating, and the response after the last blog was immensely motivating. I think my aunt Betty took the prize for the fastest posting of a comment, a mere 30 minutes or so after I posted (on a Saturday night, no less. Betty, you and I have got to get out more). Again, thank you so much for your kind words. I am still doing very well and I think that every one of you have played a part in that. I may not see many of you very much, if at all these days, but there has got to be some sort of mental/spiritual thing going on (which is a pretty hard thing for an engineer to say).

Anyways, a quick health update. As I said before, I am still doing very well. I am a little light and my legs barely have the strength to get me around, but I still manage to get around, sort of. Dialysis still sucks but is tolerable and if you really press me I will admit that I am really thankful for it (though there are days when I don’t really think I need it but I suspect that I am being kept on because that is how the system works (this is on my more paranoid days and in actuality, I probably would not last long off the machine)). Wow, I was sort of all over the place there. My appetite is doing well (when it gets helped) though I could certainly be eating more. And of course there are a few other little issues, aches, and pains.


Now, onto the more important stuff. First of all, the LA Cancer Challenge 5K/10K is coming up in just a few weeks, Sunday morning, October 25th. The 10K starts at 7:30am (yikes!) and the 5K starts at 9am (a bit more reasonable). I will probably be there to cheer on the 10K runners and walkers, but I will be attempting the 5K myself. Lets see, if the race starts at 9am, I will probably be finishing around, hmmm, 10:30, 11, hopefully before noon. Last year, it took me 1 hour and 14 minutes. If I am still out on the course, someone save me some pancakes. Please go to my team page to join our team.

Link to the Team page. Please scroll down and click on "Team Tyler".

We have had the best overall 5K team time two years running, and it would mean a lot to me if me kept that streak going. Who knows what will happen this year, but it is looking like Shannon Rowbury (who ran the 1500m for the US at the 2008 Beijing Olympics) will again be leading our team. Just think, you can tell your neighbors, friends, and grandchildren that you ran alongside an olympian. She is really pleasant, too. She may even talk to you (that, by the way, is the only requirement for my father to like you). We all had a lot of fun last year and it is a really good opportunity to catch up with people I do not see all that often. So I hope to see you there. I apologize for the race’s website. If you can successfully navigate through it, I applaud you. Don’t worry about setting up your own website and doing you own fundraising. Just go through the motions, it has been a rough year, financially, for all of us.

As far as keeping busy, most of my time is spent dialyzing, getting chemo, or recovering from chemo, but I have managed to get out of town a few times over the last few weeks. I just got back from a trip to Portland to visit some family and see my great aunt on her 95th birthday. She looks great and is just as feisty as I remember her. I think I may have more in common with her, these days, than anyone else in the family. We walk at about the same speed, don’t really handle stairs all that well, take a while to get up out of chairs, are fairly particular about our foods, and occasionally speak our minds a bit more than maybe we should. Well, I guess Zel can say whatever she wants, whenever she wants, but I suppose I should maybe hold my tongue from time to time. I spent the majority of my time with Zel, but was also really happy to see my other family members in the area like Tom and Birken, Betty and David, and Jerry, who drove down from Washington. Everyone looked to be doing very well and I was really pleased having that much family together. I know that Grandma would be happy that her boys saw each other and that just put a smile on my face. Zel had quite a birthday filled with eating, eating. and more, you guessed it, eating. There was a bit of visiting during and between meals, but the main focus of the day was food. This was turning out to be a pretty good trip for me, once I medicated. Special props go to Birken and Jerry who came from pretty good distances by different combinations of boat, bus, or truck. Birken is just starting his sophomore year at Evergreen and is looking like quite the professional college student. This suits you much better than disheveled high school student. Well done, sir. Another highlight of the trip was Zel’s friends. They are hilarious and we really enjoyed our breakfasts with them. Can you believe that one of her friends lived in a house near Santa Fe, New Mexico, built in 1980, that was entirely climate controlled using passive solar energy. It was built into a hillside so that three walls were insulated by earth and then the south wall was all windows. On summer days, they would close the blinds. The rest of the year, the sun warmed the house nicely. I asked if she was comfortable, and she said she wore shorts and sandals every day of the year. It can be done people. It is about time we start implementing these considerations a bit more often when building. The flights went smoothly, the old folks home was very hospitable, the family and friends were warm and welcoming, all in all, it was a great few days. Even the weather was pretty nice, though I heard it was gorgeous the week before we got there (I think we heard that the last time we were in Portland, too).

The other two trips were a weekend in the bay area and a weekend in Tahoe. The first was mainly to see Tom as he has now moved to England and it was good catching up with him, his brother, father, and friends and also to see Chris and Katie and Vincinzo (their 2 month old). I got to spend even more time with the Coffees the next weekend which I spent with them in their family’s cabin in Tahoe. Both weekends were amazing and it was really good for me to spend some quality time with good friends. Hanging out with the Coffees was pretty amazing. In about 15 months, Chris went from being single (not really) with no attachments to him and Katie owning a house, getting married, having an adorable baby boy, and getting a dog. Wow, that is some fast domestication. Impressive. I have never spent that much time with a child that young though I think I made progress over the weekend. At first, I was pretty nervous even just holding Cinzo, but by day 3, I had held confidently, fed, burped, and changed him(with a tiny bit of poop) and even had gotten him to smile (no small feat for this kid). It felt pretty good and I was so thankful for Chris and Katie to be so comfortable with their child and me. Maybe I am some relation to my grandmother.

Anyways, the rest of the family is doing well. Eva is diving into her MBA, meeting great people and learning fascinating things. My parents are doing well. Dad is still playing soccer. Mom is running a bit more. Both are doing a great job at taking care of me. Eva’s parents just got back from a cruise through Scotland that sounded amazing. I love castles, and abbeys, and Scots. Well, I hope to write before then but if I don’t, I hope to see you at the LA Cancer Challenge. Remember to bring your “A” game.

Take Care and Live Strong,
Tyler

Still ok. Aug 2009

Well, once again, it has been a long time since I updated the blog. As usual, I am sorry for the absence and I appreciate those of you who remain persistent in checking it. Maybe an RSS feed would be a good idea. I am still doing well considering everything that has gone on. It has been a hard road since my kidneys went on the fritz, but I am still fairly normal. I guess a run down of the cans and cannots might be good. I can walk, I cannot run. I can go up stairs, I cannot go up two stairs at a time. I can lift small objects, even a few grocery bags, I cannot do pull-ups (funny story). I can pee, I cannot pee enough to prevent my body from filling up with water without dialysis. Most days, I can drive, some days I cannot drive, or maybe rather, should not drive (on a closed course I’d be up for trying anything). I can eat with a little help, I cannot really seem to eat enough to gain back any of the weight I have lost. Luckily, I am remaining pretty stable in the low 140s (my pre-diagnosis weight was 175). I can shower, I cannot comb my hair because I have none (and I mean none, I feel like Mr. Bigglesworth, Dr. Evil’s cat). I can be alert and appear to be pretty normal and functional, I cannot keep that up for an entire day (some days for more than an hour or so). That said, I still feel really lucky for still doing so well. In July, we passed the three year mark since diagnosis. Quite a milestone. In the beginning, we were celebrating the weeks, then the months, and now three years, and I still have my mind in the game (or at least I think I do, which I guess is all that matters). It has been a grueling three years and very tough on Eva, my friends and family, and me, but we knew from the beginning, this was going to be a marathon, not a sprint. I really have no idea where we are in the race at this point. Neither the start line nor the finish line are in view.

I have not really been doing all that much and I apologize in advance, if I resume updating the blog, it may be pretty dull. We’ll see, if it gets really bad, I will just start making up stuff. I guess the big news is that Eva will be starting her MBA program at Pepperdine at the end of the month. I am really excited for her and also looking forward to learning a bit myself as I look over her shoulder from time to time. To reduce the commute for her, we moved earlier this summer and are just about settled in. I have to say, I love the location and the apartment though there are a few minor drawbacks. We moved to a small one bedroom in Pacific Palisades and are only a couple hundred meters from the water. Being close to the water and also the trails in the Santa Monica Mountains is wonderful. Plus, now we actually have a wall that separates the bedroom (before, we just had some vertical blinds as the divider and Eva is sort of sensitive to light when she sleeps - not ideal). The apartment was redone right before we moved in and I really love it, but we are right next to Sunset blvd. and it can be a little loud. Eva and I have entered what I call our curmudgeony phase and sort of rail against the various sources of noise. We shake our fists at the motorcycles, curse at the loud cars, and are currently working with the MTA to try to get the bus drivers to turn off their buses while they wait to begin their routes. I could not believe it, the other night, a bus was on and sitting there for 32 minutes before leaving. Typically, they will leave the bus on and then actually go to the Vons or talk on a cell phone outside of the bus. I have confronted a bus driver and she said that she leaves it on because occasionally, it won’t start again. Hmm, seems like we got some pretty sweet buses here in LA. I wonder why more people don’t ride them. The noise is what really bothers Eva and I, but every minute that they are sitting there with there engine on, they are getting 0 miles to the gallon and wasting gas that you and I pay for. Whew, thanks for letting me rant a bit.

Anyways, it has been pretty hard to travel with dialysis and the logistical issues that entails but Eva and I actually got out of town for the first time in a long time in late July. We did a road trip to Bryce and Zion Canyons and it was awesome. We spent one night in Vegas, then two in Bryce, two in Zion, and another night in Vegas on the way back. These canyons are pretty amazing. If you have never been, I highly recommend it (especially if you like rocks). Bryce has some really unique rock formations, really unlike anything anywhere else in the world. A lot of pinnacles, all grouped together starting at the rim of the canyon and going down into the canyon and also a few incredible natural arches. There were thunderstorms in the afternoons, and even some hail but otherwise the canyon was pretty warm. We attempted a short hike down into the canyon that did not work out all that well. I was having trouble going down (bad sign) and between the hot sun, the steep trail, my lack of fitness, and the looming thunderclouds coming over the ridge, we decided to turn back early. Good thing too, because I barely made it back up to the rim. Those reverse climbs can be pretty deceiving. People would stop and ask if I was OK. I guess my expression was a little worrisome. Eva was a little taken aback, she was taking care of me. I am so thankful for her, I might still be down there without her help. We decided to just drive to some overlooks for the remainder of that day (good idea). Zion was also spectacular and very different. On Bryce, you are on the rim, looking down into the canyon. At Zion, you are at the bottom of the canyon with the huge cliffs all around you. Totally different feel. Plus Zion has a small river running down it which always adds to the appeal. Just to give you an idea of the depth of the canyon, the floor is around 4000 ft. and the tops of some of the canyon walls are over 8000 ft. Really cool. At both parks, we were fortunate enough to stay at lodges inside the parks. You just could not beat the locations (unless you were backpacking). We brought the cycler and I dialyzed once at Bryce and once at Zion. What really helped was that both lodges had porters who would help you with all your stuff if you needed it. Eva and I can do it, but it really just makes life a whole lot easier. What is a large burden for Eva and I, really is not that big a deal for a big guy. If we manage any trips in the future, I am sure we will be staying at places with porters, they are key. We did a couple hikes in Zion which went really well (I survived). It is still hard to think that four years ago, basically any hike that existed was doable for me and now I really can only complete the most basic hikes. I am saddened that Eva and I can no longer just march out into the wilderness and know we will be ok, and that even the easy hikes need a good looking over to insure I will make it. I wonder what I am missing. The curiosity that took me around the next bend or over the next little hill when I was young, is still alive in me, and eats at me, but then I try to remind myself that I am lucky for what I can do. I am lucky for what I can see. Vegas was pretty fun as sort of bookends to the trip. Eva and I are not millionaires nor are we in the poor house. In fact, we did not gamble at all. I do not know what it was, it just did not appeal to me or her this time. On the way to Vegas, I think I was in the hottest weather I have ever been. The outside temperature was 117 degrees F. I cannot imagine living in that kind of heat. Luckily the Prius performed beautifully (thanks dad and John B.) and we just marveled at the desert from our little comfort pod. It had been a long time since I had spent the night anywhere besides my apartment or my parents house, and it turned out really well. It sort of felt like old times (except when I was attempting to hike) and I felt so fortunate to share the experience with my wonderful wife. She is awesome.

Otherwise Eva and I have just been settling into the chemo patient routine. Get chemo, feel crappy for a few days, slowly start to feel normal, maybe get one or two good days, and then go back for more chemo. We have really gotten into gardening and are really getting a lot out of our tiny 2m by 2m balcony. We put up planter boxes and have a little herb garden with cilantro, oregano, thyme, sage, chives, margarine, and parsley. We got some other plants and then as we were running out of space, we got a rack to really maximize our gardening area. Sometimes we look over our miniscule little green space and I think we probably have the same expressions as if we were looking out over acres of cultivated land. Personally, I am just amazed that seeds actually do turn into plants. Another victory was getting an orchid to reshoot and rebloom. That orchid is basically like a child to us. Disturb it and beware our wrath.

Well, I think that is about enough for now. I hope each and every one of you are doing well. Remember, if there are things you really want to do, get out there and do them. You never know what may happen and someday you may not be able to accomplish them. Now is the time. If another blog absence occurs, just remember what I would always tell my mother, “If you hear nothing, everything is probably ok.”

Live Strong and Carpe Vitam,
Tyler



Here are Eva and I at Bryce Canyon. Now there is a happy guy.



Natural arch. Just stunning. Yikes, I am still getting used to seeing my bald head in pictures.



As we were driving, we came across a tree that was still smoldering from a lightning strike. It looked like the base of the tree had exploded. Pretty gnarly.



Do you want to know why I listen to my wife? Because she is really strong and I do not want to know the consequences of not doing what she tells me to do.



Me in the narrows at Zion. The walls on both sides of the canyon basically go straight up for hundreds of feet.



Eva on the top of Angel’s landing. I did not go on this hike with her. There was a lot of elevation gain but, obviously, the view was pretty nice. Two weeks after Eva did this hike, a woman fell to her death at the top while hiking with her husband and two young children. Quite a tragedy, but, needless to say, this hike is not for everyone. I am glad Eva is smart, cautious, sure-footed, and not scared of heights and am so thankful nothing happened to her.



A silhouette of our orchid just as it was beginning to bloom. Our pride and joy.