Yo DaVita!!!

Today on the way to dinner I went to the third belt hole, a good sign of progress, I have not gone there for about ten days! I’ve also gone 7 nights without dessert.

But that is jumping ahead a bit. I think I last left you on Tuesday night. I went to bed about 1 a.m., and at 7:00 a.m. headed down to the hotel gym and had a solid workout. This was followed by a big breakfast of two eggs with ham plus shredded wheat cereal with a sliced banana. I was hungry!

Off to a meeting of the Kidney Care Council I went — this is the group with all providers, working together on public policy.  All the large and medium companies are members  as well as several very small players, both for-profit and not-for-profit.

After that I met with some of our advisors, then went to two evening events to thank members of Congress for their support — the second one was Donna Christiansen, some of you will remember she spoke at the opening event of this year’s Nationwide meeting. As soon as she saw me she asked where my musketeer uniform was, and why was I wearing shoes!  The other people who were at the event were quite puzzled. Read more…

Yo DaVitans!

It is Tuesday evening. I have four good days under my belt since my disastrous week in the mountains. Four nights without dessert, reasonable portions, less red meat, and exercise every day. I can feel the difference in my belt, so I assume I am close to seeing it on the scale.

Monday was a good day in all respects … emails at 7 a.m., calls from 7:30 to 7:00, then a workout (pedaling away on the lifecycle while watching the Green Bay Packers winning their first game of the season on Tivo!) followed by dinner with the family.

I attacked email at 6:30 this a.m. so I could work out at 7 a.m., all in order to head for the airport at about 9:00 a.m. Once I landed I did some work in the hotel and then headed to dinner with the CEO of another company with which we might be able to do some good work for our patients. Then I met with one of our Washington D.C. executives and one of our D.C. advisors until 11:00 p.m. Then I had a phone call with Javier Rodriguez our SVP of Avanti to discuss some tough New York regulatory issues, then one with Dennis Kogod to discuss some compliance issues. I followed up with a call home to my wife and daughter, and now will read a couple newspapers in bed, after a couple emails.

My breakfast was solid today, healthy cereal and lite sausage and my workout was solid. My lunch was strong, salmon and broccoli. My snack was strong, mixed berries. But the dinner was a little weak, lamb with vegetables and a little bit of mashed potatoes. All in all a solid day.

I am happy to be back partnering with the 548 of you that have signed up for the team.  It is great to read the stories of your successes in your healthy life initiatives, I am glad we are doing this!

One for All,

KT

Yo DaVitans!

Yikes!

It is Monday morning, and this is not a fun entry.

Quite striking … during the weeks when I was in the United States, and had the time to submit entries to this blog several times a week, I did well.

On the other hand, when I was in China and at the DaVita planning retreat that uses every minute of the day and night … in other words when I was not doing regular submissions to our team … I have done poorly.

Poorly as in I went from being 3.5 pounds down before Labor Day Weekend, to only 2.5 pounds down as of yesterday, a full 11 days later. Since it is now Day 51, I went from being right about on schedule to being behind over these 11 days.

So I guess this public buddy system/community effort really works. At least for me.

It better because now I have to hustle!

The good news is the ramp-up in my exercise intensity has led to my personal bests in several of my normal rides and runs — a 16:38 on the Oak Grove Hill on the mountain bike, a 27:57 on  Honda Hill on the road bike, and an un-timed strong performance on the Love Creek Trail Hill. Also a strong 26:09 on the straight shot run, my best time in awhile, and especially pleasing because of my torn meniscus. I limped pretty badly for a couple days after, but what a fun run it was in the woods with rolling hills!

Perhaps because I knew I was going back to reporting, it has been a good weekend. Three nights without any desserts, chicken and vegetables for several of the meals and good exercise. Since I was driving back from the mountains alone on Saturday I was ableto do 3 hours of phone calls with teammates and voicemail, and yesterday on Sunday I was able to do a 90 minute call on an potential dialysis acquisition, about 150 emails, and one planning document. So I am catching up after the planning retreat, where we are too focused to keep up with email and/or voicemail.

Today I will do emails for a bit, and then my first call is at 7:30. The day is filled with about thirteen consecutive calls (not counting lunch), although I do take 45 minutes off to run and get my blood drawn for one of my regular lab value checks. I will get exercise as I watch a Tivo of the Packers Monday night football, and then pack for my trip to Washington D.C. Tuesday a.m.

Have a good day!  One for all ….

KT

(Light is spread in two ways — you can create it, or reflect it)

Yo DaVita!

It’s been a long time, sorry about that!  Hope you all had a good Labor Day Weekend!

The reason I have not written is that over the weekend I needed to focus 100% on my family. On Tuesday our annual Planning Retreat began. 11 DaVita execs were involved — 6 of us stayed at my family cabin so we saved a lot of money, and since it is a small mountain town the little 6 room inn has lower rates than most business hotels. Anyway, we started work first thing in the morning and went all the way until or through dinner, so I have done virtually no emails or voice mails all week.

I cannot report my weight, because I have not been home to use my scale for a week. At that point I was down between 3-4 pounds. I am nervous about what I will see when I get home tomorrow.

The bad news is I had desserts 5 of the last 7 nights. If the truth is to be told, some of them were big desserts. Plus I ate a fair amount of red meat. Yikes!

The good news is I have exercised every day, and on a couple days it was substantial (for example I did 2.5 hours of mountain biking with a guy much more fit than me last Sunday). Also my portions have been reasonable for the most part.

We generated some good ideas in the course of the retreat. It was also fun for the group to discuss our new Chief Medical Officer’s (Allen Nissenson) proposals for his near-term and 2009 objectives.

Have a good weekend — I am going to go out for a run after I finish working.

One for All,

KT

(Spiritual practice is what you are doing right now)

Region 2-Atlantic Stars (Washington DC)

Update: On track–1000m swims 2x per week, 3-5 mile runs 2x week, 20 mile bike 2x week

Here is a Match the Mayor update from our group –

Gladys Howard – FA Grant Park/Lee Street

Goal: Exercise 30 min per day and lose 10 lbs

Update: Exercising every day, 6 more lbs to go

Tanya Whiting -FA Union Plaza

Goal: Work outside in her garden/yard

Update: Garden is looking great!

Cora Benedicto– FA K Street/Brentwood

Goal:  Run 2 miles per day and lose 10lbs

Update: On track–2 more lbs to go Read more…