Dialysis hasn’t kept retired maestro Bob Lynch from living a full life

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Music of Life: Dialysis hasn’t kept retired maestro Bob Lynch from living a full life

By WENDY STIVER — wstiver@lockhaven.com
THE EXPRESS

LOCK HAVEN — Robert D. Lynch has a new job.

Well known as a local maestro, he conducted the Lock Haven University-Community Orchestra and the Lock Haven Community Chorus for many years, even after retiring from Lock Haven University as assistant to the president emeritus.

Not long ago, he chose to lower his conductor’s baton for the last time, marking an end to an era that spanned close to four decades.

It wasn’t the end of his community involvement, however.

He’s just as active as ever in Rotary, and as a past district governor, he has stepped into the role of “club encourager,” traveling across the region and shoring up clubs with his welcome presence.

A longtime member of the Clinton County Tourist Promotion Board and a member of the LHU Foundation Board, Lynch also has been a judge for 15 years at the Pennsylvania State Flaming Foliage Festival in Renovo. He takes the responsibility of helping choose a new festival queen as seriously as he prepared for concerts over the years.

And music remains a strong theme in the composition of his life. He leads the singing and his wife, Delores, plays the organ at their church, St. Paul’s African Methodist Episcopal in Bellefonte.

Lynch’s new job isn’t something he picked up to fill retirement’s empty hours, because in his life, there are no such hours.

In fact, he was drafted into this job, and it’s a requirement as stringent as military service.

He goes to work three days a week, he tells friends, at his new office — a comfortable chair with a personal flat-screen TV at the North Central Pennsylvania Dialysis Clinic at 257 S. Hanna St.

Lynch brings a good word and a broad smile for every staff member he encounters. He always has something to read during dialysis and on the occasional Monday after an extremely busy weekend, he may even take a nap.

While undergoing his hemo dialysis recently, Lynch talked with Amy Gallagher and a reporter about a subject dear to his heart, music.

The annual fundraising concert for the Lock Haven and Williamsport clinics is scheduled for 4 p.m. Sunday at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, 142 Market St., Williamsport, and will again feature organist Richard Lakey, with Nancy Ackerman.

“The gentleman who does the concert has been doing it for 18 years,” said Gallagher, a registered dietician with NCPDC. “He’d been on dialysis himself before he got a transplant, so he really understands.”

The proceeds are used to help patients of the Lock Haven and Williamsport clinics deal with dialysis, something Lynch heartily approves of. He now lives by the clinics’ cookbook, one of the services the annual concert supports.



INDIVIDUAL ATTENTION

The conversation paused as a nurse checked Lynch’s progress and reported that after an hour and a half of “work,” 13.6 liters of his blood have been processed.

Simply put, that’s what dialysis does, according to Gallagher.

“We clean the blood through a filter and remove fluid at the same time,” she explained.

“You are a little tired and it takes a little time to get used to it,” Lynch said. “But it’s a matter of attitude; it’s who you are as an individual. It’s also a matter of following what they tell you.”

Most patients dialyze three and a half to four hours, three times a week.

“We have whole shifts for people who work,” Gallagher said. “We try to schedule around their lifestyles.”

“They want you to do your thing,” as Lynch put it.

“I like to travel and they came up with a booklet of dialysis cruises,” he said. “One of the places I like to go is Las Vegas. Did you know there are 14 clinics there? You pick the one closest to your hotel, and they make the arrangements for you.”

Dialysis technology has come a long way over the years, and the local clinic, built in 2001, has a modern look. Patients use earphones to watch TV, or they gaze at the pleasant views out the wide windows.

The dialysis machines at each chair are programmed for the individual patient to monitor blood pressure levels, fluid levels and a host of other factors. Safeguards are constantly in play. If blood pressure goes up or down too far, an alarm goes off and the staff responds. If there’s something wrong with the patient’s needle, an alarm goes off and, again, someone is quick to address the situation.

“The staff here is excellent,” Lynch said. “They’re caring, they know what they are doing and we can tease each other — and if you can do that while you’re getting the treatment, that’s a good thing.”

The two area clinics are served by three nephrologists, Dr. Sam Stea, Dr. Martha Finn and medical director Dr. Daniel Gandy, who just happened to be Lynch’s doctor before he began treatments.

Nurses and other qualified staff members also are always on hand.

The clinics have the equipment and personnel to do the job, but when the patient leaves the chair, whatever happens next is entirely up to him.

“It’s a question of making adjustments and paying attention,” Lynch said. “If you think of it like that, you can handle the situation.”



OUT OF CONTROL

A diabetic, Lynch ignored any diet regimen — until he ended up in the hospital.

“I ate french fries, I ate sausage, I ate bacon, yum!” he said with a rueful laugh.

A decline began early this year, he recalled, when he realized something was wrong with his health but went right on with his life as if everything were fine.

His never-say-die approach that has taken him from one success to another didn’t turn out to be in his best interest this time. Like many busy people, he believed that if he forged ahead, the symptoms would straighten out on their own.

Not surprisingly, they didn’t.

“I was out of control in February,” he said.

After showing up for what he thought would be a routine blood test, he was sent to Williamsport Hospital and put on dialysis for four days straight.

The key for him has been diet, Lynch said, coupled with exercise at home.

Today he does very well with maintaining safe fluid levels between treatments, Gallagher said.

“His kidneys just can’t clean anymore,” she said. “It’s a progressive condition.”



THE SQUEAKY DOOR

“When I first met her, I didn’t want to know her because I didn’t want to have anything to do with dialysis,” Lynch said with a warm smile for Gallagher. “But I really believe now that if I had followed the diet like I should have, I wouldn’t be here.

“I call it the Squeaky Door Syndrome,” he said. “You know it’s squeaking and it’s getting worse but you adjust, you live with it until it doesn’t work anymore. I was adjusting my life the same way until something didn’t work.”

Once regular dialysis started, his normal can-do attitude surfaced and he took to following the menus the clinic provides, avoiding foods with potassium and salt.

“I’ve lost 56 pounds since February and I feel 15 years younger,” he said. “I eat a lot of beef and a lot of chicken but no processed meats — and no Snickers Bars. I love chocolate but there’s potassium in it. I eliminated chocolate and I feel better.

“The restaurants I go to in town, even the fast-food places, recognize me. At The Dutch Haven, they’ll always ask me, ‘What can we adjust for you tonight?’

“I don’t hide it. Why should I? There are those who say, ‘Eeuhw, you’re on dialsysis.’ I reply, ‘You don’t know anything about it,’ and I help them understand it better,” Lynch said. “That’s what I do, work with people.”

Life is better these days, he said, even with his new “part-time job.” He’s taken control of his health with help from his doctor and the clinic staff, and he plans to do everything he can to keep it under control.

“After all, ‘You’re not iron,’ as my mother used to say,” he commented.

With his new outlook, Lynch has gone from scoffer to convert, and the clinic staff have come to think of him as the poster model for what they do.

“He shows you can be on dialysis and still enjoy life,” Dr. Finn said.

PHOTO: Bob Lynch relaxes at a comfortable station at the North Central Pennsylvania Dialysis Clinic in Lock Haven where he “goes to work,” as he says, three times a week. Darlene Koch, R.N., checks his blood pressure and other information shown on the monitors.