End Stage Liver Disease
Sean McDermott was born in the Republic of Ireland and moved to Canada in the 70′s as an eleven year old boy. He lives now in Toronto, Canada where he was a singer/songwriter for many years and now writes freelance prose, poetry and blogs for various online organisations.
In 2007 he was diagnosed with End Stage Liver Disease and by 2008 was placed on the transplant list and categorised as terminally ill. He is still waiting for his transplant and spends his time writing, reading, walking and swimming.
Follow Sean on Twitter @SeanMcD63
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How Did I Quit Smoking? I Just Stopped!
By Sean McDermott I had quit smoking so many times that I decided not to use that word ever again and now when I hear people say that they have “quit”, I take it lightly and reserve comment. Quitting is something that you fear, something that you approach slowly and have a plan in place to overcome the odds, the mood swings, the cravings. I had no such thing. Let me give you some untypical background. In July of 2007 I arrived at Toronto Western Hospital in an ambulance dying of Liver Disease from Alcoholism. I know this because they Read More…
Tagged Under: AA, addiction, alcohol, alcoholism, change, drinking, featured writer, how i quit smoking, liver disease, liver transplant, organ donor, quitting, rehbilitation, sean mcdermott, sobriety, toronto western hospital, transplant -
To Answer Honestly, or not…
By Sean McDermott “How are you”, says my Doctors. “How are you feeling” say my friends. “How have you been” say my acquaintances...................... I don’t know how to answer. I don’t know how to explain or analogise this state. I am still waiting for a liver transplant after four years. Those haven’t been wasted years because I’ve learned a lot about myself and I haven’t changed a lot, but I have a little. The fact is the liver transplant list here in Toronto is comprised of 6-700 individuals like myself with various factors leading to the eventual destruction of enough liver Read More…
Tagged Under: acceptance, appreciation, featured writer, jaundice, liver disease, patient, patient story, sean mcdermott, transplant -
Being…in Hospital.
By Sean McDermott Most people at a young age have had the profoundly unnerving experience of visiting a loved one in hospital. This doesn’t have to be a shocking episode, it might as well be a maternity ward or a broken leg but it tends to stay lingering, unwelcome in the memory bank, creating interest that you can cash out in anxious nightmares or an unwillingness to park in hospital zones. The sights and smells and sounds of a hospital even when you’ve apparently grown up, are this great big mystery and you can’t help but sneak a peek into Read More…
Tagged Under: featured writer, hospitalization, liver disease, patient, patient story, sean mcdermott -
Memorise the Room
By Sean McDermott It was three years ago and some that I was taken to Brampton Hospital at breakneck speed with sirens and horns blasting and just myself and a paramedic in the back attempting to survive what seemed like the last lap of the Indy 500. It was December, and although I was almost completely bed-ridden with the violent symptoms of End Stage Liver Disease and had retained enough water to fill a small decorative pond, I said goodbye to my daughter and my extended family as they planned to trek up to Caledon and fetch a tree for Read More…
Tagged Under: 911, cardiology, care, emergency, featured writer, hospital, liver disease, patient, patient story, sean mcdermott -
Hospital Start to Finish | Part 1
By Sean McDermott 1. Through the Emergency Doors Heading down to emergency is no easy matter. The time is of the utmost importance if you have a couple of hours to play with. Arriving on a weekday evening around 7 pm is not recommended since all slips and falls and construction accidents and pending stitches and the odd fierce flu is sitting there in the emergency waiting room, moaning about how long it is taking and peering through the mystery doors as they swing open and close again. Depending on the hospital and the length of its halls around “emerg” Read More…
Tagged Under: featured writer, hospital, journal, liver disease, patient, patient story, sean mcdermott, terminal illness -
Try
By Sean McDermott Another Saturday, another spring past and summer coming, another birthday. I tried to keep it low key this year. I took the date off facebook and realised that it was likely that it would only be my family and Kate that would remember. I have said in the past that I wanted to keep the big day simple but really didn’t mean it and started letting the story slip with about a week to go intensifying as it got closer, so everyone knew. Attention please, please give me some attention. Now I’m so used to the lack Read More…
Tagged Under: featured writer, liver disease, melancholy, patient, patient story, sean mcdermott -
Mr K.
By Sean McDermott Taking openly about Endstage Liver Disease and the challenges of waiting on the Liver Transplant List for longer than expected is sometimes self-defeating and humiliating because the central theme is my greatest weakness, that is physically. Combining that discussion with a little grin about the hilarity and astonishment and sometimes delight of what happens behind the curtains in hospital somewhat lightens the load. Sometimes I get caught in a conversation where I realise that I have talked endlessly about one or more experiences or some knowledge that I have gathered and I realise now that it is Read More…
Tagged Under: doctors, featured writer, liver disease, patient, patient story, ryder cup, sean mcdermott, specialists -
Saturday
By Sean McDermott One of the many benefits of terminal illness and especially waiting for transplant is that I can go to bed and wake up at whatever time that I please. Yet I find myself matching the rhythms of the world around me to hold on to any leftover sanity that may remain. The odd time, I turn off the light at 2:30 am having read for a while in my best attempt at comfort in bed with reading glasses sticking into one side of my forehead. I prefer to lie on my right side with two pillows offset Read More…
Tagged Under: featured writer, liver disease, patient, patient story, sean mcdermott, terminal illness -
Sean’s Journal: Wednesday, June 2011
By Sean McDermott I need to leap outside of this myre, this awareness that time is slipping away and nothing is happening to improve my health. For the first time I feel like I am truly chronically ill and I am being swallowed into the mouth of that whale too quickly. I have rolled with the punches so far, mind dodging and weaving away the frightening threads of this serious tapestry. I have no other defensive moves and although I will not cave and be counted out I will continue daydreaming for the shred of a future, threadbare as it Read More…
Tagged Under: featured writer, health, liver disease, patient, patient story, sean mcdermott
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Health Through Movement: How Nia Changed My Life
By Jennifer Hicks After 34 years living in my body, I became an expert. That is, an expert in myself. And I discovered, after all that time, that I am not ordinary. I have Bipolar Disorder. But that’s not what makes me different. I am unique because of how I have learned to manage my Bipolar Disorder. Yes, I need medication and psychotherapy, but there’s more to my wellness plan. I use Nia – a fitness practice which not only offers me physical fitness, but also a lifestyle, and now a profession. Looking at me, you’d never know I have Read More…
Tagged Under: bipolar disorder, dance, featured writer, fitness, jenn hicks, mental illness, movement, music, nia, patient story, psychotherapy -
The Portrait: Simple Yet Complex, Obvious Yet Profound Part 1: The Eyes
By Judith Leitner Over a century and a half ago, most folks were unable to create tangible visual links to their past. Many lacked the financial means necessary for creating pictorial inventories of themselves and their ancestors through the pricey art of Portrait Painting. Then, in 1839, Charles Daguerre in France and Henry Fox Talbot in England both announced that they had devised a way to ‘fix an image’, and the art and magic of Photography was born. With its affordable price tag, this clever novelty would enable everyman to express a primal, compelling need: to record, share and Read More…
Tagged Under: Alzheimer, Alzheimer's, art, camera, creative coping, dementia, detachment, featured writer, intimacy, judith leitner, lens, metaphors for illness, photography, portrait -
How Did I Quit Smoking? I Just Stopped!
By Sean McDermott I had quit smoking so many times that I decided not to use that word ever again and now when I hear people say that they have “quit”, I take it lightly and reserve comment. Quitting is something that you fear, something that you approach slowly and have a plan in place to overcome the odds, the mood swings, the cravings. I had no such thing. Let me give you some untypical background. In July of 2007 I arrived at Toronto Western Hospital in an ambulance dying of Liver Disease from Alcoholism. I know this because they Read More…
Tagged Under: AA, addiction, alcohol, alcoholism, change, drinking, featured writer, how i quit smoking, liver disease, liver transplant, organ donor, quitting, rehbilitation, sean mcdermott, sobriety, toronto western hospital, transplant