What do you think?
Rate this book
Conception of a Dialysis Patient
This opus, a potent expedition of my daunting trials with a disease called lupus, an autoimmune malfunction where the body attacks its own tissue. It reveals itself rather uniquely at the age of twelve, long before this disease had any sort of history. At the time, this was primarily found in Caucasian women in their early twenties. My being an African American boy, presents quite a groundbreaking analysis with the medical profession. The scarring and jarring aspects of my flesh, organs, and psyche, go beyond worries. The manner, in which it has manifest within me, has the medical professionals at a loss. While in a fight for my life, chronic kidney failure, with a grave dermatological issue that has me resembling a critical burn victim, is what the near future holds. The question for them becomes, will I make it. Thrust into the world of dialysis as an adult, it is from my chair, the unspoken truths are bared. The raw emotion of bewilderment generated by this necessity, between loved ones and friends is unnerving. The plights we as patients endure, while fettered to this reality, becomes poignantly thought provoking. It is tantamount to the ambush of a tsunami, with regard to our daily uncertainties. The untold truths surfacing, during this vital and daunting treatment is up-close. Conception of a Dialysis Patient (the untold truths), is beyond compare, certain to strike a chord in anyone who draws breath.
298 pages, Paperback
First published April 24, 2014
2 people are currently reading
23 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 16, 2014
I don't know where to start with this book. I am a nurse, and a former Dialysis nurse, so to say that I was intrigued by this book is an understatement. Also , I knew the author at one time. I knew about his dialysis history, but never this in depth.
This book moved me to tears in several parts. From his first bout with sickness at 12, to his last bout with dialysis in the last chapter. He has a way of explaining the pain he suffered in such a way, that I physically cringed while reading it. He had a sense of humor, wicked at parts that kept me entertained as well. I couldn't put the book down, I NEEDED to know how he survived this. I felt that I was with him the entire journey, and felt his pain and felt his happiness, and his anger. That is what a good author does, he makes you part of the story. HIS story.
Many moments in the book, i wanted to find him and give him a hug and tell him it was going to be ok. His story is truly inspiring and heart warming as well.
I am blessed to have known him for a short time in my life, and I hope everyone reads his story and enjoys it as much as I did.
This book moved me to tears in several parts. From his first bout with sickness at 12, to his last bout with dialysis in the last chapter. He has a way of explaining the pain he suffered in such a way, that I physically cringed while reading it. He had a sense of humor, wicked at parts that kept me entertained as well. I couldn't put the book down, I NEEDED to know how he survived this. I felt that I was with him the entire journey, and felt his pain and felt his happiness, and his anger. That is what a good author does, he makes you part of the story. HIS story.
Many moments in the book, i wanted to find him and give him a hug and tell him it was going to be ok. His story is truly inspiring and heart warming as well.
I am blessed to have known him for a short time in my life, and I hope everyone reads his story and enjoys it as much as I did.
September 12, 2014
`My arm was opened between the forearm and the bicep at the elbow'
`Autoimmunity is the failure of an organism in recognizing its own constituent parts as self, thus leading to an immune response against its own cells and tissues.'
It would likely be impossible for anyone to read this rather extraordinary memoir by Fayton Hollington and not feel a cramp in the body and the psyche, attempting to identify with the story revealed here. This is one of those book that not only teaches the reader about a condition few have even heard about much less understand while at the same time presenting the spirit of a survivor against all odds. It is a revealing exposé about the medical fields of kidney dialysis and kidney transplantation - far more complex and enigmatic than the public understands.
None of this would be so profound were it not for the quality of writing that Fayton Hollington brings to the book. Hollington is a writer - of two other books and a number of screenplays as well as poetry that will surely gain recognition following the most assured success of this debut. The name may not be immediately recognizable at present, but in time that will change.
Hollington is an African American man from a large family. His father was killed when he was young, forcing his mother and his siblings to move form Harlem to Long Island. And that is where his story begins. He contracted a viremia-like syndrome with high fevers and a dermatological nightmare of abscess-like lesions on his body. Eventually the diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosis was made and despite medical treatment of a poorly understood illness he went into renal failure and required renal dialysis just to stay alive. He underwent kidney transplantation but eventually rejected that donated kidney and now he remains dependent on dialysis.
In this book Hollington shares the marriage of chronic renal failure patients to the dialysis machine and his in depth discussion of that is both harrowing and informative. Few people can describe the fateful bond between machine and life the way this fine author does. Place this book in the column of `must read' - it is both a humbling and a challenging experience and reveals the soul of a man whose spirit is indeed indomitable.
`Autoimmunity is the failure of an organism in recognizing its own constituent parts as self, thus leading to an immune response against its own cells and tissues.'
It would likely be impossible for anyone to read this rather extraordinary memoir by Fayton Hollington and not feel a cramp in the body and the psyche, attempting to identify with the story revealed here. This is one of those book that not only teaches the reader about a condition few have even heard about much less understand while at the same time presenting the spirit of a survivor against all odds. It is a revealing exposé about the medical fields of kidney dialysis and kidney transplantation - far more complex and enigmatic than the public understands.
None of this would be so profound were it not for the quality of writing that Fayton Hollington brings to the book. Hollington is a writer - of two other books and a number of screenplays as well as poetry that will surely gain recognition following the most assured success of this debut. The name may not be immediately recognizable at present, but in time that will change.
Hollington is an African American man from a large family. His father was killed when he was young, forcing his mother and his siblings to move form Harlem to Long Island. And that is where his story begins. He contracted a viremia-like syndrome with high fevers and a dermatological nightmare of abscess-like lesions on his body. Eventually the diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosis was made and despite medical treatment of a poorly understood illness he went into renal failure and required renal dialysis just to stay alive. He underwent kidney transplantation but eventually rejected that donated kidney and now he remains dependent on dialysis.
In this book Hollington shares the marriage of chronic renal failure patients to the dialysis machine and his in depth discussion of that is both harrowing and informative. Few people can describe the fateful bond between machine and life the way this fine author does. Place this book in the column of `must read' - it is both a humbling and a challenging experience and reveals the soul of a man whose spirit is indeed indomitable.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews