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This is a link to Ted's Health Update blog. While you are there, be sure to visit the other blogs listed in the upper right hand corner of the screen! |
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Ted Wilcox Home Page | |
| A Short Biography: I was born in the Chicago area. At the age of 8, my family moved to Tanzania, East Africa for 4 years, where my father was a missionary doctor. I
went to high school and college in Illinois, ending up with graduate work in physiology. I joined the Navy and became a Naval Flight Officer in 1979 and traveled the world. I left active duty and worked in the credit card industry and as a software developer. As a Naval Reserve Officer, I eventually became the Commanding Officer of
TACRON 1294. I went back on active duty with the Navy from 1999 until 2002 working at the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) in San Diego, where I worked on Y2K, the Navy's response to 9/11, and became Deputy CIO. After getting off active duty in 2002 I remained at the SPAWAR CIO office. I retired from the Navy on May 1, 2004 as a Navy Captain (O6). | |
| June, 2003 - The Start On Wednesday, June 25th, 2003, I received the shocking news from the Doctor that I had Acute Myeloid Leukemia. This page is now primarily dedicated to chronicling my fight with this disease. First, let me give a brief description of the events leading up to this diagnosis. I had been feeling a little poorly for several weeks. Nothing specific, just didn't feel much like doing anything after work. I just felt like sitting around watching TV and resting. I was getting a little depressed about it actually, and it wasn't getting any better. I was sure glad to get home on Friday the 13th and kick back for a while. Saturday and Sunday I didn't feel like eating much, and didn't really feel that good in general. I just rested most of the weekend. On Monday morning, I went to work and found myself standing at the top of the stairs to my office out of breath. This was a very new development! I run up and down these stairs on a frequent basis every day. I shouldn't be panting!!! I started worrying about my general condition, but I already had a medical checkup scheduled for Friday. It was a pretty busy week. I was struggling through the week day to day. By Wednesday, I was getting pretty worried, as I wasn't getting any better. I decided to look up my symptoms on the Internet. I found them under Heart Disease! I started picturing myself giving up flying and diving and hiking and whatever else I like. I called my doctor to see if he wanted me to come in early. He asked me a few questions and just said to come in on Friday unless something catestrophic happened. At my appointment Friday, the office wasn't terribly busy, and there was a cardiologist available with some open time on a treadmill. They gave me a thorough cardiac going over and told me that my heart was healthy! What a relief! I could have all my hobbies back!!!! Just before I left the office though, my doctor sent me to the lab to get some blood drawn. I made it through the weekend OK, and actually started feeling a little better. Then Monday morning, my doctor called me at work. He said I had Anemia and an abnormal White Blood Cell (WBC) count. He had made an appointment for me to see a hematologist on Tuesday. So, on Tuesday, after a morning meeting, I rushed up to see the hematologist. They drew some more blood. The doctor informed me that I had some kind of bone marrow disease, but they needed to do a bone marrow biopsy to find out exactly what kind of disease. They did the biopsy and told me to call on Thursday for the results. Wednesday morning, I got the call from the Hematologist. He told me I had Leukemia, and that I was to report to the hospital for treatment on Thursday morning at 8am. I felt my hobbies slipping away again. Oh well. They were going to go for a complete cure, so maybe I could keep them. Thursday morning at the appointed time, I checked into the hospital. I will let the updates tell the rest of the story! |
August 2006 - Relapse! 2004, 2005, and 2006 were amazing and heady times for me. I was working full time by August of 2004. I had been declared CURED in October of 2005! I became heavily involved with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Part of that involvement included participation in the Team in Training (TNT) cycling program, as an Honored Teammate, a participant, and a mentor. Menchie and I became endurance cycle riders, riding in two century rides (100+ miles in one day) in 2005, and three in 2006. I was well into training for a fourth century in August of 2006. I had had a checkup in early June which showed everything was on track with no problems. The end of June turned terribly hot in Southern California, and the hot weather extended through July. I was really struggling with my riding because of dehydration problems. By mid July I was starting to figure that out, but I was still feeling weak during training rides. This is typical of overtraining, so I decided to take a week off from training. Typically, coming back from a week off, one should be much stronger if the problem is overtraining. On July 30, expecting to feel real strong, I went on a strenuous 55 mile training ride. I felt weak and tired from the start, but still finished the ride. Later that day I had a fever, which eventually went away. Through the week, I felt a little run down. On Thursday evening, I had a fever again, and my gums were bleeding when I brushed my teeth. I was starting to have some horrible suspicions. On Friday, my fever worsened, reaching as much as 103 degrees, and I started getting wierd bruises. I called my Oncologist, but he said to talk to my primary care physician the following week, since I was "cured". On Saturday, my fever reached 104, and Menchie decided to take me to Urgent Care at Scripps Green. They tried for several hours to get blood out of me, with a nurse working on each arm. They poked me at least 15 times without success as my fever peaked at 105 degrees. Finally, a doctor put an IV directly into my jugular vein in my neck. The rest of this onging story is in the Calendar links starting with August 6th. |