End of April Update

Somehow it's May already.  The biggest win of the month was completing the Strides for Life 5k here in Dayton.  I finished dead last, but I finished.  Thanks to all who cheered and encouraged me.  Amy and I also got to participate in the Cincinnati Reds Findlay Market Opening Day Parade. As another Donate Life Month event, we got to spend time in Life Connection Green Chair Sit In at Cox Media (Channel 7, Dayton Daily News).  It was a fun month volunteering and helping promote organ and tissue donation in Ohio!

Here's my progress report on my new year's resolutions.  I hit a lull in the middle of the month that nearly knocked me off my pace for reaching 2016 miles.  I had a cold/allergies that knocked me for a bit of a loop and kept me off the bike for nearly a week.  I rallied to end the month with 675 total miles completed on the bike for the year.  My pace requires 667, so I'm actually a little ahead still.

In terms of reading, April also didn't see much movement, but I had a pretty good buffer there to reach 16 books.  I am about halfway through "The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto," by Mitch Albom.  This is the same book I had just started at the beginning of the month.  It's a fast read.  I just didn't pick it up much until near the end of the month.  Fantasy baseball gained much of my focus for the last half of March and the first half of April.  Hopefully I'll get back on a bit of a speedier pace from here on out.

My current list is as follows:
1. Seabiscuit - Laura Hillenbrand
2. Heart - Dick Chaney
3. The Real McCoy - Hal McCoy
4. Mercy in the City - Kerry Weber
5. And God Said Play Ball - Gary Graf
6. The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto - Mitch Albom (about halfway)


It wasn't my best month, but the fact that the year is more than 1/3 complete and I'm still talking about it is a win.

Healthwise, April was fine.  I felt a fair amount of fatigue, which was probably more related to my cold/allergy/sinus problem than anything else.  I must admit, I haven't done much walking since the Strides for Life 5k at the beginning of the month.  I will need to get back to it as I am signed up for two more walks this summer.

Spoiler alert, May will not hold the same good news from the health front.  I received a call today letting me know I was back in Atrial Fibrillation.  My home monitor tipped them off to this change.  I don't particularly feel any different, so lets hope I can continue to do my biking, as well as get out and walk more.  I've got to get ready for a couple those 5k's this summer!

That's about all I have to report for now.  As always, please keep us in prayer as well as my future donor and his or her family.

End of January update.

Last year, I sort of shied away from making resolutions because of the fact I was waiting for a heart transplant.  It's not as if I intended to sit on my butt all day and wait for the call.  I didn't do that (most of the time anyway).  I have tried to remain determined to live my life to the fullest extent I am able given my limitations.  My wife Amy is good ally to keep gently (mostly) nudging me forward.

So, since 2015 came and went without a new heart for me, I decided there really is no reason to avoid making plans or setting goals.  Lord knows, I've not come through on numerous resolutions in the past.  However, I didn't want to set vague goals, or cliche goals.  I wanted them to be concrete.  If I've learned anything from my jobs over the years, when you go to your evaluation, make sure the goals you set are measurable.

So, I set two concrete, measurable goals for the year 2016.  First, I intend to pedal 2016 miles on a bike.  Most of these miles will be on our recumbent bike at home, but any bike will do.  Second, I will read 16 books in this calendar year.  I mentioned these goals in my last post, so consider this a monthly report on how I am doing.

Through January 1, I had completed 169 miles on the bike which puts me on pace for about 1995 miles.  Slightly off the pace, but not too bad.  On the book side, I have completed Seabiscuit, Heart and am currently close to finishing The Real McCoy, so I am fairly well ahead of the pace on that one.  It helps that with the recumbent bike, I am easily able to read while I ride.  Killing two birds with one stone is nice.

In addition to these goals, I am keeping myself busy in other ways.  My Dad asked me to help him with his genealogy project and so I have been going down to his house weekly to work with him for a few hours on that.  This has involved scanning and labeling old family photos, some that are well over a hundred years old.  As he said, "I'll be dead and you kids won't know who in the hell these people are."  The other big project is tracing our family's lineage to St. Marianne Cope.  There is some connection between our family and hers, but thus far, we have been unable to find it.  It appears it resides in the 1600's or there abouts.

I have also been continuing to volunteer with local organ and tissue donation centers.  Currently, I have done office work and speaking to people at various events at a booth.  I hope to perhaps add speaking to school groups down the road.

Amy and her sister Emily are entering several 5k and 10k races in the coming year.  Some of those will be for organ transplant awareness.  I intend to participate in some of those in particular.  Since i have been out of Atrial Fibrillation, I feel as though I am certainly capable of walking some of these.

As always, thank you for all your prayer and support.  Please continue your prayers for us and my future donor.

The 5k that wasn't, then was

Amy and I traveled to the Cleveland area to participate in the Lifebanc Gift of Life 5k Run and Walk on August 8, 2015.  So we thought we were participating in a 5k.  We arrived early to check in and get our t-shirts and see what else was happening.  We had a chance to talk with different sponsors and exhibitors while we awaited the Legacy Garden ceremony.  Included in this was a chance to talk with the folks at the World Transplant Games table.  This event will be held in Cleveland next year.  Perhaps I'll be a participant.  After all, they do have a trivia competition and a poker competition. 

The Legacy Garden Ceremony allowed me to have a poster in the garden for others to see.  As it turns out, most of the others were people who had either received a transplant or who had a loved one who was an organ donor.  There were a handful of family members of people who died waiting.  However, I was the only one who was represented as currently awaiting an organ transplant.  I was very humbled by this.  I know there are many more out there who are in need.  It made me realize how incredibly fortunate I am to be able to function reasonably well while I wait.

One of the speakers recounted the story of her son being both a recipient and a donor.  He received a transplant as a 13-year-old, but then died tragically in an accident shortly before his college graduation.  His organs were then donated to others in need of a transplant.  Talk about paying it forward!

At the end of the ceremony, there was a balloon launch of all the participants in the Legacy Garden.

Finally, it was time for the race to begin.  The runners went first and had a different course than the walkers.  We didn't think much of it and we were on our way.  After having a bit of trouble getting my phone and playlist to cooperate, we were finally moving and I needed only one short break to catch my breath.

After about a mile, we realized we were coming back to the starting point of the race.  Everyone else seemed to be wandering around to get food and other items off the exhibitor's tables.  Amy and I both asked each other, "Was that it?"  Apparently it was.  We decided we weren't finished.  I told everyone I was going to complete a 5k and I intended to do so.  So we walked the grounds some more and ended up walking well over 5k for the morning.  So it became sort of a DIY 5k, but we did it.  Of course we had to finish with a photo in the chair at the course, which is symbolic that no chair be left empty.  

Please continue to keep Amy and I in your prayers.  Your support has been amazing!

Help me build my playlist for the 5k on Saturday

The day is almost here where I will attempt to complete the Lifebanc Gift of Life Walk & Run on Saturday, August 8, 2015.  Of course, I will be walking it.

I am looking for song suggestions for my soundtrack for this event.  I'm thinking songs that have a walking theme to them, but I'm open to suggestions of just fun songs that people think would go well.

Please feel free to post any ideas you have on my blog page, Facebook or Twitter.

Please also pray that I manage to complete this.

I'm doing a 5k on August 8!

When it comes to races, my wife Amy likes to say she's "not fast, but not last."  I may put that to the test next weekend at the 2015 LifeBanc Gift of Life Walk & Run.  I have decided that I am going to attempt to participate in this event instead of just watching as I did in a similar event in Columbus that Amy ran a few weeks back.  Make no mistake, we will be walking this one (insert my usual disclaimer that I will indeed run if there is a snake or a bear in the vicinity).

Since I was brought out of atrial fibrillation a couple of weeks ago, I was eager to get back into a better exercise routine than I was in during the four months or so that I was waiting for my heart rhythm to be brought back to normal.  Unfortunately, although there was a noticeable increase in my stamina and ability to comfortably exercise, it was a far cry from where I was in January and February.

I have been able to increase my speed and duration quite a bit on the exercise recumbent bike.  On the lowest resistance, I was able to do five miles in a little over a half hour.  My last crack at the bike saw me hit 11 miles in just over an hour.

Amy and I have been walking along part of the bike trail that runs through Dayton.  Unfortunately, I did not notice a great deal of difference in the distance I could go without taking breaks along the way.  Although I did feel a bit better.  Today, I went to the exercise room at our apartment complex to see where I was at on the treadmill.  Unfortunately, I found it startling how much slower I was able to handle  and how often I had to take a break as opposed to back in February.  I managed to do about half of a 5k, but my speed was down to about 2.6 mph where I had gotten to an average of about 3.3 mph.

I will continue to "train" in advance of this 5k and hope to lessen the number of breaks I need to take and increase my duration.  I'd like to at least get one actual 5k in prior to the event.  I really don't know what the course will be like, but I am hopeful for a flat course.

Although this event is a fundraiser for LifeBanc in Cleveland (an organization that promotes organ donation in the Cleveland area) if you would like to make a donation to my HelpHOPELive campaign, it would be appreciated as well.