To: Jennifer Huff, Vernon Rockville, CT

Dear Jennifer,
I love the fourth trimester label that is a new one for me. Thank you for living the Caring for Each Other part of our Trilogy of Caring. And good luck on the 10 pounds! Hope your new baby is sleeping well, so mommy and daddy can too.
KT
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To: Brady Melvin, Charlotte, NC

Hey Brady!
The technically correct term is “DaVitans.” And when we make an event or a location davita-like, we say we “DaVitafy” it. Fun words! We now have 1164 other tm’s, in addition to you and me. Hopefully others racking up the extra minutes as their body gets more into a healthy groove. Thanks for posting!
KT
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To: Toni Stalker, Tucson, AZ

Dear Toni,
Are you the Toni I rode with a bunch? I used to get the locations with the names, MaryKay can we go back to that please? The Toni I rode with for several miles on the Tour was from somewhere in the southeast or Tucson. If the same Toni, you are a great biker and fun to talk to – and I need you to tell me again how to do that stretch you showed me at the starting line. I tried to replicate it at home but I am doing something wrong.
Ride On!
KT
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To: Shannon Oswalt, Coral Gables, FL

Dear Shannon,
Back at you.
KT
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To: Melanie Romania, Wayne, PA

Hey Melanie!
For those who don’t know her, Melanie is a great person and role model for our Mission & Values. And one tough mother to boot. Keep it up Melanie, and schedule more exercise for JR while you are at it.
Your fan and friend,
KT
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To: Carol Jones, Tacoma, WA

Dear Carol
That Tacoma Family Festival was awesome. I have talked to some others about doing more of these elsewhere where we have a major neighborhood. Team Evergreen does Rock. Ride On!
KT

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To: Valerie Cook, Tacoma, WA

Dear Valerie,
On this year’s Tour, we declared “The more rain, the more Glory”. Well it was a glorious Tour, we can tell you that. And we had an unbelievable amount of fun and fulfillment at the same time. Funny how powerful virtuous/healthy behavior is.
KT
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To: Erin Lee, Lakewood, CO

Dear Erin,
Did you do them both? If so awesome, how did they go?
KT
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To: Shawna Zeh, Cincinnati, OH

Dear Shawna,
You are right, we are in this journey together. In Match the Mayor, in our local teams, in our lives.
KT
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To: Beverlee Stemple , Berwyn, PA

Dear Beverlee,
You sent in entries last year also, yes? You are doing great stuff! I need to drop some weight also, and quickly if I want to make my goal.
KT
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To: Regina Rimer, Kaufman, TX

Dear Regina,
Great step! Have you been able to sustain improvement over the previous lifestyle, even if not perfect?
KT
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To: Fatima Punjani, North Port, FL

Go Fatima !!
KT
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To: Margie Flynn, North Windham, CT

Dear Margie,
I feel the same as you, when we work on this stuff together it creates a positive energy that otherwise can be lacking. Congrats on the weight loss, you are definitely outperforming me …. But I am mega-happy for you and you give me more resolve for myself.
KT

Dear DaVita-Land,

After the visitation, funeral, and lunch my body was torn. Part of it absolutely wanted the healthy feeling of a good sweat. Part of it just wanted to lay down and seek the escape of a nap.

In part because of my 1165 teammates on this MM III campaign, I chose the former. Even better, I got in a pretty good one. 30 medium minutes on the bike, then 3 sets of curls and push-ups (2 of these on a bozu ball, to better work the core), 1 set of crunches(could only do 70 because the new push-ups definitely work the core a lot more), and a bunch of stretching.

Total minutes of 52.

Any weight loss achieved during this session was wiped out at the family dinner that night, as I had 2 cookies and some ice cream. Oh well, it could have been worse. Actually it was worse, the Packers lost. But watching the game with 25 relatives was a nice way to distract us all a bit, and healthy in its own way.

I got to bed at midnight, and got out of bed at 6:15 to head back to the hotel gym. Only did 22 minutes on the bike and 3 minutes of stretching (total of 25 MaryKay), because I had to zip to the airport to catch a plane to Evansville Indiana. After landing there I had an hour drive to Mount Carmel, to attend another funeral. One of our senior exec’s mother died, and I wanted to be there to represent our Village.

I stopped at a McDonald’s on the hour drive back after the ceremony, but was a good boy and had the grilled chicken (skinless) with no mayo. I am now on a plane to Washington DC, typing this entry.

As soon as I land I race to the hotel to get changed for an industry event tonight, The Hope Affair put on by the American Kidney Fund. “I” will receive an award for leadership and service to the Kidney Care Community. This is nice but somewhat uncomfortable because it is DaVita that is providing great leadership and service to the American kidney care community, and I am just one of the vehicles for that beautiful fact. So rest assured I will be recognizing and honoring you tonight when they call me to the stage. You can check, because we have invited 100 teammates and spouses from local centers to attend the dinner and event.

Many of you folks are amazing. Let’s keep improving our health. One cannot pour from an empty cup.

KT

Dear DaVita,

I will be brief today, as I will be leaving for the visitation with the funeral to follow. But I do not want to let the team down by letting too much time slip by between entries. One for All & All for One does mean something after all, and it is nice to be able to think about something else for a few minutes.

On Sunday morning I did a wonderful 2.5 hour mountain bike ride plus several minutes of stretching. Total time of 156.

Then I flew to Wisconsin, getting some good work done on the plane. Once I arrived we had a perfect family dinner at a restaurant we have gone to for years. Felt like being in kind of a safe cocoon in an often unfair world.

I decided not to set the alarm, and slept a glorious 8.5 hours. I will workout sometime in the afternoon, between the funeral and the evening family activities.

I hope to sit down and type responses later today.

I wish good health for all of you. As I mentioned in an earlier entry, my aunt did not take care of herself in this regard and suffered from severe diabetes and its implications for years.

Take care,

KT

Yo DaVita!

It is a beautiful Saturday afternoon in Denver.  I hope all 1163 of you, and those that are have not signed up but are checking us out, are all having a healthy day where you are doing good stuff for your body and soul!

I have had to work most of the day, but given the great stuff you guys do that does not feel so bad.  Especially after my 3 full days on the Tour DaVita, where certainly much of what I do is work, in that I try to talk to as many teammates as I can, and ask for advice and questions, and ask if there are things they want to tell me that they worry I don’t know …. But nonetheless normal work is not getting done, and I do love being outside all day and with our team so I would never claim the Tour is all about working for me.

Anyway, my Friday in California was filled with meetings on DaVita RX, Falcon HER, People Services stuff, payor negotiations, etc.  But I did take an hour to do some road biking with a DaVita teammate, so we had good business conversations about half of the time, and spent the other half climbing a big hill.  He beat me by 6 seconds.  So Friday = 60 minutes, and it was good strong exercise, and outside which makes it doubly valuable for me.

Friday night I flew back to Denver, arriving about 8:45 pm.  I had a late dinner with my wife, who flew with me.

Today (Saturday) I took 2 hours away from my desk.  The first hour my wife Denise and I went for a bike ride along a nearby river.  It was good time together, and I will only count it as 20 minutes of exercise since it was so mellow.  Once we returned she went to a show and I did 24 solid minutes on the lifecycle, plus a very complete additional workout.  3 sets of curls (20×16,8,9), 3 sets of push-ups (30, 20, 20), 1 set of crunches (120), and another 8-9 sets of stretches and lower-back muscle building things.  An additional 50 minutes of good and varied exercise, for a total of 70 minutes today. Read more…

Dear DaVitans!

What a final day for the Tour – after 2 days of clouds and frequent rain, we had a beautiful day of weather to cruise thru beautiful countryside.

Perhaps the use of the word “cruise” is only appropriate for the first 30 miles or so.  After that my legs and fanny were protesting.  But I kept thinking of the words from one of the teammates at the Open Mic session the previous night, how each time she was thinking of quitting she thought of how hard it must be for many dialysis patients to head in for that 145^th treatment of the year, and she kept on going.

I did to, all 100 miles.  8 hours.  The finish was inspiring, as the Red Shirts and Team Spirit had set up flags all the way along the final road, and balloons and a hundred cheering teammates at the finish (most everyone takes a turn welcoming finishing riders, it is the classic thing where you do it to give support to others and find out you get as many good feelings as they do!).

I will subtract one hour lunch and breaks, leaving 420 minutes !!

I flew back to Denver early Wednesday morning, stopped at home and did a brief 20 minutes on the lifecycle (painful!) and 4 min of stretching, for a total of 24.  Then I headed into the Casa Nueva, until it was time for dinner at my home with 10 teammates and the future Governor of Colorado.

I had to leave home at 6:45 am today (Thursday) to give a speech, and I was just too tired and sleep deprived to get exercise.  I had meetings all day in the office, and am now working as I fly to California for meetings tomorrow.  I get to have dinner with my wife tonight, that will be great, and so I will stop working at 8:45 Denver time when I land, and then travel 30 minutes to get home.  So exercise will be zero today, darn.

The speech was a cool thing, however – 50 of the Denver area leaders wanted to hear about our DaVita Story.

And one of the bright chapters in that DaVita Story is the Tour DaVita, a GLORIOUS life event.  Don’t believe me, talk to 90% of the 400 riders and you will hear the same thing.  Life to the max … and beyond.

One for All,

KT

Greetings to the Good People of DaVita!

I write to you on Tuesday am, early, as we are in the tent eating breakfast.  Yesterday was a tough tough ride, because it rained much of the day, and some of the rain was so intense it was hard to see where you were going.  Your 400 teammates nevertheless maintained an almost uniformly positive attitude, and the support people were most impressed.  The Red Shirts doing the support were equally impressive in fact, standing out in the rain for hours encouraging riders at key stops, helping them get food, etc.

The ride has been a Glorious Moving Village!  Each night some people share why they are riding and/or what they experienced that day.  There is something terrifically bonding about riding for hours with another human being, and many new and lasting friendships are formed each year.

I did the full course, which was 70 miles.  It took about 6 hours to do, so the day’s big total was 420 minutes.  It feels soooo good to type this.

As of Day One, we were up to an amazing $691,000l for the Kidney Trust.  Our other objectives are also important, namely to create stronger Village bonds across our fair enterprise, to get some people re-engaged In the art of exercise and outdoor activity, to provoke serious reflecting amongst ourselves about our life’s purpose, and to send forth ripples of citizen leadership.

So far we are scoring on all fronts.  I have to get out there.  Today I will try to do the Century, a full 100 miles, no drafting.  Please wish me luck.  I will give it all I have, of that you can be sure.

At the tour, when one of us says to another “Let’s Ride” the response is “Ride On”.

That is what we will do today, each as best they can, that is where the glory is.  In the Tour as in life, we Ride On.  Together.

KT

To:  Sarah Villaruel, Tacoma, WA

Dear Sarah,

What mile number are you on now?  I had a low week, and this kind of week does not fit with a sustainable lifestyle or marriage, but I am glad I only missed one day of getting in at least 22 minutes of lifecycle or the equivalent.  I don’t know if I would have pulled that off without my 1100 teammates and our shared reporting.  The Tour DaVita coming up will allow me to rack up a lot of minutes,  yupper!  I hope you are still going.

Take care, KT

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To: Jenny  Carrillo, El Paso, TX

Dear Jenny,

I can relate to feeling the daily reporting pressure – and it is a great thing, forces you to address whether or not you can defend the tradeoffs you are making in life, to a public audience.  Suddenly some of the rationalizations you successfully use with yourself or your spouse or regular friends don’t seem so persuasive.  Suddenly you realize that it is about your life and who is in control.  Of course for some kids and work hours can make it A LOT tougher for some than others.  That makes the accomplishment all the sweeter, and perhaps the importance all the greater.

Keep Going!   KT

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To: Sandi Aleman, San Joaquin Valley, CA

Dear Sandi,

See a person diligent in their ways?  They shall stand before Kings – unknown.  But it is the same point as good old Ben Franklin.  Mountains are climbed one step at a time.

Climb On !    KT

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To: Gracie Alston , Ahoskie, NC

Dear Gracie,

Awesome work on the lab values!  Your body has given you the gift of life, and you have given it a gift of mutual respect right back.  Drive on!     KT

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To: Debbie Smith , Tacoma, WA

Dear Debbie,

Wow.  Great tenacity after that remote attacked your leg like that.  Better start riding outside where there is no remote danger.  I hear you on the joint thing.  I have had surgeries on both knees, and one had a lot of cartilage removed.  So I had to shift from running to biking, and I did not like it for some time.  But just like starting to like vegetables, biking grew on me.

See you this Saturday for the Tour start.  I was in DC earlier today, and met with your Congressman, Norm Dicks, I think that is the right spelling.  He agreed to help us get CMS to correct some problems with the new bundle.  He is 69 and going strong, it appears.

Ride On!   KT

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To: Mary Beth Midle, Evansville, IN

Dear Mary Beth,

We are glad MM III can add some variety to your robust exercise life.  I can only imagine how you get your dogs involved in your Gung class!

Gung On!  KT

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To: Jackie Tyrie, Evansville, IN

Dear Jackie,

That’s the spirit – turn a hardship into a call for change.  And make sure you are healthy for their return from an experience which will add probably add great depth to their lives.

You can do it!  KT

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To: Jody Fix , Lexington, VA

Dear Jody,

The deserts of New Mexico and Arizona – beautiful, I have driven them several times.  Enjoy the earth’s beauty, that is exercise for the soul like running is exercise for the body.

Safe travels!   KT

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To: Sara Williams, Pinehurst, NC

Dear Sara,

Did you write into last year’s Match the Mayor?  Or the prior year?  Why does your name sound familiar?  Anyway, to each his own when it comes to goal setting – I hope you hit those balls just like you said.  Like DaVita saying “We Said We Did”, you do what you say.

KT

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To: Sheryl Wetzel, Pensacola, FL

Dear Sheryl,

Thank you for caring enough to join this team.  I hope I am in as good a weight range and good health when I am 61, only 7 years away.  Yikes, I better stay in the gym a little longer tomorrow.

KT

Greetings to the Good People of DaVita,

I write to you at 10:00 pm, from my tent at the fourth annual Tour DaVita.  My tent is one of approximately 220 tents, housing 400 teammates and Friends of DaVita, all of whom rode in the Tour today.

Many rode the full 60 miles despite significant rain, some big hills, and periodic traffic.  We also had our first patient rider.  It was a glorious day, as most everyone was pushed to their physical or mental limits, because of the big hills and /or rain.

I rode the full 60 miles, with total minutes – 300.  So quite a boost to the cumulative average scores.

I am falling asleep as I type this, time to get in the sleeping bag and go to bed.  We are woken up at 6 am tomorrow am.

Yo DaVitans !

A quick note here on Saturday am, as I am soon to race to the airport to fly up to the great state of Washington for the glorious Tour DaVita.  We will have a family festival in the afternoon, with many of the families of our 1000 teammates or so in Team Evergreen, meaning the Tacoma area.  Tonight will be a welcoming reception for the 400 intrepid riders of the Tour itself.  Please check the Tour DaVita blogsite or whatever it is called to see how things are going with the Tour.  I will try to do some entries also, and I will be racking up mega-miles !!!

FINALLY I had a strong workout yesterday, after several days of medium/soft ones.  Despite the sleep deprivation my body and soul were ready, and I did 27 intense minutes on the lifecycle, then 3 good sets of push-ups (30,22, 20) and curls (20×15, 11, and 8), 100 crunches and about 6 sets of stretching.  THANKS FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT THRU A TOUGH WEEK, today I complete my 11 cities in 8 days saga, or something like that I have lost track.  Anyway, the minutes total was 51 !!

This boy is back!  Not ready for the Tour, but what the heck, never up never in.  We are not to be denied our rightful spot as The Greatest Dialysis Company the World has Ever Seen!  Let’s all have a strong week together, and I will find out if we have added any new partners to our 1000 stalwarts!!!

One for All & All for One,

KT

(Most people go to their graves with their music still inside)   (But not in this Village!)

Yo DaVita!

Good evening/morning, I typed most of this Thursday night on a plane, and am wrapping it up Friday morning.

I left you Wednesday night at midnight, when I stopped working.  I read for an hour, and it was lights out at 1 am.  I got up at 7 and headed down to the gym.  Only to discover no lifecycle!  So I used a treadmill for the first time in years, did 22 minutes of jogging on a flat surface or walking briskly up the steepest incline it would do.  Then 2 stretches, 1 set of curls, 27 minutes total.  This continues the unfortunate streak of medium to soft exercise sessions.  It sure is good that I took advantage of the Labor Day Weekend to rack up some serious minutes with serious intensity.

I scrambled to a meeting with the CEO of Cigna, a very smart guy and good human being is my sense.  We had a productive meeting, followed by a sprint to the airport to fly to DC.  No time for breakfast or lunch, except I grabbed some popcorn and some mixed berries.

My afternoon (which at 2 pm included some skinless chicken breast, about 6 bites on a skewer) was something you should all be proud of.  3 meetings, 2 with members of Congress, 1 with a very senior staff leader.  And everyone had heard about DaVita and regarded us as credible folk.  Congratulations on all your activism over the years, to those who have participated!  That is what democracy requires.

My day went quite a bit downhill after that.  Because of some meeting changes I had to cancel my meetings in Colorado on Friday (but I promised to our Grand Junction centers I would do a future visit), to go straight to California.  The silver lining was one less city, and getting to California by 7:30 and seeing my wife and daughter.  So I was excited. Read more…