Friends,

It has been almost two months since my last update, for which I must apologize. Life is coming at us fast and furious. Before I get to medical issues, I thought I would fill you all in on some of our activities of late. Most of you probably know that we are training for the Lavaman Triathlon in Hawaii, to be held on 28 March, less than a month away. For the past couple of months we have been training hard. The weather has been a great hindrance to our training, but we are pressing on. As and example of our activities, last weekend we were in Yuma for a HamFest, then we ran on Tuesday. I actually ran almost 5 miles without stopping. My longest run prior to Tuesday had been about 1/4 mile, so this was a monstrous achievement for me. Wednesday we swam 1600 yards, our event distance. Thursday we went to spin class. Friday we rested. Saturday we swam 2000 yards. Sunday we did transition practice, biking and running, biking and running, etc. We have been swimming in the ocean, but the last couple of weeks have been too stormy and dangerous for ocean swimming. Yesterday we even had some tsunamis from the Chili earthquake, which had little impact on anything because of the high surf already pounding our shores. We have one more month of training. We are looking forward to getting to the event and letting our lives get back to normal a little bit.

Of course, our participation in Lavaman includes fundraising for the Leukemia & Lymphoma society. We still need about $1500.00 to complete it. If you were thinking about donating but just have not gotten around to it yet, now would be a really good time. Feel free to send us a check filled out to “LLS", or you can donate on our web sites, http://pages.teamintraining.org/sd/lavatri10/twilcoxzdf or http://pages.teamintraining.org/sd/lavatri10/mwilcoxms5. The second page is Menchies, where we need the most help.

Speaking of needing help, another friend of mine, JD, is in the hospital with a relapse of his leukemia. He is starting preparations for his second transplant from his brother. Sounds familiar. It makes me shudder to think of what he is going through. He has been a professional triathlete and cyclist. JD is a very positive person, but this has him sounding a little defeated, as you might guess. Most of you have been following my recovery over the years, and you know from my writings how hard this is going to be for JD. The need is still out there, and someone dies of leukemia, lymphoma, or myeloma about every 10 seconds in the US, and many more die throughout the world of these terrible cancers. Please help! Your donations, no matter how small can help avert disaster from families around the world. These disasters are not as spectacular as big earthquakes, but they kill far more people in a year, and affect many more people.

Speaking of financial matters, Menchie and I have been trying to get a mortgage modification so that we can afford to keep our house, since I had to take a huge pay cut for my current job, which will probably end in a few months, and Menchie is not working full time. Our application for the modification has been denied, so unless the bank comes up with some other solution, we are unable to pay for our house. This means that we will loose our house eventually unless some other miracle happens. We are currently committed to meeting our fundraising minimums even though we can’t even pay our bills. Another reason why donations are important to us. We are currently looking for another place to live here in San Diego that is less expensive, while hoping to be able to meet our other financial obligations. This is also keeping us quite busy in whatever spare time we have left.

Naturally, since my current pay is inadequate for our needs, and we want to move out of California, I am applying for other jobs, most of them in the Albuquerque, NM area. I have also applied for several jobs here in San Diego. I have a telephone interview tomorrow morning with a company in New Mexico, and I have been approved as a candidate for 4 or 5 other positions in New Mexico also, which is exciting, although I have had no other interview requests from any of my applications.

On to health issues. While we have been training, of course, we have had training injuries, but we are beyond them, mostly. This week, I some tests scheduled that might help determine the reasons for my orthostatic hypotension, where I pass out if I don’t keep moving around enough. Sort of like a shark! I have to keep moving or I drown. This test should be on Wednesday, but I need to talk to a cardiologist first. In December I got a cold, but the cough never went away. Now my doctor thinks I may have reactive respiratory disease, which is an inflammation that persists after a viral infection. I have pulmonary tests tomorrow to try to determine the best course of action to treat that. I am sure that getting that fixed before the triathlon would be a great help. I am also suffering from some symptoms that may indicate a low testosterone level, and am being tested for that. A little shot of testosterone before the triathlon might be really helpful too! So this week is a busy week for doctor appointments. In two weeks I will be back at the hospital getting my Rituxan treatment, and seeing my transplant doctor. Nothing much has changed medically other than those issues, except I feel lots stronger than I used to. I am still the slowest, weakest person on the tri team, but I am getting stronger and faster every day, which is a great blessing. I don’t feel sick or disabled very often any more, which is also a great blessing.

We are living life hard, and in some ways, a hard life. We have many blessings, for which we are very grateful. I am reminded of something I heard recently: “The important things in life are not our achievements, but the challenges we must overcome to get to those achievements.” This must mean that we are also living life well.

Take care!

Ted
www.wilcoxent.com