December 23, 2004, Thursday
Friends,
Good evening to all! I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season. Menchie and I have been very busy for the last 6 weeks since our last update. We started training for the Solvang Century. We have ridden around 500 miles. Last Saturday we rode about 60 miles. Then 21 more on Sunday. We went to Tucson with our cycle team. Everyone completed the 111 mile course. Team in Training raised over 2.3 million dollars by participating in the event. We have been to lots of holiday parties, and I started working on a new contract and hired 3 people to work for me. We have raised a couple thousand dollars so far toward our fundraising goal. If you would like to help, feel free to send a check or donate on-line at http://www.active.com/donate/tntsdh/tntsdhTWilcox. I caught a cold and pretty much got over it. I think we have completed our christmas shopping. I also had the wonderful opportunity to talk to a man in Tennessee who was recently diagnosed with AML. He was having a lot of anxiety about some upcoming chemotherapy. I was able to allay some of his fears, and we had a great talk.
Obviously, our lives have returned to normal. I have been suffering from some anxiety from going so long between doctor visits. It was a great relief to see my lab work completely normal, including creatinine at 1.2. My next appointment will be in February.
I probably won't send out any more updates, since there isn't really anything to report. If something interesting happens, perhaps I will send something out. Maybe a picture of me crossing the finish line at Solvang on March 12. I guess if I could leave you all with some thoughts about the last 18 months, it would be that the important things about being sick are attitude, support from friends and family, keeping busy, and celebrating victories. Being sick isn't something to be ashamed of, in my opinion, it is not weakness. It is a challenge to be overcome. I have a little poem we found that I would like to share.
What Cancer Cannot Do
Cancer is so limited
It cannot cripple Love
It cannot shatter Hope
It cannot corrode Faith
It cannot destroy Peace
It cannot kill friendship
It cannot suppress memories
It cannot silence courage
It cannot invade the Soul
It cannot steal Eternal Life
It cannot conquer the Spirit.
You can change the word cancer to whatever illness you would like to fit in there, the message is still the same. Live Strong!
One year ago, we were feverishly preparing for our wedding. Menchie and I plan to celebrate our first anniversary on the road, riding 50 or 60 miles through the mountains of San Diego. It has been a strange and wonderful year! Thanks to all of you who were a part of it.
Lab Results |
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Blood Cell Type |
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| WBC | 4.5 | 3.8 | 3.6 | 3.8 | 4.4 |
| RBC | 4.30 | 4.52 | 4.36 | 4.29 | 4.34 |
| HGB | 14.3 | 13.9 | 13.6 | 13.9 | 14.2 |
| PLT | 130 | 211 | 200 | 171 | 191 |
May the blessings of the holiday season be yours to enjoy throughout the New Year!
Ted
tw@wilcoxent.com