my dad emailed me about a dialysis cruise contest last year and told me to enter an essay about a dialysis hero for him. he was hoping we would win so me, him and my mom could go on a cruise together. so i wrote an essay about him for the contest and entered it, but i never got a chance to show it to him. i hope he can read it now... here it is:
My Dad: International Man of Dialysis
I once asked my dad his perspective on life after dialysis.
"I think of it as a part-time job with some overtime." he said. "Except I can do my job anywhere in the world, because there are offices are everywhere."
My dad has always loved to travel. But after he was diagnosed with ESRD and needed constant hemodialysis (not to mention graft surgery), we all thought that he would need to resort to his second-favorite hobby - watching movies about traveling.
Boy, were we all wrong. In his 6 years on dialysis, he has visited 8 different dialysis centers within the US and 6 different dialysis centers outside of the US.
He's been to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Scottsdale, New York, Florida, New Jersey, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, China, Japan and Italy, all while getting dialysis treatments three times per week for four and a half hours each time. He's also needed to get unexpected surgery for his graft while traveling. Not to mention needing to figure out what he can and can't eat when it comes to exotic foods.
[He's been on many planes, but never on a cruise.]
If this were truly a job, those without courage, flexibility, optimism and perseverance need not apply. But those who get hired, like my dad, will be rewarded with a life full of surprises, happiness and new friends.
