Adventures in Work Travel

As many of you know, I left my job with Nationwide Insurance in June after 10 years with the company.  I took a role as a Business Consultant with Teradata, a company I've worked closely with for the last 16 years.  The new role requires that I travel a few days per week for a few weeks each month to meet with clients.  While I know it will probably wear on me after a while, it's been pretty good so far.

This week was my worst week of travel yet, but I still really love my job.  I spent Monday through Thursday working with colleagues in San Francisco planning out the products and solutions that I will be presenting to clients.  I've known one person on the team for more than 10 years and really enjoyed getting to know the others, having lots of fun and designing a kick ass product.  A group of us went to the San Francisco Giants baseball game on Tuesday night and I got to meet one of my Amyloidosis little sisters who was also at the game.  On Wednesday, we worked until 7:30 and then went to a funky little restaurant in Chinatown with my colleague from the UK. I also found out I'll be going from Dublin, Ohio to Dublin, Ireland for a week in January for our Global Sales Training.  

The travel was pretty good going out.  I flew from Columbus to Minneapolis and then on to San Francisco.  I was a little late getting into Minneapolis but when I got to the gate for my flight, they were boarding so I didn't have to wait at all but there wasn't room for my carry on so I had to take it to the front of the plane.  While I was at the front of the plane, the flight attendants were trying to convince a man to stay on the plane who had asked to get off because he was claustrophobic.

I had two colleagues on the flight and when we got to San Francisco, went together in a cab to our hotel.  You couldn't have ordered up from a casting office a better representation of "grungy, stereotypical cab driver" than the one we had.  He was obviously foreign, had crazy hair sticking up and smelled like he hadn't bathed in a month.  My colleagues and I were giving each other sideways glances in the back seat.  I handed out breath mints, my colleague distributed scented hand sanitizer...anything to cover the smell.  I really thought I was going to be sick.  

Thursday afternoon I flew from San Francisco to Minneapolis and then on to Philadelphia.  I was representing Teradata at the Wharton Customer Analytics Initiative partner meeting.  When we arrived to Philly, I was standing in the aisle of the plane waiting to exit and the man in the aisle seat next to me was sitting because there was no place for him to stand.  The woman next to him (60ish year old and looking pretty anxious) was standing up in a hunched over way since she was by the window, said to him "Mister, you need to get up because I don't want to the the last person to get off the plane."  He didn't say anything so I tried to defuse the situation and said, "Ma'am, he doesn't have any place to stand because I'm here.  I promise I'll let him go in front of me."  Then he added to her, "And I'll let you go in front of me."  A few minutes later, the line still hadn't moved and she said, "If you don't stand up and I'm going to climb over you" which a) probably wouldn't have been successful and b) wouldn't have been pretty if she tried.  I just said, "Ma'am, I promise you that you can go in front of me."  Crazy lady!

I got to my hotel about midnight and had a few emails to answer before I went to bed.  Thankfully, my meeting the next day didn't start until 9:30 so I got up at 7, got ready, did a little work and headed to the Wharton Customer Analytics Initiative partner meeting.  I spent the day in a room with 20 people listening to professors from Penn and Wharton describing their work in analytics.  As I left at 3, I was notified that my flight out of Philadelphia was delayed and I would probably miss my connection in Detroit.  I decided to go to a cute cafe/wine bar and have some food and wine before I headed to the airport.  Little did I know, this was going on in the atmosphere...

As I was heading to the airport, my colleague, Mary, who arranged for me to attend the meeting called to see how things went.  I told her I had a great day but then told her about the travel challenges.  She started searching for flights for me.  About that time, I was notified that Delta had re-booked my on United to go through Dulles and get to Columbus about the same time as originally scheduled.  When I tried to check in on my phone, the United website said one of my flights had been cancelled.  I called our corporate travel partner and they said that the flights were still scheduled and I needed to go to the United counter.  I was at the Delta counter so I went over to the United terminal, waited about 10 minutes (heard them tell a man there were no available flights until Sunday) and United told me that yes, my flight out of Philly was canceled.  So, it was back to Delta to get back on my original flight to Detroit, knowing I could drive to Columbus if needed.  I waited in line and on hold on the phone and got back on the flight to Detroit that was now arriving at 11.  

I made it to Detroit, got to the car rental (after about 30 minutes) and headed out to Columbus.  Alan had offered to come up and pick me up but he had already driven to Cincinnati to pick up Claire, had worked the night before and I didn't want him to have to spend 9 hours driving that day.  So, I headed south to Columbus pretty tired from the week and with some rain ahead of me.  I loaded up some podcasts and Alan said to call him if I felt sleepy.  

About 1 am, I got a text from my colleague Mary asking if I was home yet.  I told her I still had 1-1/2 hours of driving left.  She asked if my husband had picked me up and I lied and said yes because there was no point in her worrying about me.

I got home about 2:45 and crawled in to bed.  Alan got up in the morning and took the rental car back for me so I could sleep longer and relax.  Even with all these "adventures", I still love my job.  I got to work with some wicked smart and hilarious colleagues doing great work and then talk shop with some of the most prestigious business professors in the world.  I'm working with some great clients and account teams that challenge me in a really productive way.

So, I'm back at it next week meeting with a large US insurer in Boston on Tuesday and with the account team for a large CPG company in Cincinnati on Wednesday.  I'll try to enjoy Boston Monday night and have dinner with Claire on Tuesday and Wednesday before coming home Wednesday night.

Yes, it's busy, yes it's a lot of travel and yes, it can be a hassle sometimes, but I'm always thankful I have the health and stamina to do it.  A bad day traveling beats a good day in the hospital  These adventures are what remission is all about.

Wall Theology

As many of you know, I received my Amyloidosis diagnosis the day after I returned from my dad's funeral in Florida.  It was a whirlwind time of so many emotions and the busyness of trying to save my life.  Many emotions and actions went unattended as I focused on my health.

While I was in Florida, my stepmother asked me if there were any of my dad's belongings that I wanted.  There was only one thing I really wanted...this watercolor.

It had hung in my parents' home while I was growing up and I always loved it.  My parents didn't go to church so any "theology" I got was either from my grandmother, who attended a rather scary Pentecostal church, or second hand through items like this.

My stepmother seemed reluctant to let me have it and told me she would box up some items and ship them to me later.  The box came while I was in the midst of my chemo and remained unopened....until today.  Cleaning out our basement and the rest of our house to prepare for a huge garage sale is my first priority during my period of "fun-employment."  (For those who haven't heard, I left my job with Nationwide after 10 years and I'm taking the summer off before I move on to my next job.)

I was so happy to see that the robin and sparrow watercolor was in the box.  I was so apprehensive and would have been very sad if it hadn't.

When I asked my stepmother for that, I had no idea how much the attitude depicted in that painting would carry me through the next period in my life.  It now means even more that it did before I was diagnosed.

Still Going Strong

I'm writing this post from Sandy, Utah on the last day of a fabulous ski vacation.  My husband, two daughters, son in law and brother in law skied for four days at three different resorts and it was fantastic.  The weather was great--3 days of nice snow and bluebird skies, and one day of constant snowfall.  We are all about the same level skier and so it's fun to just chase each other down mountains.

We stayed at an AirBNB that was awesome.  It was a 4BR, 3Bath home located about 25 minutes from the slopes and 5 minutes from the grocery store.  It has a lovely hot tub and is really comfortable and cozy.  Of course, the best part was just spending time together. Our older daughter, Amy, and her husband, Sean, live in Florida so the times when we're together with them are really special.

We skied at Solitude, Alta (2 days) and Snowbird.  Each day and resort was special. Here are a few photos.

Me and my brother in law (top) and me and my husband

My daughter Amy and her husband Sean

One of the mountains at Alta

Claire, me and Amy

We had the GoPro recording at various points.  I haven't had a chance to compile the overall video but this 45-second excerpt was too good not to share.  Thankfully, Amy is ok.  You can see the care and compassion inherent in our family as we all double over in laughter at her misfortune.  As she watched the video, she commented, "I really like how you're practically contorted with laughter."  :)  Amy's Crash Video

As you might expect, I gather my stats as I ski so I can see number of runs, distance and speed of my day.  I'm proud to say that I set a new land speed record this year.  My previous record was 42mph on the bike, the ski record was 38mph.  This year, I hit 48mph on skis.  Boy did it feel good to be able to go that fast!

This time of year is always a time of reflection for me because I received my Amyloidosis diagnosis on February 25, 2013.  I think back to those scary times when I wondered if I'd ever be able to do active vacations with my family ever again.  I think about the ski trip we took between my chemo and stem cell transplant with the 30 pounds of fluid in my abdomen.  I couldn't even buckle my ski boots but I skied every morning with my family even though I could hardly eat because of the pain from the GI involvement.  I remember the grief I felt when I was too weak to ski down the final day and had to ride the gondola down the mountain.  I wondered if that would be my last act on a ski slope....one of defeat.

But, that wasn't the case and I've been able to continue doing the activities I love--cycling, skiing, and most importantly, traveling with my family.  Several times a week, I see a post on the Amyloidosis Facebook page or an online forum about someone dying from the disease or being permanently incapacitated.  I am so thankful for every day of health I have.  I lost something I took for granted and I try to savor its return every day.

Next month, I'll be speaking with my physician, Yvonne Efebera, MD, to the board of directors for the Foundation of the cancer hospital where I was treated, Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute...aka The James.  My message will be one of thanks, thanks to each person there and the millions of others who have supported cancer research in the past.  Research into my chemo drugs and the use of stem cell transplants many years ago is the reason I can savor my health and the life it affords me.

If you'd enjoy the opportunity to give that gift of health and hope to someone in the future, please consider donating to my Pelotonia ride.  pelotonia.org/kat4gators 100% of all rider donations go directly to cancer research.  To learn more, you can read some of my previous Pelotonia posts here--http://katseyeview.blogspot.com/search/label/pelotonia 

Your donation could fund the research that creates the treatment that returns health and hope to some person in the future.  Let's End Cancer!