Hi Dr. Fadem, It's Dale
Ester writing. It's been a long time since we have communicated.
I would like to offer to submit an article about my personal experiences
with Dr. Lundin over the years and have it reside at nephron.com
for the benefit of the public to read on "Pete
Lundin's Corner."
It is important because of his untimely passing coming as such
a surprise! Even to me .. I thought he would live endlessly on,
like an icon representing the ESRD community. He was the gold standard
for recommending adequate ESRD care. I wrote a brief article (see
below) to the Dialysis_Support group and if you find it to be acceptable
for your informational website, please post it allowing others to
know and remember the friendly man named Dr. Peter Lundin. He accomplished
a tremendous amount of benefits for ESRD patients as well as improve
the current treatment for the growing population of currently 300,000+
patients who now utilize hemodialysis without even knowing much
about its history or those behind its development. Let me know if
the article idea is possible and whether or not you want a more
detailed article. I would appreciate Dr. Lundin be remembered as
a man who cared for people as much as he cared for himself. He was
simply an honest and good man trying to improve treatment conditions
for ESRD patients. He was an ESRD champion if there ever was one
individual to point a finger and identify as such. Dale Ester
A few members of the Dialysis
_Support Forum (http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/dialysis_support/)
have inquired of me to write something regarding Dr. Peter Lundin
because they realize I knew and spoke often with him. I want to
respond to this request, but in doing so, I also want to make it
clear these are my opinions and are not intended to make joke of
death and dying, but to celebrate life as a journey in which one
day, we will all travel its path to our final destiny.Dr. Lundin
has begun this adventure.
Let me tell you some stories
of our friendship ... I recall Dr. Lundin calling me one evening
about a two years ago. I was out likely feeding my insatiable appetite
(probably dining on spaghetti noodles), or some other action trying
to fulfill a goal I had encountered or volunteered to do. I am an
easy target for fixing things without asking to be paid for the
services. I develop a lot of friends this way, so it's not a bad
trade :)! I have busy neighbors who think I am the perfect handyman
for any conceivable event of crisis or not needing to be momentarily
fixed or repaired.
I phoned Dr. Lundin and realized
it was well into the evening for him (I live in Arizona and he in
New York). He was making a complaint about a mailing list problem
he was encountering and had asked of me to fix it because his e-mail
service was not responding well to his attempts to fix it correctly.
I had gone to bed thinking I would call again in the morning. That
didn't work too well. To my surprise, I got a phone call back from
Peter at about 4 AM in the morning (my time, yet 7am in New York).
When I answered the phone, fully in REM sleep mode, he said someone
had paged him and he was returning their phone call. Being still
really groggy, I said politely but quite clearly, "Who the heck
is this? Do you know what time it is?" He stuttered a few sentences
of apology (obviously I caught him off-guard as well), and he said,
"Is this Dale?" "Yeahh, it is", I said with a sleepy and grumpy
attitude .. (seriously, I was awakened having an awesome dream --
connotate from this about a dream you have had and someone has awakened
you to trash away fulfilling the quest your dream was about to succeed
at accomplishing). I think at the time, I was dreaming about flying
a Cessna airplane over the ocean, but very close to the surface
of the water.
I guess I needed to experience
this for some unknown reason. Dr. Lundin and I both laughed sheepishly,
especially after I had a few minutes to really wake up, -- he thought
it was a patient calling him in New York, and not realizing it was
me in Arizona, had woken me up at 4 am in the morning! He said there
were too many area codes in New York to keep track of where he was
calling. We shared a few updates, then he shared with me his reason
for calling -- he was having a computer problem getting his mail
from the dialysis group. I went to the website and looked over his
e-mail account subscription settings. I found nothing wrong. So,
it must be in his computer -- oh no! I know how much computer savvy
he did not possess. Yikes!! I called Peter back up later and after
tracing him down in the office, discovered he was unable to send
any e-mail to anyone nor could he receive e-mail either. This is
why he had to call me in the first place. After we discussed the
obvious things, his problem came to be he had plugged his telephone
line into his computer modem in the wrong slot -- and effectively
deflowered his modem contact and connection, all due to his spring
cleaning eagerness. It had been this way for a full week and he
had not yet discovered it as the problem! I told him not to worry,
because I would only charge him half-price since he did all the
physical work, but I might have a surcharge attached due to it being
a late-night service call! WE both laughed real hard -- what a guy!
He said he felt so .. well, you know?
So what does this story try to convey to you? It says Dr. Lundin
was a gentle man, but a good man we could all appreciate and value
as a dedicated friend. He enjoyed his life while sharing his skill
and expertise with those who asked him to help. He needed us as
much as we all needed him, maybe more. He found satisfaction in
sharing his expertise with this forum and only after his wife Maureen
died of ongoing breast cancer, did he withdraw from the mail sent
from this group. He said to me he "needed time to readjust and to
grieve", and I understood. On occasion though, I did write to him
to resolve questions some of you had made inquiry of him to answer.
He always answered back without delay. As a true friend, he always
replied with a detailed answer. Sometimes, he only said what he
thought to be true from his own personal experiences, and at other
times, advised seeking council from a professional. But he always
gave us something to gain a better understanding. I do know he valued
each and every one of us and in the quality of life he sought to
make so good for everyone, he truly did succeed.
For those individuals who met
him personally, he was a quiet but elegant man, his wisdom and overture
making him to be a respected professional while he relished in discussing
his experiences one-on-one with other dialysis patients like he
had known them for years. He was one of us in the story of dialysis.
He lived it just like the rest of us and knew the reality of how
we felt, how we played, and how we were often too tired and unable
to work or play.
His only remark with dialysis
life was to never think it couldn't get better -- it simply was
a choice each individual had to make. Even him. so when I first
met Dr. Lundin, it was probably back in 1993, I offered my young
35 year old right hand to willingly shake his hand -- after all,
I was meeting the renown man named Dr. Peter Lundin. I was excited
to say the least! I recall he was about the same height as me, but
somehow, he so greatly reminded me of Abraham Lincoln, but only
if Abraham Lincoln was cleanly shaven and dressed more to the time.
As I shook his hand, I squeezed
as I normally do, hoping to render a firm grip to show him my eager
enthusiasm. In his eyes in which I was eagerly peering intently,
I saw the smile on his face become distorted and grimaced from the
pain which echoed through his facial features and down through his
body. I realized I had inadvertently squeezed his hand way too hard
(tightly) and from all the years of bone deterioration, I had "hurt
him" the first time I met him. I felt miserable, and I begged his
forgiveness. How could I have done this? Although he passed it off
as no big deal, I was ashamed for many years to come, realizing
I had not thought to really understand the physical conditions of
the other individuals I was making contact.
How could I have made such
a foolish mistake to the great Dr. Lundin? I hurt him and to date,
have never forgotten the event. It was so difficult for me to come
to understand what I had done was only a mistake in judgment, one
he likely endured far more often than I thought ever possible. Yet
from that day forward, whether it be a man or woman with whom I
reached out to shake their hand in greeting, I now make a mental
note immediately prior to the handshake approach, to quickly and
consciously study their overall well-being, to never again make
the same mistake. The lesson was learned. He (Dr. Lundin) did invoke
a change in me both mentally and physically. I never told him this
effect he had on me, a lasting one at that, but I guess now that
I share it here within this forum, he will finally really know the
effect it had on me.
I suspect Dr. Lundin will
be as much appreciated in heaven as he was on earth, and in his
passing, he has joined up again with his lovely wife Maureen. Together,
they now enjoy a new life without the risk of enduring physical
maladies. He is without the need for dialysis and she without the
need for cancer treatment. They are back together in perfect harmony,
the way their lives are best remembered! Good-bye my good friend,
Dr. Lundin ...
Death is not an end, but a
beginning to a new adventure. Maybe we can talk again when I arrive
in the future? And at the right time, I promise to squeeze your
hand "firmly but lightly" -- because in heaven, it shouldn't matter
ever again! You will be sustained by many when love comes to you
from the thousands with whom you have actively assisted, and realizing
this, you delivered a difference in each and every individual with
whom you came into contact. While on earth many may grieve, I pray
you are celebrating your newfound soul life in heaven void of too
much work, too little time for pleasure, too little time to write
your book, or a phone line not quite plugged in correctly to the
modem :). I wonder if you still have to clean up your desk in heaven?
In all aspects of life on earth or in heaven, we each can help another
to learn to survive in a manner we can all be so proud -- just like
you taught us to do! Your life was an example of how one person
helping people was able to make a significant difference! Saving
lives happens one person at a time! You taught us all well! With
fond memories of my friend Dr. Peter Lundin,
Dale Ester
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