I, Kidney
By Chris
Six
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
Joe
Zizzi's childhood in the 1950s had everything a kid could want--pro athlete
dad, wonderful mom, cool big bro. When the '60s kick in, this ideal life is
violently shaken: a car crash claims his mother's life and his father's career,
and brother Matt becomes distant and disturbed. Over the years, Joe learns to
cope and carves out a niche for himself as a college sports star, and later as
a coach and writer, but he can't quite shake the family legacy. Diagnosed with
kidney failure, the semi-pro husband and devoted dad has life-and-death
decisions to make--and life wins, though perhaps only by a slim margin.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Excerpt:
One day, when I really hadn't slept
at all except for maybe an hour and I fell asleep the minute I hit the chair
and they had to wake me to get a standing BP, I almost didn't feel them poking.
Except they had trouble and they called a second tech over to poke. They called
for a third tech, and the guy who calls himself Mickey Mouse came over to poke.
I felt my arm starting to blow up, both internally and externally.
"Doesn't
feel too good, y'know? At all."
"We've
gone through."
"What?
Gone through what?"
"Right
through."
"Right
through the arm?" I tried to crane my head to see the needle sticking out
the other side. Morbid curiosity.
"No,
it went through the vein."
I started
praying--granted, with a few cuss words thrown in. They tie an ice bag to the
arm with a blue rubber tourniquet, the item they use to make the vein stick out
in the first place. The arm is ballooning. My eyes are out on stalks. I feel
the sensation of all my blood draining from my body and wonder whether this is
it. I look to observe the pools of blood dripping out of every pore in the arm;
there are none. The thing is a horrible color, a horrible size, a horrible
sight. And they tell me to come back tomorrow.
"At a
reasonable hour?"
"At
the usual hour."
I spent the
rest of the day at home, asleep, getting out only to refresh my ice pack. Next
day I was back. Thank God, it went terrifically. What were the odds?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Chris Six is
a writer, the chief everything officer of The Chris Six Group, and the
recipient of somebody else's kidney: "I narrated the story onto tape before
I ever wrote a word. I even brought my recorder to dialysis and upset the
technicians. Nowadays, I'm in awe of indie authors doing hands-on marketing. I
couldn't imagine doing this even five years ago."
@TheChrisSixGrou
Amazon buy
link
Giveaway
Chris Six will be awarding a $15 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour
Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteGood morning! And thank you for featuring me here at DSA. I see you can do some good last-minute holiday shopping here~~
ReplyDeleteToday's excerpt might strike some as a little gristly, or even grizzly, but it reflects the daily reality of many dialysis patients. One of the reasons I wrote the book is to raise awareness of kidney disease and treatment, and it was also important to detail the physical upset that's a constant part of treatment for so many patients.
Where is everybody? At birthday party, but I'll be back~~
ReplyDeleteBye darlings-- I'll check again tomorrow--Have a great night !
ReplyDeleteI liked the excerpt very much. Thank you for hosting.
ReplyDeleteThanks, John! At first I thought I shouldn't use an excerpt that takes place in the treatment room, but I'm glad I did. Be well--and all the best for this festive season!
Delete