Dialogues with Psyche Continue!

So, I apparently over-estimated my ability to complete an insanely detailed ink drawing of a crocodile in a timely manner, but hey! It turned out amazing and has been a great project to work on during my home dialysis runs, so all's well that ends well, right?  I do believe there might be a plot developing somewhere in my neuro-space, so stay tuned and enjoy!
Cheers,
Ilara

3 Top Reasons I Love Dialysis

Happy to be alive to fight another day.

Now that the I am coming around to one full year since I started dialysis again (after my first kick at the can way back in 1979, before my first kidney transplant in 1979 that sustained me for 34+ years!) I think I have a bit of perspective on it. Hence, I can list the "3 Top Reasons I Love Dialysis". 

1) It's keeping me alive to fight another day. There is no question, without the life-saving intervention of dialysis, I would not be here to tap the keys. Some of the toxins in my bloodstream were so elevated before I started that my doctor told me I was in danger of a heart attack or stroke. He said something to the effect..."Please consider starting dialysis BEFORE we see you in an emergency situation. We don't want to lose you." 

Three times a week...I sit for 4 hours in this chair.

2) My blood is getting cleaned to qualify me for another transplant. Though we know dialysis is a life-saving therapy, it is NOT the most preferred lifestyle for a (relatively) young, busy man like me. Dedicating three days a week to this is a big commitment. Even a kidney transplant...miraculous as it might seem...is NOT a cure, and I am a living testament to this. On the other hand, a kidney transplant is certainly a huge improvement over thrice-weekly dialysis IMHO.

3) I spend my dialysis time being productive, thanks to my trusty laptop. In the past year I have been working on fine-tuning my memoir called "Dancing with Rejection: A Beginner's Guide to Immortality". Point your search engine to this link to read more.

Holding the first "Copy Proofs" of the "Dancing with..." trilogy.

Michael R. Gaudet was diagnosed with end-stage renal failure only fourteen years after his father, Robert, died of kidney disease in Michael’s childhood. After his initial diagnosis, Michael was determined to achieve a measure of immortality. 

He designed and painted the seminal mural "Recovery 1", which he donated to the Toronto hospital that saved his life. This singular act cast the mold for the rest of his life, in which he battled chronic kidney disease and forged a career as one of Canada’s best-known mural painters. 

Michael has since designed and painted over 60 large murals across Canada. Today, he lives with his wife Sharon in the resort village of Manitou Beach in central Saskatchewan, where they own and operate a seasonal art gallery called “G-G’s Gallery & Gifts.” 

Michael is in the final stages of releasing Book 1 of the trilogy "Dancing with Rejection: A Beginner's Guide to Immortality". Please steer your search engine here to visit the Facebook page that was created to usher in the launch. Curious? Could this be the book for you? Come on over, we'll see you there.

Life as a Dialysis Patient...It Goes on!

As promised, here is the 10-minute film created and produced by Bamboo Shoots Inc. for Sasktel Max TV that went to air a couple of weeks ago:

 

To read more about "Dancing with Rejection: A Beginner's Guide to Immortality" (coming soon!) please point your browser to this link.

Meet Jeff States, 72-year old Kidney Donor!

As founder of the Facebook group "Kidney Transplant Donors and Recipients", which 

is a "closed group" due to privacy issues, I have been privileged to read thousands of

inspiring, life-affirming stories of triumph over adversity. Jeff States decided to become what 

we fondly have come to call an "Earth Angel" by donating one of his kidneys to his brother-in-

law at the age of 72. This is his story, in his own words. Thank you so, Jeff, for not only this 

selfless act, but also for demonstrating in a singular act of courage that there is always hope, 

and that we can live to fight another day.

Michael R. Gaudet.
Please visit : mrgaudet.com

"Earth Angel" Jeff States Donates Kidney at 72.

"I wish Michael well on his 'new' kidney journey and also wish him well with his new blog  about 'all things kidney' ."

I first met Michael on a site dedicated to kidney donors, recipients and their families. Michael

lives in Canada and I live in the United States. He is a past kidney recipient and a potential 

future kidney recipient.

I am a kidney donor. My story began when my brother-in-law was diagnosed with End-Stage

Kidney Failure in 2011. By 2012, no one in the family was a match and he had to go on

dialysis. I watched my wife suffer for her younger brother and, although I had no relationship

whatsoever with him, I told her that I would be willing to get tested. She was shocked, but

immediately called her brother. To his credit, he told his sister that I would never have to spend 

a penny during the evaluation process.

We live 1,200 miles apart from each other. At that time I knew nothing about kidney disease

or what was involved in becoming a living kidney donor. I just assumed it was the right thing to

do. My evaluation took 4-5 months. Since my wife's brother lives in New York and I live in 

Florida, I would fly to the hospital where he was on dialysis to go through the testing process.

I will be forever grateful that he had chosen the New York Presbyterian / Weill Cornell 

Medical Center in New York City. I later found out that they are one of the top three kidney

transplant centers in the United States. I was eventually approved to donate to my wife's brother

and our surgeries were scheduled for 12/6/2012. It is now almost two and a half years post-op 

and both the recipient and donor are issue free.

I have learned much about being a living donor and I have become an advocate in South 

Florida, working to get the appropriate information "out there" to the general public, who, like

I was several years ago, are almost totally ignorant about kidney disease and what it means to

become a living donor. My brother-in-law will be 59 later this year and I will be 75.


I was 72 at the time of donation and became the oldest surviving living kidney donor to go 

through the living kidney donation process in the past 53 years of the hospital's transplantation 

program.

"Earth Angel" cradles a kidney, which gestates as a prayer of invocation.

Kidney Health...Be Pro-Active.

As a person who has dealt with the ups and downs of kidney health (and lack thereof) for all of my adult life, one thing I can say for sure is this: a simple yearly blood test will reveal in a distinct outline the state of your renal fitness.

Stay ahead with annual check-ups.

If I had only realized this as a teenager, I'm sure now, in retrospect, that my life would have been much less traumatic. I had the typical mindset of invincibility as a young man, thinking that my health picture was AOK, even as I suffered the long, slow decline that ultimately landed me in the ER at Sunnybrooke Medical Center in Toronto with End Stage Renal Failure. If "End Stage" sounds ominous, it's because it is! At the time, I was informed in no uncertain terms that I was a "walking toxic waste dump", and further, the admitting doctors had no Earthly idea how I'd even managed to make it into the ER under my own locomotion.

Your annual physical will include very revealing blood tests.

If I'd had the presence of mind to monitor my health with even a single yearly blood test, I could have had treatment options made available to me well before I nearly perished. So, my best advice to you is to take that simple step...get your butt into your GP's office at least on an annual basis for a check-up including blood-work. Sometimes ignorance is NOT bliss.

Michael R. Gaudet was diagnosed with end-stage renal failure only fourteen years after his father, Robert, died of kidney disease in Michael’s childhood. After his initial diagnosis, Michael was determined to achieve a measure of immortality. 

He designed and painted the seminal mural "Recovery 1", which he donated to the Toronto hospital that saved his life. This singular act cast the mold for the rest of his life, in which he battled chronic kidney disease and forged a career as one of Canada’s best-known mural painters. 

Michael has since designed and painted over 60 large murals across Canada. Today, he lives with his wife Sharon in the resort village of Manitou Beach in central Saskatchewan, where they own and operate a seasonal art gallery called “G-G’s Gallery & Gifts.” 

Michael is in the final stages of releasing Book 1 of the trilogy "Dancing with Rejection: A Beginner's Guide to Immortality". Please steer your search engine here to visit the Facebook page that was created to usher in the launch. Curious? Could this be the book for you? Come on over, we'll see you there.

Dialogues of Psyche

Hello lovely readers!
I've been taking myself on "Artist Dates"  (check out Julia Cameron's book, The Artist's Way if this peaked your interest!) for a little over a year now, and my latest resulted in purchasing some sketching pens and the creation of the following... We'll see if it turns into anything beyond this one page, but I'm quite happy with this one page so I wanted to share it!  Enjoy!
Peace,
Ilara

Ilara is an Edmonton-based writer, visual artist, community builder, and seeker of wisdom in the little moments.  She has been a lifelong advocate for people with disabilities, having lived with chronic conditions her entire life, and spent many of her teen and early adult years working and living in communities for adults with disabilities while always stretching to pursue her own creative spirit. 

Ilara now works as the Director of Religious Education for Westwood Unitarian Congregation and is an active member of Assiniboia Community Housing Co-operative.  She is inspired by the people in her life, a love of synchronicity, and a passion for digging into the depths of who she is and how things are connected.  She is fueled by a passion for people, peace, and a yearning for the ineffable sense of balance of power that she believes is still possible somehow.

Ilara Stefaniuk-Gaudet Poem on Wonder

My daughter Ilara recently read the "Proof Copy" of my upcoming memoir "Dancing with Rejection:

A Beginner's Guide to Immortality". In response, she wrote this moving poem as a tribute:

Ilara and her dad Michael.

On Wonder

Awe-struck;

We are shaped and held so

intimately

by the stories that we 

are told, and 

that we tell each other;

Their words weave us together,

stitching souls into the 

images 

that define us.

It feels like 

just yesterday;

Myself as a child,

pleading with my Papa

to tell me a story 

about when he was my age;

I would listen,

wide-eyed and totally enthralled.

When I was old enough to read,

he started typing up his stories;

Grand adventures of travel

and love and

miraculous happenings; 

I would ingest his words, 

enchanted; so proud

to be his daughter.

Now, many years later.

his book in front of me, 

newly printed for proof-reading,

I feel a strange sensation,

almost like vertigo,

as events and experiences

that correspond with

both our stories

are laid in front of me

once again;

To what extent

do our stories define us,

I wonder?

To what extent 

do the words we see and hear

shape our destinies, 

our DNA?

Most of this book is fully

embedded in my memory; not word for word,

but story by story.

I’ve walked the same pathways,

nearly fifty years later,

to recapture the awe of

first hearing these tales

of my Papa’s childhood; I’ve relived 

the memories with him,

From climbing the cliffs of

Crystal Falls to

Hemodialysis and being so close

to death we can hear our

ancestors speaking to

Mural painting in church basements.

In search for our own

creative powers; 

Even my signature is

framed by

the three stars that

inspired him to paint his 

“Trinity Mural”,” when he was

almost my age”, in which

he unconsciously

(at the time)

portrayed the Divine Feminine that I

so purposefully seek to embody

in my words and images.

Yet our stories continue, so

intimately 

woven together with

so many lives

that I am prompted to

question the spaces

between beings, 

and am left

Awe-Struck.

Ilara is an Edmonton-based writer, visual artist, community builder, and seeker of wisdom in the little moments.  She has been a lifelong advocate for people with disabilities, having lived with chronic conditions her entire life, and spent many of her teen and early adult years working and living in communities for adults with disabilities while always stretching to pursue her own creative spirit. 

Ilara now works as the Director of Religious Education for Westwood Unitarian Congregation and is an active member of Assiniboia Community Housing Co-operative.  She is inspired by the people in her life, a love of synchronicity, and a passion for digging into the depths of who she is and how things are connected.  She is fueled by a passion for people, peace, and a yearning for the ineffable sense of balance of power that she believes is still possible somehow.