From KT – August 14, 2011

Yo DaVita !

Well it has been a rough ending to my little jaunt around the world.  The plane had a mechanical issue, leading to 4 hours on/at the tarmac/airport.  This meant a missed connection.  So I spent the night at a hotel in Turkey, where virtually no one spoke any English.  Not such a big deal, I have done a lot of that – and given I did not get there until 9 pm there was no need for a lot of interaction.  I am now on a plane the next morning, heading to Zurich.  Unfortunately I will have missed both my meetings, and will need to figure out how to make that up.  The long delays and extra flight also push up the average air/airport travel time to 8 hours a day for my week of glamorous international travel.

I had salmon and veggies for dinner, 1.0 servings of veggies.  Also a healthy salad, for a .5 score.  I scored what I think is my 5^th straight day without dessert.  And I had the snack of an orange during the afternoon, so that is another 1.0.  

The fitness center at the Turkish hotel was shut down, so I swam some laps in the pool.  I had it to myself this fine Sunday morning.  I would estimate 20 minutes of swimming, and that was it.  My breakfast was 1.0 serving of high fiber cereal, and my lunch was 1.5 servings of fruit and .5 serving of veggies to go with a small steak.

The good news about the flight delay is that I got a lot of work done.  a lot.  Saturday work did not start until 10 am, but it continued until 10:30 pm, with breaks only for food and when I had to walk somewhere at the airport.  Today I will get in 4 hours of work on my two plane flights today, and then only do about 30 minutes more on the phone to catch up with my assistants in the States.  The rest will be wonderful down time with Denise!

Once again it was striking how the DaVita reputation you all have built is positive throughout much of the dialysis world.  The companies and physicians we met with almost invariably either knew about us, or had done their homework – and in either case view us as an ethical successful company with outstanding clinical outcomes and a focus on partnering with physicians.

As I prepare to take most of Monday thru Friday off (although my wife says that since I worked all day last Saturday and Sunday, and worked all this Saturday, and will work all of this coming Saturday as we fly back to the States … she says she may not count it as 5 days of vacation), it makes me think and hope that each of you is taking your vacation time.  One Cannot Pour from an Empty Cup.  You cannot give what you do not have.  Many of us derive a lot of sustenance because our work leads to good things for human beings and the world – but we still must also give our bodies and spirits some downtime.  AND the gift of exercise and healthy eating.

On behalf of your patients, thank you for your good and hard work, and your good spirits.

One for All

KT