End of March Update

Tracking my progress on my 2016 Resolutions. We are now three months (91 days) in and I'm am still ahead of pace. Basically, we have reached the quarter pole, although there are two days beyond being exactly 1/4 of the way through the year.

For my 2016 bike miles, I've reached 524 miles in the first 91 days of 2016. That's roughly 20 miles ahead of the pace needed to reach my goal.

For my reading goals, I am at 5+ books. Here is my list so far:

1. Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand

2. Heart by Dick Chaney

3. The Real McCoy by Hal McCoy

4. Mercy in the City by Kerry Weber

5. And God Said Play Ball by Gary Graf

6. The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto by Mitch Albom (barely started)

I didn't do a ton of reading in March as it is March Madness and Fantasy Baseball prep season. Once all of that dies down in a couple of week, I will have more time to devote to reading again.

My health is still in pretty decent shape. Unfortunately, I did have to go back to Cleveland to get my controller changed this month. My new one has had a couple of disconnect alarms, but not excessive as they had been before. I am concerned that one battery port on the controller appears to be loose. This was a problem last year too. Since I am already on my fourth controller, I am really hopeful that this will not require a change, especially so soon after the last one. I am still not scheduled back to Cleveland until May 10, so I am hopeful that that will remain. There is a possibility that if I do require another controller change, it could be done at a hospital in a Cincinnati or Columbus, which would save me several hours of driving.

With April beginning, I am very excited because it is Donate Life month. God willing, I will be able to participate in several volunteer events with LifeCenter in Cincinnati and NKY and Life Connection in Dayton. Please take the opportunity to register as an organ donor and encourage others to do so.

Amy and I are so excited to be participating in the LifeCenter float during the Reds Opening Day Parade. If you plan to be there, look for me on the float and Amy walking nearby! Before that, we have formed Team Patulence to take part in the Strides for Life 5k in Dayton. This is being put on by Life Connection in Dayton. If you would like to join us, walk up registrations will be taken on Saturday, April 2.

Thank you for your continued prayers. As always, please pray for my future donor and his or her family!

A day to reflect on March 10, 2006

Ten years ago, I received a call to get to the hospital right away, that my mom had stopped breathing. We knew she was dying. She had been placed in the hospice care at the hospital.

I remember back to my years growing up and my mom having several various heart ailments (I come by them honestly). She always rebounded from them and kept moving forward. 

I remember her having an episode in the summer of 2002. I had just earned a master's degree from the Univeristy of Dayton and was preparing to move to Oklahoma to start a new job at St. Gregory's  University. My mom sensed my concern about leaving with her being ill and she assured me, "don't worry, I'm not going to die on you." She recovered, but then two months later, she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and had surgery to remove the tumor. It was successful, but it took many months and a lot of tough love to get her back to being herself.

Pancreatic cancer is a very deadly form of cancer. Survival rates are low and typically people don't live more than a year from first diagnosis. I always thanked God for the extra time. Not only did we get a year. We got 3 1/2 years from her initial diagnosis.

So there we were, at her bedside on March 10, 2006, and she was gone. One of my first thoughts was that it was my grandma's birthday. Yes, my mom's mom turned 96 on the day she lost her eldest child. It was the second child she would have to bury. My uncle died in 1988. I decided to visit her, but really didn't know what to say. "Happy birthday" didn't seem to fit.

I like to think I got much of my personality from my mom. She was always very easy going and pleasant to be around. Unfortunately, I also got many of her heart issues, and then some. Still, I am very thankful to have had 31 years to learn and grow from her.