I sit in my dialysis chair, plumbed into the Slurpee machine as it purifies my black cherry syrup, in renal failure for a few years now, and working diligently (with my Taurean focus and intent) on navigating the transplant program whose challenges are many.
My mind uncharacteristically freezes to a standstill. Decisions, decisions! “Lockbrain,” similar to an ice cream headache: I sit here with a faint smile and vapid bovine gaze as I look across the dialysis center, until at long last a few neurons begin to fire again. There are so many possibilities, each deserving of a separate piece in their own right. Four different media types, out of a wonderful world that is so chock-a-block with options, I can’t cover them all. So, I choose two, in the hopes my predilections might help my brethren in dialysis.
I must begin with music, simply because I’ve never tended to watch a lot of television. Brian Eno’s “Thursday Afternoon” album (it’s one 60-minute song!) emerges as a prime candidate. This has become my “soundtrack to dialysis,” and I’ve listened to it extensively over the years in the chair as I’ve worked on my novel. It is a neutral piece of pleasant music; it demands no attention to itself but drowns out the beeping of the Slurpee machines and allows me to focus my thinking on other topics. At the same time, it imbues in me a sense of peace, that such pretty, unobtrusive music exists and demands nothing of me, unless I choose to focus on it. As a musician myself, I find it quite deep, and its beauty is consoling.
But, “Comfort and Hope?” Cliché as it sounds, here I must revert to “Star Trek: The Original Series” (ST TOS to the cognoscenti). I’ve watched ST TOS since 1969; I can’t say I saw the first airing, but it was the time of our Apollo program, and as a kid I was fascinated with space. My dad heard of the show and gathered us all around the B&W cathode ray to watch it. I was enthralled and remain so: the quality of attention to detail in casting, writing, acting, and SFX (even back in the day!) have influenced my “adult life” in ways that would demand a book to explain.
As a slightly older gent (“Deny! Deny! Always deny!!”), my love for the show has not dissipated. But writing this, now in 2024, I can identify multiple connections. Spock influenced me to the point that I became a data center engineer, a position which demands science and precision. Kirk taught me the core precepts of a “find a way to succeed” attitude that has served me well in life, and also affords me the determined mindset to help me cope with dialysis and weathering the transplant program. He also taught me to laugh at adversity. McCoy taught me to trust my doctors—27 of ‘em on my team as of today, all leveraging their skills, technologies, and training to assist me through this.
Recently, I saw an ad with Brent Spiner (Data in Next Generation), speaking of “how Star Trek gives us hope.” I don’t disagree, though I’ve never been a Next Generation fan—but the sum of ST TOS shows a universe where people (largely) get along, look out after each other, and use their intellect and technology to “make space a better place”—core human concepts that we shun at our peril. Myself, I derive hope from the unique admixture that was brought together in “The Original Series.” I have the entire set on my iPad, and I’m sure, in my lifetime, I’ve seen each episode well over 300 times. The plots might get familiar… but the sum of the work does not. The series brings me comfort—in knowing and pondering the significant impact it’s had on my life, it feels like the company of an old friend.
It never gets old, and it brings me joy to experience.
Teejay began life as a native of Washington DC, and moved to Chicagoland in 2014 after his Bride found her childhood home for sale on the Internet. The stress of a cross-country move, coupled with the demands of his day job as a Data Center engineer, undoubtedly contributed to the undiagnosed hypertension that resulted in the failure of his kidneys.
“Not to worry!” he exclaimed. “Knock me down, I’ll climb back to my feet! I live in a great country, with the resources to help me succeed in this!” He has been in Dialysis for over two years now, and is working with the Northwest Medicine Kidney Transplant Program, awaiting a donor kidney. His Dialysis center is the Fresenius Naperville North site, where the irrepressible professionalism and good cheer of the talented staff is helping him to weather the demands of dialysis.
Beyond his Engineering day work, Teejay is a musician, aspiring author, and dog lover. He’s a multi-instrumentalist, and has recorded the equivalent of 17 “albums” in his home studio. His first book – on Home Studio sciences and techniques – is followed by his first fiction work, written largely during his Dialysis sessions. He is currently seeking a publisher, and working on his second novel (a sequel to the first). Teejay is the “provider pet” to two loving Street Mutt rescue dogs, and his supportive Bride, Juli (34 years in September, plus another 5 living in sin). “That togetherness counts too, doesn’t it?!”
Web ID 5107
