Thursday, December 10, 2015

Memorial Fund for Lloyd Treichel

Hello to all -

Some of my Dad’s great friends of 40+ years have set up a memorial fund at the ‘Rocky Mountain Conservancy’ (https://rmconservancy.org/), which is a nonprofit organization supporting the Rocky Mountain National Park. A memorial plaque will be displayed on the Recognition Wall at the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center; a beautiful leaf-shaped plaque, which is reminiscent of the Aspens; when living in Colorado, Dad visited the park often. Below is a picture of Lloyd, TJ, and I on what I believe is one of my first hikes.

For anyone wishing to donate to this memorial, you can via mail.

Make your check payable to: Rocky Mountain Conservancy
Check Memo Field: Lloyd Treichel Memorial Fund

Mail to:
Rocky Mountain Conservancy
Attn: Lloyd Treichel Memorial Fund
P.O. Box 3100
Estes Park, CO  80517

The conservancy will be sending you a charitable contribution receipt for your donation.

Happy Holidays
Vanita



Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Addendum

Addendum - written by Vanita Wolf (Lloyd's daughter in San Diego)

Though it was my Dad's last post, I would like to share a bit of closure.

My father died (he hated the euphemism 'passed away') 7/8 at 12:11 AM.  He died peacefully in his sleep; he was ready and from his perspective, death couldn't come soon enough. On June 13th, my Father, Rich (great friend of 30+ years), and I made a last journey from Tucson to my home in San Diego. My brother and mom came out and we spent some good time together, and even celebrated my 44th birthday. Dad spent the last of his days being well cared for; he enjoyed fresh sashimi, he had great food, watched some spaghetti westerns which he enjoyed, and I am grateful to have been able to spend these last days with him and ensure he had everything he needed or wanted.  He was always there for me.

A quote from my Dad's note to me and my brother (TJ Treichel)...

"If you want to have some kind of event to "celebrate' (mark the occasion) of my death, I request that you have a nice meal and talk about me.  You may pour a glass of Crown Royal on ice for me to join you in the "spirit" of the occasion.  For anyone who has a great desire to leave a memorial in my name, choose an organization whose goal it is to "save the wild places" of this earth.  I have enjoyed those places as I live and I hope that many more people will be able to enjoy them after I die."

As Dad always said...
Enjoying life is a matter of balance...
Vanita - 'Lloyd Treichel's Daughter'

Monday, May 11, 2015

A Last Post

This will be the last post here. Nature is taking over. Cancer. According to the doctors, I have about two months left of living. Maybe.

Why the last post. I died on ........ In good health and all of sudden I am dead. It does happen. My life was a great journey. Born on July 30, 1940 at 4:30 p.m. in a Green Bay Wisconsin hospital.

Born to Earl and Irene (Treichel) Treichel. Yup. My mother's maiden name was Treichel. Mom and Dad were second cousins. Could explain some of the weirdness of this guy. My sister Lois was already at home when I was born. A couple of years later, Dennis arrived to complete the family of three children.

Lois Vohen survives this writing and lives in Two Rivers Wisconsin. Dennis was residing in Dallas Oregon when he died in 2010. Mom died in 2002 at the age of 84 and Dad died in 2006 at the age of 90. Sounds like good genes. Hopefully, my genes got me to something approximating those numbers.

I grew up on a dairy farm with all the jobs that go with that. That included some of the smellier jobs. After attending the Morrison Lutheran grade school, I graduated from DePere High School in 1958. Ahead of me after high school, I had to decide what I was going to do with the rest of my life. How to make the decision. There was no experience to make the decision. Dad always suggested a job or career something other than farming. His suggestion was engineering or accounting. I often wonder where I would have ended if he had thought that lawyer or doctor would be a good future. 

Whatever my choice, I was going to have to pay for it. Between working part and full time at Morning Glory dairy in De Pere for the next five years I attended part or full time at the University of Wisconsin Extension center at Green Bay. The school was affectionately known as Cardboard Tech. Built as temporary classrooms for the returning WWII veterans, the building was still in use in 1960.

While living at home and attending Cardboard Tech, I continued to help out with farm chores and milking cows. In 1962 I left the farm and went to University of Wisconsin at Madison to finish my education graduating there in 1965.

While at Madison, I met Eileen Kriewaldt. We dated in college and upon my graduation, we married in the summer of 1965 before moving to Santa Rosa California where I had a trainee position with the Bank of America in their Santa Rosa branch. I was at the right place at the right time. The Bank determined that I would be a great computer programmer.

They were right. I enjoyed programming and recently wrote an Excel Visual Basic macro to solve Sudoku puzzles.

When California became too crowded for these farm kids, we moved to Denver in 1969 for a programming position I accepted with Samsonite Luggage.

Eileen and I had two children. Son TJ and Krista live in the Denver area. Daughter Vanita and Gabe live in San Diego. Without grand children, there are grand pets who survive me. Eileen and I divorced many years ago and she survives me at this writing.

For most of my working career I was in some area of Information Technology. I started as a computer programmer (it was called Data Processing in 1965) writing COBOL programs. When I retired in 2000, I was working in technical sales support for Storage Technology -- a computer peripherals manufacturer. The company no longer exists after it was bought by Sun Microsystems. Sun was in turn bought by Oracle.

When I retired in 2000, I bought a truck and fifth wheel trailer to travel around US and Canada.

Since my retirement in 2000, I haven't worked for a pay check. Having considered volunteering at a state or national park over the years, I always decided that I didn't want to make the commitment to be someplace on a day or time. I liked the life where I could do what I wanted at any time. Certainly was a selfish approach, but that is what it was.

After 13 years of travel I needed a change from the mobile life. I enjoyed the mobile and moving life where the scenery changed and there was something new to explore.

It was time for a change from the nomadic travel. In January of 2014, I purchased a park model in an RV resort in Tucson. From the list of four possible locations (the others: Fort Collins, CO, Prescott, AZ, San Diego) to settle I chose Tucson with its nine months of good weather. With lots of nearby hiking, it as an ideal location to try to stay fit as I age.

I've lived a good life and had the opportunity to enjoy a good retirement. At least I am able to write this without the obit which would say that I was employed at company X when I died.

There are no regrets. If there are any regrets, it is that I was unable to celebrate any more birthdays. It would have been great to celebrate 100 years. That would have been great if I was still walking and could form complete sentences.


Friday, April 24, 2015

Friday, April 10, 2015

Friday, March 20, 2015

Friday, March 13, 2015

Friday Photo


Kids checking out the surf

Pacific Ocean at San Diego

From Wandrin Archives 2007

Friday, March 6, 2015

Friday Photo


Prim and wild saguaros

Catalina State Park -- near Tucson

From the Wandrin Archives

Monday, March 2, 2015

Ambition is Back

The last chemo treatment was January 21st. It has been a long time since I had any ambition to do some thing beyond the basics of living. Yesterday I did a 4.2 mile hike without panting. Soon I will do a five mile hike. And eventually, I will do even longer hikes. Some wild flowers are blooming. The desert is green with the recent winter rains. It is a great time to get out and do some hiking.


The radiation treatments will begin next week -- or the following. The treatments will be every day for three weeks. I'm hoping to make that happen at the end of the day so I can go hiking in the morning. According to the radiologist, the most serious side effect might be some indigestion. I am used to that with the chemo treatments.

In addition to hiking every other day, with the return of ambition there is a "to do" list to be addressed. Mattress shopping. Carpet cleaning. House washing. And more.

It is a great feeling to want to do something once again. Ambition is back.

Friday, February 27, 2015

Friday Photo


Spring Time Flowers

Organ Pipe National Monument

From Wandrin Archives 2005

Saturday, February 21, 2015

Butterflies and Frogs

Vanita is in town for four days before heading back to San Diego. On her first full day in Tucson, we went to Sabino Canyon. There we took the tram ride followed by a short hike.

There is too much of Tucson to show Vanita in four days. For her short visit, I opted for the Tucson Botanical Gardens. The Gardens includes a butterfly exhibit building. With tropical butterflies, it is a very humid building.

Butterflies flit around and land on people and plants. One landed on my hat. Another landed on Vanita's hand. With the constant movement of the butterflies, it is difficult to get a good photo. This one sat still long enough for a photo.


This year there are also tropical frogs. On the ground and under plants, the frogs are harder to spot. Once a person finds a one of these small frogs (less than two inches), everyone tries to get a photo. Fortunately, they don't move like the butterflies.



Since I am still recovering from that last chemo treatment four weeks ago, today we took a short hike in nearby Saguaro National Park East.

On Vanita's future visits, I plan to share more of the Tucson that I enjoy.

Friday, February 20, 2015

Friday Photo


Buffalo Trio

On the plains of

Theodore Roosevelt National Park -- North Dakota

From the Wandrin Archives 2006

Friday, February 13, 2015

Friday Photo


Wild Flower Season

Southwestern Colorado

From Wandrin Archives 2009

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Done With Chemo

Three weeks ago today, I had the last of four chemo treatments. There will be no more.

When I went to see the oncologist two days ago, I had already made up my mind to quit after four and do no more of the original planned six. I was so confident with my decision that I made a lunch date with Tucson friends the day of the chemo (today).

The appointment with the doc was late afternoon to make sure there was time enough for what was going to be a long conversation. Just shy of an hour we talked. I began by sharing my miserable living with chemo.

After additional talk about the side effects, I asked if there might be some data to indicate how long before relapse after four treatments versus six. He headed off to his office and apparently found some information. However, there was nothing about four versus six. He did find there was no difference between six and eight, but there was no mention of four.

We talked more about any future chemo. I asked about delaying the next chemo for two weeks so I could recover. I don't remember if he really answered that. It may have been at that time, that he said that considering the local nature of the tumor with no other indication on the PET scan and other tests he was okay with my decision to stop chemo.

The decision to stop was followed by discussion about a future if there were a relapse of cancer. If there were a relapse, the doc said it would be a different chemo treatment. Fortunately, that is an issue I will address when -- or if -- there is a relapse.

Closing up the appointment, he said the next step was to call the doctor for radiation therapy. As he walked me down the hallway to checkout, he said that the radiation would mean there would be no more children. I responded that wouldn't be an issue since I had been cut forty years ago. With a few more yucks I headed to checkout.

There was a mob of people at the checkout including one of the nurses who I have seen there on many of the visits for blood draws and infusions. After the conversation with the doc, my smile must have bigger than usual. The nurse asked how I was doing and about the next treatment. I spoke of the neuropathy and added that there would be no more chemo. After chatting briefly she wished me well and headed back to her responsibilities.

Now it is a matter of healing the body to what it might have been before I started the chemo. I am looking forward to food tasting good once again. The digestive tract will heal. The hair will start growing back. I will start shaving again. Soon there will be hair growing from the ears. The wrinkles caused by the chemo will take much longer to soften. There are good days ahead.

Done with chemo. No complaints. Life is good.

Friday, February 6, 2015

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Just Wondering

It happens to all owners of cars. You go to a dealership garage to get service on your car. A couple of days later, invariably you will get a call asking about your service experience. I've had that experience many times over the years as I traveled the country. It has also happened with the Highlander I now own. Those phone calls may have been annoying, but offered the answers they wanted.

I am still waiting for that first "how are you doing" call from the doctors, nurses or hospitals. I really don't want a phone call for a simple office visit. Where I want the call is when I have an outpatient procedure or after just one of those chemotherapy treatments over the past months.

At this point, I have had four out patient procedures and four chemotherapy treatments. There have been no phone calls to check up to see how I am doing. They could ask about how I am feeling. Is there any pain and other issues that I might be dealing with. If I am feeling bad and hurting, the least they could do is offer to prescribe some (more) drugs. 

There has been no phone call. Ever. The only time there has been a phone call was when I called. Of course I left a message for a call back -- which happened many hours later.

I am wondering. If the auto dealers can make a call to check up on a service call, is it too hard for the medical providers to care. Just a little.

Monday, February 2, 2015

Thanks To...

...blog readers, commenters, emails, and phone calls for your continued wishes and caring.

I'm not feeling like I was twelve weeks ago before the treatments started. However, I felt good enough today to reward myself with a desert hike.

A half dozen ravens were swooping and playing above me as I walked part of the trail. Occasionally some would perch on the spines of a dead saguaro. As I grabbed my camera to catch three ravens on this skeleton saguaro, two took off. So I got what was left.


The living saguaro are sucking up a lot of water. The summer monsoons followed by the frequent rains since have been good to them. The frequent rains means a great spring for wild flowers.

These almost evenly spaced saguaro remind me of columns from the ruins of a Green temple.


All the desert flora is looking healthy and green. That includes one of my favorite plants in the desert -- the Christmas cholla.


Thank you for following along. Also, thank you for your wishes and concerns for my health.

Sunday, February 1, 2015

Mini Book Review: The Cancer Chronicles

By George Johnson

Full title: The Cancer Chronicles: Unlocking Medicine's Deepest Mystery

Long before the cancer lurking in my body became an issue, I had read books on cancer. Curiosity drives me. Some of those books were good. Johnson's book is excellent.

Reading decades of cancer research, Johnson describes what is known and the the vast amount that is unknown. With each new discovery about cancer, it only leads to another question. The cure for cancer is as elusive today as it was when the "war on cancer" began with the National Cancer Act in 1971.

Johnson writes a well focused book about the many areas of cancer research, the treatments for a patient's cancer, and as a family observer of a cancer patient from identification through treatments.

Friday, January 30, 2015

Friday Photo


Frozen Fog on Storm Mountain

Drake Colorado -- between Loveland and Estes Park

Wandrin Archives 2001


Before Cyndi and Rich moved to Loveland, I was a frequent guest at their home on Storm Mountain. The photo was taken in March of 2001 just a few months before I set off on my 13 year long nomadic journey. However, since I was already living in my home on wheels in Golden Colorado at an RV park, I consider the photo part of my wandering life.

Today is a gray and rainy day in Tucson with the Catalina Mountains hidden in clouds. This seemed an appropriate Friday to post one of the few photos in the Wandrin Archives of snow on the ground.

Thursday, January 29, 2015

Great To Hike The Desert

I had cabin fever. It was over three weeks since I was last out for a hike.


Call it cabin fever, but really I felt rotten most of the time. I didn't feel like getting out.

A week of recovery after chemo treatment #3 was followed by a lumbar puncture to to put chemo in the brain spinal cord. That procedure was followed by a week long headache before the docs decided that when the puncture was done, the body didn't seal the hole. So back for another procedure to fix the leak. After that it was time for the next chemo treatment -- #4. That was over a week ago and this morning I was feeling good enough to go for a hike. A short one.

It was a solo hike. I knew it would be a slow hike with lots of rests. My cell phone was with me just in case of a problem. The hike was about a mile and a half.

It felt so good to be outside in the desert. It was a great way for me to get rejuvenated.



The goal of chemotherapy is to kill the actively growing cells. The side effect is that the drugs in that chemotherapy attacks any growing cell in the body -- i.e. skin and the digestive tract.

The chemo treatments have a cumulative effect on the body. The wrinkles have wrinkles. I'm down eight pounds from the first chemo. I can't spare that loss. Food doesn't taste good. The most recent chemo added neuropathy to the side effects. Typing this blog is a challenge.

The neuropathy is a game changer. When I researched the neuropathy side effect, typically it goes away after three to five months. The caveat is that it may never go away.

Considering this treatment ordeal is elective, I've made an appointment with the oncologist with lots of questions about the risks of stopping now.

Friday, January 23, 2015

Friday Photo


Windmill on cattle ranch

In the hills near Santa Barbara California

From the Wandrin Archives 2006


Sunday, January 18, 2015

Mini Book Review: The Big Fat Surprise by Nina Teicholz

The full title of the book is  The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet.

Nina Teicholz tackles the long held mantra that eating fat makes you fat and eating saturated fats clog arteries and cause heart attacks.

Guess what. It was a big con job perpetrated by bad science and then taken up as the mantra by the US health agencies and food manufacturers. Soon there were all kinds of products that were free of fats. To make foods taste good, sugar became the go to substitute.

Teicholz starts the book about demon fat with Ancel Keys and his diet studies about 1950. His studies became a belief system. There were other studies that didn't support that the low fat reduced heart attacks. However, those studies were shouted down by the "experts" or just shunted aside as an anomaly. Those studies didn't support the "low fat high carbo" belief system. Belief systems are hard to change.

There still is no blaring of the message in the headlines -- or the 24 hour cable news stations. There are a few articles about the new information, but it isn't get a whole lot of coverage. It is difficult to change beliefs that have been been touted for decades.

The book is not based on just a couple of studies, but the studies over decades -- both in the US and other countries. The details of the studies from "low fat high carbs" to "high fat low carbs" is most fascinating. The book also describes how highly connected names can drown out the good science.



An interview with the author summarizes the thoughts in the book:
http://mashable.com/2014/05/15/nina-teicholz-bacon-saturated-fats/

A summary article by Nina Teicholz about the fallacy of eating meat:
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/06/how-americans-used-to-eat/371895/

These are some excellent reviews of the book high lighting the points made about fats.

http://www.caloriegate.com/the-black-box/review-of-nina-teicholzs-big-fat-surprise-a-page-turning-nutritional-whodunnit

http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/low-carb-diets/big-fat-surprise/

http://www.afreebooks.com/ebook/the-big-fat-surprise_98631

Friday, January 16, 2015

Friday Photo


A younger Wandrin Lloyd

Murray Canyon -- Palm Springs, California

From Wandrin archives 2003

Friday, January 2, 2015

Friday Photo


Chocolate power pole melts in downtown Tucson

From the Wandrin Archives 2007